One of the British Army's most stirring victories provides the backdrop for this tale of life, death and valour in the North African desert. The Eighth Army's triumph at El Alamein in 1942 eventually drove Rommel's Afrika Korps off the continent. It was a massive morale booster for the Allies and paved the way for the invasion of Nazi Europe.
At the vanguard of the battle were some of the first Special Forces units, including the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG), who were sent ahead to scout the deadly desert terrain and generally cause havoc for the Axis forces. Their exploits quickly beca
me the stuff of legend and have been memorably brought to life by US historical fiction author Steven Pressfield.
In the form of a no-nonsense memoir by a plucky young British officer, he describes a fact-based LRDG attempt to kill the wily Desert Fox himself and thereby decapitate the Axis forces at a single stroke.
It sees Lt Lawrence "Chap" Chapman truck off into the oven-hot desert with a posse of mainly New Zealand and British colleagues, and what follows is a vivid account of the mission and the men involved. Included are some searing action sequences, lots of thirst-inducing details about life in the desert, and a thought-provoking illustration of the sorts of people drawn to war.
Pressfield – who has written a string of bestsellers about epic clashes in ancient Greece – perfectly captures Chapman's English character and the inhospitability of a region so remote that some of the marks left by the Second World War armies still linger today.
His book is more than just a tale of behind-the-lines action. It becomes a moving paean to the comradeship of war – sometimes between soldiers of opposing sides as an unexpected twist demonstrates.
Steven Pressfield
Doubleday, £12.99
The full article contains 309 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
