Battle EUCOM

Stephenson assembles an impressive roster of the world's best military historians and writers to discuss the impact of geography on military strategy and history. This collection of essays, illustrated with vintage and modern maps, offers geographic adventure around the world, across centuries, and through every kind of terrain, shedding new light on famous battles and introducing less well-known-but nevertheless significant-moments in military history.

The Battle of El Alamein marked the turning point in Britain's fortunes in World War II. Three separate battles took place between July and November 1942, all fought to halt the advance of Rommel's army towards the Suez Canal. The final battle at El Alamein, fought in October and November, saw the continuous bombardment of the German line that Rommel was instructed to hold at all costs by Hitler himself. The Allies shattered the German defenses, and Rommel led a westward retreat in order to salvage what was left of the Afrika Korps. This book provides an in-depth analysis of the battle that turned the tide in favor of the Allies in Africa.

Drawing extensively on primary documentary sources and interviews with surviving veterans, award-winning journalists John Bierman and Colin Smith present a superb account of this extraordinary episode, remembered as a war without hate for the willingness by both sides to adhere to accepted notions of fair play and the mutual respect and camaraderie that evolved between the combatants.

Osprey's study of desert tactics employed in North Africa during World War II (1939-1945). In 1940-43 North Africa saw the first major desert campaign by modern mechanized armies. The British, Italians, German "Afrika Korps" and US Army all addressed and learned from the special problems - human, logistical, mechanical and tactical - of the desert environment, most significantly a terrain empty of resources and offering little chance of concealment.