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"It all went according to plan. There was a massive expenditure of ammunition on suspected enemy positions. Medium machine-guns kept up continuous pressure and tanks were interspersed with the infantry. There was a smoke-screen to cover the last and most dangerous stretch. The infantry plodded remorselessly on with bayonets fixed for the final assault across the river. The Germans held their fire until the Durhams were within some fifty yards, more or less point-blank range, then mowed the leading platoons down." - from the CMAK Companion, Chapter 88, "It All Went According To Plan".
"We came over that crest 16 abreast and roared down the slope flat out, the wind catching the trailers of dust behind and flaunting them like banners of doom to the eyes of the watchers on the Trigh. We were all caught up in the exhilaration of that first charge. In a few seconds I could see the consternation in the enemy ranks translating itself into violent motion. There was the initial moment of immobility and shock, and then the whole line of vehicles broke and scattered wildly to the north and north-east. Every now and again a vehicle would pull up while its occupants disgorged on to sand and ran or fell flat." - from the CMAK Companion, Chapter 28, "Where the Dickens have you been?".
"That was what things looked like when Tim Palmer lost his fourth tank. He was fired at from a range at which even the Panzer III’s 50 mm shells arrived in a fairly spent state. But the fire from this enemy Panzer was hellishly accurate. Palmer stood in the turret with his radio operator and watched the Panzers approaching, stopping, firing, when a projectile penetrated the wall of the turret with a metallic clang and lodged there. The radio operator dropped down into the vehicle out of sheer fright. The next round pierced the portal armor and also stuck fast just in front of the poor fellow. This so horrified the driver that he jumped out and ran mindlessly into the desert. A third hit jammed the gun." - from the CMAK Companion, Chapter 30, "The Point of Pain"
"Silently the Maoris rose. Dyer saw them as a scattered band of dark figures under the trees… with knees bent, and leaning to the right they slowly advanced firing at the hip. They did not haka, for this was not rehearsed. Instead there rose from their throats a deep shout ‘Ah! Ah! Ah!’ as they advanced firing. Then the cartridges in their magazines being exhausted, they broke into a run with bayonets levelled and their shouts rising as they went…The air whistled and cracked with bullets. Men went down but they still charged. And the pride of the German army turned and fled." - from the CMAK Companion, Chapter 14, "Thinly Armoured Preamulators".
"As the firing tapered off, the Germans stared in awe at the scene before them, the burning American tanks almost seeming to have been lined up to have their picture taken. Wolff recalled how his battalion commander, “laughing like a boy, went from company to company asking us and himself too: ‘Did you ever see anything like it? Did you ever see anything like it?’”…“I can still see the long line of fires in front of which our tanks cruised up and down, their engines humming, calm yet proud after a good day’s work,” he recalled." - from the CMAK Companion, Chapter 71, "Proud After A Good Day's Work".
"But as the Italians attacked, the British got in the all-important first shot, their guns ripping through the Italian armor, turning M13s into burning coffins, wrecking eight. Before the stunned Italians could return fire, the British had withdrawn down the slope, to repeat the example, destroying seven more tanks with no loss. The Italians opened up with artillery and committed their reserves, as did the British. " - from the CMAK Companion, Chapter 7, "The Battery Commander, his Batman, and a Cook". |
The following is a list of books that we found to be useful in the creation of Combat Mission: Afrika Korps or that hold a great interest to students of World War II and most notably the conflict In Italy and North Africa. You may also wish to look at some titles we have for sale ourselves, online HERE as well as our own newly released CMAK: Companion Book available HERE.
Press
on Regardless : The Story of the Fifth Royal Tank Regiment in
World War Two
Submitted
by Adam Klewin -
Fallschirmjager in Crete By:
Jean-Yves Nasse
Excellent
book about German paras in crete, great pics maps and accounts. usually
you only here the Anglo side of the story, this gives both sides
fair play.
Daedalus
Returned
Limited 1,000 copy reprint of an extremely rare WWII memoir. This one of the few memoirs ever written by a former German paratrooper. The Baron was in command of a battalion of paratroopers in Crete, being dropped at zero hour near Canea and seven days later received the surrender of the town. This book is the full exciting account of preparation, landing and seven days of terrifying battle. This is an excellent read and the Baron has a flair with the pen. Captured in 1945 in the Ardennes the Baron was bitterly attacked for his anti-Hitler sentiments as a P.O.W., after the war he became a professor of law at the University of Wurzburg. This book does have a small photo section. Bound in full cloth using an exact copy of original dust jacket published originally in 1958!
An
Army at Dawn: The War in Africa, 1942-1943, Volume One of the
Liberation Trilogy
In An Army at Dawn, a comprehensive look at the 1942-1943 Allied invasion of North Africa, author Rick Atkinson posits that the campaign was, along with the battles of Stalingrad and Midway, where the "Axis ... forever lost the initiative" and the "fable of 3rd Reich invincibility was dissolved." Additionally, it forestalled a premature and potentially disastrous cross-channel invasion of France and served as a grueling "testing ground" for an as-yet inexperienced American army. Lastly, by relegating Great Britain to what Atkinson calls the status of "junior partner" in the war effort, North Africa marked the beginning of American geopolitical hegemony. Although his prose is occasionally overwrought, Atkinson's account is a superior one, an agile, well-informed mix of informed strategic overview and intimate battlefield-and-barracks anecdotes. (Tobacco-starved soldiers took to smoking cigarettes made of toilet paper and eucalyptus leaves.) Especially interesting are Atkinson's straightforward accounts of the many "feuds, tiffs and spats" among British and American commanders, politicians, and strategists and his honest assessments of their--and their soldiers'--performance and behavior, for better and for worse. This is an engrossing, extremely accessible account of a grim and too-often overlooked military campaign. Recently won the 2003 Pulitizer Prize for History! Rommels War in Africa By:
Wolf Heckmann Probably one of the best books on the North African campaign during WWII. Contains many excellent tactical anecdotes. A
Cavalryman's Story: Memoirs of a Twentieth-Century Army General About
a quarter of this biography covers Howze's service in North Africa
and Italy. Has some very good descriptions of combat in Italy.
Rommel's North Africa Campaign: September 1940 - November 1942 By:
Jack Greene, Alessandro Massignani
Decent
account of early African campaign, with lots of OOB and other info
for Italian troops.
Desert
War: The North African Campaign 1940-1943, Comprising Mediterranean
Front, a Year of Battle, the End in Africa
Excellent book, with many interesting accounts of small-unit actions and everyday life in this period. Without a doubt one of the most remarkable books of this war.
The Rommel Papers By:
Erwin Rommel, B.H. Liddell-Hart
This
book takes you through the events of World War II using the unedited
writing of General Rommel. Hart does a great job of insuring the
thoughts of Rommel are preserved. The hard bound version of this
book, has chalk drawing of Rommels battle plans. Cassino: The Hollow Victory By:
John Ellis Wow! Excellent accounts of US, British, French, New Zealand, Indian, and Canadian small-unit actions. Intense action along Gustav and Hitler lines. Certainly one of the better researched books covering the fighting around Cassino in Italy in 1944. Draftee
Division: The 88th Infantry Division in World War II It's
probably none of those "standard" books you'll find mentioned
in bibliographies, and that's why we list it here. It gives some
great "atmospheric" details about fighting in Italy, and
some pointers how a conscript division acted and reacted to their
baptism of fire. Only few detailed small unit actions immediately
useful for scenario design, but many many little details about the
combat in the Italian theater you won't find mentioned anywhere.
And - a chapter called "The Mythos of Wehrmacht Superiority:
Colonel Dupuy Reconsidered", which makes the whole book worthwhile
all by itself.
The Battle of Alamein: Turning Point, World War II By:
John Bierman, Colin Smith
Covers
the entire North African campaign. with forces leaders etc. It mainly
deals with Supercharge. Has errors though in German rank & weapon
descriptions, but overall is a good read.
The
End of the Beginning : From the Siege of Malta to the Allied
Victory at El Alamein
Deals with the the fighting in North Africa, largely based on the Allied perspective. Also covers a little known aspect of German intelligence reading the messages of the US military attache in Cairo, gave Axis forces an advantage for a time. The authors jump arounds a bit with covering political events outside the scope, i.e. Churchill's visit to Stalin, as well as individual experiences in Malta etc. Many first hand accounts as well as tracking the persona carreers after North Africa from Generals to individual grunts.
Tank Combat in North Africa: The Opening Rounds: Operations Sonnenblume, Brevity, Skorpion and Battleaxe February 1941-June 1941 By:
Thomas L. Jentz
Covers
tank actions in the opening phase of North Afrika, using after action
reports andwar diary entries from all combatants. Goes into technical
detail on all combatant's tanks, capabilities of AT guns, doctrine,
as well as TOE, strength, combat losses etc. Highly recommended!
Meeting
the Fox: The Allied Invasion of Africa, from Operation Torch
to Kasserine Pass to Victory in Tunisia
Covers
the North African theatre after entrance of the US Army with Operation
Torch from Sidi bou Zid, to the final battles in Tunisia. Main foucus
is on how the inexperienced poorly led& organized US army was
transformed into a battle hardened fighting force in only nine months.
Book is well written & easy to read with equal appeal to novices & grogs
in writing style & detail. As well as critical & fair in
his assessment of failures within US leadership.
INSIDE
THE AFRIKA KORPS: The Crusader Battles, 19411942 By:
Col. Rainer Kriebel, US Army Intelligence Service, Bruce I. Gudmundsson
The book on Crusader from the German viewpoint.
Excellent source of tactics fortifications, units, etc. - 16 pages
b/w halftones, 6 maps, 6 x 9 The German Afrika Korps was an outstanding military organization that witnessed both the heights of glory and the depths of defeat in the Western Desert campaign. This new book presents the battles of the Afrika Korps as seen through the eyes of a trained general staff officer, and gives a key insight into a formidable fighting force at the height of its powers. Kriebels
account highlights the German response to the Crusader offensive
and analyzes the unparalleled genius and fatal flaws of Erwin Rommels
generalship.
Afrika
Korps at War, Volume 2 : The Long Road Back
Not in depth, but some excellent photos on units, aircraft, and battlefield photos.
Afrikakorps,
1941-1943: The Libya Egypt Campaign By:
Franceois De Lannoy
Dual language (English-French) album with more than 400 pages filled with text, maps, around 800 photos (many previously unpublished), and 40 pages devoted to color photos. Rampant Dragons: New Zealanders in Armour in World War II By:
Jeffrey Plowman A fascinating account of New Zealands unique contribution to armor in both North Africa and Italy (perfect for CMAK). It is comprised of first person accounts which are aptly weaved together with comments and background from Mr. Plowman. Everything is talked about from engaging enemy Panthers in Italy to finding places to take a leak while under a mortar attack. Great insiight on armor actions and coordination between armor and infantry (or lack thereof) from the tank crews perspective. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED and well written!
The Recollections of Rifleman Bowlby By:
Alex Bowlby
Account
by a British ordinary soldier about service in Italy. Slim book,
very good read. The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, 1939-45 By:
E.G. Godfrey Regimental
history covering the whole wartime service of the battalions of the
regiment. Two battalions served in Africa and Italy (subsequently,
one was destroyed in the Sidi Rezegh battles). Very good accounts
of small-scale fighting on battalion level, maps, the works. Afrika Korps By:
Kenneth Macksey Good
write-up of the contribution and battles by the Afrikakorps to the
battles in North Afrika. Some nice analysis of the different styles
of Rommel and Cruewell. The Desert Rats : 7th Armoured Division, 1940-1945 By:
Robin Neillands Divisional
history based on interviews and a lot of research the author did.
starts in 1940-45. Good read.
Monty's
Marauders: Black Rat and Red Fox: 4th & 8th Independent Armoured
Brigades in WW2
Typical
Delaforce, crippled from individual memoirs, and some war diary entries.
The war history version of elevator music. Still, it is accessible.
Panzer
Battles: A Study of the Employment of Armor in the Second World
War
The
War North of Rome: June 1944-May 1945
Covers the Italian Campaign in great detail. Alamein: The Australian Story (The Australian Army History Series) By:
Mark Johnston, Peter Stanley
Alamein
was a decisive battle of the Second World War. Australia troops took
a leading - and costly - part in the battle. Sixty years on Alamein
and the North African war is virtually forgotten in Australia. This
book tells the story of the Australians who fought the climactic
battle of the desert war. Fusilier:
Recollections and Reflections 1939-1945
Professor
Robert O'Neill, Chichele Professor of the History of War, writes:
This is a wonderful story of war against Rommel in the North African
desert by a young infantry officer who later became one of the world's
leading historians of modern France. This book is another of Jack
McManners's beautifully perceptive works. He offers superb portrayals
of his experiences in battle, of how he felt in quieter moments,
and of how he as an intelligent, sensitive individual came to terms
with the sacrifices that all major wars demand of their participants. The Foxes of the Desert By:
Paul Carrell, Mervyn Savill A
fantastic account of the Afrika Corps and its battles in North Africa.
It gets down to the soldier level at times and has excellent discussions
about tactics. The
Battle for North Africa, 1940-43 This is one of the best books on the Desert War, a masterpiece but very hard to find. Filled full of battlemaps! German
airborne troops, 1936-45 Detailed
maps and accounts of the airborne assualt on Crete as well as detailing
German Airborne operations in general.
21st Panzer Division: Rommel's Africa Korps Spearhead By:
Chris Ellis
Has
detailed OOB for 21st Panzer during 1941 and throughout their service
in North Africa. Brazen Chariots By:
Robert Crisp Personal account of commanding Stuarts (Honeys) in the western desert. A classic.
Anzio,
Epic of Bravery
Drawing
both on personal recollections and an extensive documentary research,
Sheehan gives a highly detailed account of the actual fighting and
of the strategy behind it, placing Anzio into the broader perspective
of the battles for Cassino and Rome - Library Journal
Backwater
War : The Allied Campaign in Italy, 1943-1945
A
year before the much-heralded second front was opened at Normandy
in 1944, the Allies waged a campaign in Sicily and Italy--an assault
that was marked by argument and dissent from beginning to end, highlighting
the fundamental differences in strategic thinking between the Americans
and the British. Winston Churchill favored scrapping what would become
the Normandy invasion entirely, focusing instead on the "soft
underbelly" of Nazi Europe, but American planners summarily
rejected any plan that relied solely on a southern option. This is
the story of this backwater campaign, a series of battles skillfully
staged by the Germans and so botched by the Allies that their victory
was achieved only as a result of German exhaustion.
The
Crucible of War: Wavell's Command: The Definitive History of
the Desert War - Volumes 1-3
Three
volume history on the Desert War - "Wavell's Command"; "Auchinleck's
Command"; and "Montgomery and Alamein".
World
War II in the Mediterranean, 1942-1945 (Major Battles and Campaigns,
Vol 2)
The
Mediterranean theater, to many senior American commanders, represented
a sideshow, a bill of goods foist upon them by Winston Churchill
and his lieutenants, or a dark hole "into which one entered
at one's peril." Carlo D'Este, in this slim, concise volume
covers the action from Operation TORCH and the Tunisian campaign,
through the conquest of Sicily, the battles of Salerno and Anzio,
down to the Axis surrender in Italy. Short specific chapters with
good maps nicely explain the operational developments while short
analytic thumbnails delve into the personalities and backgrounds
of the senior commanders on both sides of the frontlines. D'Este
combines clear prose, well thought out analysis and up to date research
into this dual purpose work: if you're only interested in a general
summary of the theater read this book, and stop; if you want to pursue
this subject, use D'este as a starting point and, by building on
his excellent bibliographic essays, expand your library. I recommend,
in particular, D'Este's BITTER VICTORY (Sicily), FATAL DECISION (Anzio),
and anything by Martin Blumenson. Tug
of War: The Battle for Italy, 1943-1945 This
is a first-class analysis of Allied operations in Italy against skilled
and powerful German forces under the command of Albert Kesselring,
a master of defensive warfare. Much of the discussion here has to
do with what Graham and Bidwell, coauthors of Fire Power, call "the
grit in the gearbox of coalition warfare," a coalition of American,
British, Canadian, New Zealand, French and Polish units whose commanders
were not cooperative. The authors are astute in their evaluation
of the generals in question and their troops as well. General Mark
Clark comes across, for instance, as a grudge-bearing Anglophobe
who won victories almost in spite of himself. The fighting abilities
of the French and Canadian troops in particular are roundly praised,
in contrast to the American and British troops whose weaknesses are
analyzed in detail. Tug of War is mainly a study of the dynamics
of planning and execution over a period of 20 months, from the point
of view of the Allied generals. Recommended for serious students
of military history.
Rommel:
The Trail of the Fox
A
somewhat controversial biography of Rommel, but maybe exactly for
that reason well worth to read.
Cassell
Military Classics: The Desert Generals
This
book is a study of the leadership of the British army in the desert
campaigns of World War II, not a detailed blow-by-blow campaign history
- but still a very interesting read. Interviews with many senior
Desert Officers, information from private papers, and portraits of
the 5 most influential men in the battles.
21
Panzer Division: Normandy, Tarnopol, Arnhem
Excellent book about the 21st Panzer Division. Into
Battle with the Durhams - 8th DLI in World War II The
Durham Light Infantry are an English Regiment/Batallion based around
the city of Durham in the north of England.
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