Together We Stand: North Africa 1942-1943: Turning the Tide in the West

By James Holland

Book Overview

From the bestselling author of Fortress Malta this is the second book in the Mediterranean war trilogy. This book looks afresh at the conflict in Northern Africa, focusing for the first time on the involvement of the US and the way this early collaboration to defeat shaped the whole Anglo-American axis for the rest of the war in Europe.

By June 1942, Britain had reached her lowest ebb. Her military command was in tatters, her armies beaten, and in the Middle East it seemed all might be lost. Her new ally, America, had only fledgling armed forces and was severely under-trained, yet it was this alliance of the weary combatant and na ve newcomer, coming together for the first time in North Africa, that would eventually bring about the defeat of Nazi Germany.

This crucial period - from defeat at Gazala through to the victories of Alamein and, ultimately, Tunisia - was a time of learning for the Allies. Yet by the end Britain and America had finally gained material and certain tactical advantages over Germany, particularly in air warfare. As this book shows, the development of a tactical air force - principles that are still used to this day - were founded over the skies of North Africa.

When the Axis forces were finally driven from North Africa in May 1943, over 250,000 Axis troops were taken prisoner, more than had surrendered to the Russians at Stalingrad. It was a major victory and a crucial steppingstone to the future invasion of Italy and France.

In this new reappraisal, James Holland interweaves the personal stories of the men - and women - who made up these polyglot Allied forces: British and American, Nepalese and Punjabi, South African and Australian, Maori and Zulu, from all ranks and all services. From the heat and dust of the Western Desert to the mud and mountains of Northern Tunisia, this book charts the extraordinary first days of an Alliance that has worked together ever since.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0007176465
• ISBN13: 9780007176465
• Release Date: January 2006
• Publisher: Richard Batstone
• Length: 880 Pages
• Weight: 2.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 2.0" x 5.0" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Outstanding.

James Holland has come from nowhere to produce the best military history book for many years, maybe the best in the last decade. If you enjoy what I call "narrative" military history in the tradition of Cornelius Ryan, Max Hasting and the Rick Atkinson then Together We Stand is a must have book. It is better than the books by any of the three mentioned above and they set very high standards. Together We Stand covers much of the same ground as the excellent An Army At Dawn by Rick Atkinson but starts far earlier in '42. Sixty percent of the book deals with the fighting in the summer and autumn of '42 before Torch and the North African landings. The style is the traditional one of mixing high quality research, operational analysis and person accounts. Only James Holland does this better than even Rick Atkinson, and I am one of those who though the hype surrounding Rick Atkinson's An Army At Dawn was fully justified. James Holland gives greater prominence to the air war than most books and describes that warfare more eloquently than others. But for those more interested in ground warfare, as I am, do not be alarmed as the ground war still gets the majority of the coverage and is covered in great detail. It is a big book at over 700 pages of main text but never falters. An outstanding mixture of analysis, story telling and page turning thriller all in one. I hope there will be a long line of military histories to come from James Holland. In James Holland military history has a new star.