The Crucible of War: Western Desert 1941

by Barrie Pitt

The definitive, three-volume history of the Desert War 1940-1943

528 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Barrie William Edward Pitt was educated at Portsmouth Southern Grammar School before becoming a bank clerk. After service in the Second World War Pitt worked as a surveyor, joined 21 SAS (TA), with whom he rose to the rank of sergeant, and started to write for the magazine Adventure. Pitt also worked for a time as an information officer at the Atomic Energy Authority establishment at Aldermaston, where he demonstrated a talent for turning scientific information into readable prose

In 1958, Pitt wrote a novel, The Edge of Battle, and Zeebrugge, an admired account of the First World War raid on the Belgian U-boat base. This led to a long and prolific career as an author and editor of popular histories. Under the overall editorship of Sir Basil Liddell-Hart, he was responsible for the first major part-work, Purnell's History of the Second World War, a 96-instalment mass circulation series which was launched in 1966 at the Imperial War Museum. He also worked as a researcher for the 1960s BBC television series The Great War.

Reviews

[Bill Lenoir · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent narrative and analysis of the first year or so of the war in North Africa during World War 2

[Ian Willey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good account mixing strategy with small actions, flowed really well

[Steve Dedier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very readable history of the desert war. Its a bit of a profusely of the times with the flowery descriptions but a good read to get the big picture and the difficulty with desert war.

[Dave Morris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written, exhaustive (but not exhausting!) narrative history. Filled in a historical blank spot for me. Highly recommended for those interested in the topic; it'll be my go-to reference

[Nick Boldrini · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a cracking book, if slightly misleadingly titled. Whilst the main focus is on the Western desert, there is a significant amount of detail about operations in East Africa, and also some mention of operations in Syria/Palestine and Greece. This is because these operations affected the Western desert operations, but also adds to the book by helping to give a wider context to the Western desert theatre. Well written, this mixes anecdotes well with history, and includes quite a few well drawn maps, which aid immeasurably with understanding of operations and battles. If the description of Operation Crusader gets more confused, this probably represents the reality of it well. There are some nice illustrations of various tanks, and overall this book has a very readable, accessible feel to it, without (as far as my knowledge allows me to judge) detracting from its accuracy and explanation.

[Bill V · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great and detailed book of the desert war in 1941. It also covers in good detail activities in other theaters of the war such as Iraq, Somaliland and Sudan.
This hardcover book is the first part of a two part series. The next book is called The Crucible of War: Year of Alamein 1942.
Another excellent feature of the book are the multiple and extensive maps. This is so important when trying to follow battles and campaigns. Every history book should be this thorough.