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Fighting with the Desert Rats: An Infantry Officer's War with the Eighth Army

Hugh P. Samwell,

Martin Mace (Editor)

John Grehan (Editor)

4.20 · Rating details · 5 ratings · 1 review

This is a descriptive account of what it was like to serve as an Infantry Officer with the Desert Army in the Western Desert and Sicily between 1942 and 1943. The author is Major H.P. Samwell, MC, who was unfortunately killed on 13 January 1945, whilst serving with the 7th Battalion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, 51st Highland Division. The chapters include: FIRST ...more

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Hardcover, 214 pages

Published January 19th 2013 by Pen & Sword Books (first published 1945)

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Jul 17, 2016 Relstuart rated it really liked it

Shelves: history, memoir, world-war-ii

This book was written as things happened by a young Scottish officer fighting in Africa for Britain. As the introduction notes, it is written with refreshing simplicity. The writing is clear and concise while still descriptive of the author's emotions and experience.

The author talks about advancing and attacking Rommel as his experience was during the time the Allies pushed Rommel until they defeated him in Africa. He was wounded several times and once evacuated to South Africa to recover.

One This book was written as things happened by a young Scottish officer fighting in Africa for Britain. As the introduction notes, it is written with refreshing simplicity. The writing is clear and concise while still descriptive of the author's emotions and experience.

The author talks about advancing and attacking Rommel as his experience was during the time the Allies pushed Rommel until they defeated him in Africa. He was wounded several times and once evacuated to South Africa to recover.

One of the interesting things that was frustrating for the author (and will be for you as the reader) is the treatment the staff/HQ officers had for the fighting men. As towns were captured the staff folks would take over the nice places in town and bar the dirty ragged fighting men from them as being for staff and HQ officers only. The author also noted that luxuries were sometimes not available to the regular Tommy but the staff folks made sure they were taken care of. It seems a bit of poor leadership to treat people of the same rank differently to the detriment of the people in combat while fighting a war.

A few things of note. A captured German teen in the Army argued to him that the English and the Germans should be fighting on the same side against the Russians because they were the real enemy. Some authors have stated the idea that this was a widely held belief was a bit of a myth that became popular during the Cold War and helps excuse normal Germans from their support of the Nazi regime. Here is a primary source that seems to indicate this was not an unusual view for a rather ordinary German.

While talking to Americans the author and his mates were introduced to the Confederacy versus the Union history and always joined the side of the Confederacy in debates because the Confederates always took the side of the Scotts versus the English.

Some very frank discussion and arguments of a friendly nature took place between the Americans and the author. It's just the sort of discussion people with opposing views ought to have but I fear to often people are afraid to have because people will be offended (because these discussions do not happen as oft as they should people are often unprepared to handle themselves in the give and take of this sort of conversation, it has become a lost art to the loss of the average person).

The French and Algerian citizens oft expressed their rage at the English for bring the war to their part of the world. They felt the English should have surrendered and in so doing saved millions of lives that were being lost because of the war along with massive amounts of property damage. The author theorizes this was part of the reason France fell so soon, many people there did not feel dying for their country was worthwhile versus surrender and figuring out a way to get along with the stronger nation of Germany.

The author's regiment also participated in the invasion and occupation of Sicily and he records his experiences within this volume. The end of that campaign is where the book leaves off. The author later died fighting in France.
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