Glyn Harper's new book is an exhaustive analysis of the trials and tribulations of the North African campaign, writes Clarke Isaacs. BATTLE FOR NORTH AFRICAEl Alamein and the Turning Point for World War IIGlyn Harper​Massey University PressBY CLARK ISAACSThe October 1942 El Alamein battle in North Africa, writes Glyn Harper, professor of war studies at Massey University, marked the first decisive defeat on land of an army commanded by a German general and containing panzer and infantry formations of the Wehrmacht. It was this Second Battle of El Alamein which British prime minister Winston Churchill described as "the end of the beginning", and the author has delved deeply to deliver up impressively detailed analysis of this decisive battle’s ebb and flow. Harper believes the battle of Alamein victory transformed the British forces. In an exhaustive analysis of the trials and tribulations of the North African campaign, none is more fascinating than the probing of the personalities of some sadly-wanting British top-ranking officers.

Source: Otago Daily Times November 19, 2017 16:18 UTC