Alamein - book - Book Review

Parameters, Spring, 2004 by Douglas Johnson, V., II

Alamein. By Jon Latimer. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2002.400 pages. $27.95.

This is a remarkably good telling of a very complex tale. Jon Latimer states his task as an attempt to provide an objective accounting of a battle about which several dozen books have already been written, several by notable historians. But Latimer quickly reminds us that most previous works have a rather strong bias vis-a-vis one or the other of the leading personalities, General Montgomery or Rommel in particular. To make it simple for those who have not read all the previous books, Latimer leads off with a concise historiography of the literature covering this campaign.

The events leading up to the climactic battle are treated with due thoroughness given the primary objective of the work. The chapter on Malta is wonderfully compact and informative, as are the chapters that lead the reader to the selection and arrival of later Field Marshal Sir Bernard Law Montgomery.

Once the battle actually begins, however, the reader is subjected to an almost numbing recitation of continuous attacks by one brigade or battalion after another. If the intent is to convey the true state of development of the British Eighth Army, the author does so with horrifying effectiveness. With rare exceptions the Eighth Army's infantry sacrifices itself with a doggedness reminiscent of the Somme and Passchendaele. Now and then the senior leaders are able to master the requirements of combined arms warfare, and when they do the units accomplish their missions with devastating effectiveness. They do so often enough to pull off a victory, but their inability to do so more often produces enormous casualty lists and compromises the pursuit that might have followed. This reviewer was struck by the mixture of hardened professionals laboring side by side with others who display almost 19th-century regimental (amateur) attitudes. This is an army that is learning its trade as a combined arms team at very high cost.

When I, as an American, set forth to criticize our allies for their shortcomings, I am obliged to recall that this book is focused on the 1940s and particularly 1942. I am further obligated to recall that when the American forces landed in North Africa in October 1942, they too demonstrated a naivete toward combined arms operations that yielded the debacle of Kasserine Pass. I cannot help but be struck by the fact that for two wars in a row, it took engagement in actual combat to enlighten American military leaders as to the realities of "the war upon which they are embarking," as Clausewitz warned. Observation and analysis, of which there was a good deal before American forces were employed in both World War I and World War II, evidently needed a great deal more lead time to generate an effective execution of what was learned in the training base. In the battle of Alamein, American Army Air Forces supporting the British Eighth Army demonstrated an ability to provide essential ground combat support, yet the knowledge of how to execute this critical function was decidedly absent at the battle of Kasserine Pass. The time was too short, and there was no extant mechanism, beyond a few liaison reports, that would have effectively captured and integrated those lessons-learned into the training base in a timely fashion.

As Latimer describes it, British Eighth Army artillery recovered the reputation of the World War I Royal Artillery Corps whenever all the pieces could be wired together for communication purposes and held in place. But the reader must wonder just how much firepower it takes to thoroughly subdue a crafty enemy. Latimer details the Eighth Army artillery preparations for the opening battle and several subordinate operations, but as those operations unfold, the infantry is shot to pieces time and again by undiscovered or undestroyed machine guns and Axis artillery. While facilitating the advance of the infantry for most of the time, the power of artillery in the defense appears to have been remarkable. Indeed, almost every major Axis counterattack is destroyed or halted by massive artillery concentrations--so long as communications held together--but there were many occasions when it was the "poor bloody infantry" that had to do the real work by manhandling the anti-tank guns when someone was thoughtful enough to provide them.

Latimer is sparse but decidedly high in his praise of the professionalism of the Eighth Army's support services. He briefly contrasts the Germans' paucity of all resources (and contrasts the "creature comforts" of their Italian allies), but except for the surfeit or deficit of petroleum products, none of the supply differential seemed to matter in the long run. I would dare to suggest that here is grist for another doctoral dissertation.

Latimer is about as evenhanded in his treatment of then-Lieutenant General Montgomery as anyone I have read and paints him well, warts and wisdom. He is likewise evenhanded in evaluating Monty's predecessors and subordinates. He presents sufficient evidence to dismiss several of the earlier attacks on Montgomery, but then leaves behind a mixed conclusion. In one sense Montgomery was wielding a blunt instrument, even if it did have several sharp edges. It is clear that he had a better grasp of the concept of combined arms warfare than did most of his subordinates and that he was able to force upon them a degree of mutual cooperation they seemed previously unable to achieve. It would, however, be too much to ascribe any particular brilliance to Montgomery at Alamein--much as he claimed for himself.