Tunisgrad: The Sunday Times bestselling author's gripping new history about World War II campaigns in Africa

by Saul David

FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF SKY WARRIORS AND SBS, COMES AN EPIC HISTORY ABOUT THE NORTH AFRICAN CAMPAIGN DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR.

In early 1943, three Axis defeats changed the course of World War at Guadalcanal in the Pacific, Stalingrad in Russia and Tunisia in North Africa. Historians have recognized the significance of the first two campaigns, but not Tunisia which they have either ignored or characterized (as the Americans did at the time) as a sideshow. Yet it ended Axis seapower in the Mediterranean, destroyed more than 2,400 Axis aircraft (40 per cent of the Luftwaffe’s strength), and resulted in the surrender of over 250,000 German and Italian troops, as many as were captured at Stalingrad. After Josef Goebbel’s compared the scale of the defeat to the destruction of General Paulus’s Sixth Army in Russia, it was known to the German public as ‘Tunisgrad’.

It was the first campaign fought by the Anglo-American alliance, and would determine how and where the Allies would fight for the rest of the war. It was where America first brought to bear the full weight of its industrial strength, and where the Allies learned, after early setbacks, how to defeat the Germans with a combination of air, land and sea power. But its chief significance is that it was the campaign that extinguished any lingering hopes that Italy could win the war and led, inexorably, to the dissolution of the Axis in Europe when Italy surrendered in September 1943. By destroying the Axis it marked, for Hitler, the beginning of the end.

Tunisgrad will be the first comprehensive 360-degrees history, told from the perspective of all the combatants, and ranging in focus from politicians and senior commanders to ordinary servicemen fighting in and over the mountains of Tunisia, and across the Mediterranean. It will use sources – many archival and never published before – from all the main nationalities British, Indian, New Zealand, Australian, South African, Greek, French and Americans on one side; and Germans and Italians on the other.

Saul David's book 'Sky Warriors' was a Sunday Times bestseller w/c 2024-04-29.

Genres: History, World War II, Nonfiction, Africa, Military History, Audiobook

576 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 11, 2025

About the author

SAUL DAVID was born in Monmouth in 1966 and educated at Ampleforth College and Edinburgh and Glasgow Universities (History MA and PhD).

An expert in the wars of the Victorian period, he began writing his first history book when he was twenty-five and has since completed eight more. They include: The Homicidal Earl: The Life of Lord Cardigan (1997), a critically-acclaimed biography of the man who led the Charge of the Light Brigade; The Indian Mutiny:1857 (2002), shortlisted for the Westminster Medal for Military Literature; Zulu: The Heroism and Tragedy of the Zulu War of 1879 (2004), a Waterstone's Military History Book of the Year; and the bestselling Victoria's Wars: The Rise of Empire (2006). In 2007 he signed a three book deal with Hodder & Stoughton to write a series of historical novels set in the late Victorian period. The first, Zulu Hart, was published on 5 March 2009 to critical acclaim with The Times describing it as a 'rattling good yarn' with 'a compelling, sexy hero who could give Cornwell's Sharpe a run for his money'. He is currently writing a history of the British Army.

Reviews

[Simon Mee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A valid subject matter that David handles smoothly, if not massively deeply. It is more a campaign chronicle than a detailed analysis. However, David keeps the narrative clear and does not spend too much time in trying to over analyse every engagement, which would have slowed coverage of 6 months (which is a significant period for a campaign).

Surprisingly on sale for an extremely cheap price on Amazon Kindle at the time of this review - I would have expected it to hold its value longer.

[Adam Fitzpatrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yeah - as expected really.

Really good in depth insight into the second half (ish) of the desert campaign.

I think listening to an audiobook version of this makes it difficult to actually follow at times, wish I had a nice map or two to use to sort of get my bearings.

Not Anthony Beevor but very good!

[Abe Staples-McCall · Rating 5 out of 5]

A campaign that has little said about it but was a victory on the scale of stalingrad and involved the key allied players of the next two years. brilliantly written, it cantered through the campaign without missing details but avoiding being bogged down.

[John Hounslow · Rating 3 out of 5]

An excellent account of this pivotal campaign. Slightly spoiled in my opinion by the maps which did not cover the full extent of the campaign and too often did not include key points mentioned in the narrative.