Afrika Korps

Ballantine's Illustrated History of World War II / the Violent Century: Campaign #1

by Kenneth John Macksey

Minor wear on bottom edge of spine. Pages are clean.

Genres: History, Military Fiction, World War II, War, Military History

160 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1968

About the author

British author and historian who specialized in military history and military biography, particularly of the Second World War. Macksey was commissioned in the Royal Armoured Corps and served during the Second World War (earning the Military Cross under the command of Percy Hobart). Macksey later wrote the (authoritative) biography of Hobart.Macksey gained a permanent commission in 1946, was transferred to the Royal Tank Regiment in 1947, reached the rank of major in 1957 and retired from the Army in 1968.

Amongst many other books, Macksey wrote two volumes of alternate history, one, entitled Invasion, dealt with a successful invasion of England by Germany in 1940 and the other describing a NATO–Warsaw Pact clash in the late 1980s. The latter book was done under contract to the Canadian Forces and focuses on the Canadian role in such a conflict. He was an editor and contributor to Greenhill's Alternate Decisions series since 1995.

In Macksey's Guderian – Panzer General, he refuted the view of historian Sir Basil Liddell-Hart regarding Hart's influence on the development of German Tank Theory in the years leading up to 1939.

Reviews

[David Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I though this was an excellent book about the German Afrika Korps in the Desert Campaign of 1941 to 1943 . The author was a military man ( he wrote 40 books before he died )
I have always found any book by Kenneth Macksey to be well-written , fully researched , and above all VERY readable . The main strength of this edition of the Purnell's History of the Second World War series is that you are clearly able to follow the progress of the Battles of the Afrika Korps . This is greatly helped as it has a lot of superb , easy to follow Maps with photos of the desert areas , the terrain , and illustrations of the Tanks and Artillery used .
The book is an excellent guide to the Afrika Korps, and highly recommended .

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting book about the role of the Afrika Korps in the African Theatre during WWII. However, I was disappointed. The author was a military man but not a writer, and his descriptions of the military maneuvers tended to be dense and sometimes difficult to follow. The book does not stand alone well as an introduction to the Afrika Korps, and I think it was only my own previous background knowledge that allowed me to follow as much as I did.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think Macksey does a great job of showcasing the Afrika Korps campaign without getting too swallowed up into the nitty-gritty of each battle. When I started out I wondered how this was just not going to turn into a Rommel biography of the African campaign but he did a great job of separating the two and focusing on the unit itself and their campaigns. The North African Theatre is such an interesting and unique side to WW2 with so many factors that other campaigns and theatres did not have to deal with so I appreciated getting a good look into that. Overall I enjoyed it but I would have preferred the maps to have been right at the forefront of each chapter as I was trying to picture certain parts in my head and did not realize until the end of the chapter itself that there was a map to accompany it. I eventually caught on but something I found kind of annoying during the first half of the book.

[Shara · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very thorough blow by blow retelling of the African campaign, and especially Rommel.

It’s extremely technical but what I really struggled with was the geography. The author may be intimately familiar with every point of reference of North Africa but I’m not.

The way you’ll suddenly be reading about completely different places than just before, with no explanation of how they might relate to the previously named places is jarring.

[Michael Laflamme · Rating 4 out of 5]

An older book made valuable by an author who served in the war and understands the characters, strategies, tactics, and technologies employed by both sides. Loaded with priceless photographs and drawings of military vehicles and airplanes used in all the particular engagements in North Africa. This whole series of books is highly recommended. 4 stars.