Meeting the Fox: The Allied Invasion of Africa, from Operation Torch to Kasserine Pass to Victory in Tunisia

by Orr Kelly

Praise for Meeting the Fox

"Orr Kelly has dramatically brought to life the desert war bymasterfully weaving the view of higher headquarters with the pathosof the foxhole. Meeting the Fox takes the reader on a grippingjourney from North Africa's beaches and drop zones, the practicallyforgotten disaster at Sidi bou Zid, to the final battles inTunisia. Meeting the Fox is destined to rank among the bestnarrative histories on the American experience in NorthAfrica."
-- Patrick O'Donnell, author of Beyond Valor and Into the RisingSun

"An almost bullet-by-bullet, shell-by-shell account, Meeting theFox offers riveting personal experiences from those who fought theAxis forces during the desperate campaign for North Africa."
--Gerald Astor, historian and author of A Blood-Dimmed Tide and TheGreatest War, Vols. I--III

As their unproven commanders struggled to match wits with the wilyDesert Fox, 100,000 poorly equipped, undertrained, andinexperienced GIs battled their way across North Africa. Hobbled byinferior weaponry and an inexperienced officer corps, these greenbut courageous citizen soldiers clashed head-on with the fabledGerman Afrika Korps and its legendary commander, Erwin Rommel.Meeting the Fox tells the unforgettable tale of the men whotransformed themselves, in the heat of battle, from a poorlyorganized army of convenience into a relentless and unstoppablefighting force.

Genres: History, War, World War II

400 pages, Hardcover

First published April 12, 2002

Reviews

[James Rooney · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book really puzzled me, I was unable to ascertain what the author's thesis or goal was in writing this book.

It does not read like a standard campaign history, it is often interspersed with personal anecdotes of individual soldiers and airmen, with strange asides like who the men ended up marrying and at least a few mentions of bordellos.

Operation Torch is passed over very quickly, and American activity in North Africa outside of Tunisia is given short shrift. The narrative moves rapidly to the advance into Tunisia but here it is often confused and hard to follow.

The eponymous Fox in the title is, of course, Erwin Rommel, but he is hardly mentioned in the text at all. We get very little insight into what was happening among the Germans, as the focus is almost entirely on the Americans, and in particular on select individual experiences.

The maps were not very helpful, generally only depicting Tunisian hills that are known only by their height (e.g. Hill 609); where the Axis front line was, or where they had their concentrations, are not shown.

The author makes a strange defence of Fredendall, and while he might be justified in stating that Harmon and Alexander's last minute decisions arguably did not materially alter the outcome of Kasserine Pass or save the American position (as he argues it was instead German timidity), it's still a bold man who would seek to rehabilitate the almost universally loathed Fredendall.

You learn a great deal of information, but it never seems very coherent and it never seems to add up to any point. It was enjoyable enough to read, but I was glad when this book was finished.

[Edward Yurick]

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[Arthur Rohloff · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fairly decent overview of the North African campaign, but it lacks any real depth and analysis, and often strays into meaningless territory.