While Nazi Germany was busy conquering Western Europe in the summer of 1940, hoping to emulate Hitler in Western Europe, Mussolini aimed to conquer North Africa, only to be routed by far smaller British and Commonwealth forces that drove out the invaders and captured the entire Italian Tenth Army.

This defeat led Hitler to send the Deutsches Afrika Korps, commanded by Rommel, to bolster the Axis forces in Africa. From April 1941, the 'Desert Fox' and his Allied opponents fought many bitter battles across the inhospitable deserts of North Africa, the fighting raging back and forth as first one side and then the other gained control. The battle of Alam Halfa in July 1942 saw Rommel thwarted just outside Cairo and the Suez Canal. The battle of El Alamein in October that year was the turning point in North Africa, with Rommel being forced into a long and stubborn withdrawal towards Tunisia. The Germans were forced to fight on two fronts after the Allied 'Torch' landings in French North Africa, and were finally defeated in May 1943.

In this new book, well-known military writer George Forty tells the story of these turbulent campaigns through the camera lens, in a series of evocative photographs illustrating every aspect of the Desert War, supported by clear and engaging narritive.