Desert Rats: British 8th Army in North Africa 1941–43 (Battle Orders, 28)

This is not a true order of battle. While the text does state what divisions were in the Western Desert Force and the 8th Army, that is all it tells you. There is no list of the regiments within each division. No list of commanding officers or dates of service. In the case of the 4th Indian Division, for example, based on the photos supplied in the book a reader without access to detailed information might assume that the division was composed entirely of Sikh troops. In fact the division had Baluchi, Rajput, and Gurkha troops as well. Diagrams are provided of ideal, on paper, units, and some of actual units which saw service in north Africa, but these are of limited value as no T.O.&E. accompanies them. Much text, which is well written, is spent on the major actions of the 8th Army, such as Operation Crusader and El Alamein, but the text does not add to the understanding of what units were involved, how they performed, and such. The reader must rely on general view-type maps to learn how large scale units, such as divisions, participated in certain battles, but there is no effort made to show how the constituent parts of each division maneuvered in those battles. Major military operations, such as the ones Western Desert Force and 8th Army participated in are covered in more and better depth in works by Osprey and other publishers. I cannot recommend this book to anyone who is looking for unit specific accounts and information.

This Osprey publisher’s series book is wonderful for anybody interested in the Desert Rats which fought against Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps during in North Africa through Libya until they defeat the Afrika Korps at El Alamein, Egypt in 1943. [WWII].Appropriate tactical maps, images and well-researched text.

As I do research, I seek a piece of material as my starting point before looking for more exacting information. These Osprey books (not the Men at Arms series) are good for that. Mainly, I look for maps and order of battle; this book satisfies that requirement. I reccomend this book.

Funny night this, three book I reviewed now, and my dad had a part in each chapter. be it a Desert Rat tank Driver, 42nd RTR in Afrika, was point tank on July 21' 1942 his whole regiment was wiped out and he was captured. (He escaped German pow camp near Dresden in April45). I bought and read this last year and sent my son, also Richard, and also a Tank driver, now commander, USMC, the same book ! Worth reading

The Battle Orders series is a fairly new arrival in the Osprey canon, one which crams data, information graphics, photos and historical analysis into Osprey's trademark slim booklet package. Tim Moreman's Desert Rats is a prime example of the strengths - and perhaps the weaknesses - of the series.Pros:- Large, detailed battle maps and a score of organizational charts- Detailed, operation by operation analysis- Covers lesser-known aspects of the campain in detail, for example the valuable contribition of British artilleryCons:- Couple of factual errors, couple of editorial mistakes- The prose is at times denseOther observations:- I can't speak to the allegation that Moreman follows conventional British historiography slavishly. I didn't find that to be the case, but I'm not an expert on the campaign.I suspect the challenge with Osprey's Battle Orders series in general and perhaps Desert Rats in particular is that these books occupy an interesting yet uncomfortable middle ground in military history studies.Although there's plentiful photos, maps and information graphics similar to other beginner WWII books, the subject matter - detailed TOEs, battle orders and operational history are a bit too dry and complicated for your average armchair historian.On the other hand, cramming multivolumes of data and analysis into a 96-page spread while inevitably making mistakes and omittng the details and the nuance doesn't seem to satisfy the experts either.But no matter - Battle Orders is an attractive and informative product series. I found Desert Rats to be fascinating, and would recommend it to anyone interested in a more in-depth exploration of the WWII North African theatre.

Good overall potted history in easy to read form. Nice selrction of photos and diagrams to supplement text.

Great read, lovely gift.Bought it for my father, whose father was in this unit....he didn't put it down all over the holidays.

An excellent compendium of the various units in the 8th Army and their organisational composition. These tables help readers to understand how performance in battle was affected by the composition of various units and also how far advanced the Germans were in armoured warfare.

Brill

Informative but presentation could be better