Tunisia Campaign

I have worked my way through the Crucible of War trilogy by Barry Pitt and am ready to continue the story into Tunisia. Are there any books of the same calibre that you might recommend with details of those battles such as Medinine and Wadi Akarit. On the same theme, are there any good books on the actions of the 78th Division (part of V Corps) in the N.African campaign until June 43.

 

To my knowledge there isn't anything of a similar calibre out there. For the British, the Military Series of the Official History deals well with the Tunisia campaign though. As for the 78th Infantry Division, try Ken Ford's book 'Battleaxe Division'.

 

Perhaps we need to write to Mr Pitt and urge him to write volume four of his trilogy.

Thanks for the reference for the 78th.

 

Unfortunately, Barrie Pitt died before being able to finish the work.

 

An excellent work, but very much from the US Army side is "An Army at Dawn" by Rick Atkinson (The Long Grey Line, Crusade et al)

 

A late thought, "Infantry Brigadier" by Bernard Kippenberger covers the NZ Div at the Mareth Line & Enfidaville.

 

I'm almost done with this book, and it is excellent.

 

Thanks for the recommendations. I bought Ken Ford's "Battleaxe Division" and am not immediately impressed. This book was published recently. I was hoping for something of the calibre of Cruble of War and am disappointed. I dislike finding silly errors. It worries me that there might be other errors that I do not spot. He mentions the British using Albatross bombers. I think he meant Albacore. He also describes the Honey tank as 'light' and the Grant tank as 'heavier'.

How does a proof reader allow this stuff through?

I'll search for Kippenberger's book next.

 

Having just finished Alan Moorhead's book "the Desert Campaign", I am keen to read more on the Tunisian campaign.

Moorhead is an exceptional writer (eg White Nile). The book deals with this personal experiences in the battles he viewed, good portion of which were the Tunisian campaign.

Whilst he has opened my eyes and surprised me with just how difficult things were for the First Army, he is a journalist and I think some of his thoughts are a bit suspect at times.

If I were to rely on this book I would consider the US Army contibution to be secondary to that of Anderson's First British (I will read the American recommendations above) and Montgomery's 8th Army does not seem to play a big part either beyond fixing the Germans at Enfidaville.

For balance I would like to read a comprehensive book from the military point of view.

I see that there is book - "Bloody Road to Tunis" by David Rolf - is it any good?

Have any new ones been published since this thread went dead in 2005?

 

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Well well - have I struck gold!

You have got give me a bit more information please.

 

I think the books which Opanapointer is referring to are reprints of the British Official History. They are of course primary sources but may not give a balanced overview ( as is the way with many 'Official Histories' ).

Tunisia seems rather neglected to me, although I'll admit it's not an area that interests me a great deal so I may be unaware of some good books.

One which I like is 'Kasserine Pass' by Martin Blumenson ( Houghton Mifflin 1967 ) - an early view of Kasserine from the American POV.

 

I would recommend Barry Barnes Operation Scipio for a first class coverage of Wadi akarit. Or for a first hand account of the battle you could also try my Dad's memoirs which also cover Dunkirk, sicily and d-DAY.
Paul