TOBRUK the longest siege in British military history, and a word that conjures up all the dramas and tribulations of war in the Western Desert. This new study of the action is a rare book - an analytical reassessment by a veteran of the campaign. Frank Harrison ably combines the evocative style of one who was there with the more dispassionate evaluation of a writer who wants to present the whole picture.
The volume has three principal sections: die siege, in which the Australian 9th Division held out so manfully against Rommel's Afrika Korps; the breakout, where the British 70th Division broke clear of the fortress to create a corridor towards an intended rendezvous wiui the Eighth Army; and an important appraisal of the main opponent the Allied faced - the Desert Fox, Erwin Rommel. The understated role of the British division, the awesome battles they faced in opening and maintaining the corridor and the support to the action provided by the Royal Navy and RAF is clearly demonstrated and fully described. The author brings a veteran's knowledge to his account of the bloody conflict - the siege and the breakout - to redress the unbalanced account that the official histories and sundry studies have provided. Furthermore, the fresh look at Rommel - who suffered his first defeat at Tobmk - helps the reader decide whether this famed commander was a master strategist, an opportunist and exploiter of errors, or a self-promoter and stimulator of the myth that surrounded him. As examinations of World War Two events pass from nostalgia to pure history, this important volume will not only stand as testimony to brave Allied defence but will add significantly to existing literature on its subject.