The Memoirs of Field-Marshal Earl Alexander of Tunis 1940:1945 – John North (editor)

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The Memoirs of Field-Marshal Earl Alexander of Tunis 1940:1945 – John North (editor)

“By repute he was Winston Churchill’s fire brigade chief par excellence: the mar. who was always despatched to retrieve the most desperate situations.” Lieutenant-General Sir Brian Horrocks wrote these words in his description of his first meeting in the desert with General Alexander, Commander-in-Chief Middle East, and afterwards Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Eighteenth and Fifteenth Army Groups, Commander-in-Chief Allied Armies in Italy, and last, Supreme Allied Commander, Mediterranean.

And at that time, August 1942, a fire brigade chief par excellence was desper-ately needed in North Africa. The Allied forces, though clinging resolutely to the outposts of Alamein, had been flung back across the desert by Rommel, who expected to sweep onwards to the Nile Delta, the Suez Canal, and Com-plete Axis domination of the Mediter-ranean. Alex brought a new hope to the Desert Rats. He instilled them with his own confidence, thought of victory where others had made plans against defeat, until under his brilliant command, Montgomery was ready to fight and win the battle of Alamein.

But even as his generals drove the enemy from North Africa, Alexander was planning far ahead-for Sicily and the first major seaborne invasion by either side during the war, the assault on Italy and the problems of campaigning there, over a seemingly unending succession of mountain ranges, ravines and rivers, where places called Salerno, Anzio and Cassino were to become part of history.