Alexander, Field-Marshal Earl Alexander.
THE MEMOIRS OF FIELD-MARSHAL EARL ALEXANDER OF TUNIS, 1940-1945.
Cassell. 1962., VG/VG. Clean dust jacket in mylar protector.
On the front flyleaf is the inscription: "To my dear Friend
Eddie with best wishes. Alex. April 25th 1963." On the title
page is his signature again: "Alexander of Tunis, F.M." Laid in
is a Western Union telegram, folded into quarters. It is
addressed to Mr Edwin J Mejia of San Francisco and is dated
June 16, 1969, and reads: "DEEPLY REGRET INFORM YOU OUR
COLLEAGUE LORD ALEXANDER DIED EARLY THIS MORNING." Many maps &
photographs, index, 210 pages.
For pictures & full details.
$200.00
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Atkinson, Rick,
AN ARMY AT DAWN: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943.
NEW copy. Hardcover with dust jacket. Jacket in mylar protector. (NY: Henry Holt & Company, 2002).
Photographs, maps, extensive notes, bibliography, index, 681 pages.
~~~ "Rick Atkinson, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of The Long Gray Line
and Crusade, delivers a blockbuster in Volume One of his World War II Liberation
Trilogy. On paper, Operation Torch -- the American amphibious invasion of North
Africa in November 1942 -- had clear strategic goals: Join the British in the fighting,
expel Axis troops, regain the Mediterranean, and safeguard Suez. But complications abounded.
American planners favored Operation Sledgehammer (the cross-Channel invasion of France and
an advance on Berlin); Operation Torch was seen as supporting British imperial interests.
Atkinson highlights the dramatic Churchill-Roosevelt partnership and the maneuverings that
led to U.S. adoption of Torch and illuminates the roles of Harry Hopkins, George
Marshall, and Dwight D. Eisenhower -- the Allied commander in cliff-hanging operations
against the brilliant but finally exhausted German general Erwin Rommel. Atkinson's
clear-cut analyses and fast-moving, quotation-studded narrative bring American, British,
and Axis leadership styles and blood-and-sweat battlefield experience into sharp focus.
Key issues come alive: Allied strategy feuds fueled by the conflicting personalities of
Eisenhower and the British commander, Bernard Montgomery; Rommel's surprise moves; George
Patton's difficult genius; French grandstanding and double-dealing; the raw American troops
receiving their first battlefield experience; horrific physical conditions and near-insoluble
supply problems -- all are presented with keen insight. The ultimately victorious
six-month campaign achieved all goals, making possible the invasions of Sicily and Italy:
Churchill saw it as 'possibly the beginning of the end,' and the German propaganda minister,
Joseph Goebbels, admitted it was 'a second Stalingrad.' Undoubtedly it assured Eisenhower's
rise to supreme command and American dominance in subsequent WWII grand strategy. This is the
definitive account of the opening gambit by the Allies from a master historian and
storyteller."
$30.00
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Collins, Lawrence D., M.D.,
THE 56th EVAC HOSPITAL: Letters of a WWII Army Doctor.
NEW copy, still in shrinkwrap. Hardcover in dust jacket. University of North Texas Press, 1995. 40 b&w photos, map, bibliography, index, 352 pages. "Collins arrived in North Africa in 1943 as a member of the 56th hospital unit, which hailedfrom Baylor Medical College in Dallas, and eventually wound up in Bizerte, Tunisia. His letters to his wife and mother, often accented by wit or irony, first tell about his military and travel experiences and discuss books he is reading. Then the 56th crosses the Mediterranean to Italy and receives its first real combat experience, the most rugged part of it consisting of 73 days at the Anzio beachhead. Shelling and bombing become so intense that several patients go AWOL from the hospital and return to their units on the front line because they feel they will be safer there. Although a physician, Collins has to do a considerable bit of surgery; his work with gas gangrene proves especially interesting. Moreover, his descriptions of a Benedictine monastery above Pompeii and of other sites add interest to his engaging letters."
$30.00
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Del Valle, Colonel Pedro, USMC,
ROMAN EAGLES OVER ETHIOPIA.
NEW copy, Battery Press, Nashville. Reprinted from the 1940 edition., Hardcover. 53 photos/drawings, maps, 272 pp. "Roman Eagles over Ethiopia was written by then Colonel (later Lieutenant General) Pedro A. del Valle, USMC. Colonel del Valle was the official U.S. military observer with the Italian Army for what has become known as the Italo-Ethiopian War of 1936-37. Originally published in 1940, Roman Eagles over Ethiopia sets forth the events leading up to the expedition, the various handicaps of terrain and climate, the traits and defense of the natives, and the complete movements of combat operations by the Italian Army under Generals De Bono, Badoglio and Graziani. In addition to the narrative of the battles and marches, the author provides the motivating factors of the carnpaign. Dispositions, successive positions, communications, supply and all of the tactics and strategy of the operations are depicted in an additional 25 clear explanatory maps."
$39.00
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[Eighth Army] Members of the Eighth Army,
POEMS FROM THE DESERT.
VG+/VG+. Harper & Brothers, Publishers,
New York & London, Second Edition, 1944. Small hardcover with dust jacket in mylar.
Original "$1.75" price still on jacket. With a Forward by
General Sir Bernard Montgomery. "Poems,
written by fighting men in the heat of desert battle, that vividly record their emotions
and their essential spirit. Twenty-six of the twenty-seven poems which made up this
anthology were considered to be the best entries received in a poetry competition
organized by the Eighth Army's Education Officer in 1942 for members of the Army
serving in the Western Desert. This is the original edition, not the Ayer reprint. SCARCE, especially
in this condition and with jacket.
$65.00
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[Lemnitzer] Binder, L. James,
LEMNITZER: A SOLDIER FOR HIS TIME.
Brassey's, 1997. NEW copy. Photographs, notes, index, 385 pages. "From Publishers Weekly
On the 25th anniversary of the end of WWII, the U.S. Army planned a film series of famous generals, which was conceived to inspire military personnel "through the patriotic example set by great men." Included in the series was General Lyman Louis Lemnitzer. Though little known to the public, Lemnitzer had 51 years of Army duty, 27 of them as a general. He did not hold a top command in either WWII or the Korean War. He did, however, wield enormous influence on American military policy, as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, supreme Allied commander in Europe, vice chief and then chief of staff of the Army, and commander-in-chief in the Far East. Binder, former longtime editor-in-chief of Army magazine, offers a straightforward, heavily researched, fact-filled account of Lemnitzer's career from his early days as a West Point cadet to his death in November 1988. Lemnitzer was a superb planner, not a warrior, Binder shows, although he displayed exceptional courage and bravery when, as described in the most exciting bit of the book, he took a secret submarine trip to a seaside villa to help plan the Allied invasion of North Africa during WWII. Binder's writing is clean but not inspired, although he does provide enough detail on both political and military machinations to capture the reader's interest. In so doing, he fills out a book that is less a full-scale biography than a knowledgeable intelligence report of events that Lemnitzer was involved with during his distinguished life. "
$25.00
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Lucas, James,
PANZER ARMY AFRICA.
NF/NF. Jacket in mylar. London: McDonald & Jane's, 1977. First Edition. Photographs, appendices, bibliography, index, 211 pages.
"Here, for the first time in English, is the desert war from the German viewpoint. From the victorious advances
leading up to the point where the armoured might of the panzer divisions stood only a few hours' drive from Alexandria,
the story takes us through the bitterness of retreat to Tunisia where battles for isolated mountain peaks and little
villages replaced the panzer thrusts and dramatic advances which had once characterised military operations in what
the Germans described as 'the gentlemen's war'. The author has made extensive use of material from original German
sources and interviews with many men who took part in the campaign. Thus this highly readable account, fully illustrated
with photographs and maps, provides a fascinating insight into the struggles which Rommel and the commanders on the spot
fought not only against the British and Commonwealth troops together with their American and French allies, but also against
their own High Commands.
For these latter completely misunderstood the problems facing the armies in Africa and starved them of the men,
equipment and supplies which, had they been available at the time, might have brought victory to the Axis in the
African desert and made the Panzer Army part of a strategic pincer operation which would eventually seize the whole of
the Middle East and thus take control of the Suez Canal."
$35.00
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[Montgomery] Lewin, Ronald,
MONTGOMERY AS MILITARY COMMANDER.
VG+/VG. Minor creasing to jacket edges; jacket price-clipped. Book itself in nice clean condition. Jacket in mylar.
NY: Stein & Day, 1971. First Edition. Photos, maps, appendix, bibliography, index, 371 pages. "Montgomery's military career is traced from his searing yet humanizing experiences in Flanders as a young officer during the First World War, through the long period of rethinking and re-training between the wars to the climaxes of Alam Halfa, El Alamein, the planning of the Normandy landings and the subsequent campaign in Europe. The last chapters of the book deal with what is now considered the most controversial period of Montgomery's leadership -- the apparent failure to break out of the Normandy bridgehead at Caen; the near collapse of an harmonious relationship with Eisenhower and the arguments about the conduct of the final months of the war."
$35.00
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[Montgomery] Moorehead, Alan,
MONTGOMERY: A BIOGRAPHY.
VG+/VG-. Jacket has small tears, creases & minor chipping along extremities & spine ends. Book itself is in clean,
tight condition, with bright covers. Maps on end pages. MAP ON FRONT END PAGES IS UPSIDE DOWN. NY: Coward-McCann,
Inc, 1946. First Edition. Photographs, index, 255 pages. The first biography of Montgomery. "What happened to Montgomery in 1942 at Alamein, the critical moment of his life, the point where he shot off into the stratosphere? Was it merely good luck and a certain amount of native cunning? Is there something unknown in the years before and agood deal unrevealed in the years thereafter? Was he a good man who was simply kept down until that perilous moment because of his idiosyncrasies and his vanity? Was there some mystical experience in the desert? The questions are irresistable..."
$35.00
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Owen, David Lloyd,
PROVIDENCE THEIR GUIDE: The Long Range Desert Group 1940-45.
NF/NF. Nashville: The Battery Press, 1981. First U.S. Edition. With a Foreword by General Sir John Hackett.
Maps on endpages. Photographs, documents, bibliography, index, 238 pages. Uncommon early Battery Press reprint edition: No. 3 in their Elite Unit Series.
"Here at last is the full story of perhaps the most renowned and effective of those sometimes odd but always inspired formations born out of the desert during the Second World War. The author was with the Long Range Desert Group for most of its existence, and commanded the unit from 1943 till its disbandment in 1945. He covers not only the justly famed activities of the group in the deserts of North Africa, but also for the first time its later operations in the Aegean, Italy and different parts of the Balkans - Yugoslavia and Albania particularly -- where its adventures were appropriately colourful and often bizarre."
$45.00
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Reasoner, James,
ZERO HOUR: A Novel of World War II
Book III of the "Last Good War" series. VG/VG. Remainder dot on top of book (page edges). Jacket crimped but untorn at bottom of spine. Otherwise in new condition. Tom Doherty Associates, 2003. 494 pages. "November, 1942. In the Pacific with the U.S. Marines on Guadalcanal, and in North Africa with the British Armored Tank Command, James Reasoner puts readers into the thick of the most deadly action of World War II. The British Tank Command has been fighting an uphill battle with Rommel's Panzers. Brothers Joe and Dale Parker, detailed from the U.S. Army to help the British tankers, find themselves helping to turn the tide against the Desert Fox. Meanwhile, their friend Adam Bergman is in the Solomon Islands with the Marines, as the U.S. starts the bloody fight to reclaim the Pacific. Reasoner takes us into the heart of the fight in both theaters of war, and to wartime struggles on the home front, and in hospitals on ships and in temporary quarters near the fronts. The immediacy of his prose and the urgency of his story convey a passion and conviction that will stir the blood of anyone who cares about freedom and wants to understand its price."
$25.00
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[Rommel], Mitchum, Samuel W.,
ROMMEL'S GREATEST VICTORY: The Desert Fox and the Fall of Tobruk, Spring, 1942.
NF/NF. Jacket in mylar protector
(Novata, CA: Presidio Press, 1998). Maps, photographs, notes, bibliography, index, 243 pages.
From the publisher: "In May of 1942,
Erwin Rommel, already famed as the "Desert Fox," launched an audacious campaign against the
British forces defending the road to Alexandria, the Suez canal, and the oil-rich Middle East.
The prize was Tobruk, the most important port along the Libyan coast east of Tripoli, the Axis
base of operations. Possession of this fortress would give the Afrika Korps a secure base of
supply almost a thousand miles closer to the Egyptian border. The spring 1942 battle for
Tobruk is a study of Rommel, the foremost strategist and tactician of his generation, at
his best, daring but never foolhardy. It also studies Rommel the combat leader at his
greatest, discerning the critical moment in time and the critical point on the battlefield,
and then being present to personally influence the result."
Hardcover originally published at $27.95, now OUT OF PRINT. (Paperback currently in print at $18.95).
$30.00
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[Rommel], Watson, Bruce Allen,
EXIT ROMMEL: THE TUNISIAN CAMPAIGN, 1942-1943
NEW copy; hardcover with dust jacket. Greenwood Publishing. 248 pages.
From the publisher: "A study of Rommel's generalship in the context of the fateful Tunisian
campaign, this book explores Rommel's leadership through the influential variables of battle,
including logistics difficulties, weapons technology, and his relations with Hitler. The
legend of the Desert Fox colors most battle accounts of North Africa in World War II, but
this is the story of Rommel's performance in the face of defeat. After a detailed discussion
of the Alamein battles, July through November 1942, and Rommel's retreat to Tunisia, ending
in January 1943, Watson recounts the British and American invasion of North Africa and the
confused web of Axis command that spawned the debacle at Medenine." Currently in print at $52.95.
$50.00
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[Stirling] Cowles, Virginia,
THE PHANTOM MAJOR: The Story of David Stirling and His Desert Command.
VG/VG-. Jacket chipped at head of spine; jacket spine darkened. Jacket in mylar. Original '$3.95' price intact.
NY: Harper & Brothers, 1958. First Edition. Appendix, index, 320 pages. "In the dark and uncertain days of 1941, when the Desert Fox had gobbled up most of North Africa, a brash, six-foot-six lieutenant of the No.8 Commando slipped past the sentry at Brtish Middle East Headquareters and burst in on the Cheif of Staff. It was David Stirling with a simple, if unconventional idea: that a handful of skillful, highly trained men raiding deep behind Rommel's lines could wreak havoc on enemy planes, airfields and communications...
For the next fourteen months, often one hundred miles inside enemy lines, they destroyed planes, blew up car parks and ammunition depots, hijacked lorries, mined roads, derailed trains, set fire to petrol dumps and killed many times their own number. Their technique was to hide by day in one of the several southern oases or in a wadi near their objective, and then strike swiftly across the nighttime desert by jeep or lorry."
$25.00
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Zanuck, Darryl F.,
TUNIS EXPEDITION.
VG. Lacks dust jacket. NY: Random House, 1943. Second Printing. Former owner's signature on front flyleaf has been INKED OUT. Otherwise book is clean and tight.
Bound in buckram which has become dingy. Covers very slightly bowed. Maps on endpages, photographs, 159 pages. From the Forward by Damon Runyon:
"The author went to North Africa with the very first contingent of American officers, as a representative of Major General Dawson Olmstead, Chief Signal Oficer, and was in command of a large unit of p;hotographers detailed to film the operations, a task that was discharged with the most spectacular results. Colonel Zanuck, a masterhand with the lens, did much of the photographing himself at considerable personal hazard and, as you well sense from his story, with great joy in the excitement."
$25.00
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