Crisis in the Desert. May - July 1942

8vo; original blue cloth titled in gilt on spine; pictorial dustwrapper; pp. x + (iv) + 368, incl. index; several folding maps and battle plans in colours; large folding map at rear; plates; sketch maps in text. Dustwrapper edgeworn, with some archival tape repairs to reverse, and a little rubbed; traces of foxing to edges, occasional fox spot elsewhere. Very good condition. "This book is concerned with the most critical phase of the campaign in the Western Desert. Investigations were begun in 1942 to establish the facts relating to the fall of Tobruk, but in due course the demands of historical perspective required that the field of enquiry should expand to include the German assault on the Gazala Line, with Rommel's consequent invasion of Egypt, his remarkable victory at Mersa Matruh, and the decisive check to his ambitions at Alamein. The fate of the 2nd South African Division at Tobruk, and the movements of the 1st South African Division between Gazala and El Alamein, require for their appreciation a grasp of the intentions and operations of the Eighth Army, which the authors have attempted to provide, and against this background have been fitted the movement and interplay of the various South African units and formations." - Preface.