The Crucible of War: Montgomery and Alamein

The third volume explains how the Allies fared in their early efforts to defend Egypt from the wiles of Field Marshal Rommel and the German Afrika Korps. The series of Allied victories in the North African desert that routed the Italian defenders came to an abrupt end with Rommel's arrival on the scene. In the early clashes with the Afrika Korps, Britain's Field Marshal Richard O'Connor was captured, and Field Marshal Archibald Wavell was replaced as commander-in-chief by Field Marshal Sir Claude Auchinleck. Auchinleck had been an excellent soldier, but his choice of commanders turned out to be a disaster, as they were out-thought and out-fought by Rommel. Ultimately, Auckinleck himself took command and ended Rommel's immediate threat.