Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research 99/397

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BOOK REVIEWS

was only to be found on the Western Front. However, he also understood the value of the so-called sideshows and the appeal of cheap, quick victories among the German colonies (p. 197). This book will appeal to a broad range of readers due to the diversity of subjects with which Callwell was associated during his career. Yet it does gloss over some aspects that readers may wish to learn more about. This is a solid account of Callwell’s professional life, literary accomplishments, and his importance as a strategic thinker. However, there is very little written here about Callwell’s personal life. Readers are left to draw their own conclusions that Callwell, unmarried and without children, led a lonely life. While he kept up personal correspondences, they do not shed much light on the man behind the pen. However, this is not the primary focus of this book. Whittingham claims that ‘the time has come for a full assessment of Callwell as a thinker, critic, historian and strategist’ (p. 19). He has succeeded in providing it. D AVID R ETHERFORD Tampa, Florida EIGHTH ARMY VERSUS ROMMEL: TACTICS, TRAINING AND OPERATIONS IN NORTH AFRICA, 1940-1942, by James Colvin. Helion: Warwick, 2020. ISBN: 9781913336646, pp. 262, £29.95 “The CO then sent me off to Bde, to find out what was happening, Bde said there was nothing to worry about, so I returned and informed the CO. By this time the flap was reaching prodigious dimensions with people going almost too fast to stop and tell one what was happening. So the CO sent me off again to Bde. They, although very apprehensive, said there was nothing to worry about and Div confirmed this. As I drove back to the Bn I saw more and more vehicles pouring back, the whole desert was alive with them, kicking up a lot of dust.” This excerpt, derived from a letter penned by Major J. B. Colvin of 2nd Battalion, the West Yorkshire Regiment, captures the atmosphere of muddle and confusion, papered over by an assumed façade of confidence and imperturbability, that pervaded British and Commonwealth forces during the disastrous battle of Gazala in June 1942, and indeed much of the Western Desert campaign. Published by his son, James Colvin, in the Summer 2019 edition of the Journal (Vol. 97), this letter also served as inspiration for the book under review , which examines the conduct of the North African campaign, alongside the doctrine, tactics, and outlook that defined the British approach to waging war in the desert. This is no staid retelling of a well-trodden narrative, but one that approaches the campaign from a fresh and interesting perspective. Rather than simply focus on the myriad engagements of the campaign in isolation, Colvin weaves into the narrative a deep analysis of the cultural outlooks and tribal loyalties that underpinned the British way of war. This is made immediately apparent by the book’s opening