Author(s): Martin Mace (Compiled by, Introduction by); John Grehan (Introduction by, Compiled by)

Military

Dispatches in this volume include that on operations in the Middle East August 1939 to November 1940 by General Sir Archibald P. Wavell, Commander-in-Chief, Middle East; the dispatch on operations in the Middle East February 1941 to July 1941, by General Sir Archibald P. Wavell, Commander-in-Chief, Middle East; operations in the Middle East July 1941 to October 1941, by General Sir Claude J. E. Auchinleck, Commander-in-Chief, Middle East; operations in the Middle East November 1941 to August 1942, by General Sir Claude J.E. Auchinleck; Operations in Middle East 16 February 1943 to 8 January 1944 by General Maitland Wilson.This unique collection of original documents will prove to be an invaluable resource for historians, students and all those interested in what was one of the most significant periods in British military history.REVIEWS Grehan and Mace present for the first time a collection of unabridged despatches from operations covering Tobruk, Crete, Syria, and East Africa. The Middle East Command was formed in August 1939, under General Sir Archibald Wavell, who assembled a multinational force when Italy declared war on France and Britain in 1940. Wavell s mixed force faced over 200,000 Italian troops in Libya and over 200,000 in Italian East Africa. Outnumbered, he went on the offensive. His first and second dispatches describe his operations in the Western Desert. The third covers British support for Greece and the defence and withdrawal from Crete. The last two are from General Auchinleck and provide a detailed account of the operations in Libya. Grehan and Mace reproduce the despatches as they first appeared some 70 years ago, unedited and unmodified. Protoview"