The Crucible of War Book 2 'Comes as close as any work yet published to being a definitive account of the battles between German and Allied armies in the Sahara. ' Financial Times The Crucible of War is Barrie Pitt's definitive and much-acclaimed history of the Desert War. Pitt reconstructs one of the most dramatic theatres of the Second World War, drawing together every aspect of an epic campaign fought across 3000 miles of desolate and inhospitable terrain. Each volume in the series centres upon a decisive event in the Desert War, taking the reader from the outbreak of fighting in 1940 to El Alamein, the greatest breakthrough in the struggle against the Axis. Volume Two of The Crucible of War trilogy covers General Auchinleck's command - a period of disaster and defeat for the British Army, driven back towards Cairo by the Africa Korps under the tactical genius of Rommel. The book ends however with the replacing of Auchinleck by Montgomery in August 1942. Auchinleck's Command is essential reading for anyone interested in WW2, the British Army (it's strengths and weaknesses) and military leadership. 'A magnificent marriage of absolute accuracy and the writing of a novelist. He makes military history live as no other contemporary author does. " Manchester Evening News Barrie Pitt (1918-2006) was well known as a military historian and editor of Purnell's History of the Second World War and History of the First World War . His publications include Coronel and Falkland , Churchill and the Generals and The Crucible of War , a trilogy covering the North African campaign of the Second World War. He was born in Galway and later lived near Ilminster in Somerset.