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BestsellerE-book
Author Fennell, Jonathan, 1979-

Title Combat and morale in the North African campaign : the Eighth Army and the path to El Alamein / Jonathan Fennell.

Publication Info. Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, [2011]
©2011

Item Status

Description 1 online resource (xix, 341 pages) : illustrations, maps.
Physical Medium polychrome
Description text file
Series Cambridge military histories
Cambridge military histories.
Summary "Military professionals and theorists have long understood the relevance of morale in war. Montgomery, the victor at El Alamein, said, following the battle, that 'the more fighting I see, the more I am convinced that the big thing in war is morale'. Jonathan Fennell, in examining the North African campaign through the lens of morale, challenges conventional explanations for Allied success in one of the most important and controversial campaigns in British and Commonwealth history. He introduces new sources, notably the censorship summaries of the soldiers' mail, and an innovative methodology for assessing the impact of morale on rates of psychological breakdown, sickness, desertion and surrender. As a result he is able to show for the first time that a major morale crisis and stunning recovery decisively affected the Eighth Army's performance during the critical battles on the Gazala and El Alamein lines in 1942"-- Provided by publisher.
"We have come through another great war and its reality is already cloaked in the mists of peace. In the course of that war we learned anew that man is supreme, that it is the soldier who fights who wins battles, that fighting means using a weapon, and that it is the heart of man which controls this use. (S.L.A. Marshall) On 20 October 1942, three days before the start of the battle of El Alamein, General Georg Stumme, in temporary command of the German and Italian Panzerarmee Afrika, informed his commanders that 'the enemy is by no means certain of victory. We must increase that uncertainty every day ... The feeling of complete moral superiority over the enemy must be awakened and fostered in every soldier, from the highest commander to the youngest man ... From this moral superiority comes coolness, confidence, self-reliance and an unshakeable will to fight. This is the secret to every victory' "-- Provided by publisher.
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 301-332) and index.
Contents Introduction -- Morale crisis and recovery -- Technology, firepower and morale -- Quality of manpower and morale -- Environment, provisions and morale -- Welfare, education and morale -- Leadership, command and morale -- Training and morale -- In search of a theory to explain combat morale in the desert -- Conclusion.
Local Note eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - North America
Subject Great Britain. Army. Army, Eighth.
Great Britain. Army. Army, Eighth.
Battle of El Alamein (Egypt : 1942)
World War (1939-1945)
World War, 1939-1945 -- Campaigns -- Africa, North.
El Alamein, Battle of, Egypt, 1942.
World War, 1939-1945 -- Psychological aspects.
Psychological aspects.
Morale.
Morale.
Combat -- Psychological aspects.
Combat -- Psychological aspects.
Psychology, Military.
Psychology, Military.
Chronological Term 1939-1945
Genre/Form Electronic books.
Other Form: Print version: Fennell, Jonathan, 1979- Combat and morale in the North African campaign. Cambridge, UK ; New York, N.Y. : Cambridge University Press, ©2011 9780521192705 (DLC) 2010030395 (OCoLC)650504704
ISBN 9781139042345 (electronic book)
1139042343 (electronic book)
9781139044974 (electronic book)
1139044974 (electronic book)
9780511921513 (ebook)
0511921519 (ebook)
9780521192705 (hardback)
0521192706 (hardback)