PENDULUM OF WAR The Three Battles of El Alamein Niall Barr JONATHAN CAPE LONDON This ebook is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form (including any digital form) other than this in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Epub ISBN: 9781446413708 Version 1.0 www.randomhouse.co.uk Published by Jonathan Cape 2004 2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1 Copyright © Niall Barr 2004 Niall Barr has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work First published in Great Britain in 2004 by Jonathan Cape Random House, 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SW1V 2SA Random House Australia (Pty) Limited 20 Alfred Street, Milsons Point, Sydney, New South Wales 2061, Australia Random House New Zealand Limited 18 Poland Road, Glenfield, Auckland 10, New Zealand Random House South Africa (Pty) Limited Endulini, 5A Jubilee Road, Parktown 2193, South Africa The Random House Group Limited Reg. No. 954009 www.randomhouse.co.uk A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 0–224–06195–X This book is dedicated to the memory of John Pimlott colleague, mentor and friend CONTENTS Maps Acknowledgements Introduction 1 War in the Desert 2 The Swing of the Pendulum 3 The Armies at El Alamein 4 The Crucial Day 5 Ruweisat Ridge 6 Tel el Eisa 7 Raw Bacon 8 Ruin Ridge 9 Operation Splendour 10 Emasculation 11 Interregnum 12 The Six Days’ Race 13 The Crest of a Wave 14 ‘Born For This Battle’ 15 Operation Lightfoot 16 Battle Without Hope 17 ‘Round and Round the Mulberry Bush’ 18 Operation Supercharge 19 Ring Out the Bells! Appendix A Appendix B Appendix C Appendix D Glossary Notes Bibliography Map 1: The Mediterranean and Middle East theatre. Map 2: The sea lines of communication to the Middle East base Map 3: The Axis lines of communication to Libya Map 4: The crucial day, 1 July 1942. The Africa Korps is held by the 18th Indian Brigade at Deir el Shein and the 90th Light Division’s drive to the coast is frustrated by fire from the Alamein box.