Books about Kasserine from Amazon.com

"...the first-person perspectives offered by Kirby and Köhler put this book on my recommended books list. These personal experiences definitely stirred some interest for me to research more on the design, evolution, and field performance of each of the two tanks.- C. Peter Chen, World War II Database (July 2008)


Smarting from their defeat at El Alamein and with directives to save the North African campaign, Rommel's battle-hardened armored divisions confronted a fresh opponent in the form of the newly arrived Americans. This would be a duel between the stalwart of the Wehrmacht armored divisions - the Panzerkampfwagen III - and the American's as yet untested first armored division. In reality both would prove unequal to the task as they floundered amidst the rugged hills and ravines of the Tunisian landscape. This book charts the design and development of these two disparate rivals - their vastly different armament and armor as well as their tactical concepts. Mutually hampered by the climate, terrain, and lack of experience, this was a desperate struggle for supremacy. Moreover, it was a duel with far-reaching implications. For the Americans it was their first baptism of fire and the outcome would determine their future war strategy. For the Germans, this was the final throw of the dice to regain the overwhelming superiority they had enjoyed during the first years of the war. Analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of these two deadly opponents, this book explores the successes and failures of the Grant and Panzer III as they clashed at the critical battles of North Africa. Moreover it is an insight into the lives of the tank crews themselves as they struggled with the twin horrors of tank warfare and the fight for survival amidst some of the most inhospitable terrain on earth..
Price: $9.33 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Praise for Meeting the Fox

"Orr Kelly has dramatically brought to life the desert war by masterfully weaving the view of higher headquarters with the pathos of the foxhole Meeting the Fox takes the reader on a gripping journey from North Africa's beaches and drop zones, the practically forgotten disaster at Sidi bou Zid, to the final battles in Tunisia. Meeting the Fox is destined to rank among the best narrative histories on the American experience in North Africa."
-- Patrick O'Donnell, author of Beyond Valor and Into the Rising Sun

"An almost bullet-by-bullet, shell-by-shell account, Meeting the Fox offers riveting personal experiences from those who fought the Axis forces during the desperate campaign for North Africa."
--Gerald Astor, historian and author of A Blood-Dimmed Tide and The Greatest War, Vols. I--III

As their unproven commanders struggled to match wits with the wily Desert Fox, 100,000 poorly equipped, undertrained, and inexperienced GIs battled their way across North Africa. Hobbled by inferior weaponry and an inexperienced officer corps, these green but courageous citizen soldiers clashed head-on with the fabled German Afrika Korps and its legendary commander, Erwin Rommel. Meeting the Fox tells the unforgettable tale of the men who transformed themselves, in the heat of battle, from a poorly organized army of convenience into a relentless and unstoppable fighting force..
Price: $5.44 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The North African campaign of November 1942-May 1943 was a baptism of fire for the US Army. After relatively straightforward landings, the US II Corps advanced into Tunisia to support operations by the British 8th Army. Rommel, worried by the prospect of an attack into his rear, decided to exploit the inexperience of the US Army and strike a sudden blow against their overextended positions around the Kasserine Pass. However, the Germans were unable to exploit their initial success, and later attacks such as at El Guettar were bloodily repulsed. The fighting in Tunisia taught the green US Army vital combat lessons, and brought to the fore senior commanders such as Eisenhower, Patton, and Bradley..
Price: $6.42 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The desert battle at Kasserine Pass in February 1943 was the first real confrontation between American and German troops, and the one that pitted Eisenhower's and Patton's leadership against Rommel's..
Price: $26.24 [Notify me when price goes down.]

.
Price: $3.95 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Those who imagined that the arrival of a major American force in North Africa would immediately tip the balance against Rommel's Afrika Korps were to be proved badly wrong.

Just how ill-prepared the GI Army and its generals were became horrifically apparent at the Kasserine Pass. In his typically thorough and fast-moving style, Charles Whiting examines these events and the reasons for the debacle, which shook America deeply..
Price: $24.34 [Notify me when price goes down.]

From the sneak attack that ignited the war with Japan to the Tunisian campaign against Rommel, this book puts you in the torpedo duels of Midway, the desperate struggle for Guadalcanal, and the first airborne drop into North Africa. THEIR WAR THEIR WORDS American fighting men engaged the enemy on land, at sea, and in the air. Now one of the nation's most acclaimed military historians presents an authoritative and dramatic three-volume oral history of World War II that is both richly sweeping and startlingly intimate. A gripping account of how American warriors, from buck privates to five-star generals, fought, bled, thought, and felt, THE GREATEST WAR is the ultimate tribute to the "greatest generation" -- a saga of unparalleled courage, honor, and glory..
Price: $7.99 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Written by award-winning journalist, acclaimedhistorian, and World War II veteran Gerald Astor, THE GREATEST WAR is an American combat history of World War II told largely in the words of the soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines who fought-and ultimately emerged victorious from-this battle. In this third volume, Astor highlights the exploits of General MacArthur in the Phillipines and General Patton in Germany and takes the reader from the Battle of the Bulge to the bombing of Hiroshima, and up through the end of the war. It is a gripping narrative of unparalleled courage, honor, and glory that is sure to become a military classic..
Price: $3.99 [Notify me when price goes down.]