Destiny in the Desert Jonathan Dimbleby

The Battle of El Alamein – the stuff of legends and the first major Allied victory of World War 2. The battle that caused Churchill to declare it ‘The first victory and the last defeat’.
On the eve of the battle in 1942, the Allies faced an uncertain future. They had endured nigh on three exhausting years of conflict in the desert, fighting the Axis forces under Rommel, the ‘Desert Fox’. The appointment of General Montgomery seemed little more than one last throw of the dice. But the change in their fortunes was so dramatic it prompted one of Churchill’s most memorable aphorisms: ‘Before Alamein we never had a victory. After Alamein we never had a defeat.’
In this exhilarating account of the road to El Alamein, Jonathan Dimbleby shows how, far from being an unnecessary diversion, the battle marked the climax of a conflict that shaped the outcome of the Second World War. It provides an incredibly vivid portrait of what it was like for the politicians, civil servants, military commanders and soldiers who struggled and sacrificed in war capitals across the world and across the harsh, dusty battlefields.
Drawing on first-hand accounts and official records, from soldiers on the ground and politicians in the know, Dimbleby creates a thrilling narrative that redefines the battle as a tipping point in British fortunes. Published to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the battle, this is a major – and personal - project from Jonathan Dimbleby, whose own father Richard broadcast for the BBC from the desert in 1942.

Source: www.history.co.uk