The time frame considered here, April 1941 to August 1942, saw the darkest hours of the Allies fortunes in North Africa: on several occasions it appeared that they were on the brink of defeat and expulsion from the Mediterranean coast of the continent altogether. With the notable exception of Operation Crusader the period saw a succession of Allied battlefield defeats both in offense and defense. It also saw a series of British generals- Neame, Beresford-Pierse, Wavell, Cunningham, Ritchie and Auchinleck-all of whom faltered when confronted with the inspired tactics of Erwin Rommel, probably the finest battlefield commander to face the British during the Second World War. The campaign in North Africa changed dramatically with the arrival in the western desert of Rommel and his famed Deutsches Afrika Korps (DAK) instead of competing against a highly incompetent inefficient and ineffective Italian High Command, the Allies found themselves up against the latest strategic and tactical concepts, carried through by a dynamic, aggressive leader. It took a long time for the British High Command to adapt and begin to cope with this new presence - time the Allies did not really have. Luckily for the British, the German High Command's decision to treat the North African theater as a side-show, combined with Rommel’s occasional lapses into over-confidence, led directly to massive logistical problems at the front that prevented the Axis army from finishing off its opponents. Before Montgomery arrived, and with him the primacy of logistic considerations on the desert battlefield, it was Rommel who caught the world's attention with his sweeping attacks and daring offenses, often made when significantly outnumbered and out-gunned. These thrusts nearly always brought battlefield victory for the Afrika Korps. It was just lucky for the allies that the Axis failed to turn these victories into significant long term strategic games. -- From the introduction, (page 7)

Cassell military paperbacks. Originally published: London: Arms & Armour, 1998.

Operation ‘Sunflower’ -- Operation ‘Brevity’ -- Operation ‘Battle Axe’ -- Operation ‘Crusader’ -- Operation ‘Theseus’ -- Operation ‘Venezia’ -- The beginning of the end.