August 24th, 2023, 12:14 pm
Yes, North Africa, WWII, the "gentleman's war" (no SS divisions in the desert!) between the Allied and Axis forces. El Alamein.
I bought "Rommel" by Desmond Young (1950, Collins) in a 2nd hand bookshop in Belfast. At one stage author talks about flaky, leaky, single-use British 4-gallon cans (like milk cans) compared to the ruggedised reusable German Jerry cans. It was not long before the Allies copied them.
The Italian army didn't cover themselves in glory during the campaign. The anecdotes are almost the same I once heard (almost verbatim) from one of Field-Mafrshal Rommel's desert rats a while back in the Black Forest. Rommel respected the New Zealanders the most.