Morshead – Hero of Tobruk and El Alamein | David Coombes | First Edition 2001 [USED – HCDJ – Very Good]

David Coombes's biography of Lieutenant General Sir Leslie Morshead — the Australian commander whose 9th Division held Tobruk against Rommel's Afrika Korps for eight months in 1941, and whose troops played a decisive role in the Second Battle of El Alamein in 1942.

Morshead was a Victorian schoolteacher who enlisted as a private in 1914, served at Gallipoli and on the Western Front, and between the wars built a successful business career with the Orient Steamship Company. When war came again he became one of the finest divisional commanders of the Second World War.

His troops called him "Ming the Merciless" — after the villain in the Flash Gordon serials — in wry tribute to his relentless insistence on discipline and standards. The nickname evolved from resentment into affection as the 9th Division's results spoke for themselves. At Tobruk he told his commanders: "There will be no Dunkirk here. If we have to get out, we shall fight our way out. There is to be no surrender and no retreat." They held for eight months. At El Alamein he told them: "We must regard ourselves as having been born for this battle." The 9th Division's attacks drew upon them almost the whole of the Afrika Korps, creating the conditions for Montgomery's decisive breakthrough.

Coombes draws on Morshead's own diaries and papers, interviews and numerous archives to give unprecedented insight into a notably private man.

At 308 pages with black and white illustrations, maps, notes, bibliography and index, this is the most thoroughly researched account of Morshead's career.

CONDITION

Used, very good condition. Contact us on 03 6381 1545 for additional photos before purchasing.

BOOK DETAILS

• Hardcover with dust jacket.
• 308 pages, indexed.
• B&W illustrations, maps, notes, bibliography.
• First edition, published 2001 by Oxford University Press, Melbourne.

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