The desert war produced commanders of dash and originality on both sides and the memory of the German commanding general, Erwin Rommel, has endured as the epitome of skill, daring and soldierly integrity. His victories were brilliant until he was bested by poor health, lack of reinforcements and an opposing commander who was his equal. The contribution of his various troops is detailed in a full order of battle which includes his veteran Afrika Korps and Italian allies, and their uniforms are shown in full colour arwork.

Martin Windrow is series editor at Osprey and an authority on the post-war French army, particularly the Foreign Legion. He is the author of the very successful Men-at-Arms 300: French Foreign Legion since 1945, Men-at-Arms 322: The French War in Indochina 1946-54 and the critically acclaimed The Last Valley: Dien Bien Phu and the French Defeat in Vietnam (2004).Martin Windrow was born in 1944 and educated at Wellington College. Since the 1970s he has worked in book publishing as a commissioning and art editor specializing in military and aviation history, and is currently a freelance editor and writer working from his home in Sussex, England. He is an Associate of the Royal Historical Society and of the Foreign Legion Association of Great Britain. In 2004 his major study “The Last Valley: Dien Bien Phu and the French Defeat in Vietnam” was published to critical acclaim in Britain and the USA.