The Turn Of The Road

Chatto and Windus 1946. 1946. 8vo. Blue cloth hard cover in D/W. Minor foxing to title pages and minor foxing to end pages. 122pp. 5 diagrams. 3 fold out maps. In this book Bartimeus presents a first-hand record of one of the most crucial half-years in the war - November 8th, 1942, when the first allied landing was made in North Africa, to May 9th, 1943, when it had become evident that, in spite of intitial misfortunes, the immensely difficult and ambitious project had been successful. The most important of the eleven sections deals with naval matters paying particular attention to the parts played by the Royal Navy and the Merchant Navy, supplemented by some extremely interesting statistics. Bartimeus also describes a number of specific naval actions and exploits of individual vessals. His account includes quotations from records and signal logs which, with their staccato humour and supreme understatement, relieve the tension of the story and reveal some remarkable personalities. The naval aspect of the campaign is seen in relation to the military strategy and to the political background, with particular reference to the French, whose attitude is clearly analysed. .