GENERALSTAB DES HEERES. Entwurf Militärgeographische Angaben über Ägypten. Berlin: 1942.

Very rare German intelligence handbook on the British in Egypt.

8vo text volume (210 x 147 mm.), oblong 8vo volume of plates (147 x 210 mm.), both bound in the original orange printed wrappers, and 6 very large folding colour printed maps, 5 of which at a scale of 1:500,000, the other at a scale of 1:200,000, all contained with a printed card portfolio (the portfolio faintly soiled and rubbed, the remaining parts in mint condition).

RARE SURVIVAL IN EXCEPTIONAL CONDITION. The North African Campaign of the Second World War took place from 10 June 1940-13 May 1943. It swept across the deserts of Libya and Egypt, as well as in Morocco and Algeria (Operation Torch) and Tunisia (Tunisia Campaign). It was triggered by Italy declaring war on Britain 10 June 1940, with the British then invading Libya 4 days later. By December, the Italian 10th Army had been destroyed and the German Afrika Korps - commanded by Erwin Rommel, 'The Desert Fox' - was dispatched to North Africa in February 1941 to shore up the Axis. The British were subsequently pushed back into Egypt, before Montgomery won a convincing victory at the Second Battle of El Alamein in October 1942.

The present lot has a publication date of 20 June 1942, at the zenith of Rommel's advance. It has very many plates of strategic positions, including the Suez Canal, harbour facilities and railways, and exceptionally accurate maps. If the Canal had fallen into German hands, then Britain's strategic link to India and the Pacific Theatre would have been severed.

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