Desert War
Long Range Desert Group. By W. B. Kennedy Shaw. (Collins. 12s. 6d.) NEARLY a hundred years ago, in a Manual of Outpost Duties, -there was published a diary written by a young officer of the 43rd Light Infantry, who acted as Crauford's A.D.C. during the campaign of aro. That young officer, later to be known as General Shaw Kennedy, would have understood and delighted in this book by his almost-namesake. Speaking of Crauford, the earlier writer said that "it was on calculation that he acted all along," and these words might very well be applied to the exploits of the Lcing Range Desert group. For this group was not a collection of harum-scarum brigands, but a band of men expert at their tasks, carrying out a series of intricate and carefully planned operations.
Major Kennedy Shaw was intelligence officer of the Long Range Desert Group, which was founded in 1940 by Brigadier Bagnold, and which operated unceasingly in the desert until the fall of Gabes in 5943 brought the desert war to an end. The nucleus of the group was composed of men who knew the interior of Libya well from peace-time journeys of exploration. They trained and gathered round them New .Zealanders, Rhodesians, Indians, Guardsmen and men from British Yeomanry Regiments. The tasks they carried out
were various—reconnaissance, survey, attacks on oases, disruption of communication—but they may be conveniently summed up in General Wavell's phrase, "adding to the anxieties and difficulties of our enemy." Major Kennedy Shaw has not only told his own per- sonal story; he has compiled from the reports and _diaries of others a complete story of the Group's activities. In his pages we are able to read not only of the L.R.D.G., but of other units which from time to time worked in' co-operation with it-, such as Stirling's Special Air Service and Leclerc's Free French. The story is throughout a fascinating one. It is well told, and therefore easily read, and has good illustrations, from photographs and drawings by Peter McIntyre, which help to convey an impression of _What the desert is like.
Major Kennedy Shaw's book is undoubtedly an important con- tribution to the history of the war in the Middle East. It fills in and completes the account of a single long-range patrol which Major Crichton-S wart had already published in the Army Quarterly, and which Major Kennedy Shaw has used for his chapter on Murzuk. But after reading the book one is inclined to think most not of -the operations, but of the men who carried them out. Most of the men we meet in these pages seem to be enjoying their work. There are moments of grimness, but the general tone of the book is light-hearted. Many loved the desert already like the author himself, they seem glad to be paid for doing something which before the war they had had to do at their own expense. Others have an obvious delight in adventure for its own sake. This may be seen bestmf all in the expedition made by Stirling and others, including Randolph Churchill, to Benghazi or in the delight with which Haselden explained the plan for a raid on Tobruk in which he was to be killed. Other memorable passages in the book are to be found in the description ' of Timpson's "Road Up "-sign miles behind the enemy lines, or in the brief account of Philip Arnold's career as car salesman in Aden, Foreign Legionary, and transport manager for an American goldmining company in Arabia. In short, the book may be 'redoin- mended as a tonic to anyone who is suffering from any doubt about the vigour and initiative of this generation. S. H. F. JOHNSTON.
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