A wide view of a flat, barren desert landscape with sparse rocks and a pale, sandy surface under a clear sky.

Topography Is Fate

North African battlefields of World War II

FOREWORD | HILARY ROBERTS

Topography Is Fate examines the various landscapes of North Africa that the Allied soldier of World War II endured. Thousands of miles from home, largely untraveled and ignorant of lands and peoples outside his home country, he was dropped onto the shores of what must have seemed a dangerous and alien environment, with his understanding of the land limited to stereotype, myth, and the relevant army field manual.

Seventy years have not yet eradicated traces of the fighting (campsites can still be found), evident by the amount of ration tins, trench systems, and pillboxes that still carry the marks of battle. Unexploded shells, barbed wire, and mines still litter the landscapes of North Africa and occasionally claim yet another victim, as if the land is continuing to remind us of the tragedy of war. These photographs depict the peaceful landscape that it is today, so very different from that of yesterday.

Over the course of the two and a half years that I spent working on this project, I traveled across North Africa from Egypt to Tunisia to photograph these unfamiliar North African landscapes where many crucial battles in the North African campaign were fought. The sites were found utilizing old battle maps to follow the paths that the Allied military units had used, and these sites had not been seen and certainly not photographed in more than sixty years.

This project and subsequent monograph could never have happened without the historical knowledge of Steven Hamilton and the logistical support of his various teams in North Africa. His research of the historical battlefield sites and understanding of the region are truly what made this project possible.

We traversed these countries in the midst of the kind of turmoil that had not been experienced there since World War II. Steven’s dedication to my project and his confidence kept us pressing on, even through the most dangerous and trying of times. He dealt with lodgings that had been burned by protesters the night before in the middle of nowhere, and with the crowds that surrounded us at the makeshift memorial to Tarek al-Tayeb Mohamed Bouazizi in Tunisia, and also got us through the document-stamping labyrinth of the territorial border between Egypt and Libya during their revolutions and civil war, and through being detained for hours by local rebel forces at a checkpoint in Libya. Throughout these ordeals, Steven’s composure and sensibility are what got us through.

Desert landscape with rocky foreground, sparse bushes, and distant hills under a pale sky.
Desert landscape with rolling hills, sparse vegetation, rocks, and dry terrain under a clear sky.
A sandy beach with dry grass in the foreground, green shrubs and hills in the background, and a partly cloudy sky overhead.
Arid desert landscape with sandy terrain and sparse green shrubs under a partly cloudy sky.
A barren, rocky desert landscape with sparse grass patches, a discarded rusted shell casing in the foreground, and a few small trees scattered in the background under a cloudy sky.
A flat, sandy desert landscape with sparse small bushes and rocks, under a clear blue sky.
A desert landscape with scattered bushes, a pile of rocks in the foreground, and a few bent, sparse trees in the background under a hazy sky.
A sandy beach with gentle waves and a cloudy sky, with dunes and sparse vegetation along the coast.
Rocky beach shoreline with ocean waves, distant hill, and cloudy sky.
A barren desert landscape with sparse vegetation and a rectangular adobe-style building in the distance under a partly cloudy sky.
A small dry creek with reddish rocks and green bushes on both sides, in a wooded area with trees and cloudy sky.
A rugged dirt trail winding through a desert landscape with sparse vegetation, rocks, and leafless trees, leading up a hillside under a cloudy sky.
A vast desert landscape with a flock of sheep grazing on sparse vegetation under a clear blue sky.
A vast flat desert landscape with a distant mountain range under a partly cloudy blue sky.
A vast desert landscape with reddish-brown, rocky hills and mountains under a cloudy gray sky.
Overcast sky with sun rays breaking through clouds over a green hilly landscape.
Empty sandy beach with gentle waves, distant mountains, and overcast sky.
A desolate desert landscape with a lone, leafless tree in the center. The sky is overcast with dark clouds, and distant hills with sparse vegetation are visible in the background.
Desert landscape with sparse vegetation, concrete structures in the foreground, and a clear blue sky.
A desert landscape with sparse vegetation, a circular entrance to a bunker in the foreground, and a view of hills leading to a coastline with the ocean in the background.
A stone structure in a desert landscape with sparse vegetation, under a mostly clear sky.
Top of an American grenade from World War II placed on a large rock outdoors with grass and twigs in the background.
A rocky hillside with sparse vegetation and large red and gray rock formations under a clear blue sky.
A dirt trail winding through a desert landscape with dry grass, shrubs, and rocky hills under a partly cloudy sky.
A dry, arid landscape with sparse vegetation and a small green patch, under a blue sky with scattered white clouds.
A herd of sheep grazing on a desert landscape with shrubs, under a cloudy sky with a hill in the background.
A landscape of rolling hills with sparse trees and greenery, with some trees showing peeling bark, and an overcast sky in the background.
A barren desert landscape with scattered rocks and sparse vegetation, under a cloudy sky with dark, looming clouds.
A desert landscape with rocky, sandy terrain and sparse vegetation, rolling hills in the distance, under a bright blue sky with scattered white clouds.
Open landscape with rolling hills, rocky outcroppings, and sparse vegetation under a partly cloudy sky.
Desert landscape with sparse bushes and a clear sky, featuring a small pile of rusted metal objects in the foreground.
Arid desert landscape with reddish soil, scattered bushes, and rolling hills under a partly cloudy sky.
A coastal landscape with rocky cliffs in the foreground, waves crashing against the rocks, a sandy shoreline in the distance, green hills and a partly cloudy sky.
Close-up of a faded red sprinkler head in dry, cracked dirt with sparse small plants.
A desert landscape with scattered bushes and rocks under a hazy sky.
Open grassland field with a clear blue sky and scattered clouds.
A barren, rocky desert landscape with sparse vegetation and rolling hills in the distance. In the foreground, there is a large, circular concrete structure embedded in the ground, possibly an industrial or water management feature.
Wetland landscape with water, tall grasses, and a distant horizon under a cloudy sky, with a flock of birds flying overhead.
A river with surrounding green grass and trees, under a cloudy sky with patches of blue.
A solitary tree on grassy hills under a blue sky with scattered white clouds.
A railway track running through a dry, barren landscape with low bushes and mountains in the distance under a cloudy sky.
A desert landscape with mountain ranges in the background, a trail of railroad tracks, and desert plants such as cacti and agave on either side.
Shot of a rugged, dirt coastal landscape with sparse vegetation in the foreground, distant hills at the water's edge, and a calm ocean under a clear sky.
A rural landscape with scattered trees and dry, rocky ground. In the background, there is a weathered, abandoned brick structure and a cloudy sky.
A vast, flat desert landscape with dry, light-colored sand and minimal vegetation, a barbed wire fence running through the scene, and a clear blue sky overhead.
A dry, desert landscape with sandy ground, sparse vegetation, a small leafless tree, and brownish cliffs under a partly cloudy sky.
A rusted, weathered cigarette or similar-like object on dry, sandy ground.
A desert landscape with large, twisted trees, rocky ground, distant mountains, and a cloudy sky.
A vast desert landscape with sparse vegetation and small bushes, under a clear sky with some light clouds.
A wide, flat desert landscape with a clear sky and scattered rocks and debris on the sandy ground.
Desert landscape with rocky formations, sparse vegetation, and a clear sky.
Open grassland with small water body, rolling hills, and a cloudy sky.
Desert landscape with sandy terrain, small bushes, and a natural rock arch formation under a cloudy sky.
Desert landscape with sparse vegetation and a man-made concrete water trough or drain in the foreground, with rolling sandy hills in the background.
Wide view of green grassy fields under a cloudy sky with distant hills.
Wide view of a flat, dry desert landscape with distant mountains and a pale blue sky with wispy clouds.
A vast, arid desert landscape with sparse desert shrubs and small bushes, distant low mountain hills under a pale, overcast sky.
Desert landscape with scattered bushes, red cliffs in the background, and a small building atop the cliffs under a cloudy sky.
A barren desert landscape with scattered small bushes and rocks, under a hazy, dusty sky.
A dry, sloped hillside with scattered trees, shrubs, and rocks under an overcast sky.
A wide sandy beach with sparse vegetation and small bushes, with water and a distant shoreline under a partly cloudy sky.
A vast desert landscape with sandy terrain and sparse green bushes, under a clear blue sky with some light clouds.
Arid desert landscape with rocky terrain, sparse vegetation, a small water pool, and distant hills under a clear sky.
A desert landscape with reddish sand, scattered small bushes, and a pale sky.
Close-up of a rusted, grenade from World War II lying on rocky, dirt ground.
Ancient stone ruins on a hillside with sparse desert vegetation, including small bushes and succulents, under a cloudy sky.
A desert coastline with rugged cliffs and hills overlooking the ocean. An old, abandoned well or cistern is in the foreground with arid, sparse vegetation surrounding it.
View of a coastal landscape with sandy shores, rocky outcrops, and green plants in the foreground. The ocean stretches to the horizon under a cloudy sky with dark clouds overhead.
A dry, rocky hillside with sparse green bushes and several tall, light-colored trees under a cloudy sky.
A dry, rocky landscape with a narrow green grassy trail in the middle, bordered by low bushes and rocks, extending into the horizon under a clear blue sky.
A green grassy pathway through a rocky desert landscape under a clear blue sky.
A marshland with tall, yellow-brown grasses and a small water stream, under a pale, cloudy sky.
Desert landscape with rocky terrain, sparse bushes, a prominent tree, mountains in the background, and cloudy sky overhead.
Desert landscape with dry, rocky ground and sparse bushes, mountains in the distance, and a pale sky.
A desert landscape with reddish rocks, sparse green bushes, and large rock formations or cliffs in the background under a clear sky.
A rocky coastline with beige and reddish rocks and a small pool of water, with ocean waves crashing against the rocks in the background.
A barren desert landscape with a few small, white buildings and a green fenced area in the foreground, hills with sparse vegetation, and utility towers in the distance under a cloudy sky.

FOREWORD TO THE MONOGRAPH | HILARY ROBERTS

The War in North Africa was memorably described by Alan Moorehead as a “tragedy of three years and three acts.” Moorehead, a renowned war correspondent, covered the Allied campaign from beginning to end and subsequently became its historian, publishing The Desert War Trilogy in 1944. Moorehead’s intimate knowledge of the battlefields and his ability to conjure pictures through words enabled him to convey the experiential reality of the desert war like no other writer of the day. Matthew Arnold’s beautifully realized photographs of the North African battlefields take us on a similar journey. Topography Is Fate—North African Battlefields of World War II is a striking evocation of the enduring legacy of the events described by Moorehead seventy years earlier.

Between September 1940 and May 1943, Allied and Axis powers, their colonies, and occupied territories waged war against each other in a struggle for control of Middle Eastern oil fields, the Suez Canal, and vital supply routes to Asia and East Africa. Initially, the war was waged in the vast, empty deserts of Libya and Egypt. Fortunes of war waxed and waned in these hostile and unforgiving environments, which Lieutenant General von Ravenstein, commander of the German 21st Panzer Division, summed up as a tactician’s paradise and a quartermaster’s nightmare. The Second Battle of El Alamein and the arrival of US armed forces formed a decisive turning point in late 1942. The campaign moved west, engulfing Morocco and Algeria before concluding in Tunisia.

A total of seventeen nations confronted each other in North Africa. The brunt of the fighting was borne by Britain, the British Empire, Germany, and Italy. For France, divided and occupied, the campaign was one of several agonizing confrontations between the rival forces of Vichy France and the Free French. For America, it was a baptism by fire. Accurate casualty figures are not available for all the nations involved. However, it is estimated that more than 775,000 men were killed, wounded, missing, or captured.

Eyewitness accounts record how the belligerents waged war with the desert as well as with each other. The desert was an environment that lacked the essentials of life and any form of infrastructure. Debilitating extremes of temperature, choking dust, and disorientating sandstorms were constants. Water, food, and shelter had to be transported over rough, arid terrain in which roads were nonexistent and permanent landmarks few and far between. Compasses were unreliable. Maps were inaccurate. The average life of a vehicle was just six months.

Nevertheless, mobility was the defining characteristic of the desert war. Accommodation was temporary, capable of being relocated at a moment’s notice. Defenses were also temporary, often consisting of little more than hurriedly excavated earthworks, ditches, barbed wire, and minefields. Those that were permanent, such as the fortifications of the Mareth Line, had been constructed mostly before the war. Moorehead wrote, “We made no new roads. We built no houses. We did not try to make the desert liveable, nor did we seek to subdue it. We found the life of the desert primitive and nomadic, and primitively and nomadically the army lived and went to war.” Axis forces sought a more orderly existence in vain. They “tried to subdue the desert. And in the end the desert beat them.”

Cecil Beaton, who toured the war zone as a British official photographer in 1942, voiced the ambivalence felt by many toward the desert: “Yet although there can be no more wasteful, heartless and purposeless theatre of war than the desert, still it possesses advantages. It is a healthy battleground, unlike the disease-spreading mud and miasmas of the 1914 trenches: most men are physically fitter than ever before in civilian life. Life here is primeval, and from this very simplicity seems to spring a new contentment. Often the men become so contented that they are said to be ‘sand happy.’”

Conflicts are shaped by a number of variable factors, but terrain and environment are always key. Knowledge of battlefield topography, an understanding of the local environment, and a strategy adapted to both are essential prerequisites for any successful military operation. Such knowledge and understanding are also vital for anyone with a genuine interest in understanding the nature of a conflict years after the event. Today, thousands visit the more accessible European battlefields of the two world wars every year. Popular understanding of the slaughter on the Somme in 1916 or at Omaha Beach in 1944
is informed by the ability to experience these sites and inspect the lingering, often carefully preserved detritus of war at close hand. Other battlefields remain less well known or understood for reasons of distance, environment, politics, and ongoing conflict. The battlefields of North Africa are among these. The realization of this book is a testament to Arnold’s determination, forensic research, and uncanny ability to interpret the topography of the North African battlefields despite the passage of time.

It might be assumed that few traces of the War in North Africa survive today, given its nature. Matthew Arnold’s striking color photographs prove otherwise. They bring the desert to life but also provide a rare bridge to the past. We are able to visualize the experiences of thousands of men seventy years ago, while simultaneously appreciating the enduring beauty of the landscape today. We can ask for nothing more.