This is a list which will grow over time… Eventually, I guess the aim will be to provide a review for each of them.
- Agar-Hamilton & Turner ‘The Sidi Rezegh Battles’
Official South African history - Carver ‘Dilemmas of the Desert War’
Analysis of why Ritchie was not as bad as he is usually portrayed. - Carver ‘Tobruk’
Standard work on the battles for Tobruk, leading up to its fall. - Clifton ‘The Happy Hunted’
Biography by NZ Brigadier Clifton who was in charge of the Royal Engineers during the battle - Cocchia ‘Convoglio’
Cocchia was an Italian escort commander, and later head of the USMM (historical office of the Italian Navy) - Crisp ‘Brazen Chariots’
A must read – Crisp was a troop (platoon) commander in 3 RTR - Hargest ‘Farewell Campo 18’
NZ Brigadier Hargest was captured when 5th Brigade HQ was overrun, and evacuated from Bardia by submarine. He escaped through Switzerland and France, and was eventually killed in Normandy, while acting as observer to the British forces there. - Hinsley ‘British Intelligence in World War 2’ Vol. II
Standard work, including a lot of interesting information on ULTRA and the Y (radio intercept) services. - Kippenberger ‘Infantry Brigadier’
NZ Brigadier Kippenberger was badly wounded on Belhamed. - Kriebel/Gudmundsson ‘Inside the Afrika Korps’
Kriebel was Operations Officer of 15th Panzer, and wrote this in captivity. - Montanari ‘Tobruk’
Italian official history ground and air - Playfair ‘The Med and The Middle East’
British official history - Santoni ‘Il Vero Tradittore’
The role of ULTRA in the Mediterranean uncovered - Smith, P. and Walker, E. ‘Battles of the Malta Striking Forces’
Anything by Peter is worth reading. This one deals in particular with Force K (see also my book review https://crusaderproject.wordpress.com/category/book-reviews/page/3/) - USMM ‘La Difesa del Trafico’
Italian official navy history - Terraine ‘The Right of the Line’, a one-volume history of the RAF in Europe and the Med.
- Smith, Peter ‘Fighting Flotilla’, on the development and fate of the ‘L’ class destroyers which featured so prominently during Crusader (HMS Lance and Lively of Force K)
- National Archives ‘Special Forces in the Desert War 1940 – 43’
- Pope, Dudley ‘Flag 4’ on coastal forces in the Med.
The Crusader Project 
Some additions:
> David Downing, SEALING THEIR FATE: THE 22 DAYS THAT DECIDED WWII
(Cambridge, 2009). Brisk day-by-day narrative on
17 Nov.-8 December ’41. Thesis is that CRUSADER
rollback + Battle of Moscow + Jap botch at Pearl
Harbor were absolutely decisive. I agree; later
and much more ballyhooed Stalingrad, El Alemain,
etc. occurred when Axis had no real chance of
winning war as a whole.
> Joly, TAKE THESE MEN. Most people, following Crisp (maybe with a
tinge of jealousy, as J. far the better
writer), call this a “novel”. I don’t think
so: Joly commanded 8th RTR supply column
during the 1st couple of weeks of the
battle, then took over a tank squadron. So
I take it as a first-hand account.
> Watt, Jock: A TANKIE’S TRAVELS. New, don’t have a copy yet. With
3rd RTR at Dunkirk, Greece, N. Africa….maybe did
CRUSADER.
> Hans-Joachim Schraepler, AT ROMMEL’S SIDE: THE LOST LETTERS OF…
New, R’s adjutant during 1940-41; may
cover CRUSADER, I’ll see.
> Almasy, Laszlo: WITH ROMMEL’S ARMY IN LIBYA. Apparently Almasy
was one of the real characters referenced in “The
English Patient”; I’ll order Watt, Schraepler,
this, later today and see if any bear on CRUSADER.
> Fish, Kevin: PANZER REGIMENT 8 (Schiffer, 2008). Two chapters on
CRUSADER, with lots of f/h interview material.
Etc., see “Notes” to my CRUSADER essay for much other f/h. Also have 16 Italian books, all first-hand accounts, coming in from a source in Milan. 4 or 5 of these I think (hope) will involve CRUSADER; we’ll see.
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Joly is very very good. I have Schraepler in French. He was killed early in CRUSADER, so his letters don’t cover much of it. The others sound very interesting, I’ll have a look-see. Many thanks for this.
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The Following Links are to Books by Various Authors in Alphabetical Order and Relate to Intelligence and its Fundamental Importance in North Africa and The Middle East. Read The Summaries for Relevance To Crusader. http://intellit.muskingum.edu/uk_folder/ukwwii_folder/ukwwiinafmea-d.html
http://intellit.muskingum.edu/uk_folder/ukwwii_folder/ukwwiinafmee-l.html
http://intellit.muskingum.edu/uk_folder/ukwwii_folder/ukwwiinafmem-z.html
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