Diary of a Desert Rat & the Battle of El Alamein

This is the exact text of a Diary kept (against Regulations) by Private John Harris whilst with the 8th Army in  North Africa during World War 11.

It includes his experiences at the famous battle of El Alamein.

Among the drama of the battlefield he pauses for lighter moments such as the description of members of another Company working behind enemy lines who managed to capture, of all things, some Camels 'but on finding they were a bit fierce let them go again'.

The Diary comences in April 1942 with a voyage around Africa and up the Red Sea to join his Company,  the concluding entries are made two and a half years later after the landing in Italy.

The photos are some of the many he brought back with him from his travels, along with the contemporary newspaper cuttings he so carefully pasted into his Diary.

To facilitate reading chapters have been created, and a few comments and explanations added in italics.