The war in the deserts of North Africa had seen many twists and turns as first one side and then the other had the advantage. However when the Second Battle of El Alamein was launched in October 1942 it proved to be the turning point of the campaign, because once the Allies overcame the Axis resistance, they were to advance until the final Axis surrender in Tunisia seven months later.
El Alamein involved multinational forces on both sides, but until very recently it was the British and the Germans that were the focus of most sets. As Italeri had not made any Allied forces for the desert war at this stage, it instead used mostly the Esci back catalogue to provide the fighting men:
In addition, the set includes the following kits: - 1 of Pz. Kpfw. IV Ausf. F1/F2 (from 7514)
- 1 of M4A2 Sherman III (from 7511)
- 1 of Morris Quad Tractor/25 pdr Gun (7027)
The battle was named after the small railway halt on the northern end of the line of defence, and Italeri have included a pretty decent model of this modest building in laser-cut MDF, plus a model of a water tank, done partly in thick cardboard. Finally, since this is a railway halt, there is some railway track from the Italeri set 6167. The two sets of Esci soldiers are nicely done and pretty accurate, as is the set with the Italian big gun. It is a pity that there was no set of Italian desert infantry to include in this package as neither Italeri nor Esci had made one at this stage, but at least the Italians are represented. Of course the battle was fought over a very large area, and the railway halt was not even in the centre of that, but having such a large Italian gun next to the station is somewhat incongruous. The tanks and British field gun are perfectly at home here, so given the available products Italeri probably made about as good a choice as was possible.
The usual photos of a made-up model are of the high quality we would expect from this range, and as usual there are liberties taken using a base and other elements not found in the box. It does look great, and as the contents includes some interesting choices you get a particularly interesting desert battle. The typical desert battle would be on a largely featureless and vast canvas, so hardly the most appealing of scenarios, but Italeri have put together a nice little collection here which as always shows off the figures and weapons to their best.