The gripping story of Australians' and New Zealanders' key role defeating the Axis in North Africa a true turning point of World War II

'We were to go through and take on targets of opportunity, to shoot up anything we could. Never at any stage can I remember any plan of us coming back, none of that was ever talked about ... We felt it was a suicide mission.'

July, 1942: the North African campaign rages and the Allies have been forced to retreat from Gazala, chased through the sandy wastes by Field Marshal Rommel 'the Desert Fox' and his Panzerarmee. The Axis target is Cairo—if they take it, they control the Suez Canal and are within striking distance of the oil fields of the Middle East, tipping the balance of the war firmly in Hitler's favour.

Standing in their way are the weary, battle-hardened soldiers of the 9th Australian Division and the 2nd New Zealand Division, determined to halt Rommel's relentless advance. Bestselling author Tom Gilling vividly recounts the brutal trench warfare, deadly artillery barrages and the high-stakes raids that defined their role in the North African campaign, centred on two immense clashes involving hundreds of thousands of troops: the first and second battles of El Alamein.

General Montgomery's offensive will turn the tide of the war, but he will need the tenacity of the Australian and New Zealand soldiers to break the resistance of the formidable Afrika Korps. Rich in historical insight and heart-pounding action, Start Digging, You Bastards! brings to life their desperate, dust-choked struggle against the Axis forces in the Egyptian desert through the eyes of the troops, whose courage and endurance were tested to their very limit.