Percival to North Africa?

[Colonel Grubb]

So what if instead of being promoted and dispatched to Malaya in Apr '41 (perhaps Dill doesn't get his way and someone else gets sent instead or another of Dill's proteges goes), Arthur Percival remains in command of the 44th Infantry Div. in England for slightly longer than he did OTL and is instead posted to North Africa, either as a divisional or corps commander sometime towards the second half of 1941, potentially in the shake up after the series of major defeats in early 1941 or in the clean-out after Operation BattleAxe?

The later in 1941 he goes, the more potential he might have for commanding a corps sized element, hypothetical either XXX or XIII in the led up to and during Operation Crusader?

How much of an impact would he have in the desert under either Auchinleck or Wavell, as well as commanding diverse Commonwealth/Empire forces depending on how the ITL forces are organised? Given that he was considered before the war quite a capable planner and staff officer, could this translate into an effective active command in the Western Desert?

 

[Derwit]

Percival always gets a bad press. He was a good staff officer before the war and his hands where largely tied due to the dispositions of his predecessors in Malaya (like the RAF deploying its air assets along the entire peninsular forcing the Army to defend them). Sure he could have prepared his army better but there is no evidence that any other general officer in the British army would have done better. Even Bill Slim had to learn jungle warfare on the job while retreating. If Percival went to the desert would he have done any better than those who did go? Who knows, generals with stellar reputations had them crushed by Rommel (Cunningham springs to mind).