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Nicknamed 'The Desert Fox' for his cunning command of the Afrika Korps, Erwin Rommel remains one of the most popular and studied of Germany's World War II commanders. He got his first taste of combat in World War I, where his daring command earned him the Blue Max, Germany's highest decoration for bravery. He followed this up with numerous successes early in World War II in both Europe and Africa, before facing his biggest challenge - organizing the defence of France.
Implicated in the plot to kill Hitler, Rommel chose suicide over a public trial. This book looks at the life of this daring soldier, focusing on his style of command and the tactical decisions that earned him his fearsome reputation.
- Sales Rank: #1123397 in Books
- Brand: Brand: Osprey Publishing
- Published on: 2010-07-20
- Released on: 2010-07-20
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.72" h x .13" w x 7.21" l, .47 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 64 pages
- Used Book in Good Condition
Review
“Erwin Rommel, nicknamed 'The Desert Fox,' is covered here in a survey that blends over 40 photographs from a range of European collectors with color plates of battles, maps, and in-depth coverage of Rommel's strategies. It comes from an author with a PhD in military history and is not to be missed by any in-depth military collection.” ―The Midwest Book Review (November 2010)
“Dynamic artwork, rare photographs, good supportive references. Whether to introduce you to 'The Desert Fox' or to further your knowledge of him, this is a fine book.” ―Frederick Boucher, Armorama (November 2010)
About the Author
Pier Paolo Battistelli earned his PhD in military history at the University of Padua. A scholar of German and Italian politics and strategy throughout World War II, he is active in Italy and abroad writing titles and essays on military history subjects. A contributor to the Italian Army Historical Office, he is currently revising his PhD thesis for publication: The War of the Axis: German and Italian Military Partnership in World War Two, 1939-1943. The author lives in Italy.
Most helpful customer reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful.
A User-Friendly Introduction to Rommel
By R. A Forczyk
Erwin Rommel, the leader of the German Afrika Korps and putative "Desert Fox" of legend, is one of the most written about generals of the Second World War and has settled in most imaginations as David Mason from the 1950s film, just as the historical Patton has now morphed with the actor George C. Scott. In Osprey's new Command series, veteran author Pier Paolo Battistelli is not trying to write the definitive biography of Erwin Rommel - he acknowledges that has already been done - but rather, to provide context and nuance to understanding Rommel's contributions in the Second World War. Given the short format of this series, the author makes the risky decision of focusing on how and why sort of issues, while providing only a rather bare-bones synopsis of Rommel's military career. Readers expecting a straight-up military biography may be disappointed, but specialist readers will appreciate the nuanced discussion of Rommel's abilities and style. Overall, this volume provides and attractive summary of Rommel's well-known career and provides interesting conclusions about his relative merits as a commander.
The introductory sections cover Rommel's background, service during the First World War and the interwar period in eight pages, and a brief synopsis of his actions in the Second World War. The core of this volume is a thematic-driven dissection of Rommel's career, broken into sections on Rommel's "leading from the front" style, desert warfare and his role as a Generalfeldmarschall. As the author notes, Rommel was a product of the German command style, stressing initiative and action, rather than waiting for full intelligence about the terrain or enemy to pour in. By leading from the front, Rommel was able to make decisions more quickly than his opponents and employ surprise as a force multiplier, which led to a string of impressive tactical victories in France and North Africa. However as the author points out, Rommel's leadership from the front often led to micromanagement, where he left little room for his subordinates to exercise their own initiative or judgment. At another point, Rommel's frot-line wanderings left him out of radio communication with key subordinates for up to four days during Operation Crusader - clearly not a good idea for effective battlefield command. The author does say that Rommel was not a military gambler, but he could take very large risks which led to "half-baked victories." The author is spot-on when he notes that Rommel often disregarded supply difficulties and the condition of his troops (e.g. lack of desert training) and pushed on regardless. Rommel also proved a poor subordinate, ignoring orders that didn't suit him and working poorly with other German commanders. I wish the author had addressed the issue of Rommel's relationship with his Italian allies in more depth, since this is glossed over a bit.
The later sections of the volume deal with Rommel's opponents, more ruminations on his peculiar command style, the post-war building of his military reputation and a guide to further reading. The author makes clear that Rommel had his limitations - lack of strategic insight or ability, lack of interest in doctrinal or abstract military theory and a tendency toward tunnel vision - but that he was also a daring commander who could run rings around his hidebound opponents in the early days of the war, before the Allied numerical superiority changed the battlefield dynamic. The volume has five 2-D maps (Blitzkrieg in the West, May 1940; the Libyan Campaign, 1941; the Battle of Gazala, 1942; the Battle of First El Alamein, July 1942; the defense of Normandy, June-July 1944) which are decent, but most readers will have seen similar versions of these before. The three battle scenes by Peter Dennis (German armor attacking on November 23, 1941; Rommel meeting with his commanders in the desert; 21. Panzer-Division counterattack on Normandy) are also very nice but it would have been more original if one had covered Rommel's leadership in Italy in 1917. Overall, this volume serves as a user-friendly introduction to Rommel, but is constrained by the tight page constraints.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful.
All you could expect in a short bio
By Jonathan Lupton
This 63-pp title is an introduction to Rommel, not an in-depth biography. It is nonetheless an interesting read, informative, and nicely objective. Author Battistelli demonstrates a knowledge both broad and deep about issues relevant to Rommel's military career, like German tactical doctrine and training, strategy and tactics of the desert war, and Rommel's British opponents.
The author does not try to resolve all questions. Certainly Rommel was a highly capable general, but was he a great one? He was well-suited to the open-ended, unpredictable, fast-paced nature of desert warfare. Yet there were contradictions. Leading from the front, Rommel sometimes failed to provide overall direction. His strong, even harsh, leadership style sometimes stifled initiative by small-unit commanders, a contradiction of Wehrmacht doctrine. Yet Rommel's battlefield successes built up loyalty and morale among common soldiers.
Rommel's grasp of strategy raises even more questions. Battistelli contradicts the notion that Rommel cared little for logistics. As revealed in his own writings, Rommel spent a lot of time fretting about his tenuous supply situation in North Africa. His ultimate mistake, to lunge for the Suez Canal after Gazala without taking Malta, was a judgment that the enemy was beaten and a quick pursuit would finish the job. It was a hairsbreadth mistake made with limited information. Blessed by hindsight, historians can pick it apart. At the time, it appeared anything might happen, and even the renowned British Mediterranean fleet weighed anchor and fled its bases at Alexandria, as Rommel's panzers clanked eastward into Egypt.
Like other biographies in this series, this one gives a brief summary of Rommel's opponents, like theater commanders Wavell and Auchinleck, as well as Eighth Army commanders Cunningham, Ritchie, and Montgomery. In these short bios, the author avoids unnecessary details and gets at how these fellows stacked up against Rommel himself.
This title concludes with a nicely balanced discussion of the "Rommel Myth." This myth owes something to his British opponents, as an explanation for failure. The myth also served those who extolled Field Marshal Montgomery as the great antidote to the "Desert Fox." Germany had a postwar need for a "good German," a capable general whose hands were never directly soiled with Holocaust atrocities, who was at least loosely involved in the plot against Hitler. The title's final summary includes a thoughtful - if brief - discussion of the comparative merits of more lengthy Rommel biographies, as well as the role different authors have played in the continuing development of Rommel's historical image.
Nicely illustrated, with numerous photos, good maps, and first-rate narrative, this title is a good value for the money. While it leaves some questions unanswered, it leaves those questions well-framed and gives the reader background on where to find more answers.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
A decent introduction to Rommel's command "style" and military biography despite its very short length
By Yoda
On the negative side, much of what this book contains on Erwin Rommel’s “style” of command is nothing new (i.e., leading from the very front of the attack columns, boldness, tremendous initiative, etc.). On the other hand however, with respect to these characteristics, the author presents considerable research illustrating his points (i.e., quotes from Rommel’s teachers and colleagues in military academies, from fellow officers, etc.). Very interesting for not just new readers on the topic of Rommel but also all but the most expert. The author also discusses the many negatives associated with this “style” of command. Examples include that it did not lend itself well to operating in terms of groups that did not included himself. There were many times, for example, that he was not able to operate effectively, as part of other groups, in the context of military operations. A perfect example was his operations in France in 1940. Many times he did not act in accordance to what the military group he was controlling was supposed to do in relationship with other groups. Coordination was poor (how could it not be when he typically ignored the context of his group’s operations relative to others?). He disregarded commands many times. In addition, he pushed himself and his troops to their utmost capabilities and many times beyond that. Sometimes this was with negative results. For example, early in the African campaigns, well before his troops were properly acclimated to the desert and trained to operate in it, he pushed his forces to operate beyond their capacity. This lead to a few early defeats.
Many would also argue that Rommel’s tendency to lead from the very front of his forces lead to a lack of perspective outside what was happening from the immediate vicinity he was in. This is not exactly a modern issue. The ancient Greek general Xenophon once asked the question of whether it was better to lead directly from the forefront of one’s forces or from further back. Xenophon believed, as many Greek and Roman military leaders of antiquity (though more Greek than Roman), that it was better to lead from the very front. Unfortunately Dr. Battistelli, the author of this book, does not analyze this issue.
The author has a very good chapter analyzing the nexus between Rommel and his opponents (in the “oppenents” section of the book), both in Africa and Normandy. In Africa the comparison was between his dynamic and flexible command style and the rather rigid command style of British generals. Ironically, this was due to the fact that a few British generals were captured because they were commanding from the forefront of their forces. After that the British decided that leading from further back (with both the weaknesses and strengths that entailed) would be the way to go. In Normandy Dr. Battistelli points out that Rommel’s new preference of command “style”, one of positioning all his troops all up front to the beaches, denied him the flexibility to respond in an appropriate manner to the landings, especially in terms of being able to appropriately concentrate forces. Dr. Battistelli believes that allied airpower would not encumber the movement of forces as much as Rommel believed and hence that Rommel unnecessarily reduced the ability of his force’s flexibility, initiative and ability to properly respond to the landings.
Last but not least the author does a good job at providing a basic military biography. The reader learns not only that Rommel, in civil and military school, was only rated as a “average” student but facts such as that he was not part of the military establishment of connected Junkers forced him to push to the limits of superhuman effort, drive and ambition, among other things.
In short this book, despite its brevity (only about 64 pages, about a third of which consist of illustrations of one kind or another), does a decent job at discussing Rommel’s distinct “style” of command and providing a military biography. For the novice on the subject this reviewer would rate this book a 5 star and for all but the most knowledgeable, a four star. For those who are really interested in the subject, this reviewer highly recommends “The Rommel Papers” (particularly the edition with the introduction written by Liddell Hart). In this reviewer’s opinion, no biography (or any other book for that matter) can beat this for insights into Rommel’s “style” of command.
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