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Rommel,' exclaimed Winston Churchill at the 1942 Cairo Conference, 'Rommel'! What else matters but beating him? There can be no doubt about the extent to which the British were obsessed by Rommel during the years of desert warfare. A less certain response can be given to the question for how great a commander Rommel actually was, for he never had the opportunity of operating on the European scale of some of his contemporaries.
Ronald Lewin, a military historian who himself served in North Africa, provides a balanced assessment of Rommel's career and of his essential qualities. The narrative begins in the First World War, when Rommel fought, usually with outstanding success, on the Western Front, in Rumania and in Italy. The unremarkable inter-war years are sufficiently sketched in; it is not until the Blitzkrieg of 1940 that Rommel's personal and professional gifts became unmistakably evident. During the desert campaigns they came to full flower. In the face of problems of supply caused by Allied predominance on the sea and in the air, undependable Italian support military, political and logistic, and a general marked insufficiency of men and material, Rommel demonstrated alike his genius for the offensive, his ability to exploit success, and is stubbornness and versatility in defence. Recalled to Europe before the final African debacle, he revealed his qualities once again, both in his defence preparations for the Allied invasion and his suicidal strategy.
Author: Ronald Lewin
ISBN: 9788181581372
Pages: 0
Features: HB, Nat |
