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| rommel in his own words: Rommel and His Art of War Erwin Rommel, 2003 Rommel himself, one of the most successful and well-known commanders of World War II, writes about his views on the philosophy of warfare, battles, leaders, and the progress of both World Wars. A complete picture of how a military genius grappled with the actuality of war is presented through Rommel's accounts of his experiences. |
| rommel in his own words: Attacks Erwin Rommel, 1979 Written directly after combat, Rommel critiques his own battle strategies and tactics during World War I in an attempt to learn further from his losses and victories. |
| rommel in his own words: Field Marshal Daniel Allen Butler, 2015-07-19 A biography of the WWII military genius known as the Desert Fox—and his complex, ultimately fatal relationship with Hitler from a New York Times–bestselling author. Born leader, brilliant soldier, devoted husband and father—Erwin Rommel was intelligent, brave, and compassionate, while at the same time vain, egotistical, and arrogant. In France in 1940, then for two years in North Africa, then at Normandy in 1944, he proved himself a master of armored warfare, running rings around a succession of Allied generals who never got his measure and could only resort to overwhelming numbers to defeat him. Yet for all his genius, Rommel was also naive, a man who could admire Adolf Hitler at the same time that he despised the Nazis, dazzled by a Führer whose successes blinded him to the true nature of the Third Reich. Above all, he was the quintessential German patriot, who ultimately would refuse to abandon his moral compass—so that on one pivotal day in June 1944, he came to understand that he had mistakenly served an evil man and evil cause. He would still fight for Germany, even as he abandoned his oath of allegiance to the Führer, when he came to realize that Hitler had morphed into nothing more than an agent of death and destruction. In the end, Erwin Rommel was forced to die by his own hand, not because, as some would claim, he had dabbled in a tyrannicidal conspiracy, but because he had committed a far greater crime—he dared to tell Adolf Hitler the truth. In Field Marshal, New York Times–bestselling historian Daniel Allen Butler describes the swirling, innovative campaigns in which Rommel won his military reputation, and assesses the temper of the man who finally fought only for his country and no dark depths beyond. |
| rommel in his own words: Killing Rommel Steven Pressfield, 2008-05-06 A thrilling WWII tale based on the real-life exploits of the Long Range Desert Group, an elite British special forces unit that took on the German Afrika Korps and its legendary commander, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, the Desert Fox. Autumn 1942. Hitler’s legions have swept across Europe; France has fallen; Churchill and the English are isolated on their island. In North Africa, Rommel and his Panzers have routed the British Eighth Army and stand poised to overrun Egypt, Suez, and the oilfields of the Middle East. With the outcome of the war hanging in the balance, the British hatch a desperate plan—send a small, highly mobile, and heavily armed force behind German lines to strike the blow that will stop the Afrika Korps in its tracks. Narrated from the point of view of a young lieutenant, Killing Rommel brings to life the flair, agility, and daring of this extraordinary secret unit, the Long Range Desert Group. Stealthy and lethal as the scorpion that serves as their insignia, they live by their motto: Non Vi Sed Arte—Not by Strength, by Guile as they gather intelligence, set up ambushes, and execute raids. Killing Rommel chronicles the tactics, weaponry, and specialized skills needed for combat, under extreme desert conditions. And it captures the camaraderie of this “band of brothers” as they perform the acts of courage and cunning crucial to the Allies’ victory in North Africa. Combining scrupulous historical detail and accuracy with remarkable narrative momentum, Pressfield powerfully renders the drama and intensity of warfare, the bonds of men in close combat, and the surprising human emotions and frailties that come into play on the battlefield to create a vivid and authoritative depiction of the desert war. |
| rommel in his own words: Knight's Cross David Fraser, 1994-12-02 An in-depth biography of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel written with the cooperation of Rommel's son, by a renowned military analyst and historian who is himself a general. |
| rommel in his own words: Infantry Attacks Erwin Rommel, 2006 Field Marshal Erwin Rommel exerted an almost hypnotic influence not only over his own troops but also over the Allied soldiers of the Eighth Army in the Second World War. Even when the legend surrounding his invincibility was overturned at El Alamein, the aura surrounding Rommel himself remained unsullied. As a leader of a small unit in the First World War, he proved himself an aggressive and versatile commander, with a reputation for using the battleground terrain to his own advantage, for gathering intelligence, and for seeking out and exploiting enemy weaknesses. Rommel graphically describes his own achievements, and those of his units, in the swift-moving battles on the Western Front, in the ensuing trench warfare, in the 1917 campaign in Romania, and in the pursuit across the Tagliamento and Piave rivers. This classic account seeks out the basis of his astonishing leadership skills, providing an indispensable guide to the art of war written by one of its greatest exponents. |
| rommel in his own words: Seeds of Peace Roberts, Rommel, 2018-07-03 ‘In South Africa, the struggle for freedom was won largely through non-violent means – 95% of the struggle was non-violent. The non-violent foundations laid in the preceding years are, I believe, what made our peaceful transition to democracy possible in 1994.’ Rommel Roberts’ words express his conviction which was underlying all his efforts as an activist opposing the apartheid regime in South Africa. In his book ‘Seeds of Peace’ Rommel Roberts wants to focus on ordinary people who with their courage and commitment have achieved a change in South African conditions but have never been recognised and acknowledged. In all his stories of brave women and men and in all forms of protest and human rights activities in which Rommel Roberts played a key role this incredible spirit of non-violence was prevalent and finally successful. |
| rommel in his own words: Rommel & Caporetto John Wilks, Eileen Wilks, 2012-10-24 This fascinating biographical history reveals how the future German general established his reputation at the WWI Battle of Caporetto. Erwin Rommel was to become the most famous and influential German general of World War Two. But in 1917, no one outside of a small clique in the German Army had heard of him. His ascent to prominence began with his exploits on the Italian Front of World War I. In 1917, the Allied armies launched a series of offensives against the Austro-Hungarian forces along the Isonzo River. The final battle was a catastrophic defeat for the Allies, thanks in part to the infiltration tactics of Lieutenant Rommel. His battalion outflanked the Italian forces and executed a devastating attack from behind enemy lines. Based on official histories and archival documents, as well as Rommel’s own account, Rommel & Caporetto offers new insight into the skills and tactics he would later employ in France and in North Africa. |
| rommel in his own words: Desert Fox Samuel W. Mitcham, 2019-03-12 Just who was Erwin Rommel? War hero or war criminal? Hitler flunky or man of integrity? Military genius or just lucky? Now, bestselling military historian Samuel W. Mitcham Jr. gets to the heart of the mysterious figure respected and even admired by the people of the Allied nations he fought against. Mitcham recounts Rommel’s improbable and meteoric military career, his epic battles in North Africa, and his fraught relationship with Hitler and the Nazi Party. Desert Fox: The Storied Military Career of Erwin Rommel reveals: • How Rommel’s victories in North Africa were sabotaged by Hitler’s incompetent interference • How Rommel burned orders telling him to commit war crimes • Why it wouldn’t have helped Patton if he really had read Rommel’s book • How Rommel was responsible for the Germans’ defense against the D-Day landing • Why the plot to overthrow Hitler was fatally compromised when Rommel was gravely injured in an Allied attack • The reason Rommel agreed to commit suicide after his part in the plot was discovered by Hitler Mitcham’s gripping account of Rommel’s life takes you through the amazing adventure of the World War II battles in North Africa. Again and again, Rommel outfoxed the Allies—until the war of attrition and Hitler’s blunders doomed the Axis cause. Illustrated with dozens of historical photos, this illuminating biography paints a fascinating and tragic picture of the man known as the Desert Fox. |
| rommel in his own words: The Rommel Papers Erwin Rommel, 1953 En udgave af Feltmarskal Erwin Rommel's egne papirer, breve og dagbogsnotater fra kampagnerne og felttogene under 2. Verdenkrig. Han skriver levende og udførligt - og objektivt - om operationerne og hans måde at føre kommando på. Papirerne, hvoraf en stor del blev ødelagt - af forskellige grunde - efter Rommels's død - er indsamlet og redigeret i samarbejde med Rommel's søn, Manfred Rommel, og General Bayerlein. Fra indholdet: Frankrig, 1940: Meuse, Somme og Cherbourg. Krigen i Afrika, det første år: Graziani's nederlag, Cyrenaica, Tobruk, grænsekampe, engelske sommeroffensiv, 1941, Sollum, og vinterkampagnen, 1941-42: det britiske angreb, tank battle Totensonntag, raid's ind i Ægypten, tilnage til Tobruk, tilbagetog fra Cyrenaica, modangreb. Krigen i Afrika, det andet år: Gazala og Tobruk, Ørkenkrigsførelse, Sejr i ørkenen, anden kamp om Tobruk, og erobringen af Tobruk. Alamein. Forsvarsplaner, den statiske front, Alam Halfa, Alamein: kampen uden håb. Evakueringen af Cyrenaica. Tilbage til Tunesien, Tripolitania. Fra Alamein til Mareth - i tilbageblik. Army Group Africa og slutningen i Afrika. Italien, 1943. Invasionen, Normandiet, 1944. De sidste dage, efteråret 1944. |
| rommel in his own words: Rommel John Pimlott, 2014-05-15 Featuring letters to his wife, orders, daily accounts of battle written during World War II and his published memoirs, Rommel offers an insight into a great military leader. Alongside accounts of fighting in World War I and World War II, Rommel shares his views on the philosophy of warfare, battles, leaders and the progress of both world wars. |
| rommel in his own words: The Steel Wave Jeff Shaara, 2008-05-13 BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Jeff Shaara's No Less Than Victory. Jeff Shaara, America’s premier author of military historical fiction, brings us the centerpiece of his epic trilogy of the Second World War. General Dwight Eisenhower once again commands a diverse army that must find its single purpose in the destruction of Hitler’s European fortress. His primary subordinates, Omar Bradley and Bernard Montgomery, must prove that this unique blend of Allied armies can successfully confront the might of Adolf Hitler’s forces, who have already conquered Western Europe. On the coast of France, German commander Erwin Rommel fortifies and prepares for the coming invasion, acutely aware that he must bring all his skills to bear on a fight his side must win. But Rommel’s greatest challenge is to strike the Allies on his front, while struggling behind the lines with the growing insanity of Adolf Hitler, who thwarts the strategies Rommel knows will succeed. Meanwhile, Sergeant Jesse Adams, a no-nonsense veteran of the 82nd Airborne, parachutes with his men behind German lines into a chaotic and desperate struggle. And as the invasion force surges toward the beaches of Normandy, Private Tom Thorne of the 29th Infantry Division faces the horrifying prospects of fighting his way ashore on a stretch of coast more heavily defended than the Allied commanders anticipate–Omaha Beach. From G.I. to general, this story carries the reader through the war’s most crucial juncture, the invasion that altered the flow of the war, and, ultimately, changed history. |
| rommel in his own words: Tibor Eckhardt in His Own Words Tibor Eckhardt, 2004 Tibor Eckhardt was a powerful and influential figure in the political life of Hungary from the end of World War I until 1941 when he emigrated to the United States. Eckhardt's carer included personal contact with some of the most controversial and important figures of the first half of the twentieth century, among them, Adolf Hitler, Franklin Roosevelt, Dr. Otto von Habsburg, Paul Teleki, Edvard Benes, and Winston Churchill. He recounts these first-hand personal meetings and impressions in vivid detail in this autobiography. |
| rommel in his own words: In Rommel's Backyard Alistair Timpson, Andrew Gibson-Watt, 2010-07-28 This WWII journal takes readers inside an elite reconnaissance and raiding unit operating behind enemy lines in the North African campaign. As a young man entering the maelstrom of World War II, Alastair Timpson had the good fortune to find his way into the most romantic of special force units, the Long Range Desert Group. In Rommel’s Backyard describes the various roles of the LRDG, all of which involved great daring and endurance deep behind enemy lines. They were the eyes and ears of the Eighth Army, reporting enemy movement; they destroyed enemy aircraft, supply dumps, and vehicles; and they transported other special forces and agents to their objectives. Timpson kept a meticulous record of all his activities with the LRDG. Only after his death, did his son realize the significance of his father’s journals. In Rommel’s Backyard is a personal account of the LRDG that epitomizes the spirit of the entire campaign. |
| rommel in his own words: Rommel David Irving, 2012-03-15 ROMMEL: The Trail of the Fox is a new hardback edition of the world's best-known Rommel biography. Field Marshal Rommel has been described as one of the ten greatest military commanders of all time. This is the first biography of this charismatic leader to rely almost entirely on the original records of the period. |
| rommel in his own words: Great Military Leaders William T. Worthington, 2002 Great Military Leaders - A Bibliography with Vignettes |
| rommel in his own words: The Longest Day Cornelius Ryan, 2010-02-16 The unparalleled, classic work of history that recreates the battle that changed World War II—the Allied invasion of Normandy. The Longest Day is Cornelius Ryan’s unsurpassed account of D-Day, a book that endures as a masterpiece of military history. In this compelling tale of courage and heroism, glory and tragedy, Ryan painstakingly recreates the fateful hours that preceded and followed the massive invasion of Normandy to retell the story of an epic battle that would turn the tide against world fascism and free Europe from the grip of Nazi Germany. This book, first published in 1959, is a must for anyone who loves history, as well as for anyone who wants to better understand how free nations prevailed at a time when darkness enshrouded the earth. |
| rommel in his own words: Historical Dictionary of the 1940s James Gilbert Ryan, Leonard C Schlup, 2015-03-26 The only available historical dictionary devoted exclusively to the 1940s, this book offers readers a ready-reference portrait of one of the twentieth century's most tumultuous decades. In nearly 600 concise entries, the volume quickly defines a historical figure, institution, or event, and then points readers to three sources that treat the subject in depth. In selecting topics for inclusion, the editors and authors offer a representative slice of life as contemporaneous Americans saw it - with coverage of people; movements; court cases; and economic, social, cultural, political, military, and technological changes. The book focuses chiefly on the United States, but places American lives and events firmly within a global context. |
| rommel in his own words: Professional Journal of the United States Army , 1998 |
| rommel in his own words: Tomorrow to Be Brave Susan Travers, 2000 Susan Travers dreamed of an adventurous life, but had little chance of it until the Second World War destroyed her cafe society world and freed her from the bonds of her privileged but stifling upbringing. Leaving her peripatetic, party-girl lifestyle behind her, she drank a last cocktail at her friend Gladys's chateau, locked the door behind her and walked into history. Here for the first time, the life story of the only woman to fight for the French Legion is one that few dare to even imagine. Born to a life of privilege, Susan spends her childhood longing for excitement. After being expelled from finishing school for being too interested in men, she signed up with the Free French in 1940 and sailed to Africa where she traveled the country fighting the war and taking on lovers, eventually becoming a driver to General Koenig of the Foreign Legion. He was to become her lover and the man for whom she would risk everything. A military leader of Olympian detach, he was in private a sensitive soul, sharing poetry with Susan, including the piece from which the title of the book is taken, Tomorrow To Be Brave. He was also the man who helped change the face of Rommel's North African campaign. At the great siege of Bir Hakeim, the general's troops were surrounded for fifteen days by Rommel's Panzer division. Susan refused to leave the General's side and evetually, at the wheel of his car, led the convoy of vehicles and men across the minefields as part of a daring mass breakout. Hailed as the heroine of the night, Susan was rewarded with the love and loyalty of the legion with whom she served as its only official female member ever. In 1997 in a simple ceremony attended by the few remaining survivors of the corps with which she fought, the Legion presented Susan Travers, now a frail 88 year old, with the Legion d'Honneur--their highest award for bravery. She lives quietly to this day in a modest nursing home outside Paris where only a very few know what circuitous and fantastic a path led her there--until now. |
| rommel in his own words: Tobruk David Mitchelhill-Green, 2021-07-28 Tobruk was one of the greatest Allied victories – and one of the worst Allied defeats – of the Second World War. The eight-month long 1941 siege – a defiant stand by the so-called ‘Rats of Tobruk’ – captured the world’s attention. Conversely, the fall of Tobruk in June 1942 came a shock to the Allies in the wake of Japan’s entry into the war and a string of defeats in the Far East. It rocked the foundation of Winston Churchill’s premiership, revived the flagging hopes of the German people and fanned the flames of Arab unrest. It furthered Rommel’s ascendency and marked a turning point in Anglo-American relations and the fight against Nazi Germany. Tobruk: Fiercely Stand, or Fighting Fall presents a new perspective – asking why the remote fortress successfully fought off repeated attacks in 1941, before tragically falling to Rommel’s Axis forces in just 24 hours in mid-1942. It begins with Italy’s invasion of Ottoman-held North Africa in 1911, before introducing key individuals - Rommel, Mussolini and Morshead – to examine how their WWI service shaped later events. From Mussolini’s ill-fated invasion of Egypt in September 1940, the book explores the capture of Tobruk in January 1941 by the Australian 6th Division, the ensuing siege of its sister 9th Division, and the fortress’ disastrous capitulation. |
| rommel in his own words: 'Rommel?' 'Gunner Who?' Spike Milligan, 2012-12-13 VOLUME TWO OF SPIKE MILLIGAN'S LEGENDARY MEMOIRS IS A HILARIOUS, SUBVERSIVE FIRST-HAND ACCOUNT OF WW2 'Brilliant verbal pyrotechnics, throwaway lines and marvelous anecdotes' Daily Mail 'Desperately funny, vivid, vulgar' Sunday Times ______________ 'Keep talking, Milligan. I think I can get you out on Mental Grounds.' 'That's how I got in, sir.' 'Didn't we all.' The second volume of Spike Milligan's legendary recollections of life as a gunner in World War Two sees our hero into battle in North Africa - eventually. First, there is important preparation to be done: extensive periods of loitering ('We had been standing by vehicles for an hour and nothing had happened, but it happened frequently'), psychological toughening ('If a man dies when you hang him, keep hanging him until he gets used to it') and living dangerously ('no underwear!'). At last the battle for Tunis is upon them . . . ______________ 'The most irreverent, hilarious book about the war that I have ever read' Sunday Express 'Milligan is the Great God to all of us' John Cleese 'The Godfather of Alternative Comedy' Eddie Izzard 'A totally original comedy writer' Michael Palin 'Close in stature to Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear in his command of the profound art of nonsense' Guardian |
| rommel in his own words: Alamein Colin Smith, John Bierman, 2012-03-29 'Excellent ... a remarkable achievement and ought to be recognised as one of the most successful histories of the Western Desert and North African fighting yet to have appeared' John Keegan, Daily Telegraph For the British, the battle fought at El Alamein in October 1942 became the turning point of the Second World War. In this study of the desert war, John Bierman and Colin Smith show why it is remembered by its survivors as a 'war without hate'. Through extensive research the authors provide a compellingly fresh perspective on the see-saw campaign in which the two sides chased each other back and forth across the unforgiving North African landscape. |
| rommel in his own words: Gates of Fire Steven Pressfield, 2000 Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by, That here, obedient to their laws, we lie. Nearly 2,500 years ago, in 480BC, at a bleak pass in a far-flung corner of eastern Greece, three hundred Spartan warriors faced the army of Xerxe |
| rommel in his own words: Erwin Rommel Photographer Zita Steele, 2016-09-21 Experience WWII in color with world-famous military commander Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. See 130 rare color photos from Rommel's private collection, seized by U.S. forces in 1945. Witness as he travels across colorful terrains, flies a dive bomber, drives over desert battlefields, visits villages. These photos are digitally restored/enhanced. |
| rommel in his own words: World War II Alan Warren, 2016-08-12 In the First World War many battles on the Western Front had lasted weeks or months. All too often they degenerated into glacial and indecisive campaigns of attrition. By the 1930s, however, military science had recreated the possibility of a decisive battle. An unprecedented rate of technological change meant that a stream of new inventions were readily at hand for military innovators to exploit. Aircraft, armoured vehicles and new forms of motorised transport became available to make possible a fresh style of offensive warfare when the next European war began in 1939. A belief in the importance of effective war fighting was vital to the Nazi vision of Germany's future. Nazi Germany's political and military leaders aimed for rapid and decisive victory in battle. From 1939-45 new ideologies and new machines of war carried destruction across the globe. Alan Warren chronicles the sixteen most decisive battles of the Second World War, from the Blitzkrieg of Poland to the fall of Berlin. |
| rommel in his own words: German Prisoners of the Great War Anne Buckley, 2021-04-28 German POWs held in England during WWI record their experience in this volume of detailed accounts, diary entries, drawings, and more. In Munich in 1920, just after the end of the First World War, German prisoners of war in England published a book they had written and smuggled back home. Through vivid text and illustrations, they describe their experience of life in a camp at Skipton in Yorkshire. Their work, now translated into English for the first time, gives us a unique insight into their feelings about the war, their captors, and their longing to go home. In their own words they record prison camp conditions, daily routines, their relationship with the prison authorities, their activities and entertainment, and their thoughts of their homeland. The challenges and privations they faced are part of their story, as is the community they created within the confines of the camp. The whole gamut of their existence is portrayed here, in particular through their drawings and cartoons which are reproduced alongside the translation. German Prisoners of the Great War offers an inside view of a hitherto neglected aspect of the wartime experience. |
| rommel in his own words: The War Against Rommel's Supply Lines, 1942-43 Alan J. Levine, 2008 As Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps regrouped in Tunisia in late 1942, the Allies began a blockade of the Germans with a relatively small number of planes and submarines. Rommel's campaign relied on sea and air supply lines across the Mediterranean and would bve crippled if the flow of fuel and supplies was cut off. The American and British interdiction operation produced some of the fiercest air battles of World War II and one of only two successful submarine campaigns ever fought. It played a critical role in the Allied victory in North Africa.--Back cover. |
| rommel in his own words: Death of the Wehrmacht Robert M. Citino, 2007-10-22 For Hitler and the German military, 1942 was a key turning point of World War II, as an overstretched but still lethal Wehrmacht replaced brilliant victories and huge territorial gains with stalemates and strategic retreats. In this major reevaluation of that crucial year, Robert Citino shows that the German army's emerging woes were rooted as much in its addiction to the war of movement-attempts to smash the enemy in short and lively campaigns-as they were in Hitler's deeply flawed management of the war. From the overwhelming operational victories at Kerch and Kharkov in May to the catastrophic defeats at El Alamein and Stalingrad, Death of the Wehrmacht offers an eye-opening new view of that decisive year. Building upon his widely respected critique in The German Way of War, Citino shows how the campaigns of 1942 fit within the centuries-old patterns of Prussian/German warmaking and ultimately doomed Hitler's expansionist ambitions. He examines every major campaign and battle in the Russian and North African theaters throughout the year to assess how a military geared to quick and decisive victories coped when the tide turned against it. Citino also reconstructs the German generals' view of the war and illuminates the multiple contingencies that might have produced more favorable results. In addition, he cites the fatal extreme aggressiveness of German commanders like Erwin Rommel and assesses how the German system of command and its commitment to the independence of subordinate commanders suffered under the thumb of Hitler and chief of staff General Franz Halder. More than the turning point of a war, 1942 marked the death of a very old and traditional pattern of warmaking, with the classic German way of war unable to meet the challenges of the twentieth century. Blending masterly research with a gripping narrative, Citino's remarkable work provides a fresh and revealing look at how one of history's most powerful armies began to founder in its quest for world domination. |
| rommel in his own words: The Desert Generals Correlli Barnett, 2011-07-14 A classic account of the Desert Campaign of 1940-43, by a renowned military historian. The distinguished historian Correlli Barnett gives here a complete and full account of the Desert Campaign 1940-43, an epic story set in a wasteland where soldiers fought for victory in a tumult of mechanical warfare. But THE DESERT GENERALS is also the story of five men under the strain of command in battle, the commanders who successively led the Allied forces against first the Italians and then the Germans in the ebb and flow of the desert war, culminating in the myth of Montgomery and the battle of Alamein, a myth that Correlli Barnett sets out to expose as ill-founded. Brilliantly written, THE DESERT GENERALS captures at every level the intensity and human drama of a unique and compelling episode in the history of war and warfare. |
| rommel in his own words: The Last Lion Paul Reid, William Manchester, 2012-11-06 The long-awaited final volume of William Manchester's legendary biography of Winston Churchill. Spanning the years of 1940-1965, The Last Lion picks up shortly after Winston Churchill became Prime Minister-when his tiny island nation stood alone against the overwhelming might of Nazi Germany. The Churchill conjured up by William Manchester and Paul Reid is a man of indomitable courage, lightning-fast intellect, and an irresistible will to action. The Last Lion brilliantly recounts how Churchill organized his nation's military response and defense, compelled FDR into supporting America's beleaguered cousins, and personified the never surrender ethos that helped the Allies win the war, while at the same time adapting himself and his country to the inevitable shift of world power from the British Empire to the United States. More than twenty years in the making, The Last Lion presents a revelatory and unparalleled portrait of this brilliant, flawed, and dynamic leader. This is popular history at its most stirring. |
| rommel in his own words: Rommel's Gold Maggie Davis, 2014-04-01 This historical Nazi mystery draws an intrepid woman to the Middle East, where she’s entangled in a web of intrigue and desire. In Maggie Davis’s exquisitely written novel, international espionage, forbidden love, and greed surround the search for General Rommel’s gold. During World War II, Rommel buried it in the North African desert, then left to meet with Hitler. Now Sharon Hoyt, with her seductive Western ways, finds herself attracted to an Arab police chief and mixed up in the ex‐Nazis’ search for Rommel’s gold. Will she be able to get out of the crossfire of a brewing Middle East conflict? |
| rommel in his own words: Erwin Rommel Charles River Charles River Editors, 2017-01-25 *Includes pictures *Includes Rommel's quotes about his life and the war *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading Be an example to your men in your duty and in private life. Never spare yourself, and let the troops see that you don't in your endurance of fatigue and privation. Always be tactful and well-mannered, and teach your subordinates to be the same. Avoid excessive sharpness or harshness of voice, which usually indicates the man who has shortcomings of his own to hide. - Erwin Rommel One of his biographers called him a complex man: a born leader, a brilliant soldier, a devoted husband, a proud father; intelligent, instinctive, brave, compassionate, vain, egotistical, and arrogant. As that description suggests, every account of Erwin Rommel's life must address what appears to be its inherent contradictions. Fittingly, and in the same vein, he remains one of the best remembered generals of World War II and history at large, despite the fact he was on the losing side, and he was defeated at the most famous battle of his career, the decisive Battle of El Alamein. Nonetheless, the Desert Fox has been a legend on both sides of the Atlantic for over 70 years, thanks to the crucial role he played in history's deadliest conflict. Before his legendary encounters against the British and Americans in North Africa, Rommel gained much fame for his role in the invasions of Poland and France before was sent to North Africa in February 1941. In describing Rommel, the Italian officer Alessandro Predieri talked about his two very rare and precious gifts: The first is luck, which you will remember, Napoleon prescribed to his generals...The second gift is that of being able to keep his bearings in the midst of all the confusion of modern desert warfare. His instinct tells him immediately where a difficult situation is going to develop, and off he goes with his Kampfstaffel [Headquarters Group], which he treats like a Praetorian Guard, and puts things right, charging around like a junior officer. With the Axis forces trying to push through Egypt towards the Suez Canal and the British Mandate of Palestine, American forces landed to their west in North Africa, which ultimately compelled Rommel to try to break through before the Allies could build up and overwhelm them with superior numbers.The Second Battle of El Alamein was a turning point in the two-year conflict between Allied forces and a combined German-Italian force in North Africa. While the scale of the battle paled in comparison to the battles of the Eastern Front, where the majority of German troops were concentrated, it still marked an important victory in World War II, especially from the British perspective. After leaving North Africa, Rommel spent much of the later part of the war strengthening German defenses across the Atlantic in anticipation of an amphibious Allied landing, which would come in June 1944. But the murky role he played in the notorious July 20 plot on Adolf Hitler's life in 1944, the closest an assassination attempt got to killing the Nazi Fuhrer, would bring about the Desert Fox's untimely demise in October 1944, even as the Soviets and Western Allies were tightening the vise on Germany. Compelled to take cyanide by authorities, the Desert Fox insisted he was innocent until his dying day, and his popularity forced the Nazi government to claim his death was brought about by a heart attack or a cerebral embolism. In fact, Rommel was given an official state funeral, and Winston Churchill would go on to praise him, He also deserves our respect because, although a loyal German soldier, he came to hate Hitler and all his works, and took part in the conspiracy to rescue Germany by displacing the maniac and tyrant. For this, he paid the forfeit of his life. |
| rommel in his own words: Armor , 1964 |
| rommel in his own words: Rommel's Ghost Division David Mitchelhill-Green, 2024-07-25 Adolf Hitler invaded Western Europe on 10 May 1940. After breaking through the supposedly ‘impenetrable’ Ardennes, Erwin Rommel was at the forefront of the Wehrmacht’s audacious drive through France. Rommel, who had no prior experience leading an armored division in combat, moved with such speed and nerve that he frequently surprised French units by arriving far earlier than expected. Crossing the Meuse River, we follow Rommel—in what he referred to as ‘practically a lightning Tour de France’—as he pushed through northern France to the English Channel. His spectacular victory at the coastal port of Saint-Valéry-en-Caux was crowned by the capture of Cherbourg. Following the armistice, Rommel was involved in reenacting certain battles, such as crossing the Somme, for the documentary Sieg im Westen (Victory in the West). This is the story of Rommel and the 7th Panzer Division—the so-called ‘Ghost Division’—in France, 1940. |
| rommel in his own words: Survival In Auschwitz Primo Levi, 1996 A work by the Italian-Jewish writer, Primo Levi. It describes his arrest as a member of the Italian anti-fascist resistance during the Second World War, and his incarceration in the Auschwitz concentration camp from February 1944 until the camp was liberated on 27 January 1945. |
| rommel in his own words: Music and Mathematics John Fauvel, Raymond Flood, Robin J. Wilson, 2003 From ancient Greek times, music has been seen as a mathematical art, and the relationship between mathematics and music has fascinated generations. This work links these two subjects in a manner that is suitable for students of both subjects, as well as the general reader with an interest in music. |
| rommel in his own words: How Churchill Waged War Allen Packwood, 2018-10-30 An analytical investigation into Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s decision-making process during every stage of World War II. When Winston Churchill accepted the position of Prime Minister in May 1940, he insisted in also becoming Minister of Defence. This, though, meant that he alone would be responsible for the success or failure of Britain’s war effort. It also meant that he would be faced with many monumental challenges and utterly crucial decisions upon which the fate of Britain and the free world rested. With the limited resources available to the UK, Churchill had to pinpoint where his country’s priorities lay. He had to respond to the collapse of France, decide if Britain should adopt a defensive or offensive strategy, choose if Egypt and the war in North Africa should take precedence over Singapore and the UK’s empire in the East, determine how much support to give the Soviet Union, and how much power to give the United States in controlling the direction of the war. In this insightful investigation into Churchill’s conduct during the Second World War, Allen Packwood, BA, MPhil (Cantab), FRHistS, the Director of the Churchill Archives Centre, enables the reader to share the agonies and uncertainties faced by Churchill at each crucial stage of the war. How Churchill responded to each challenge is analyzed in great detail and the conclusions Packwood draws are as uncompromising as those made by Britain’s wartime leader as he negotiated his country through its darkest days. |
| rommel in his own words: Hitler's War in Africa 1941–1942 David Mitchelhill-Green, 2021-08-04 Adolf Hitler’s war in Africa arose from the urgent need to reinforce the Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini, whose 1940 invasion of Egypt had been soundly beaten. Of secondary importance to his ideological dream of conquering the Soviet Union, Germany’s Führer rushed a small mechanised force into the unfamiliar North African theatre to stave off defeat and avert any political fallout. This fresh account begins with the arrival of the largely unprepared German formations, soon to be stricken by disease and heavily reliant upon captured materiel, as they fought a bloody series of see-sawing battles across the Western Desert. David Mitchelhill-Green has gathered a wealth of personal narratives from both sides as he follows the brash exploits of General Erwin Rommel, intent on retaking Libya; the Nile firmly in his sights. Against this backdrop is the brutal human experience of war itself. |
| rommel in his own words: Churchill's Bestiary Piers Brendon, 2018-10-25 In this fascinating and unique biography, Dr Piers Brendon looks deeper into Churchill's love of the animal kingdom, and at how animals played such a large part in his everyday life. |
| rommel: in his own words: Rommel and His Art of War Erwin Rommel, 2003 Rommel himself, one of the most successful and well-known commanders of World War II, writes about his views on the philosophy of warfare, battles, leaders, and the progress of both World Wars. A complete picture of how a military genius grappled with the actuality of war is presented through Rommel's accounts of his experiences. |
| rommel: in his own words: Attacks Erwin Rommel, 1979 Written directly after combat, Rommel critiques his own battle strategies and tactics during World War I in an attempt to learn further from his losses and victories. |
| rommel: in his own words: Field Marshal Daniel Allen Butler, 2015-07-19 A biography of the WWII military genius known as the Desert Fox—and his complex, ultimately fatal relationship with Hitler from a New York Times–bestselling author. Born leader, brilliant soldier, devoted husband and father—Erwin Rommel was intelligent, brave, and compassionate, while at the same time vain, egotistical, and arrogant. In France in 1940, then for two years in North Africa, then at Normandy in 1944, he proved himself a master of armored warfare, running rings around a succession of Allied generals who never got his measure and could only resort to overwhelming numbers to defeat him. Yet for all his genius, Rommel was also naive, a man who could admire Adolf Hitler at the same time that he despised the Nazis, dazzled by a Führer whose successes blinded him to the true nature of the Third Reich. Above all, he was the quintessential German patriot, who ultimately would refuse to abandon his moral compass—so that on one pivotal day in June 1944, he came to understand that he had mistakenly served an evil man and evil cause. He would still fight for Germany, even as he abandoned his oath of allegiance to the Führer, when he came to realize that Hitler had morphed into nothing more than an agent of death and destruction. In the end, Erwin Rommel was forced to die by his own hand, not because, as some would claim, he had dabbled in a tyrannicidal conspiracy, but because he had committed a far greater crime—he dared to tell Adolf Hitler the truth. In Field Marshal, New York Times–bestselling historian Daniel Allen Butler describes the swirling, innovative campaigns in which Rommel won his military reputation, and assesses the temper of the man who finally fought only for his country and no dark depths beyond. |
| rommel: in his own words: Killing Rommel Steven Pressfield, 2008-05-06 A thrilling WWII tale based on the real-life exploits of the Long Range Desert Group, an elite British special forces unit that took on the German Afrika Korps and its legendary commander, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, the Desert Fox. Autumn 1942. Hitler’s legions have swept across Europe; France has fallen; Churchill and the English are isolated on their island. In North Africa, Rommel and his Panzers have routed the British Eighth Army and stand poised to overrun Egypt, Suez, and the oilfields of the Middle East. With the outcome of the war hanging in the balance, the British hatch a desperate plan—send a small, highly mobile, and heavily armed force behind German lines to strike the blow that will stop the Afrika Korps in its tracks. Narrated from the point of view of a young lieutenant, Killing Rommel brings to life the flair, agility, and daring of this extraordinary secret unit, the Long Range Desert Group. Stealthy and lethal as the scorpion that serves as their insignia, they live by their motto: Non Vi Sed Arte—Not by Strength, by Guile as they gather intelligence, set up ambushes, and execute raids. Killing Rommel chronicles the tactics, weaponry, and specialized skills needed for combat, under extreme desert conditions. And it captures the camaraderie of this “band of brothers” as they perform the acts of courage and cunning crucial to the Allies’ victory in North Africa. Combining scrupulous historical detail and accuracy with remarkable narrative momentum, Pressfield powerfully renders the drama and intensity of warfare, the bonds of men in close combat, and the surprising human emotions and frailties that come into play on the battlefield to create a vivid and authoritative depiction of the desert war. |
| rommel: in his own words: Knight's Cross David Fraser, 1994-12-02 An in-depth biography of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel written with the cooperation of Rommel's son, by a renowned military analyst and historian who is himself a general. |
| rommel: in his own words: Infantry Attacks Erwin Rommel, 2006 Field Marshal Erwin Rommel exerted an almost hypnotic influence not only over his own troops but also over the Allied soldiers of the Eighth Army in the Second World War. Even when the legend surrounding his invincibility was overturned at El Alamein, the aura surrounding Rommel himself remained unsullied. As a leader of a small unit in the First World War, he proved himself an aggressive and versatile commander, with a reputation for using the battleground terrain to his own advantage, for gathering intelligence, and for seeking out and exploiting enemy weaknesses. Rommel graphically describes his own achievements, and those of his units, in the swift-moving battles on the Western Front, in the ensuing trench warfare, in the 1917 campaign in Romania, and in the pursuit across the Tagliamento and Piave rivers. This classic account seeks out the basis of his astonishing leadership skills, providing an indispensable guide to the art of war written by one of its greatest exponents. |
| rommel: in his own words: Seeds of Peace Roberts, Rommel, 2018-07-03 ‘In South Africa, the struggle for freedom was won largely through non-violent means – 95% of the struggle was non-violent. The non-violent foundations laid in the preceding years are, I believe, what made our peaceful transition to democracy possible in 1994.’ Rommel Roberts’ words express his conviction which was underlying all his efforts as an activist opposing the apartheid regime in South Africa. In his book ‘Seeds of Peace’ Rommel Roberts wants to focus on ordinary people who with their courage and commitment have achieved a change in South African conditions but have never been recognised and acknowledged. In all his stories of brave women and men and in all forms of protest and human rights activities in which Rommel Roberts played a key role this incredible spirit of non-violence was prevalent and finally successful. |
| rommel: in his own words: Rommel & Caporetto John Wilks, Eileen Wilks, 2012-10-24 This fascinating biographical history reveals how the future German general established his reputation at the WWI Battle of Caporetto. Erwin Rommel was to become the most famous and influential German general of World War Two. But in 1917, no one outside of a small clique in the German Army had heard of him. His ascent to prominence began with his exploits on the Italian Front of World War I. In 1917, the Allied armies launched a series of offensives against the Austro-Hungarian forces along the Isonzo River. The final battle was a catastrophic defeat for the Allies, thanks in part to the infiltration tactics of Lieutenant Rommel. His battalion outflanked the Italian forces and executed a devastating attack from behind enemy lines. Based on official histories and archival documents, as well as Rommel’s own account, Rommel & Caporetto offers new insight into the skills and tactics he would later employ in France and in North Africa. |
| rommel: in his own words: Desert Fox Samuel W. Mitcham, 2019-03-12 Just who was Erwin Rommel? War hero or war criminal? Hitler flunky or man of integrity? Military genius or just lucky? Now, bestselling military historian Samuel W. Mitcham Jr. gets to the heart of the mysterious figure respected and even admired by the people of the Allied nations he fought against. Mitcham recounts Rommel’s improbable and meteoric military career, his epic battles in North Africa, and his fraught relationship with Hitler and the Nazi Party. Desert Fox: The Storied Military Career of Erwin Rommel reveals: • How Rommel’s victories in North Africa were sabotaged by Hitler’s incompetent interference • How Rommel burned orders telling him to commit war crimes • Why it wouldn’t have helped Patton if he really had read Rommel’s book • How Rommel was responsible for the Germans’ defense against the D-Day landing • Why the plot to overthrow Hitler was fatally compromised when Rommel was gravely injured in an Allied attack • The reason Rommel agreed to commit suicide after his part in the plot was discovered by Hitler Mitcham’s gripping account of Rommel’s life takes you through the amazing adventure of the World War II battles in North Africa. Again and again, Rommel outfoxed the Allies—until the war of attrition and Hitler’s blunders doomed the Axis cause. Illustrated with dozens of historical photos, this illuminating biography paints a fascinating and tragic picture of the man known as the Desert Fox. |
| rommel: in his own words: The Rommel Papers Erwin Rommel, 1953 En udgave af Feltmarskal Erwin Rommel's egne papirer, breve og dagbogsnotater fra kampagnerne og felttogene under 2. Verdenkrig. Han skriver levende og udførligt - og objektivt - om operationerne og hans måde at føre kommando på. Papirerne, hvoraf en stor del blev ødelagt - af forskellige grunde - efter Rommels's død - er indsamlet og redigeret i samarbejde med Rommel's søn, Manfred Rommel, og General Bayerlein. Fra indholdet: Frankrig, 1940: Meuse, Somme og Cherbourg. Krigen i Afrika, det første år: Graziani's nederlag, Cyrenaica, Tobruk, grænsekampe, engelske sommeroffensiv, 1941, Sollum, og vinterkampagnen, 1941-42: det britiske angreb, tank battle Totensonntag, raid's ind i Ægypten, tilnage til Tobruk, tilbagetog fra Cyrenaica, modangreb. Krigen i Afrika, det andet år: Gazala og Tobruk, Ørkenkrigsførelse, Sejr i ørkenen, anden kamp om Tobruk, og erobringen af Tobruk. Alamein. Forsvarsplaner, den statiske front, Alam Halfa, Alamein: kampen uden håb. Evakueringen af Cyrenaica. Tilbage til Tunesien, Tripolitania. Fra Alamein til Mareth - i tilbageblik. Army Group Africa og slutningen i Afrika. Italien, 1943. Invasionen, Normandiet, 1944. De sidste dage, efteråret 1944. |
| rommel: in his own words: Rommel John Pimlott, 2014-05-15 Featuring letters to his wife, orders, daily accounts of battle written during World War II and his published memoirs, Rommel offers an insight into a great military leader. Alongside accounts of fighting in World War I and World War II, Rommel shares his views on the philosophy of warfare, battles, leaders and the progress of both world wars. |
| rommel: in his own words: The Steel Wave Jeff Shaara, 2008-05-13 BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Jeff Shaara's No Less Than Victory. Jeff Shaara, America’s premier author of military historical fiction, brings us the centerpiece of his epic trilogy of the Second World War. General Dwight Eisenhower once again commands a diverse army that must find its single purpose in the destruction of Hitler’s European fortress. His primary subordinates, Omar Bradley and Bernard Montgomery, must prove that this unique blend of Allied armies can successfully confront the might of Adolf Hitler’s forces, who have already conquered Western Europe. On the coast of France, German commander Erwin Rommel fortifies and prepares for the coming invasion, acutely aware that he must bring all his skills to bear on a fight his side must win. But Rommel’s greatest challenge is to strike the Allies on his front, while struggling behind the lines with the growing insanity of Adolf Hitler, who thwarts the strategies Rommel knows will succeed. Meanwhile, Sergeant Jesse Adams, a no-nonsense veteran of the 82nd Airborne, parachutes with his men behind German lines into a chaotic and desperate struggle. And as the invasion force surges toward the beaches of Normandy, Private Tom Thorne of the 29th Infantry Division faces the horrifying prospects of fighting his way ashore on a stretch of coast more heavily defended than the Allied commanders anticipate–Omaha Beach. From G.I. to general, this story carries the reader through the war’s most crucial juncture, the invasion that altered the flow of the war, and, ultimately, changed history. |
| rommel: in his own words: Tibor Eckhardt in His Own Words Tibor Eckhardt, 2004 Tibor Eckhardt was a powerful and influential figure in the political life of Hungary from the end of World War I until 1941 when he emigrated to the United States. Eckhardt's carer included personal contact with some of the most controversial and important figures of the first half of the twentieth century, among them, Adolf Hitler, Franklin Roosevelt, Dr. Otto von Habsburg, Paul Teleki, Edvard Benes, and Winston Churchill. He recounts these first-hand personal meetings and impressions in vivid detail in this autobiography. |
| rommel: in his own words: In Rommel's Backyard Alistair Timpson, Andrew Gibson-Watt, 2010-07-28 This WWII journal takes readers inside an elite reconnaissance and raiding unit operating behind enemy lines in the North African campaign. As a young man entering the maelstrom of World War II, Alastair Timpson had the good fortune to find his way into the most romantic of special force units, the Long Range Desert Group. In Rommel’s Backyard describes the various roles of the LRDG, all of which involved great daring and endurance deep behind enemy lines. They were the eyes and ears of the Eighth Army, reporting enemy movement; they destroyed enemy aircraft, supply dumps, and vehicles; and they transported other special forces and agents to their objectives. Timpson kept a meticulous record of all his activities with the LRDG. Only after his death, did his son realize the significance of his father’s journals. In Rommel’s Backyard is a personal account of the LRDG that epitomizes the spirit of the entire campaign. |
| rommel: in his own words: Rommel David Irving, 2012-03-15 ROMMEL: The Trail of the Fox is a new hardback edition of the world's best-known Rommel biography. Field Marshal Rommel has been described as one of the ten greatest military commanders of all time. This is the first biography of this charismatic leader to rely almost entirely on the original records of the period. |
| rommel: in his own words: Great Military Leaders William T. Worthington, 2002 Great Military Leaders - A Bibliography with Vignettes |
| rommel: in his own words: The Longest Day Cornelius Ryan, 2010-02-16 The unparalleled, classic work of history that recreates the battle that changed World War II—the Allied invasion of Normandy. The Longest Day is Cornelius Ryan’s unsurpassed account of D-Day, a book that endures as a masterpiece of military history. In this compelling tale of courage and heroism, glory and tragedy, Ryan painstakingly recreates the fateful hours that preceded and followed the massive invasion of Normandy to retell the story of an epic battle that would turn the tide against world fascism and free Europe from the grip of Nazi Germany. This book, first published in 1959, is a must for anyone who loves history, as well as for anyone who wants to better understand how free nations prevailed at a time when darkness enshrouded the earth. |
| rommel: in his own words: Historical Dictionary of the 1940s James Gilbert Ryan, Leonard C Schlup, 2015-03-26 The only available historical dictionary devoted exclusively to the 1940s, this book offers readers a ready-reference portrait of one of the twentieth century's most tumultuous decades. In nearly 600 concise entries, the volume quickly defines a historical figure, institution, or event, and then points readers to three sources that treat the subject in depth. In selecting topics for inclusion, the editors and authors offer a representative slice of life as contemporaneous Americans saw it - with coverage of people; movements; court cases; and economic, social, cultural, political, military, and technological changes. The book focuses chiefly on the United States, but places American lives and events firmly within a global context. |
| rommel: in his own words: Professional Journal of the United States Army , 1998 |
| rommel: in his own words: Tomorrow to Be Brave Susan Travers, 2000 Susan Travers dreamed of an adventurous life, but had little chance of it until the Second World War destroyed her cafe society world and freed her from the bonds of her privileged but stifling upbringing. Leaving her peripatetic, party-girl lifestyle behind her, she drank a last cocktail at her friend Gladys's chateau, locked the door behind her and walked into history. Here for the first time, the life story of the only woman to fight for the French Legion is one that few dare to even imagine. Born to a life of privilege, Susan spends her childhood longing for excitement. After being expelled from finishing school for being too interested in men, she signed up with the Free French in 1940 and sailed to Africa where she traveled the country fighting the war and taking on lovers, eventually becoming a driver to General Koenig of the Foreign Legion. He was to become her lover and the man for whom she would risk everything. A military leader of Olympian detach, he was in private a sensitive soul, sharing poetry with Susan, including the piece from which the title of the book is taken, Tomorrow To Be Brave. He was also the man who helped change the face of Rommel's North African campaign. At the great siege of Bir Hakeim, the general's troops were surrounded for fifteen days by Rommel's Panzer division. Susan refused to leave the General's side and evetually, at the wheel of his car, led the convoy of vehicles and men across the minefields as part of a daring mass breakout. Hailed as the heroine of the night, Susan was rewarded with the love and loyalty of the legion with whom she served as its only official female member ever. In 1997 in a simple ceremony attended by the few remaining survivors of the corps with which she fought, the Legion presented Susan Travers, now a frail 88 year old, with the Legion d'Honneur--their highest award for bravery. She lives quietly to this day in a modest nursing home outside Paris where only a very few know what circuitous and fantastic a path led her there--until now. |
| rommel: in his own words: 'Rommel?' 'Gunner Who?' Spike Milligan, 2012-12-13 VOLUME TWO OF SPIKE MILLIGAN'S LEGENDARY MEMOIRS IS A HILARIOUS, SUBVERSIVE FIRST-HAND ACCOUNT OF WW2 'Brilliant verbal pyrotechnics, throwaway lines and marvelous anecdotes' Daily Mail 'Desperately funny, vivid, vulgar' Sunday Times ______________ 'Keep talking, Milligan. I think I can get you out on Mental Grounds.' 'That's how I got in, sir.' 'Didn't we all.' The second volume of Spike Milligan's legendary recollections of life as a gunner in World War Two sees our hero into battle in North Africa - eventually. First, there is important preparation to be done: extensive periods of loitering ('We had been standing by vehicles for an hour and nothing had happened, but it happened frequently'), psychological toughening ('If a man dies when you hang him, keep hanging him until he gets used to it') and living dangerously ('no underwear!'). At last the battle for Tunis is upon them . . . ______________ 'The most irreverent, hilarious book about the war that I have ever read' Sunday Express 'Milligan is the Great God to all of us' John Cleese 'The Godfather of Alternative Comedy' Eddie Izzard 'A totally original comedy writer' Michael Palin 'Close in stature to Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear in his command of the profound art of nonsense' Guardian |
| rommel: in his own words: Tobruk David Mitchelhill-Green, 2021-07-28 Tobruk was one of the greatest Allied victories – and one of the worst Allied defeats – of the Second World War. The eight-month long 1941 siege – a defiant stand by the so-called ‘Rats of Tobruk’ – captured the world’s attention. Conversely, the fall of Tobruk in June 1942 came a shock to the Allies in the wake of Japan’s entry into the war and a string of defeats in the Far East. It rocked the foundation of Winston Churchill’s premiership, revived the flagging hopes of the German people and fanned the flames of Arab unrest. It furthered Rommel’s ascendency and marked a turning point in Anglo-American relations and the fight against Nazi Germany. Tobruk: Fiercely Stand, or Fighting Fall presents a new perspective – asking why the remote fortress successfully fought off repeated attacks in 1941, before tragically falling to Rommel’s Axis forces in just 24 hours in mid-1942. It begins with Italy’s invasion of Ottoman-held North Africa in 1911, before introducing key individuals - Rommel, Mussolini and Morshead – to examine how their WWI service shaped later events. From Mussolini’s ill-fated invasion of Egypt in September 1940, the book explores the capture of Tobruk in January 1941 by the Australian 6th Division, the ensuing siege of its sister 9th Division, and the fortress’ disastrous capitulation. |
| rommel: in his own words: Alamein Colin Smith, John Bierman, 2012-03-29 'Excellent ... a remarkable achievement and ought to be recognised as one of the most successful histories of the Western Desert and North African fighting yet to have appeared' John Keegan, Daily Telegraph For the British, the battle fought at El Alamein in October 1942 became the turning point of the Second World War. In this study of the desert war, John Bierman and Colin Smith show why it is remembered by its survivors as a 'war without hate'. Through extensive research the authors provide a compellingly fresh perspective on the see-saw campaign in which the two sides chased each other back and forth across the unforgiving North African landscape. |
| rommel: in his own words: Gates of Fire Steven Pressfield, 2000 Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by, That here, obedient to their laws, we lie. Nearly 2,500 years ago, in 480BC, at a bleak pass in a far-flung corner of eastern Greece, three hundred Spartan warriors faced the army of Xerxe |
| rommel: in his own words: Erwin Rommel Photographer Zita Steele, 2016-09-21 Experience WWII in color with world-famous military commander Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. See 130 rare color photos from Rommel's private collection, seized by U.S. forces in 1945. Witness as he travels across colorful terrains, flies a dive bomber, drives over desert battlefields, visits villages. These photos are digitally restored/enhanced. |
| rommel: in his own words: World War II Alan Warren, 2016-08-12 In the First World War many battles on the Western Front had lasted weeks or months. All too often they degenerated into glacial and indecisive campaigns of attrition. By the 1930s, however, military science had recreated the possibility of a decisive battle. An unprecedented rate of technological change meant that a stream of new inventions were readily at hand for military innovators to exploit. Aircraft, armoured vehicles and new forms of motorised transport became available to make possible a fresh style of offensive warfare when the next European war began in 1939. A belief in the importance of effective war fighting was vital to the Nazi vision of Germany's future. Nazi Germany's political and military leaders aimed for rapid and decisive victory in battle. From 1939-45 new ideologies and new machines of war carried destruction across the globe. Alan Warren chronicles the sixteen most decisive battles of the Second World War, from the Blitzkrieg of Poland to the fall of Berlin. |
| rommel: in his own words: The War Against Rommel's Supply Lines, 1942-43 Alan J. Levine, 2008 As Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps regrouped in Tunisia in late 1942, the Allies began a blockade of the Germans with a relatively small number of planes and submarines. Rommel's campaign relied on sea and air supply lines across the Mediterranean and would bve crippled if the flow of fuel and supplies was cut off. The American and British interdiction operation produced some of the fiercest air battles of World War II and one of only two successful submarine campaigns ever fought. It played a critical role in the Allied victory in North Africa.--Back cover. |
| rommel: in his own words: Death of the Wehrmacht Robert M. Citino, 2007-10-22 For Hitler and the German military, 1942 was a key turning point of World War II, as an overstretched but still lethal Wehrmacht replaced brilliant victories and huge territorial gains with stalemates and strategic retreats. In this major reevaluation of that crucial year, Robert Citino shows that the German army's emerging woes were rooted as much in its addiction to the war of movement-attempts to smash the enemy in short and lively campaigns-as they were in Hitler's deeply flawed management of the war. From the overwhelming operational victories at Kerch and Kharkov in May to the catastrophic defeats at El Alamein and Stalingrad, Death of the Wehrmacht offers an eye-opening new view of that decisive year. Building upon his widely respected critique in The German Way of War, Citino shows how the campaigns of 1942 fit within the centuries-old patterns of Prussian/German warmaking and ultimately doomed Hitler's expansionist ambitions. He examines every major campaign and battle in the Russian and North African theaters throughout the year to assess how a military geared to quick and decisive victories coped when the tide turned against it. Citino also reconstructs the German generals' view of the war and illuminates the multiple contingencies that might have produced more favorable results. In addition, he cites the fatal extreme aggressiveness of German commanders like Erwin Rommel and assesses how the German system of command and its commitment to the independence of subordinate commanders suffered under the thumb of Hitler and chief of staff General Franz Halder. More than the turning point of a war, 1942 marked the death of a very old and traditional pattern of warmaking, with the classic German way of war unable to meet the challenges of the twentieth century. Blending masterly research with a gripping narrative, Citino's remarkable work provides a fresh and revealing look at how one of history's most powerful armies began to founder in its quest for world domination. |
| rommel: in his own words: The Desert Generals Correlli Barnett, 2011-07-14 A classic account of the Desert Campaign of 1940-43, by a renowned military historian. The distinguished historian Correlli Barnett gives here a complete and full account of the Desert Campaign 1940-43, an epic story set in a wasteland where soldiers fought for victory in a tumult of mechanical warfare. But THE DESERT GENERALS is also the story of five men under the strain of command in battle, the commanders who successively led the Allied forces against first the Italians and then the Germans in the ebb and flow of the desert war, culminating in the myth of Montgomery and the battle of Alamein, a myth that Correlli Barnett sets out to expose as ill-founded. Brilliantly written, THE DESERT GENERALS captures at every level the intensity and human drama of a unique and compelling episode in the history of war and warfare. |
| rommel: in his own words: The Last Lion Paul Reid, William Manchester, 2012-11-06 The long-awaited final volume of William Manchester's legendary biography of Winston Churchill. Spanning the years of 1940-1965, The Last Lion picks up shortly after Winston Churchill became Prime Minister-when his tiny island nation stood alone against the overwhelming might of Nazi Germany. The Churchill conjured up by William Manchester and Paul Reid is a man of indomitable courage, lightning-fast intellect, and an irresistible will to action. The Last Lion brilliantly recounts how Churchill organized his nation's military response and defense, compelled FDR into supporting America's beleaguered cousins, and personified the never surrender ethos that helped the Allies win the war, while at the same time adapting himself and his country to the inevitable shift of world power from the British Empire to the United States. More than twenty years in the making, The Last Lion presents a revelatory and unparalleled portrait of this brilliant, flawed, and dynamic leader. This is popular history at its most stirring. |
| rommel: in his own words: Survival In Auschwitz Primo Levi, 1996 A work by the Italian-Jewish writer, Primo Levi. It describes his arrest as a member of the Italian anti-fascist resistance during the Second World War, and his incarceration in the Auschwitz concentration camp from February 1944 until the camp was liberated on 27 January 1945. |
| rommel: in his own words: Rommel's Gold Maggie Davis, 2014-04-01 This historical Nazi mystery draws an intrepid woman to the Middle East, where she’s entangled in a web of intrigue and desire. In Maggie Davis’s exquisitely written novel, international espionage, forbidden love, and greed surround the search for General Rommel’s gold. During World War II, Rommel buried it in the North African desert, then left to meet with Hitler. Now Sharon Hoyt, with her seductive Western ways, finds herself attracted to an Arab police chief and mixed up in the ex‐Nazis’ search for Rommel’s gold. Will she be able to get out of the crossfire of a brewing Middle East conflict? |
| rommel: in his own words: How Churchill Waged War Allen Packwood, 2018-10-30 An analytical investigation into Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s decision-making process during every stage of World War II. When Winston Churchill accepted the position of Prime Minister in May 1940, he insisted in also becoming Minister of Defence. This, though, meant that he alone would be responsible for the success or failure of Britain’s war effort. It also meant that he would be faced with many monumental challenges and utterly crucial decisions upon which the fate of Britain and the free world rested. With the limited resources available to the UK, Churchill had to pinpoint where his country’s priorities lay. He had to respond to the collapse of France, decide if Britain should adopt a defensive or offensive strategy, choose if Egypt and the war in North Africa should take precedence over Singapore and the UK’s empire in the East, determine how much support to give the Soviet Union, and how much power to give the United States in controlling the direction of the war. In this insightful investigation into Churchill’s conduct during the Second World War, Allen Packwood, BA, MPhil (Cantab), FRHistS, the Director of the Churchill Archives Centre, enables the reader to share the agonies and uncertainties faced by Churchill at each crucial stage of the war. How Churchill responded to each challenge is analyzed in great detail and the conclusions Packwood draws are as uncompromising as those made by Britain’s wartime leader as he negotiated his country through its darkest days. |
| rommel: in his own words: Armor , 1964 |
| rommel: in his own words: Rommel's Ghost Division David Mitchelhill-Green, 2024-07-25 Adolf Hitler invaded Western Europe on 10 May 1940. After breaking through the supposedly ‘impenetrable’ Ardennes, Erwin Rommel was at the forefront of the Wehrmacht’s audacious drive through France. Rommel, who had no prior experience leading an armored division in combat, moved with such speed and nerve that he frequently surprised French units by arriving far earlier than expected. Crossing the Meuse River, we follow Rommel—in what he referred to as ‘practically a lightning Tour de France’—as he pushed through northern France to the English Channel. His spectacular victory at the coastal port of Saint-Valéry-en-Caux was crowned by the capture of Cherbourg. Following the armistice, Rommel was involved in reenacting certain battles, such as crossing the Somme, for the documentary Sieg im Westen (Victory in the West). This is the story of Rommel and the 7th Panzer Division—the so-called ‘Ghost Division’—in France, 1940. |
| rommel: in his own words: Music and Mathematics John Fauvel, Raymond Flood, Robin J. Wilson, 2003 From ancient Greek times, music has been seen as a mathematical art, and the relationship between mathematics and music has fascinated generations. This work links these two subjects in a manner that is suitable for students of both subjects, as well as the general reader with an interest in music. |
| rommel: in his own words: Churchill's Bestiary Piers Brendon, 2018-10-25 In this fascinating and unique biography, Dr Piers Brendon looks deeper into Churchill's love of the animal kingdom, and at how animals played such a large part in his everyday life. |
| rommel: in his own words: Hitler's War in Africa 1941–1942 David Mitchelhill-Green, 2021-08-04 Adolf Hitler’s war in Africa arose from the urgent need to reinforce the Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini, whose 1940 invasion of Egypt had been soundly beaten. Of secondary importance to his ideological dream of conquering the Soviet Union, Germany’s Führer rushed a small mechanised force into the unfamiliar North African theatre to stave off defeat and avert any political fallout. This fresh account begins with the arrival of the largely unprepared German formations, soon to be stricken by disease and heavily reliant upon captured materiel, as they fought a bloody series of see-sawing battles across the Western Desert. David Mitchelhill-Green has gathered a wealth of personal narratives from both sides as he follows the brash exploits of General Erwin Rommel, intent on retaking Libya; the Nile firmly in his sights. Against this backdrop is the brutal human experience of war itself. |
| rommel: in his own words: Eighth Army's Greatest Victories Adrian Turner, 1999-03-16 To read many accounts, it would appear that the Eighth Army's victory at El Alamein was quickly followed by its triumphant arrival at Tunis. Adrian Turner, the experienced authority on the period, redresses the imbalance by describing brilliantly the progress of this legendary fighting force and describing the ferocity of such battles as that for the Mareth Line. The author deftly handles strategic level thinking, the tactical battles and individual contributions. Aviation readers will be thrilled by recognition of the Desert Air Force's contribution, too often neglected. |
| rommel: in his own words: Victory in the Desert Adrian Stewart, 2022-04-11 The end of the beginning... An epic conflict North Africa was a turning point for the British in the Second World War: a harsh landscape of sand and enemy tanks, but ultimately a place of victory, that Churchill famously called ‘the end of the beginning.’ When General Montgomery became commander of the Allied Eighth Army in 1942, he found the troops dispirited after a series of defeats by his nemesis, General Rommel. However, under Monty’s inspired leadership the army turned their fortunes around, going on to win seven battles and driving the enemy out of North Africa. However, little credit has been attributed to the Eighth Army for its victories, and even the legendary Battle of El Alamein has been consistently underrated. This highly informed and gripping account brings to light how the troops, and their leaders, won these decisive battles, and helped to win the war. Lucid and accessible, this masterly account is vital reading for all enthusiasts of military history. Perfect for readers of Jonathan Dimbleby and Max Hastings. |
Erwin Rommel - Wikipedia
Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel (pronounced [ˈɛʁviːn ˈʁɔməl] ⓘ; 15 November 1891 – 14 October 1944), popularly known as The Desert Fox (German: Wüstenfuchs, pronounced …
Erwin Rommel | Biography, Death, & Facts | Britannica
Erwin Rommel (born November 15, 1891, Heidenheim, Germany—died October 14, 1944, Herrlingen, near Ulm) was a German field marshal who became the most popular general at …
Erwin Rommel - Facts, History, Death | Holocaust Encyclopedia
Erwin Rommel was commander of the German Afrika Korps in North Africa during WWII. Learn about Rommel's military career, death, and ongoing questions around his commitment to Nazism.
No Exit: How Rommel Was Forced To Commit Suicide - HistoryNet
Oct 14, 2021 · One of Germany’s most famous military commanders met an inescapable death sentence—not by the hands of the enemy, but by the leaders of his own country. Field …
Erwin Rommel - Death, Hitler & Germany - Biography
Apr 2, 2014 · Erwin Rommel, called "the People's Marshal" by his countrymen, was one of Adolf Hitler's most successful generals and one of Germany's most popular military leaders.
Erwin Rommel - World History Encyclopedia
Sep 13, 2024 · Erwin Rommel (1891-1944) was a German field marshal who gained fame as a tank commander in the Fall of France in 1940 and then as the commander of the Afrika Korps …
How Rommel Resisted Hitler and Chose His Fate
Feb 17, 2025 · The summer of 1944 was one of intense turmoil within Nazi Germany. On the surface, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, the legendary Desert Fox, was focused on defending …
Erwin Rommel - Military Leader and Husband, Children and Age
Feb 4, 2025 · Erwin Rommel, known as "the People's Marshal," was a key military leader in Nazi Germany and one of Adolf Hitler's most distinguished generals. Born on November 15, 1891, …
Erwin Rommel: Life, Achievements, and Death of the Famous …
Mar 13, 2017 · Erwin Rommel is often celebrated as a German hero, a designation that invites scrutiny due to the complex moral landscape of World War II. Rommel was a figure who …
Erwin Rommel: The Renowned Military Officer’s Downfall
Oct 11, 2022 · Field Marshall Erwin Rommel, Germany's most famous military officer, would become embroiled in an assassination attempt on Hitler himself, leading to his own death and …
Erwin Rommel - Wikipedia
Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel (pronounced [ˈɛʁviːn ˈʁɔməl] ⓘ; 15 November 1891 – 14 October 1944), popularly known as The Desert Fox (German: Wüstenfuchs, pronounced [ˈvyːstn̩ˌfʊks] …
Erwin Rommel | Biography, Death, & Facts | Britannica
Erwin Rommel (born November 15, 1891, Heidenheim, Germany—died October 14, 1944, Herrlingen, near Ulm) was a German field marshal who became the most popular general at …
Erwin Rommel - Facts, History, Death | Holocaust Encyclopedia
Erwin Rommel was commander of the German Afrika Korps in North Africa during WWII. Learn about Rommel's military career, death, and ongoing questions around his commitment to Nazism.
No Exit: How Rommel Was Forced To Commit Suicide - HistoryNet
Oct 14, 2021 · One of Germany’s most famous military commanders met an inescapable death sentence—not by the hands of the enemy, but by the leaders of his own country. Field …
Erwin Rommel - Death, Hitler & Germany - Biography
Apr 2, 2014 · Erwin Rommel, called "the People's Marshal" by his countrymen, was one of Adolf Hitler's most successful generals and one of Germany's most popular military leaders.
Erwin Rommel - World History Encyclopedia
Sep 13, 2024 · Erwin Rommel (1891-1944) was a German field marshal who gained fame as a tank commander in the Fall of France in 1940 and then as the commander of the Afrika Korps …
How Rommel Resisted Hitler and Chose His Fate
Feb 17, 2025 · The summer of 1944 was one of intense turmoil within Nazi Germany. On the surface, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, the legendary Desert Fox, was focused on defending …
Erwin Rommel - Military Leader and Husband, Children and Age
Feb 4, 2025 · Erwin Rommel, known as "the People's Marshal," was a key military leader in Nazi Germany and one of Adolf Hitler's most distinguished generals. Born on November 15, 1891, in …
Erwin Rommel: Life, Achievements, and Death of the Famous …
Mar 13, 2017 · Erwin Rommel is often celebrated as a German hero, a designation that invites scrutiny due to the complex moral landscape of World War II. Rommel was a figure who …
Erwin Rommel: The Renowned Military Officer’s Downfall
Oct 11, 2022 · Field Marshall Erwin Rommel, Germany's most famous military officer, would become embroiled in an assassination attempt on Hitler himself, leading to his own death and …
