Rommel

The End of a Legend
By Ralf Georg Reuth

Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was the most popular soldier of World War II. Under his leadership the German Afrika Korps advanced all the way to Egypt. Known as the ‘Desert Fox’, Rommel  was considered invincible. That is the story told in the history books.

Ralf Georg Reuth paints a different portrait of Erwin Rommel: a picture of a man, who owed his fame in part to Nazi propaganda and whose role in the resistance is still unclear; the image of a soldier, who was promoted by Hitler and who continued to stay true to him until the end, when he committed suicide at the behest of his Führer. His personal fate is the mirror image of the German tragedy of that time: ‘to have followed the Führer to the end and to believe that one had thereby done one’s patriotic duty.’

 Now also available as a paperback.

‘The legend of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel - the 'Desert Fox' - is threefold: he was a simple soldier who did his duty and knew nothing about Nazism; he was a commander of superlative talent who ran rings about the British in North Africa in 1941-2; he was a leader of resistance to Hitler who gave his life to the cause after the failure of the July 1944 plot.

In this lucid, exemplary Volume Ralf Georg Reuth shows that all three of the assumptions are false... and reveals the truth in a brilliant book that, exposes the self-serving role of the Cold War West in promoting the Rommel legend.’ 

The Independent
 
Ralf Georg Reuth wrote his doctoral thesis on German military strategy and the history of World War II. Since then he has published two big biographies on Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels. He was also the editor of the diaries of Joseph Goebbels.

'The life of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, the 'Desert Fox,' fascinates Anglo-Americans and Germans. Stripping away the legends, Reuth (senior correspondent, Welt-am-Sonntag) analyzes Rommel's generalship, role in the Nazi regime, relationship with Adolf Hitler, and place in the German Resistance. Rommel was a brilliant tactician and infantry instructor, but he lacked the strategic and logistical vision necessary to be a great field marshal. Some of his flaws, Reuth shows, were his own, such as his cavalier attitude repeatedly displayed toward supply lines in North Africa. For Josef Goebbels, Rommel was an especially useful war hero because he was Hitler's favorite general and craved headlines. General Hans Speidel, Rommel's chief of staff, July 20 conspirator, and later NATO ground force commander, fashioned 'Rommel the Resister' out of whole cloth. Determined to rebuild West German forces in the early 1950s, he found it useful to invent a legend around his former chief because West Germany needed a military hero, especially one already honored in the British press. Reuth convincingly shows that the Desert Fox remained faithful to the Führer until the end. Profusely illustrated, this book deserves a wide readership. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries. -- J. R. White, University of Maryland University College.'