Rommel's Desert Commanders: The Men Who Served the Desert Fox, North Africa, 1941-42 (Stackpole Military History Series)
by Jr. Samuel W. Mitcham
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Book Summary Information
Author: Jr. Samuel W. MitchamEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2008-08-10
ISBN: 0811735109
Number of pages: 214
Publisher: Stackpole Books
Book Reviews of Rommel's Desert Commanders: The Men Who Served the Desert Fox, North Africa, 1941-42 (Stackpole Military History Series)
Book Review: Rommel's Foxes of the Desert
Summary: 3 Stars
Ask anyone to name a German general, and the response most likely will be: Rommel -- The Desert Fox.
Erwin Rommel's famous North African campaign is one of the most studied aspects of the Second World War. However, veteran World War II history writer, Samuel W. Mitcham, Jr. knows that the legendary Field Marshall Rommel was not the only interesting officer in the Panzer Army Africa and has written a unique book that gives a voice to his top-notch subordinates.
Mr. Mitcham, also the author of Panzers in Winter: Hitler's Army and the Battle of the Bulge (Stackpole Military History Series), and Panzer Commanders of the Western Front: German Tank Generals in World War II (Stackpole Military History Series), introduces the reader to a gallery of mini-portraits of Rommel's men painted to accompany his broad canvas of battlefield narratives. His biographies add new color to the previous monochrome look of the Panzer Army Africa, out shown by the brilliance of Field Marshall Erwin Rommel -- until now.
The author admires the accomplishments of Rommel and he offers a fascinating behind-the-scenes history of Rommel's army. The book is born out of the desire to breath life into the names that reported to the Desert Fox.
What would it be like take orders from the Desert Fox? Mr. Mitcham shows us how Rommel was very demanding of his officers, bullying them when they did not meet his expectations. His 5th Light Division commander, Johannes Striech was accused of being, too slow, lacking boldness and imagination. After failing to seize Tobruk, then retreating without orders, Rommel had seen enough of Striech and his chief subordinate, Olbricht. Both were relieved of their commands -- Their careers effectively over.
The next commander of 5th Light Division, Johann Theodor von Ravenstein's record showed excellent drive and accomplishment. Of note, he was highly decorated for ambushing and routing a French battalion with only 16 men. He was awarded the Knights Cross for overrunning the French 9th Army HQ, capturing 50 French officers. Even Rommel could admire this man.
After a spectacular attack on the British armored forces in Operation Battleaxe, Rommel called Ravenstein one of his most brilliant generals. During Operation Crusader, "Ravenstein earned the dubious distinction of becoming the first German general to be captured in the second world war," when his car was ambushed by three New Zealanders. Ravenstein's adventures were not over yet. An Italian bomber torpedoed the ship carrying Ravenstein to Alexandria. Fortunately, he was plucked from the sea by a British corvette and taken to Egypt.
"Ludwig Cruell was one of the best panzer commanders, not only in the Africa Korps, but in the entire German army," agues Mr. Mitcham. Cruell was a "highly competent, steady and dependable general staff officer, notes the author, and was rightly named the next commander of the Africa Korps.
As we are repeatedly shown, being in the front lines, as Rommel demanded, is very risky. While directing the fighting at Sidi Rezegh, General Cruell's British-built Mammoth command vehicle suddenly seemed to be surrounded by British tanks. Benefiting from the fog of war, he sped away before the puzzled Brits could react.
On May 28th, Cruell's low-flying Storch light recon aircraft was shot down. With his pilot dead, he was helpless to land from the back seat. Somehow surviving the crash, he found himself trapped in the wreckage, and was easily captured by the British.
"One of the most unusual characters in the Africa Korps was Major Wilhelm Georg Bach, a Lutheran pastor," noted as Roommel's best battalion commander. Although his rank demanded respect, he was the friendliest, most relaxed German commander serving under Rommel. He was captured and taken to Egypt after the lengthly siege of his surrounded positions in Halfaya Pass.
General Ravenstein, General Schimmit and Major Bach masterminded a plot to take over their Canada-bound prison ship, but were found out before they could act. For a time, the angry British even considered throwing the three ringleaders overboard. They eventually settled for solitary confinement.
Of his principals, Mr. Mitcham's favorite German officer is Ernst Guenther Baade, a gentleman form the old school, believing in chivalry. "An idiosyncratic maverick, Ernst Baade definitely marched to his own drummer and soon became a legend in the Africa Korps by going into battle dressed in a Scottish kilt...In the field, he habitually wore a black beret with a tartan plaid ribbon and carried a huge claymore instead of a luger."
Baade's unpredictable actions caused anger and irritation at the High Command of the Armed Forces, but it did not ruffle Rommel, who shielded him," explains Mr. Mitcham. He was credited with the masterly evacuation of the XIV Panzer Corps from Sicily.
"Walter Kurt Josef Nehring was one of the best panzer commanders of World War II." Nehring's innovative 'flak front' of 88mm anti-aircraft guns stopped cold the breakthrough of powerful British Grant tanks and saved the Africa Korps at the Battle of the Gazala Line.
Foreseeing the ultimate collapse of Tunis, Nehring argued for evacuation. This angered Hitler and Goebbels who denounced him as a coward and defeatist. Nehring soon found himself replaced by General Armin in Tunisia. As he had predicted, Tunis soon fell. Disparately needing generals, the Nazis redeemed Nehring, and gave him another chance to command on the Russian front and he performed magnificently, earning Swords for his Knights Cross, personally awarded by Hitler.
Like most aggressive German generals, Rommel led from the front. Usually, the Chief of Staff was required to accompany Rommel on visits to the front lines, which left junior officers in charge of the HQ -- a problem when senior Italian generals tried to over-rule them.
"Rommel did not make long lasting professional associations, in part because he made few close personal friendships. He also tended to physically wear out subordinates very quickly, points out Mr. Mitcham. Losses never bothered Rommel though, He believed staff could easily be replaced.
The general staff could never get close to Rommel; because Hitler had planted spies in his headquarters, making him suspicious and distrustful of everyone.
Mr. Mitcham claims, "Rommel was by every account a hard man for whom to work. He could be very rude to his staff and scathing to senior commanders, but never so to enlisted men or prisoners of war."
If you write a book titled, "Rommel's Desert Commanders", you must have a chapter titled, "El Alamein." With Rommel very sick, and returning to Europe, his replacement as Commander of Panzer Army Africa was Georg Stumme. During the El Alamein fighting, Stumme suffered a fatal heart attack while clinging to the running board of his fleeing staff car. His body was found along the road a few hours after Hitler called Rommel to go back to Africa.
Chapter IV, "The Staff" brings to life on the page other forgotten staff officers serving with Rommel, including military engineers, a reconnaissance officer, a journalist/propagandist, intelligence officers, medical officers, communication officers and signals officers.
Mr. Mitcham invites you to meet 27 other commanders of the Panzer Army Africa, the Africa Korps, and the four divisions that they directed in Chapter VIII, "The Other Commanders."
In writing about Rommel's subordinates, Mr. Mitcham frequently had to divert from his book's setting in the deserts of North Africa. To trace their careers, the author's narrative detoured extensively to World War I, all of Germany's fronts in World War II, even to the post war years -- something that may put off some readers.
"Rommel's Desert Commanders: The Men Who Served the Desert Fox, North Africa, 1941-42" contains 17 maps and a gallery of 43 photographs, Mr. Mitcham's book is a quick and enjoyable read, his narrative is full of interest for students of the Africa Korps.
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