Exit Rommel

by Bruce Allen Watson

Story of the defeat of the legendary Desert Fox Analyzes Rommel's generalship Details logistical difficulties and the erosion of weapons quality of the Afrika Korps In the sands of North Africa during the early years of World War II, German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel burnished his reputation as the "Desert Fox." After a string of successes, Rommel's fortunes began to sour with the battles of El Alamein, where the British under Bernard Montgomery halted Axis expansion in the fall of 1942, followed days later by the American landings in Morocco and Algeria. As the Americans drove the Germans into Tunisia from the west and the British from the east, Rommel routed U.S. forces at Kasserine Pass. After his last-ditch attack at Medenine was repulsed, the Desert Fox was forced to evacuate, leaving much of his fabled force to Allied captivity.

Genres: World War II, War, History

240 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1999

Reviews

[Alexander Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very easy light read in my most honest opinion. I loved how it deferred from other Stackpole books with shotgun blasting blasting info, instead the reader enjoyed a well paced read. This was my first take on the Axis North Africa campaign and I’m glad I started with this book. I am fascinated by Rommel. Mr. Watson does an excellent job introducing in him to me as the Desert Fox I’ve come to know strictly on documentaries. In any case here are my Pros and (1) Con on this book.

Pros:

Easy To Follow: The intros in every chapter and the followed by summary in the end of each chapter really helped in putting it all together for me personally. I struggle sometimes with information and if something catches my attention in the pages I tend to forget whatever else the author says in the remaining of the chapter. Mr. Watson did an excellent job in bringing in his readers and the book followed with a purpose through Rommel’s ups and downs in North Africa.

Simplistic Maps: In some reviews of this book (little of I might add) people seemed to not like the maps. I for one loved them becuase if anyone has read any other Stackpole books you will know the struggles of the their illustrations and battle diagrams. Most of them if not all of them put way to much information with little or no key to determine what the hell you are looking at. Additionally the maps would be placed in the wrong section of the book. Meaning you could be on a completely diffent phase of a battle and get a map that showed somthing you have already come to pass within the book. It is incredibly frustrating to the reader and makes the books comprehension/focus 10 times harder to follow. In Exit Rommel the author gives very simple illustrations of Rommels movement in battle and focuses on units he talks about in the book and even places preferences on where to look in his maps.

A Neutral Opinion: I loved how the author did not push his agenda of ether glorifying Rommel or chastising him. Mr Watson gives his readers a broad spectrum of accredited options on the Field Marshall and it was much appreciated in my opinion. In reality the author gave the impression that Rommel was hero among his troops while at the same time went over his miscalculations and possible overstimulated ego given to him by Hitler. You as the reader can clearly see how different historians viewed his generalship in North Africa. Additionally the reader can detetmine how each dession he made greatly impacted the overall declining military action in his campaigns.

Terrific Resources: Unlike other Stackpole books that hold no bibliographies or work cited pages, Exit Rommel holds a lot of valid research and development. Mr. Watson treated this book as a dignified study and one can see that with the amount of references he pulls from countless accredited research. It was refreshing to see and another aspect of the book was the implied physical names of historians and their options on Rommels North African study’s.

Con:

Too Many Names of Leadership: The author went a little over board when it came to going over every single unit leadership, both on the Axis and Allies sides. It would have been nice to name a few key leaders and just name the unit on others. Additionally maybe a small intro on the describe person would be good too. I could be biased and the author maybe thinks his audience should already know these leaders but as a novice in the North African campaigns it was a little confusing to keep on track.


All and all it was a very easy read. I actually feel like I got an education from this book. One last thing, I was deathly sick the last week while reading this book. I was still able to follow along with the simplistic writing style. I can’t say that a lot in Stackpole books who give readers insane headaches with poor editing and unfocused writing schemes. Not the case for Exit Rommel.

-Alex

[Shrike58 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I only spent $3.00 on this work at a library used-book sale, there were some moments when I wanted my money back. I had mostly picked this item up for "lines on the map" history, and I didn't think that Watson was doing an especially good job with that. However, Watson did write this monograph with a certain mission, and that was to understand how Rommel's mystique as a general originated. In the author's opinion, much of this comes down to how Rommel seemed to be able to do great things with virtually nothing, helped along by both British and German propaganda building on the substance that was there. It also didn't hurt that elements of the Waffen-SS did not take part in this campaign, as their propensity for war crimes at the drop of a hat would not have allowed for the maintenance of the myth of a "war without hatred."

The reality is that this study verges on the obsolete, as while it does partake of the then still fresh "new operational military history," the dismantling of the myth of the virtuous Wehrmacht was really only beginning to build up steam. Both Omar Bartov and David Irving make their way into the bibliography. It is also arguable that at least one more pass of studies relating to the Desert War are in order, so as to really assimilate the Italian perspective. This is all a roundabout way of saying that while this book has its moments, you'd be better off with the relevant Osprey booklets for the details, and Rick Atkinson's "An Army at Dawn" for a general overview of the campaign in Tunisia (though his focus is on the U.S. Army).

[James Rooney · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a lifelong student of the Desert War, I was excited to find a book focusing on the end of the campaign in Tunisia, which tends to be given short shrift in many classic works on the fighting in Egypt and Libya.

This book does not disappoint, it shows that Rommel had exceeded his logistical capacity in Egypt, ensuring his defeat at Alamein and his retreat to Tunisia.

The arrival of the Americans in French North Africa seriously increased the problems of the Axis, but Hitler decided to make a serious stand in Tunisia once he acquired the shipping from Southern France (as a result of Anton) and the use of Tunisia's harbours, which were much better than Libya's.

Accordingly, the Axis sent an unexpectedly large number of soldiers to maintain a presence on the Mediterranean's southern shore, but this proved to be false strategy as they could not be maintained.

Rommel's brilliance is given its due but he could not salvage the situation and, apart from a short span as commander in France, his career was over. Tunisia was the end of Rommel's dreams and of Hitler's African plans.

I also appreciated the author's attention to the idea of a clean Wehrmacht, a pernicious myth that every student of the Second World War is familiar with, and he makes the interesting observation that perhaps the only reason the Germans in North Africa were considered noble enemies was because there were no population centres for them to occupy. Had Rommel reached the Nile the fate of the Jews in Egypt and Palestine would likely have been bleak indeed.

Fortunately for them and for us, Rommel failed and the British won. The ending of the desert war is succinctly dealt with here and is a solid work.

[Gerry · Rating 2 out of 5]

Half description of Rommel’s Tunisian campaign and its shortfalls, the other half the writer’s examination of the hows and whys. It’s adequate, but I wish there was more, but not sure what. I liked his comparison of Axis and Allied equipment and their effects upon each other. There's a great quote by way of Keegan from General Somervell, logistics chief: 'When [Hitler] hitched his chariot to the internal combustion engine, he opened up a new battle front—a front that we know well. It’s called Detroit."

[Iain · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid read which covers Rommel and the North African theater from El Alemain to the end in Tunesia. The book looks in detail at Rommel's changing style and mistakes. It makes excellent point about Allied equipment and the intelligence gathering techniques of both sides. Oddly, the author repeatedly refers to the Soviet 76.2mm AT guns used by the Korps as being 7.62mm ... a caliber of bullet used by the Germans.

[Alana · Rating 5 out of 5]

THIS IS A GREAT BOOK!