ROMMEL: The Trail of the Fox

David Irving’s The Trail of the Fox is the best work on Rommel ever written. I wish I had known about this work decades ago, and had gained this perspective and this knowledge earlier. The circumstances around Rommel’s involvement with the attempt on Hitler’s life, which is the most speculated aspect of Rommel’s life, and how the Gestapo came to believe Rommel was involved, have not been made clear in most of the historiography on Rommel. Irving pieces together what really happened most effectively. There are so many strengths of this book, of which the greatest is probably the fact Irving had access to Rommel’s dairy and many of his letters, which he got permission from the family to view. Other items he found in collections in the United States, England, and Germany. Since he worked on this in the 1970’s he also was able to interview a number of German officers who were still alive that knew and served with Rommel. The whole work is the way historical research should be done; totally reliant on primary source material, and ignores secondary sources that often use conjecture or just repeat incorrect narratives from earlier books. Every source is from people who fought the war; Germans, Italians, British, French and American officers who were in these campaigns and had either first hand observation of Rommel or were major participants like Eisenhower, Churchill, Goebbels, etc. Most writers who have broached the subject of Rommel typically paint a picture of a genius who only lost in North Africa in the end due to meddling by Hitler and being let down by his Italian allies. These were factors, but Irving shows that some of the problems Rommel encountered were to some degree of his own making, and came back to bite him at crucial points. Rommel had many great strength’s but, there were aspects of his personality that were a problem at times, and Irving illustrates some of these. The true Rommel, as Irving shows was magnificent when able to finesse a victory and build on it, but his weakness was that his outlook and confidence took a decided downturn when he was faced with a defeat like El Alamein. Rommel rose quickly in the Wehrmacht because he had worked closely with Hitler early on, and he used this report with Germany’s Commander In Chief to get command of a tank division for the invasion of France. He was an ambitions man, who wanted to do great things, and he had no problem asking for what he wanted. Rommel had been an infantryman, and had no experience with tanks, but he took to the weapon like a natural, and applied his mastery of deception, as well as his headstrong drive to adventure to push his units on to lightning speed accomplishment in France. One of this most effective tactics was to fool many French units into surrender. Once he crossed the Meuse and broke through the French at Sedan, he drove his units like mad deep into the rear areas and caught many French units in a mindset of disbelief German troops could be on top of them. Hitler was duly impressed with Rommel in France, and this performance got him the Afrika Korps. In Africa, Rommel took the mindset of aggressive movement to a tempo the British could not cope with immediately. In the beginning he also worked quite well with the Italians, and their troops came to love Rommel as much as the German soldiers did. His victories came in quick succession as he pushed the Afrika Corps hard, despite the logistics problems he faced. His legend grew, was soon Hitler’s favorite, and equally respected by his opponents. Then he hit his first wall at Tobruk, as his troops reached tactical culmination, and what forces he could use to break into the perimeter were not strong enough, nor supported well enough to break in. All the commanders advised him against it, but he tried to force it anyway, and was repulsed. Months later as the new English commander tried to turn the tables on Rommel, Rommel’s second chance to take Tobruk offered itself. After breaking up the British counter offensive, Rommel took Tobruk, and reached the pinnacle of his career. Again he tried to finesse another conquest and take Egypt, as Irving gives the reader a full account of some of the strategic ideas Rommel had at this juncture, which are thoroughly fascinating. Rommel is of course pushed back, and this begins the downturn in his attitude and outlook. Irving brings many sources to bear in describing the real Rommel. Real observations and opinions of the great minds of the war, thoughts from both sides on what was happening to him. Rommel was a changed man after Africa, but Hitler still wanted him to come back in some way, and put him charge of tactical control of the French coastline in preparation for the Allied invasion. When it came, Rommel showed all of his former zeal and complete dedication to soldering on and trying to stem the tide. Irving shows that his work in holding the Allies in their bridgehead as long as he did was quite a feat. Of w