Kill Rommel! - Operation Flipper 1941 (Raid) by Gavin Mortimer

Osprey Raid #43

by Gavin Mortimer

British Commandos attempted to assassinate Rommel, the Desert Fox, in a daring special forces raid in North Africa during World War II.On the night of 13 November 1941 two British submarines surfaced off the Libyan coast 250 miles behind German lines. It was dark and stormy, and the 28 commandos on board Torbay had great difficulty climbing into their rubber dinghies and paddling towards the shore. Disaster struck the second submarine, Talisman, when a giant wave swept eleven commandos waiting on deck overboard. At dawn on the morning of 13 November the depleted raiding party was finally ashore, cold, wet and exhausted, but determined nonetheless to press on with their audacious mission - the assassination of General Erwin Rommel, commander of the German forces in North Africa. The raid made headlines round the free world. It was a shining example of British pluck and daring, proclaimed the papers, and to prove the point, Keyes was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross. Yet in truth the raid had been a glorious failure, a mission bedevilled by bad planning and poor intelligence. Yet crucial lessons were learned by subsequent special forces' operations, particularly by the SAS who carried out their first mission on the same night as the raid on Rommel's HQ. By the end of World War II the British special forces were the best in the world.

Genres: History

Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

For a detailed biography, to learn more about all the books I have written and to discover my forthcoming projects, please visit my website at the above link.

Reviews

[Brett Bricker · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had a hard time getting into this book and even completing it. Pacing was okay, writing was decent, but the subject was stretched out pretty far. There was a lot of names mentioned in this book (particularly of the commandos on the raid) and it would have been nice to have a chart listing out everyone involved. A casually interesting tale, but ultimately falls a bit flat. If you interested in the beginnings of the SAS or World War 2 North Africa campaign, you may consider it for a read. But ultimately, let me save you some time, spoiler alert, they didn't kill Rommel.

[Ned Leffingwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an Osprey book about the British raid to assassinate Rommel in North Africa. This was one of the first special forces missions conducted by the British. The book is short and to the point. Recommended for people interested in the North African theater of WWII.