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Field Marshal: The Life and Death of Erwin Rommel
A biography of the WWII military genius known as the Desert Fox—and his complex, ultimately fatal relationship with Hitler from a New York Times–bestselling author. Born leader, brilliant soldier, devoted husband and father—Erwin Rommel was intelligent, brave, and compassionate, while at the same time vain, egotistical, and arrogant. In France in 1940, then for two years in North Africa, then at Normandy in 1944, he proved himself a master of armored warfare, running rings around a succession of Allied generals who never got his measure and could only resort to overwhelming numbers to defeat him. Yet for all his genius, Rommel was also naive, a man who could admire Adolf Hitler at the same time that he despised the Nazis, dazzled by a Führer whose successes blinded him to the true nature of the Third Reich. Above all, he was the quintessential German patriot, who ultimately would refuse to abandon his moral compass—so that on one pivotal day in June 1944, he came to understand that he had mistakenly served an evil man and evil cause. He would still fight for Germany, even as he abandoned his oath of allegiance to the Führer, when he came to realize that Hitler had morphed into nothing more than an agent of death and destruction. In the end, Erwin Rommel was forced to die by his own hand, not because, as some would claim, he had dabbled in a tyrannicidal conspiracy, but because he had committed a far greater crime—he dared to tell Adolf Hitler the truth. In Field Marshal, New York Times–bestselling historian Daniel Allen Butler describes the swirling, innovative campaigns in which Rommel won his military reputation, and assesses the temper of the man who finally fought only for his country and no dark depths beyond.
600 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 19, 2015
167 people are currently reading
358 people want to read
About the author
Daniel Allen Butler
21 books27 followersDaniel Allen Butler is a maritime and military historian, the author (through September 2011) of nine books. Some of his previous works include Unsinkable: the Full Story of RMS Titanic (1998); Distant Victory: The Battle of Jutland and the Allied Triumph in the First World War (2006); The Age of Cunard (2003); The Other Side of the Night: The Carpathia, theCalifornian, and the Night the Titanic was Lost (2009); The Burden of Guilt: How Germany Shattered the Last Days of Peace, Summer 1914 (2010); and Shadow of the Sultan’s Realm: the Destruction of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East (2011).
Educated at Hope College, Grand Valley State University, and the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Butler served in the United States Army before becoming a full-time author. He is an internationally recognized authority on maritime subjects and a popular guest speaker, having given presentations at the National Archives in Washington, DC, the Mariners’ Museum, and in the United Kingdom. He has also been frequently included in the on-board enrichment series of Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth 2 andQueen Mary 2, as well as the ships of the Royal Caribbean and Norwegian cruise lines.
Butler is currently at work on three new projects: The Field Marshal, a biography of Erwin Rommel; The Last Field of Glory: Waterloo, 1815, a history of the Hundred Days; and But for Freedom Alone, the story of the Declaration of Arbroath.
A self-proclaimed “semi-professional beach bum,” Butler divides what little time he spends away from his writing between wandering long stretches of warm, sandy beaches, his love of woodworking, his passion for British sports cars, and his fascination with building model ships. After living and working in Los Angeles, California, for several years, Butler has recently relocated—permanently, he hopes!—to Atlantic Beach, Florida, where the beaches are better.
Educated at Hope College, Grand Valley State University, and the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Butler served in the United States Army before becoming a full-time author. He is an internationally recognized authority on maritime subjects and a popular guest speaker, having given presentations at the National Archives in Washington, DC, the Mariners’ Museum, and in the United Kingdom. He has also been frequently included in the on-board enrichment series of Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth 2 andQueen Mary 2, as well as the ships of the Royal Caribbean and Norwegian cruise lines.
Butler is currently at work on three new projects: The Field Marshal, a biography of Erwin Rommel; The Last Field of Glory: Waterloo, 1815, a history of the Hundred Days; and But for Freedom Alone, the story of the Declaration of Arbroath.
A self-proclaimed “semi-professional beach bum,” Butler divides what little time he spends away from his writing between wandering long stretches of warm, sandy beaches, his love of woodworking, his passion for British sports cars, and his fascination with building model ships. After living and working in Los Angeles, California, for several years, Butler has recently relocated—permanently, he hopes!—to Atlantic Beach, Florida, where the beaches are better.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
October 13, 2015
Known to many as The Desert Fox, Erwin Rommel was one of the few German generals during the Nazi era who the Allies both feared and admired. They feared him for his speedy conquests and swift victories and admired him for his military acumen. Still, Rommel was a very complex many with an even more complex life. This book showcase Rommel the man rather than Rommel the general as is usually the case in books about him. He became a propaganda darling and a favorite of Hitler until he became tangentially involved in one of the many plots to kill the Nazi leader. In the end, Rommel's death by suicide may have saved the Allies from a much longer war as seems to often be the case in the decades later armchair quarterbacking of "what if Rommel had lived longer?"
Mr Butler, best known to me for his book son the Titanic, reveals Rommel in all his many facets and complexities without neglecting anything - good or bad - about him. This book is one of the best, if not the best, biography of this famous general. It goes without saying that anyone interested in this era and the Nazi military leadership should read this biography.
Book received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Mr Butler, best known to me for his book son the Titanic, reveals Rommel in all his many facets and complexities without neglecting anything - good or bad - about him. This book is one of the best, if not the best, biography of this famous general. It goes without saying that anyone interested in this era and the Nazi military leadership should read this biography.
Book received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
December 8, 2015
This is a book with many strengths and faults. On the one hand, Rommel's life is thoroughly illustrated, the author benefiting from the work of his many predecessors, like Desmond Young, David Irving or David Fraser. From them he quotes many of the same episodes they do and also updates some information. Rommel's integrity and grandeur are apparent - he was truly a remarkable man, and not just a great general. The author does a great job in showing that very clearly, using a style that is very pleasant to read. The book reads very well, despite its large size.
My greatest problem with this book is that the author should have decided whether he wanted to write a biography of Erwin Rommel or to tell the story of World War I, the campaign in France, the desert war, etc. Mostly he just adds volume to the book without bringing anything new to the reader. Rommel can be missing from the narrative for a dozen pages straight. Worse than that, sometimes the narratives of theses battles and events are downright wrong, Crusader and Kasserine coming to mind. The text also presents many minor errors, with units and events getting confused often, as when saying that von Rundstedt had never experienced combat when he was badly wounded in World War I, that Littorio was the last available Italian armoured division only to say a few pages forward that Centauro Armoured division was now being sent to Africa, that 15th Panzer Division saw no action in the Kasserine campaign when in fact a sizeable battlegroup did, etc, etc
The author should have had more help from his publishers, particularly Casemate Press having published so many books on World War II.
Though an enjoyable book, it has to be read with some care, and unfortunately it can’t be considered a definitive biography of Erwin Rommel.
My greatest problem with this book is that the author should have decided whether he wanted to write a biography of Erwin Rommel or to tell the story of World War I, the campaign in France, the desert war, etc. Mostly he just adds volume to the book without bringing anything new to the reader. Rommel can be missing from the narrative for a dozen pages straight. Worse than that, sometimes the narratives of theses battles and events are downright wrong, Crusader and Kasserine coming to mind. The text also presents many minor errors, with units and events getting confused often, as when saying that von Rundstedt had never experienced combat when he was badly wounded in World War I, that Littorio was the last available Italian armoured division only to say a few pages forward that Centauro Armoured division was now being sent to Africa, that 15th Panzer Division saw no action in the Kasserine campaign when in fact a sizeable battlegroup did, etc, etc
The author should have had more help from his publishers, particularly Casemate Press having published so many books on World War II.
Though an enjoyable book, it has to be read with some care, and unfortunately it can’t be considered a definitive biography of Erwin Rommel.
October 10, 2022
David Allen Butlerin "Rommel: sotamarsalkan elämä ja kuolema" (Koala, 2017) on englantilaisen tietokirjailijan elämäkerta, jossa käydään läpi Erwin Rommelin - legendaarisen Erämaan ketun - sotaisat elämänvaihteet aina ensimmäisen maailmansodan taisteluista Afrika Korpsin komentajuuteen ja Atlantin vallin linnoittamiseen. Lähteinä on käytetty aikaisempaa tutkimusta, muun muassa natsisympatioistaan arvosteltua David Irvingia (jonka aatteista kyllä irtisanoudutaan) sekä runsaasti Rommelin yksityistä kirjeenvaihtoa.
Elämäkerta käsittelee kohdettaan kunnioittavasti, mutta osaa osoittaa myös hänen virheitään, ja toteaa että myös onnella ja suotuisalla ajoituksella oli oma lukunsa Afrikan sotaretken menestyksessä. Suhdetta kansallissosialismiin ja Adolf Hitleriin käsitellään paljon. Natsidiktaattoriin kohdistuva ihailu kääntyi epäilykseksi ja lopulta inhoksi, sillä järjettömät käskyt saivat Rommelin hylkäämään uskollisuudenvalansa. Butler ei katso Rommelin osallistuneen Hitlerin salamurhahankkeeseen, vaan hänen suurin syntinsä oli kertoa tälle totuus Saksan tilanteesta v. 1944.
Elämäkerta olisi hyötynyt tiukemmasta kustannustoimittamisesta, sillä nyt sai lukea aika monta kertaa samat anekdootit Italian armeijasta ja aavikkosodan syvimmästä olemuksesta.
Elämäkerta käsittelee kohdettaan kunnioittavasti, mutta osaa osoittaa myös hänen virheitään, ja toteaa että myös onnella ja suotuisalla ajoituksella oli oma lukunsa Afrikan sotaretken menestyksessä. Suhdetta kansallissosialismiin ja Adolf Hitleriin käsitellään paljon. Natsidiktaattoriin kohdistuva ihailu kääntyi epäilykseksi ja lopulta inhoksi, sillä järjettömät käskyt saivat Rommelin hylkäämään uskollisuudenvalansa. Butler ei katso Rommelin osallistuneen Hitlerin salamurhahankkeeseen, vaan hänen suurin syntinsä oli kertoa tälle totuus Saksan tilanteesta v. 1944.
Elämäkerta olisi hyötynyt tiukemmasta kustannustoimittamisesta, sillä nyt sai lukea aika monta kertaa samat anekdootit Italian armeijasta ja aavikkosodan syvimmästä olemuksesta.
August 17, 2015
In this biography the author tears down the Rommel mystique while also confirming it.
In case you didn’t catch that, this is the story of the man called the Desert Fox, the general who led Germany’s Afrika Korps in World War Two. There’s over 600 pages here, if you include the notes, biblio, and index, but it’s a surprisingly easy read. 82 pages in it feels like I’ve just started. Made a note to the same effect after 450 pages: the writing is so smooth and easy to read. I remember books of this size on World War 2 taking me a month to muddle through; I finished this in just over a week.
As one would expect this covers all of his life, though surprisingly the focus isn’t simply on his most famous role. There’s plenty on his exploits in WW1, from leading the charge into France to the mountains of Romania and Italy, as well as the beginning of the second, where he again led the blitzkrieg west. But the largest part of this book tells about his time in Northern Africa, where he became the legend, though a lot of that was thanks to him being Hitler’s golden boy and a media—propaganda—darling.
There are plenty of small stories that succinctly explain why certain battles turned out the way they did, showing how sometimes Rommel was just plain lucky and other times unlucky. For instance, Mussolini decided it was a good idea to invade Greece; it wasn’t. Hitler had to send troops to help out his buddy, which meant the British had to send their own troops to fight them, and the nearest available soldiers were those in Africa tasked with stopping Rommel, so less opposition for him. Another story mentions an early battle where Rommel forgot the first rule of war: logistics. Something as simple as forgetting to tell the fuel people he would be going on attack meant his tanks ran out of gas before the battle could be won.
There’s also small moments that humanize him, my favorite of which is when they landed in Africa and he had a military parade in Tripoli. To make the Allied spies think he had a lot more firepower than he actually did, he had his tanks race around to get back to the start and go through again. There’s also a note about him and his officers sightseeing at one of my favorite archaeological sites, Leptis Magna, where he laughs as a photo of Lt. von Harftdegen is taken while he’s asleep between statues of nude females.
The author mentions that Ultra (cracking of the top-secret German Enigma code) and the Manhattan Project were the two best kept secrets of WW2, which sounds right. This meant the Brits were reading Rommel’s orders from HQ, allowing them to react accordingly. . . only to find Rommel disobeying orders and winning the battle anyway. Which is not to say this kind of intel was worthless; one of the reasons Rommel was constantly running out of fuel was because Ultra told the Allied subs where the Italian tankers were, making it an easy job to sink them.
But it doesn’t take long for the author to give a very telling description that shatters the Rommel aura: “The Easter attacks on Tobruk revealed Rommel at his worst. Short-tempered, impetuous, and imperious, he refused to listen to the advice or council of his subordinates, underestimated his opponent even as he overestimated his own skills, all the while committing the worse offense possible by any commanding officer: he demanded more of his soldiers than they were able to give him.” So here’s Rommel painted as a vengeful petty little man. . . which makes him just a man, not the superhero he’d been glorified as over the years. But he was also brilliant at what he did, and what made him one of the few Germans of that era to respect is told in these three quotes:
“Rommel’s sin was his integrity.”
“Rommel had to die because he chose to tell the truth to Adolf Hitler.”
“A true German’s loyalty was always given to Germany, not to any particular governmental form or leader.”
This last one is further expanded here: “Rommel would have willingly sacrificed his army—and himself—if fighting to the last man and last round was required for the defense of Germany; he was not prepared, however, by inclination or temperament, to make such sacrifices merely to serve what he now understood were Hitler's delusions of grandeur.”
This book also confirms what I’ve said for years: Churchill and Montgomery were idiots. The author uses deadpan snarkery to full advantage when he writes, “Apparently Montgomery believed that Rommel was obliged to stay put until such time as Eight Army and its commander were fully prepared, then dutifully remain in place when the attack finally began.”
After Africa he was sent to France to shore up the coastal defenses against Allied invasion, but D-Day caught him with his pants down, and soon after a strafing run by a British fighter sent him into the windshield of his car, fracturing his skull in three places and basically destroying the left side of his face before being tossed onto the road. For those of us who love counterfactuals, one has to wonder what might have been had that not happened, though by that time Germany had pretty much already lost the war.
So my takeaway from this book is that, despite his faults, Rommel was a “decent human being.” Never looked the other way, never took Hitler's bribes, never used the excuse “I was just following orders.” He didn’t see Hitler for what he was at the beginning, perhaps wanted to believe, but once he saw it, he made no excuses. As for the book, this is an astonishingly entertaining and easy-to-read tome on one of the truly great characters in the history of warmongering.
Now I need to take a refresher on the difference between tactical and strategic. . .
4.5 pumped up to 5/5
In case you didn’t catch that, this is the story of the man called the Desert Fox, the general who led Germany’s Afrika Korps in World War Two. There’s over 600 pages here, if you include the notes, biblio, and index, but it’s a surprisingly easy read. 82 pages in it feels like I’ve just started. Made a note to the same effect after 450 pages: the writing is so smooth and easy to read. I remember books of this size on World War 2 taking me a month to muddle through; I finished this in just over a week.
As one would expect this covers all of his life, though surprisingly the focus isn’t simply on his most famous role. There’s plenty on his exploits in WW1, from leading the charge into France to the mountains of Romania and Italy, as well as the beginning of the second, where he again led the blitzkrieg west. But the largest part of this book tells about his time in Northern Africa, where he became the legend, though a lot of that was thanks to him being Hitler’s golden boy and a media—propaganda—darling.
There are plenty of small stories that succinctly explain why certain battles turned out the way they did, showing how sometimes Rommel was just plain lucky and other times unlucky. For instance, Mussolini decided it was a good idea to invade Greece; it wasn’t. Hitler had to send troops to help out his buddy, which meant the British had to send their own troops to fight them, and the nearest available soldiers were those in Africa tasked with stopping Rommel, so less opposition for him. Another story mentions an early battle where Rommel forgot the first rule of war: logistics. Something as simple as forgetting to tell the fuel people he would be going on attack meant his tanks ran out of gas before the battle could be won.
There’s also small moments that humanize him, my favorite of which is when they landed in Africa and he had a military parade in Tripoli. To make the Allied spies think he had a lot more firepower than he actually did, he had his tanks race around to get back to the start and go through again. There’s also a note about him and his officers sightseeing at one of my favorite archaeological sites, Leptis Magna, where he laughs as a photo of Lt. von Harftdegen is taken while he’s asleep between statues of nude females.
The author mentions that Ultra (cracking of the top-secret German Enigma code) and the Manhattan Project were the two best kept secrets of WW2, which sounds right. This meant the Brits were reading Rommel’s orders from HQ, allowing them to react accordingly. . . only to find Rommel disobeying orders and winning the battle anyway. Which is not to say this kind of intel was worthless; one of the reasons Rommel was constantly running out of fuel was because Ultra told the Allied subs where the Italian tankers were, making it an easy job to sink them.
But it doesn’t take long for the author to give a very telling description that shatters the Rommel aura: “The Easter attacks on Tobruk revealed Rommel at his worst. Short-tempered, impetuous, and imperious, he refused to listen to the advice or council of his subordinates, underestimated his opponent even as he overestimated his own skills, all the while committing the worse offense possible by any commanding officer: he demanded more of his soldiers than they were able to give him.” So here’s Rommel painted as a vengeful petty little man. . . which makes him just a man, not the superhero he’d been glorified as over the years. But he was also brilliant at what he did, and what made him one of the few Germans of that era to respect is told in these three quotes:
“Rommel’s sin was his integrity.”
“Rommel had to die because he chose to tell the truth to Adolf Hitler.”
“A true German’s loyalty was always given to Germany, not to any particular governmental form or leader.”
This last one is further expanded here: “Rommel would have willingly sacrificed his army—and himself—if fighting to the last man and last round was required for the defense of Germany; he was not prepared, however, by inclination or temperament, to make such sacrifices merely to serve what he now understood were Hitler's delusions of grandeur.”
This book also confirms what I’ve said for years: Churchill and Montgomery were idiots. The author uses deadpan snarkery to full advantage when he writes, “Apparently Montgomery believed that Rommel was obliged to stay put until such time as Eight Army and its commander were fully prepared, then dutifully remain in place when the attack finally began.”
After Africa he was sent to France to shore up the coastal defenses against Allied invasion, but D-Day caught him with his pants down, and soon after a strafing run by a British fighter sent him into the windshield of his car, fracturing his skull in three places and basically destroying the left side of his face before being tossed onto the road. For those of us who love counterfactuals, one has to wonder what might have been had that not happened, though by that time Germany had pretty much already lost the war.
So my takeaway from this book is that, despite his faults, Rommel was a “decent human being.” Never looked the other way, never took Hitler's bribes, never used the excuse “I was just following orders.” He didn’t see Hitler for what he was at the beginning, perhaps wanted to believe, but once he saw it, he made no excuses. As for the book, this is an astonishingly entertaining and easy-to-read tome on one of the truly great characters in the history of warmongering.
Now I need to take a refresher on the difference between tactical and strategic. . .
4.5 pumped up to 5/5
July 31, 2022
This is not the definitive Rommel biography, it does not answer any of the important questions surrounding him. It presents Rommel as a fundamentally decent person (it borders on hagiography at times), but does not explain how Rommel kept his decency in a fundamentally un-decent organization, the Wehrmacht.
The last 20 years research on the Wehrmacht has made clear that it was willingly complicit in all atrocities that Hitler’s plans necessitated. Few of that research has found it’s way into this book, which still seems to be build on the Cold War stereotype of the professional Wehrmacht, that neutrally carried out the orders of Hitler and a small clique. Rommel is portrayed as politically naive, but how naive can one actually be after a three decade-long career in the Reichswehr and the Wehrmacht, thoroughly politicized organizations that shared Hitler’s prejudices and his goals? How does one become a field marshal in one of the executive organizations of a genocidal political system and not learn of its real nature?
The book does focus on the relationship between Hitler and Rommel, and its premise that Rommel did at some point no longer bound by his personal oath to Hitler is speculative, but not unlikely. Whether or not Rommel was involved in the 20 July coup remains unclear. Here the author closely follows the lead of David Irving, including the speculations about general Speidel. Apparently the author has not read the judgment of Richard Evans on all the historical work of David Irving.
The relationship between Hitler and Rommel is interesting terrain, but here the book does not bring much news, it doesn’t even answer (or pose) the question why Hitler offered Rommel an honorable death and protection of his family and staff, something he witheld others with similar careers. But given the rather caricatural way Hitler is presented an answer would probably be lacking depth.
Altogether, the book is a disappointment.
The last 20 years research on the Wehrmacht has made clear that it was willingly complicit in all atrocities that Hitler’s plans necessitated. Few of that research has found it’s way into this book, which still seems to be build on the Cold War stereotype of the professional Wehrmacht, that neutrally carried out the orders of Hitler and a small clique. Rommel is portrayed as politically naive, but how naive can one actually be after a three decade-long career in the Reichswehr and the Wehrmacht, thoroughly politicized organizations that shared Hitler’s prejudices and his goals? How does one become a field marshal in one of the executive organizations of a genocidal political system and not learn of its real nature?
The book does focus on the relationship between Hitler and Rommel, and its premise that Rommel did at some point no longer bound by his personal oath to Hitler is speculative, but not unlikely. Whether or not Rommel was involved in the 20 July coup remains unclear. Here the author closely follows the lead of David Irving, including the speculations about general Speidel. Apparently the author has not read the judgment of Richard Evans on all the historical work of David Irving.
The relationship between Hitler and Rommel is interesting terrain, but here the book does not bring much news, it doesn’t even answer (or pose) the question why Hitler offered Rommel an honorable death and protection of his family and staff, something he witheld others with similar careers. But given the rather caricatural way Hitler is presented an answer would probably be lacking depth.
Altogether, the book is a disappointment.
May 19, 2019
Daniel Allen Butler on tehnyt varsin mallikkaan elämänkerran, joka on vielä kirjoitettu varsin vetävästi. Tarina etenee hyvin ja suurimman osan kirjasta vie luonnollisesti Pohjois-Afrikan taistelut. Välillä hän sortuu sotahistorian perisyntiin eli joukko-osastojen ja paikannimien sekamelskaan, jota vielä lisää niukka kartta-aineisto. Rommelin elämä oli kuitenkin sellainen, että loppua kohden siitä tuli jännitysnäytelmä, jonka Butler kuvaa hyvin. Ei Butler aivan Beevorin tasoinen kertoja ole, mutta ei hän kovin kauas jää. Pisteet 8,5/10.
July 23, 2017
A powerful, vivid portrait of the most famous WWII general; a thorough, massive work of documentary research - and an intriguing attempt to understand Rommel as a man, and not only as a soldier. An utterly difficult and ambitious task, carrying the risk to lose contact with the mere facts and trespassing into speculation and judgment. Something this book ultimately doesn't do, leaving the reader free to come to his own conclusions.
A book definitely worth reading, and already a classic in its genre.
A book definitely worth reading, and already a classic in its genre.
November 12, 2015
A complex man enwrapped in complex times is well presented here. Very well written, without the usual eye-crossing, numbing presentation of battle details. I found myself anticipating Rommel's off-the-cuff battle plans; his energetic spontaneity, and even insubordination become fascinating and lingered in my mind during the days I was too busy to read.
Even after the light finally came on for him, to the tragic, bitter end, Erwin Rommel was more of a Von than most of the Von's dreamt of being
Even after the light finally came on for him, to the tragic, bitter end, Erwin Rommel was more of a Von than most of the Von's dreamt of being
July 9, 2017
An excellent portrayal of an almost mythic soldier who still captures the popular imagination. The book seems to have successfully sidestepped hagiography while treating Rommel as a complex man with faults. A bit excessively detailed in describing battlefield actions but that perhaps cannot be avoided because he was defined by his war strategies. It is definitely not a book where history is colored by the victors. Worth a read.
March 11, 2017
Wow, what a book! It was so vivid into his life and experiences that he had during his lifetime. Somewhat, He was my a hero in a certain way. I would highly recommend for anyone who likes him, looks up at him, admire him, and/or intrigued by him. All I can say that his aura as a person is so radiant that I will never able to match him. Whew...I wish I could meet him in his lifetime.
September 9, 2016
The best researched biography on the life of Field Marshal Rommel. A remarkable man, loving husband and father, master of armored warfare, tactical genius and stood up to Hitler and his yes men. Never a Nazi he refused to murder captured soldiers. Hero of WW1 and WW2.
March 15, 2018
Well written and illuminating. You will be surprised at what you read. It is very levelling. If you don’t face the same battles Rommel faced everyday then perhaps you might question why. Rommel’s was a man like but most men, but men of equal character are rare in today’s world.
December 18, 2025
A highly readable biography that paints Rommel as a talented, aggressive commander while keeping the spotlight on the uncomfortable reality of his career: his myth was built inside a regime that was fundamentally criminal. Butler does a solid job tracking Rommel’s rise, his battlefield reputation (and the way others used it), and the slow tightening of the political vise around him as the war turns and the internal German situation fractures.
What I liked most is how it shows the tension between the “Desert Fox” legend and the messier human being underneath—ambition, loyalty, ego, and survival instincts colliding with events that get bigger than any one commander. It’s not the final word on Rommel, but it’s a strong, approachable entry that gives you both the operational story and the moral complexity without drowning you in academic dryness.
What I liked most is how it shows the tension between the “Desert Fox” legend and the messier human being underneath—ambition, loyalty, ego, and survival instincts colliding with events that get bigger than any one commander. It’s not the final word on Rommel, but it’s a strong, approachable entry that gives you both the operational story and the moral complexity without drowning you in academic dryness.
February 17, 2020
This is exactly what I look for in a biography. It was a complete examination of Rommel's life which left me captivated. I especially loved the letters that Rommel wrote to his wife and son which showed the human side of the Desert Fox. The parallels to our own times was at times chilling. It was easy to understand why Rommel was the one German general respected by the allies. This is a must read for those interested in WWI, WWII, and German history. It is also a cautionary tale for our own times.
March 12, 2018
Excellent biography
April 27, 2019
I read this book, because I expected what the cover promised. That is, a biography of Erwin Rommel. I understand that, because he was a famous military leader, much of the book could and should be devoted to his military exploits. But this book was, by and large, a retelling of the history of World War II. For that I would refer readers instead, to The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William L. Shirer or any of the World War II military narratives by B. H. Liddell-Hart.
May 27, 2019
Deutschland Uber Alles
Rommel was a true German in every sense. A decorated soldier. Masterful. The desert fox. Always true to his family and country. A story worth reading.
Rommel was a true German in every sense. A decorated soldier. Masterful. The desert fox. Always true to his family and country. A story worth reading.
August 5, 2021
Outstanding soldier
September 27, 2015
This was a fascinating book about the only German General that both the British and the U.S. tired to assonant. That is how much they did not want to up against him. His tactics were learned in World War one as an officer in the Wurttembergische Gerber's battalion. In one of his last actions in WWI his unit in 52 hour of continuous operations covered a horizontal distance of 18 miles and a vertical equivalent of another 2 miles much under enemy fire. In rapid secession they took one enemy village, four mountain summits positions, and captured almost nine thousand enemy soldiers. He would also remember the name of the nine men that he lost plus the thirty that were wounded. He led from the front and for these reason his men would follow him anywhere. He would also look over the terrain and come up with the best way to attack instead of going straight into a hail of fire. He put his men lives on equal grounds as his own when during the war most were leading from the rear and caring if their men died or not. He would use these same tactics during WWII. Though he was not expecting another war. The author goes into how Hitler came into power and how Rommel became his favorite soldier. He goes into his romance and marriage to his wife and their life together and also how she raised his daughter from another women prior to their marriage. She stayed with them until his death. The author also goes into what made him take his life and how you wonder what would have happened to him and Germany if he would have lived. This was a book filled with a lot of information and a lot of it I don’t remember reading about in one other bio of his. A very good book. I got this book from net galley.
April 24, 2016
Daniel Allen Butler obviously thinks a great deal of Erwin Rommel. In this biography, Butler's admiration borders on adulation and even idolization. And yet, it does not detract from a terrific biography of arguably the best known military commander of World War II (inarguably the best known German commander). As with any go0d biography, Butler goes beyond the basic facts of the life of the man and delves into the society which produced and shaped him. Rommel's experience in World War I influenced him as did most of his generation but contrasted sharply with the other prominent German veteran of that war - Adolf Hitler. Hitler's experience as a grunt in the German trenches was very different from Rommel's as a lieutenant leading men in combat. Yet both came to admire, like, and eventually be betrayed by the other. Butler traces Rommel's rise through the German ranks between the wars and goes into painstaking (sometimes laboriously so) detail of his campaigns in France in 1940 and especially North Africa. Although he denies it, Butler does appear to be guilty of a good deal of hero worship, at times crediting Rommel where others perhaps were due credit, but often discounting faults and shortcomings. In Butler's view, Rommel was often the "only" German commander who recognized the reality of situations, responded appropriately when confronted with setbacks, or was candid and honest with German and Italian High Command. Butler often dismisses traits - such as Rommel's lack of attention to logistics in a campaign - that other historians emphasize with a flick of his hand and a hearty that's not so. Still through it all, the reader is given a great deal of insight into what made the man tick and why in the end his suicide was so inevitable. A fascinating read.
April 7, 2018
৯/১০। ফিল্ডমার্শাল "মরুশিয়াল" আরউইন রোমেলকে নিয়ে এখন পর্যন্ত আমার পড়া সেরা বই।
March 24, 2017
I found this book based on a personal interest that came back to me in WWII generals. Rommel was a remarkable and moral man who stood up to Hitler and never allowed the Nazi racial craziness that was ignored by so many. Fascinating and well-documented.
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