Rommel: Lessons from Yesterday for Today's Leaders

World Generals Series

by Charles Messenger, Wesley K. Clark (Foreword), Klaus Naumann (Afterword)

Modeled on the acclaimed Great Generals series, which features the stategy and legacy of famous American generals, World Generals broadens the scope to include the world’s finest military leaders. Each volume will include a foreword by Wesley K. Clark, and be co-edited by a different foreign general who will write an afterword.

This exciting new series opens with “The Desert Fox,” the most famous German field marshall in World War II, Erwin Rommel. A hero of the people of the Third Reich and widely respected by his opponents, Rommel proved himself highly adept at Blitzkrieg warfare. Both in France and North Africa he consistently outwitted his adversaries through his ability to sense the weak spot in his enemy's deployment and the pace at which he conducted his operations. Rommel’s serious wounding in France came just three days before the aborted attempt on Hitler’s life. Rommel subsequently came under suspicion of being involved in the plot and, under pressure, he committed suicide. Rommel displayed an outstanding ability to seize the initiative and retain it, and here, Charles Messenger draws on the skills behind this ability for the benefit of modern day leaders.

Genres: History, Leadership, World War II, Biography, Military Fiction, Military History, War

224 pages, Hardcover

First published June 9, 2009

About the author

Charles Rynd Milles Messenger was a British Army officer and writer. He served for many years in the Royal Tank Regiment (19 years as a Regular, 13 years as a Territorial) before becoming a military historian and defense analyst after his retirement from active service. In addition to having published more than forty books during his long career, he also carried out several historical analyses for the Ministry Of Defence and was a writer and/or adviser for several TV documentary series.

Reviews

[Raimo Wirkkala · Rating 2 out of 5]

A blitzkrieg of a book! Not a compliment. This book is one of a series that purports to draw "leadership lessons" from the exploits of "World Generals" throughout history. What happens, in fact, is that the author races through the generals wartime feats and failures at the firing rate of a modern assault rifle and, from time to time, draws a parallel to what happens "nowadays". The linkage is tenuous, at best, and just a silly reach at worst. The staccato delivery of Rommel's wartime actions is hard to follow or appreciate given the absence of context and detail that could've been accomplished with a few well-placed maps. A saving grace of the book is that it at least, albeit briefly and superficially, draws attention to some facts about Rommel that have been lost in the myth-making.

[Gregory · Rating 4 out of 5]

Half history half lessons on leadership.
It was a little jaring going from history to a lessons on leadership. It would get five stars if it was just a history on Rommel. The lessons were artificial.

[George Ronczy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maps would have helped immensely. Without them, the place names were just words.

[Steven Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

For those interested in generalship, this book should be of some interest. The focus by author Charles Messenger is German General Erwin Rommel, "The Desert Fox." This book is part of a series, one aim of which is to suggest parallels between a general's body of work and current military actions. Here, the comparison is with the "blitzkriegs" against Iraq in the early 1990s and in 2003. How apt is the comparison? Each reader should decide for him or herself, although the comparisons appear to have some merit.

Rommel began to develop his style of leadership in World War I. He even wrote up his lectures, based on his experiences in the war, as a book. When the German Army was largely disbanded after the First World War, Rommel retained a position, and--in the inter-war years--played a role in training troops and so on.

As World War II began, Rommel began as support for Adolph Hitler himself. He was finally given command of a panzer unit for the invasion of France; he performed well in that role, as he and Guderian, among others, revolutionized warfare with their lightning moves with tanks and other vehicles.

The book then details his efforts, making him famous in Germany, in northern Africa, where he led a mixed Italian-German force against the English and, later, the Americans. Given his chronic lack of fuel for his armor and other vehicles and the lack of other supplies and reinforcements, it is truly remarkable that he was able to have his forces perform so well. After his health deteriorated, he returned home for awhile to recover.

After a couple false starts as to his next assignment, he was named to oversee the European defenses, the Atlantic Wall. Frustrations continued, as his vision and that of others did not mesh. And then on to his death. . . .

This is a brief book, and so does not always go into great detail. But it is an accessible introduction to the art of warfare as practiced by Rommel. The last part of the book provides a good evaluation of his strengths and weaknesses as a general officer.

[Scott Shertzer · Rating 3 out of 5]

So I’ll preface this review by saying that I don’t concentrate as well as I should when listening to a book. But having said that, from what I heard this was a very thorough explanation of Rommel’s war strategies and leadership lessons. I need to read more about Rommel and especially his tactics at Tobruk. Also would have liked more information at the end of his life...felt rushed.

[Tyler Kumley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok. Not as good as the rest of the books in this series I have read. As a while the series is a nice set of concise biographies of generals. Didn't find anything particularly new in this book, that I did not already know. Maps would have been immensely helpful.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

I listened to the audio book and it was more a recounting of the life of Rommel than a leadership or lessons on leadership book.

I learned a few things though no new leadership principles from listening to this audiobook.

I have a hard time recommending this book.

[Marla · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read. Interesting in the sense of an evaluation. Not necessarily of Rommel the man but Rommel as a soldier and leader. And lessons many countries have apply from his example to modern warfare.

[Henry G. Nadeau · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very few, generalized "lessons" - it's a brief biography

[Cbelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love a good history book but this one did nothing for me.

[Bruce Cline · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too much of a laudatory tribute than a critical analysis of Rommel’s leadership.

[Josh Byerly · Rating 4 out of 5]

So much occurs in General Rommel’s life that makes it very hard to summarize this biography. Mainly this tells of how a young boy from a middle class family rose up through the tough ranking system of one of the greatest militaries of all time, Germanys Wehrmacht in World War I and World War II. Early on in his career he shows a great gift at leading men into battle during World War I. After the treaty of Versailles he is one of very few officers allowed to continue a career in the military and through this he becomes friends with Hitler, during his second attempt at a rise to power. When World War II erupts in Europe Rommel finds his first experience in what he would become known for, armored warfare. After a very successful tour in Europe Hitler sends Rommel to go fight with the Italians in northern Africa. This is where Rommel’s shines. Even though he is faced with political and supply troubles he is able to push through much of northern Africa. By doing so he claims his nickname the desert fox by being quick and cunning with all his actions. Once Germany opens up a third front against the Russians the beginning of the end occurs in Rommel’s theatre of war. General Montgomery is appointed to lead the British forces and shortly after General Patton joins the fight by leading the United States forces until Rommel’s is completely pushed out of Northern Africa and into Italy. Rommel’s life ends tragically when he is found to be a co conspirator of a plot to assassinate Hitler. Hitler gives him the choice to commit suicide or to be tried and put to death by a rigged jury. The latter being a worse punishment because his family would likely be punished as well. On October 14 1944 Rommel chooses to commit suicide with a cyanide pill and is given a heroes burial.

Culturally Rommel’s military life seems much the same as any other commander or leader in any of the United States branches of the military except for one very important fact. Military leaders in Germany tended to shy away from politics. Rommel would have been a strong candidate for a political career after his military life but since the military is taught to stay away from politics he never would have gone for it. Much unlike General Eisenhower who would later become president or even more recently people like John Kerry or John McCain both people who ran for office after military careers in the United States.

The author’s purpose of writing this novel is that of taking an in depth look at the tactics of a great leader of men through their own eyes. The proof I have of this it that the book is in a series of biographies who are on the greatest military leaders of all time. I found this statement in the summary of the book at Goodreads.com "Modeled on the acclaimed Great Generals series, which features the strategy and legacy of famous American generals, World Generals broadens the scope to include the world’s finest military leaders." This clearly shows the reason this book was written.

The theme of this text is that through careful planning and precision strikes made by military factions, they will always have a greater chance at success. Rommel was known for using overwhelming force but at the same time being as careful as possible in how he spent his troops across a battle field. In short he taught people how to be as effective and efficient as possible when one is working toward a goal.

Overall this biography was nice because it was very clear with how each battle was layed out, it also spent alot of time analyzing how Rommel felt through all these events, which to me is the most important aspect to a biography, the interpretation of the characters inner thoughts. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the German military because it really opened my eyes to how the inner gears of the Third Reich's amazing military worked. But, I also would not recommend this book to anyone who is not expressly interested in this topic because I feel that it would be hard to follow unless some prior knowledge of Rommel was known.

[Phillip Berry · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was very disappointed in this book. I was hoping for some broad conclusions on Rommel's leadership and lessons for today's leaders but instead found a rapid fire description of a few battles interspersed with historical anecdotes. You might enjoy this book if you want play-by-play detail on some of Rommel's actions in the field but you will need a map on hand to follow along. The book does provide some interesting context for the German perspective on some WWI and WWII battles but I was left feeling that I knew little more about any compelling lessons of his approach to war and life.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was short and was interesting because it was written to emphasize Rommel's leadership and charisma with his soldiers. It emphasizes his personal courage in getting into the thick of the battle and setting an example by doing the same things he required of his men. What I found most interesting was the parallels the author drew between Rommel's actions in North Africa during World War 2 to the American wars in Iraq in the two Gulf Wars. However the most insightful part of the book was not by the Author but included in the afterward by General Klaus Naumann as he analyzed both the book and Rommel's action and pointed out the strengths of Rommel and his failings which was not addressed in the book very well. Still an interesting read especially in the history of the time.

[Cynthia · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was short and interesting, but a very slow read for me.

[Thomas Myers · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm a history buff and was expecting a lot of good things about this. I was really really disappointed, though. The author practically fetishizes Fieldmarshal Rommel, even for a biography. He then goes on to give a blow-by-blow account on his actions in World War I, leaving less room for his more important work in the second war.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very insightful book. Not only did it give me details on Rommel that I was unaware of, but it discussed his leadership style effectively. I believe a leader can learn from the experiences (both positive and negative) of past leaders. I recommend this book for WW2 history buffs, and for leaders.

[Jeff Alexander · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some excellent lessons on leadership from The Desert Fox! Despite the horrible cause for which he fought, Rommel's military virtue, tactical brilliance and leadership abilities are well worth study.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fast paced Bio on a great General.

[Erica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not much of a military buff, which explains my low rating. A good character sketch, though, and helped humanize the Germans during the war.

[Kingsley Layton · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a concise history of Rommel it's fine, but the leadership lessons are not articulated well.