Killing Rommel: A Novel
by Steven Pressfield
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Book Summary Information
Author: Steven PressfieldEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-06-02
ISBN: 0767926161
Number of pages: 320
Publisher: Broadway
Book Reviews of Killing Rommel: A Novel
Book Review: Excellent intro to a part of WW2 that's generally unknown
Summary: 5 Stars
The British army, during World War II, was an odd organization. They were usually poorly organized, a their worst a lousy procedure-bound bureaucracy. Their equipment was often poor, featuring tanks that only fired certain types of ammunition (they had one tank with a large gun that was only given *smoke* shells), planes that couldn't fly any distance, and machineguns that jammed periodically. Almost every other nation had some equipment that was good, some that was bad, and some that was in between. Almost all the British stuff was bad. Their army never learned combined arms tactics properly either, having tanks, artillery, infantry, and fighter-bombers all work together. Everyone tended to move forward in a mass, with the tanks going "swanning" and the infantry trying to keep up, the artillery shooting aimlessly or trying to smother the enemy in a WW1-style barrage, and the planes nowhere to be found.
So what made the British army special? They had this weird ability to goof up everything, have lousy equipment, and wind up with a hopeless looking situation; and then some of their soldiers would say something like "Well, there's nothing for it but we've got to push on!" and the attack would charge forward madly, and they'd overrun the enemy. Or they'd figure out a way around them, or something. This personality thing was their greatest asset, and it was emphasized the most when they fought in the Western Desert (so called because it was to the west of the settled part of Egypt, where the British Empire set up shop before the war). Within the campaign in the desert, the part of the British army that performed the best, by far, was the irregular forces: Popski's Private Army (that was what it was called, even in official orders and dispatches), the Special Air Service, and the Long Range Desert Group. The LRDG was the British army's premier recon group in the war, mounted on Chevy trucks loaded down with machineguns, food, water, and extra fuel.
The narrator of this story is a British soldier who was "seconded" to the LRDG for a period in 1942, during which the British army won the Battle of El Alamein. Chap, as he's known, starts out inexperienced, but soon learns how to command a patrol and reconnoiter terrain, looking for paths for the rest of the British army, pursuing Rommel once his retreat starts. Chap and his colleagues, however, are part of a plan to not only scout the path for the pursuit of the British army; they're also supposed to find and kill Rommel. British intelligence believes they will be able to pinpoint Rommel's position, and then the LRDG trucks can infiltrate into the Axis position and mark it so that the RAF can hit him with an airstrike.
This is a terrific book. The author has a very good knowledge of the equipment and organizations of World War II, and there are only a few errors. Rommel wasn't one of the youngest soldiers to win the Pour le Merite; Panzerfausts weren't used in Africa; a PSW 234 armored car with a 75 mm. gun wasn't used in Africa either, and it didn't in any event have the gun mounted in a turret. Other than that, the book seems very authentic and well-written, and the characters are believable. I really bought that these people existed, and of course many of them did: Popski, Paddy Maine, and Easonsmith are minor characters, and of course were real people.
If you're interested in World War II, this is one of the best books on the subject of the war in North Africa that I've ever read. I'd highly recommend it.
Summary of Killing Rommel: A Novel
Steven Pressfield?s quintet of acclaimed, bestselling novels of ancient warfare? Gates of Fire, Tides of War, Last of the Amazons, The Virtues of Wa,r and The Afghan Campaign? have earned him a reputation as a master chronicler of military history, a supremely literate and engaging storyteller, and an author with acute insight into the minds of men in battle. In Killing Rommel Pressfield extends his talents to the modern world with a WWII tale based on the real-life exploits of the Long Range Desert Group, an elite British special forces unit that took on the German Afrika Korps and its legendary commander, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, "the Desert Fox."Autumn 1942. Hitler?s legions have swept across Europe; France has fallen; Churchill and the English are isolated on their island. In North Africa, Rommel and his Panzers have routed the British Eighth Army and stand poised to overrun Egypt, Suez, and the oilfields of the Middle East. With the outcome of the war hanging in the balance, the British hatch a desperate plan?send a small, highly mobile, and heavily armed force behind German lines to strike the blow that will stop the Afrika Korps in its tracks. Narrated from the point of view of a young lieutenant, Killing Rommel brings to life the flair, agility, and daring of this extraordinary secret unit, the Long Range Desert Group. Stealthy and lethal as the scorpion that serves as their insignia, they live by their motto: Non Vi Sed Arte?Not by Strength, by Guile as they gather intelligence, set up ambushes, and execute raids. Killing Rommel chronicles the tactics, weaponry, and specialized skills needed for combat, under extreme desert conditions. And it captures the camaraderie of this ?band of brothers? as they perform the acts of courage and cunning crucial to the Allies? victory in North Africa.
As in all of his previous novels, Pressfield powerfully renders the drama and intensity of warfare, the bonds of men in close combat, and the surprising human emotions and frailties that come into play on the battlefield. A vivid and authoritative depiction of the desert war, Killing Rommel brilliantly dramatizes an aspect of World War II that hasn?t been in the limelight since Patton. Combining scrupulous historical detail and accuracy with remarkable narrative momentum, this galvanizing novel heralds Pressfield?s gift for bringing more recent history to life.
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