Exit Rommel: The Tunisian Campaign, 1942-43 (Stackpole Military History) (Paperback)

by Bruce Allen Watson (Author) "Cairo, 9 August 1942: "Rommel! Rommel!" fumed British prime minister Winston Churchill..." (more)
Key Phrases: armored brigade, combat engineers, brigade group, North Africa, Eighth Army, Armored Division (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
In the sands of North Africa during the early years of World War II, German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel burnished his reputation as the Desert Fox. After a string of successes, Rommel's fortunes began to sour with the battles of El Alamein, where the British under Bernard Montgomery halted Axis expansion in the fall of 1942, followed days later by the Americans' Torch landings in Morocco and Algeria. As the Americans drove the Germans into Tunisia from the west and the British from the east, Rommel routed U.S. forces at Kasserine Pass, but logistical difficulties and the erosion of weapons quality ultimately proved too much to overcome. After his last-ditch attack at Medenine was repulsed, the Desert Fox was forced to evacuate, leaving much of his fabled force to Allied captivity.

About the Author
Bruce Allen Watson is professor emeritus at Diablo Valley College and author of seven books, including Desert Battles (0-8117-3381-5) and Sieges (0-275-94034-9).

Product Details

• Paperback: 221 pages
• Publisher: Stackpole Books; annotated edition edition (December 30, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811733815
• ISBN-13: 978-0811733816
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #268,104 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rommel "Demodernized", August 13, 2007

By	Readalots (South Texas, USA) - See all my reviews

Bruce Watson's "Exit Rommel" (2007, 220-page paperback) brings a new look to the Desert Fox. This study, significantly researched with 18 pages of endnotes and 6 pages of selected bibliography, presents a contemporary analysis.

Unlike DD Eisenhower or W. Hechmann, Watson positions himself as Rommel admirer. Through eight informative chapters Watson presents the principle battles, the turning points, the psychology of warfare, and the Allies and Axis variables through the North African campaign (1942-43). The Field Marshal's tactical genius, maneuvering brilliance, mistakes, and shortcomings are thoroughly analyzed.

This book speaks to the weaponry used by both sides (considering the advantages and disadvantages for each army's guns, tanks, planes, and mines). The author describes, from primary source information, the obligatory Nazi-ism for all German soldiers (pages 135-38), the myth of Rommel's racism (page 139), and the armies' adaptation to desert fighting (chapter 7). Watson purports the British to be much better prepared (having been stationed in India and Egypt through the prior centuries) than the European landscape trained Germans and the North American terrain trained Americans.

This book reminds that much of Germany's failure in North Africa was due to Hitler's fixation with Russia (invaded also in 1941). The furher cared little for Mussolini's crumbling empire in Africa adding to the Germans' North African debacle. Rommel spends considerable energy, to his leader's chagrin, attempting to secure resupply and replacements from a grudging Berlin high command. Describing the German supply problem Watson invents the term "demodernization" (or "the long term and uneven decline in the ability of Rommel's forces to wage his kind of mobile warfare", page 130).

Watson is a must read for all World War aficionados, military hardware students, Rommel buffs, and those curious about the Second World War in North Africa.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Good Analysis of Tunisian Campaign, October 15, 2008

By	Michael L. Shakespeare (Kansas City, MO USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Veteran military writer Bruce Allen Watson, also author of Desert Battles: From Napoleon to the Gulf War (Stackpole Military History), has written an unusual book that develops fresh insights into the Second World War's Tunisian Campaign.

Much of the book is a campaign narrative, while a pleasure to read, there is not much in it that we have not been told before. What is different are the final three chapters which focus on the Allied and Axis armies; their troops' will to fight; logistics; and a comparison of weapons. Then Mr. Watson shifts gears to a study of Field Marshall Erwin Rommel's personality.

In it, Mr. Watson examines "Rommel's command style -- his relations with the higher command, especially Hitler and General Halder; and the nature of his own staff; and his intelligence system."

All the way through, Mr. Watson offers incisive details and insights that make "Exit Rommel" an interesting read. He begins by contrasting Hitler and Mussolini's Axis armies with the British Commonwealth, and American forces opposing them.

Why did the British feel inferior to the German forces? The author speculates the reputation of German forces seeming elite was largely because Italian forces by contrast were so bad. Rommel's resourcefulness gave the appearance of German weapon's superiority.

Searching for clues to Panzer Army Africa's loss of effectiveness, Mr. Watson points out that through time Rommel's forces 'demodernized'. The British forced Rommel to fight battles that were throwbacks, however more sophisticated, to World War I battles of attrition." This demodernization was the result of growing Allied control of the air especially over Axis supply lines.

The Luftwaffe played a key role in Hitler's conquest of Europe, why not in Tunisia? "The story of air power in North Africa, with momentary exceptions, follows the general tendencies of the ground war: initial German dominance followed by a slow decline. The Luftwaffe never modified its aircraft to operate in the desert, and they were not assigned to tactical ground support role until there was a chronic shortage of aircraft. A wide range of aircraft, flexibility in adapting fighters for ground support missions, and the ease of replacement for lost aircraft spelled doom for Rommel's army", explains the author.

What was the overall reason for German's defeat in North Africa? The author vividly demonstrates, Allies caught up with German equipment in quantity and quality in Tunisia.

"Exit Rommel" contains 10 serviceable maps, and a gallery 16 photographs.

5.0 out of 5 stars Good book, April 3, 2009

By	G. mays "used to read a lot" (San Francisco) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I very much enjoyed this book. His brief overview of the El Alamein battles are more informative than entire books on the battles that I have read. His writing is engaging, concise, and other similar adjectives that I can't think of right now but which can be found in a thesaurus. The bottom line is that the book is entertaining to read instead of being like a spreadsheet of what unit was where or a study in how complex and flitty a sentence can be constructed. I also like the fact that he points out several other of Montgomery's annoying characteristics that I wasn't aware of. One book pointed out that the end result of Market Garden was a long road leading to nowhere. I was wary of this book, being in the Stackpole series of multiple identical books similar to the Ballantine series which are mostly very dry, but it not only covers a topic which I wanted to learn about and about which there are not many books written (unlike D-Day,) but is also good.