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Knight's Cross : A Life of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel

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David Fraser's biography of Erwin Rommel, 'Knight's Cross,' is subtitled, 'A Life of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel.' It should be subtitled, 'A Career of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel.' While the great General's skillful campaigns in France, North Africa, and France again are nothing short of brilliant, quite a bit is left out of the overall picture of the man. Rommel's years before World War I and during the Weimar era are barely examined. Instead, author Fraser focuses on the general history of the time, leaving the portrait of Rommel somewhat incomplete. That said, Fraser also gives us a first rate look at the battlefield genius and basic goodness of the man that was Erwin Rommel. Fraser spends much of the work successfully dispelling the myth of Rommel's lack of strategic consideration by showing his constant worry over the battles in Russia and his own precarious situations in Tunisia and Normandy. Also brought to light are the circumstances surrounding Rommel's part in the July 20th bomb plot and his forced suicide. For anyone interested in World War Two or the methods of great leadership in general, Fraser's biography is sure to entertain and enlighten.

There is not much one can add to the other reviews of this very interesting book. The author, David Fraser, offers the reader a well researched and honest account on the life of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in 562 pages (hardback version). This has been one of the better biographies on Rommel I have read in some time and one of the best military biographies I have read in the last couple of years. I don't think that too many people would not enjoy this account, the author certianly portrays Rommel with his faults as well as his great points and I believe he has tried to present his subject as honestly as possible. A very enjoyable book to read and well researched and presented.

This book is something of a hodgepodge on Rommel's career with the author jumping and skipping about a little more than one would normally like. The book is a relatively good straightforward recounting of Rommel's military career with most of the emphasis on the two great wars. Unfortunately, there is very little of Rommel's personal side included in this book -- a few pages on his childhood and parents, a paragraph here or there about is wife Lucy and his son Manfred, etc. The book is laid out as a chronological narrative which offers relatively few insights into Rommel's character which, themselves, are quite often unsubstantiated or not cross referenced with any other source. Plus the sidetracks into German history (i.e. Hitler's rise to power) are wholly incomplete and somewhat inappropriate for this book. I realize the author was trying to set a background, but given the volume of information required to have a decent understanding of the political ins and outs of 1930s Germany requires far more than a chapter or two. The result is the right conclusions for the wrong reasons which may be confusing or unintentionally misleading to some.

Otherwise it is a decent, fairly readable, overview of Rommel the military commander, but I would recommend the following for deeper reading: Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer, Achtung-Panzer! by Guderain, The Rommel Papers edited by B.H. Liddell-Hart or Rommel's own Attacks: Rommel.

David Fraser's "Knight's Cross" is a good book - it just isn't a particularly good biography. My hunch would be that most prospective readers are interested in learning about Rommel's legendary campaigns, especially those with the Afrika Korps, and this book certainly delivers on that account. Fraser is better known as a novelist, and his writing reflects that heritage. He keeps the drama high and openly professes his admiration for Rommel, both as a military leader and a man.

As a biography, though, "Knight's Cross" fails to deliver much meaningful insight into the subject's true character. Rather than providing a deep and rich background on Rommel's formative experiences growing up in southern Germany, with his siblings and family, at school, with personal relationships in the army, the company he kept during the Weimar years and so on, Fraser instead relies on clichés and generalizations. For instance, the book is over 550 pages long, yet by page 50 Rommel is already a gallant and increasingly renowned 26-year-old infantry officer on the Western Front. The rest of the book reads like a military history with a central character, rather than a biography of a great man that happened to become a field marshal. Fraser only mentions parenthetically that Rommel had two brothers and a sister, and his relationship with his parents is left totally unexplored, as are his religious beliefs (which is particularly disappointing given the fact that so many of his future letters to his [Catholic] wife Lucy are laced with references to God's will). Instead, Fraser seems content to offer up his assessment that "Rommel was a Swabian [area of Germany he grew up in] through-and-through" (whatever that's supposed to mean) and then hurry on to the presumably more interesting topics of his later battlefield exploits.

The above notwithstanding, Erwin Rommel is certainly a compelling subject for a full-length biography. Especially interesting was his unusual relationship to the two things that made him famous: armored warfare and Adolf Hitler.

To many, Rommel is synonymous with blitzkrieg and the genius of the Wehrmacht's combined arms doctrine developed during the interwar period. Despite his association with the panzer force and his reputation for military genius, Rommel was an infantryman by training and was passed over for membership in Germany's elite General Staff system, a snub he never quite got over. His first hands-on experience with armored units only came, unbelievably enough, as a divisional commander during the invasion of France in 1940. He managed to pull off such an unlikely feat, Fraser suggests, thanks to the personal intervention of Hitler himself.

Rommel's relationship with Hitler (and Goebbels) was close, although Fraser is adamant that Rommel was never a Nazi. The field marshal clearly supported most of the regime's policies, felt the war was just and attributed Nazi excesses to the Furher's leading acolytes, such as Bormann and Himmler. To Hitler, Rommel exemplified everything a German soldier ought to be: aggressive, courageous, indefatigable, and unpretentious. In return, Rommel was genuinely impressed with Hitler's accomplishments and abilities. It was a relationship based on mutual admiration that, strangely enough, ended with one being implicated in a plot to kill the other. Fraser does an admirable job in reviewing and assessing the evidence tying Rommel to the failed 20 July attendat and comes to the conclusion that he likely knew that something was afoot, but wasn't an active conspirator. Moreover, Fraser argues that by the summer of 1944 Rommel felt that a negotiated peace with the western allies was essential to save Germany from utter destruction, but that he also felt that the murder of Hitler was wrong and, if successfully carried out, was unlikely to be supported by the German army and people and thus unlikely to achieve its ultimate objective of negotiated peace.

In closing, if you're looking for a fun and informative military history on one of the all-time greatest commanders, you'll likely enjoy "Knight's Cross." If, however, you're looking for a serious biography on a great commander in the mold of D'Este's biography of George Patton, for instance, you'll likely come away disappointed.

I have not read any other bios of Rommel, but I have no doubt that this is probably the best bio of Rommel written. Fraser obviously did a ton of research and the book is great. I especially enjoyed the chapters on Rommel's service in WWI. One can see his command style coming out in his days in WWI. The chapters on France, North Africa, and D-Day are all very interesting as well. Another great chapter is Fraser's look at Rommel's part or non-part in the plot to kill Hitler. I won't give away Fraser's conclusions, but it is the most in-depth description I have ever seen. Overall, this is just a great biography, probably the best written on Rommel. However, Frasers style can be annoying at times and he goes into a ton of depth, which can be a bother to non-avid military history or WWII buffs.

This book is very well written and covers Rommel's entry into the military and final end. The author makes every attempt to be balanced and objective when analyzing Rommel's tactical decisions, political views, and leadership style. What makes this book flow well is that the author ties in the world events corresponding to the same time in Rommel's life. This way, the reader understands how and why Rommel was directly impacted in his military decisions and actions.

One key point in this book is how Rommel did not agree with Hitler's treatment of prisoners and unrealistic military decisions that caused many needless loss life and equipment. An example of the humane side of Rommel was how the author notes through his interviews, is that Rommel made very attempt to treat POW's, regardless of religion or nationality, as humanely as possible. Another example of Rommel's humane treatment of others would be that many of his British opponents and Italian soldier allies held Rommel in very high regard.

One key area of interest is how Rommel, despite being loyal to Germany's supreme leader, questioned the very poor strategic military decisions being made. An example noted by the author is how Von Paulus and Rommel were both given orders by Hitler to hold at all costs and not to retreat. Von Paulus did not have to courage to defy Hitler and the debacle involving the destruction of the 200,000 German Army in Stalingrad occurred. Rommel started to retreat, then delayed for 24 hours before deciding correctly that to save his army, they would have to retreat. The author notes that Rommel in retrospect regrets not having completely disregarded Hitler and kept the retreat going, to save more of his soldiers to fight another day.

This insight ties into other books where other senior German leaders, like Von Manstein, or SS General Hauser, began to disregard Hitler's extremely poor decisions to hold at all costs and sacrifice the lives of their soldiers in vain. Then of course, this book also is similar to other experiences where those leaders who defied their supreme leader and managed to save their soldiers or even managed to bring about victory, were later removed from command and replaced.

Another good insight the author notes in Rommel's one weakness but was also a tactical strength was his aggressiveness. Sometimes it worked to his favor, other times it resulted in heavy casualties, like the initial assault into Tobruk. But always, he led from the front and shared the same dangers and risks as his soldiers.

Overall, this book is very insightful into the life of one of the most dynamic and memorable leaders in World War 2. There are good lessons in tactical leadership and overall responsibilities of a senior leader.

Erwin Rommel was certainly one of Hitler's 'best and brightest' and his genius for tactical warfare is readily apparent throughout his lifetime. Fraser's biography does a decent job of portraying the rise and fall of a general who epitomized the Achilles Heel of Hitler's overarching strategy in WWII.

Similar to Manstein, Rommel was continually put in the position of miracle-making. Always limited in resources available and ultimately in battlefield decision-making ability, Rommel was underutilized in a theatre that was bound to crumble in a campaign of attrition. Fraser underlines the impressive hold-out by Rommel's inspired troops in the African Theatre but Montgomery's ramped up offensive eventually toppled the worn out Panzer Army.

Comparisons to Manstein and Paulus's inability to change Hitler's dictats during the Stalingrad Campaign or even to Von Luck's short leash in responding to D-Day reveal the strategic myopia of Hitler's dream. Increasingly Hitler would ignore the wisdom of his Generals; leaving them to atrophy in the face of the Allied build-up. Rommel's tactical brilliance was quelched by exhaustion; both in commication attempts with Hitler and on the battlefield.

The North African Campaign proved to be a side-show compared to activity on the Eastern Front but Rommel and his Afrika Corp. delayed the Allied Second Front. The Eastern Front required all manpower and resources that could be allocated but the Allies still had difficulty gaining a foothold on the European Continent due to the likes of Rommel. Yet considering Hitler's intransigence, Rommel could only delay the inevitable.

Rommel's role in the assassination attempt against Hitler remains enshrouded in unknowns but his professionalism as a general remains constant throughout his impressive career. Fraser effectively illustrates the character of this leader who was was such a role model for his troops. Like Napolean and General Maquis de Montrose, Rommel ended up on the losing side yet he maintained the respect of many in a very impressive military career. History is shaped by individuals. For the Allies sake, it is fortunate that Hitler did not share his command with his professionals. An individual such as Rommel with more Panzers and more battlefield authority could have made the Western Front a much harder nut to crack.

Fraser puts together a masterpiece on the great German Field Marshal. Not only was he a brilliant leader over the Afrika Corps in the North African Campaign, but he was brilliant in World War I. It is unfortunate that he was on the wrong side of the War. He treated the enemy soilders with respect and never participated in unruly activity toward prisoners. He was a good father, and loving, faithful husband. This book is a great investment on Rommel, one of the greatest minds in warfare during the 20th Century.

This is the best modern book on Rommel. Fraser lacks the charisma that David Irving brings to the Rommel story, but Fraser does an excellent job of providing details that Irving left out. Combinded, these books provide the most extensive Rommel biography available in print. Fraser also has many wonderful pictures of Rommel during his life

I am a big fan of biographies, and read them a lot, especially of historical figures. but I was disappointed with this book. It had very little information on the young Rommel -- what he thought and why -- or the motivations of the older Rommel. Most of the book is more of a narrative history of WWII in Africa and Europe, and not a very good one at that. It has very poor (and very few) maps to follow the action, and, to me, some mind-numbing narrative of hard-to-follow battles. In my opinion, the best biographies are the ones that really give you insight into the thought processes of the subject (e.g., the David Cullough "Truman" or the Stephen Ambrose "Eisenhower"). This book did not do that -- I feel that I don't really have much more of an understanding of Rommel now than before I read it. I guess I'll have to continue my search for the definitive Rommel biography.