Customer Reviews

Triumphant Fox

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Few military books are written with such clear and lucid details.Mr Mitcham describes the Afrika Korps rise with great accuracy. He puts to rest all the myths which had sprung up with the reputation of the Korps. One such point is that some historians have claimed that the Afrika Korps boasted technologically superior tanks compared to the British. Nothing could be farther from the truth. In fact , the Korps themselves faced technologically superior armour, plus the fact that they were always outnumbered. Certain historians have claimed the contrary to this fact as well. Mr Mitcham puts to rest this myth as well. The truth of the matter was that concentration of armour, the reason for the Korps success, was seen as having superior numbers, actually the Korps under the Desert Fox , concentrated its numbers against enemy formations one at a time , thereby neutralizing British superiority of numbers. Samuel Mitcham Jr also goes into the day to day life of Rommel and his army. The battles of 'TottenTag' and the major battles like 'operation battleaxe' are studied with great detail. Afrika Korps also suffered tremendous losses in high ranking officers, Mr Mitcham investigates this point as well. In my opinion, this book is a must for all students of the Desert War of 1941-43, especially since it is unbiased and filled with a lot of facts and valuabe data.

This is a disappointing book. I thought it would provide a good biography of Rommel as well as giving a good fresh accounting of the early battles of the Afrika Korps (i.e. up to and including the failed first attempt to take Tobruk from the Brits). Indeed it is categorized as "biography/history" so my expectations were not unreasonable. However, the book completely fails to live up to its advertisement. It is nothing more than a synthesis of existing books, mostly Irving's "The Trail of the Fox" and Young's "Rommel: The Desert Fox", both of which are still available.

As a biography, it is a pathetic offering. For research material it primarily draws on Iving's accounts of his interviews with Rommel's son. Mitcham even ignores "The Rommel Papers" which are Rommel's own diaries, orders, and journals kept during the war. Mitcham also only gives passing reference to Rommel's development as a military commander. The section on Rommel's battles against the Italians in WWI is thin, and the reference to his book Infantry Attacks only discusses how well it sold.

As a history of the early battles of the Afrika Korps, the book isn't any better. The accounts of the battles are simply Irving and Young's assessments re-written. Poor maps make the read extra frustrating. Few points of reference are identified, map scales are not given, and unit positions are impossible to discern. Mitcham's dependence on existing literature is revealed when he universally dismisses the Italian troops as "useless". Indeed they form a negligable part of any description of the fighting, even those battles where Italian troops outnumbered German troops. This is the result of his heavy reliance on Young's book, first published in the 1950s when it was common to dismiss Italian contributions.

Existing literature vastly suprasses this book, and it is most certainly not recommended.