KILLING ROMMEL

by Steven Pressfield



"In the fall of 1942, Hitler's legions hold Europe in an iron grip while England stands alone - defiant. Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's Seventh Panzer Division has routed Britain's Eighth Army in North Africa and is poised to capture Egypt, the Suez Canal, and the Middle Eastern oil fields. To halt Rommel's Afrika Korps, the British devise a desperate plan to deploy a highly mobile, heavily armed band of commandos behind German lines. Operating under extreme desert conditions, the "scorpions" of the Long Range Desert Group repeatedly deliver raids and reconnaissance that stun the enemy." (from the CD container)

Looking for a good war novel? Steven Pressfield is your man. I loved the two ancient warfare novels of his that I read, Last of the Amazons and Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae. I figured I couldn't go wrong with a novel of WWII by him. I was absolutely correct.

No one I've read writes battle scenes the way Pressfield can. I completely lost track of what the story actually was in Killing Rommel, but I was completely immersed in the action. He makes you feel you're in the tank, trudging through the desert. He makes you feel you are the one deciding to open fire on enemy soldiers and he makes you feel the remorse when it's over. You are face to face with Field Marshall Rommel and you are remembering the men you fought beside and the men who died on both sides.

Aside from Pressfield's amazing abilities, what I found most fascinating about this book was Rommel himself. I didn't know much about him before this. I assumed that since he fought for the Nazis, he was a monster. Not so. According to Wikipedia, "An enduring legacy of Rommel's character is that he is also considered to be a chivalrous and humane military officer in contrast with many other figures of Nazi Germany. His famous Afrikakorps was not accused of any war crimes. Indeed, captured Commonwealth soldiers during his Africa campaign were reported to have been largely treated humanely. Furthermore, orders to kill captured Jewish soldiers and civilians out of hand in all theatres of his command were defiantly ignored. Following the defeat of Axis forces in North Africa, and while commanding the defence of Occupied France, his fortunes changed when he was suspected of involvement in the failed July 20 Plot of 1944 to kill Hitler and was forced to commit suicide."

For me, this is three for three when it comes to Steven Pressfield. I've not only enjoyed the book I was reading, but he made me anxious to search out more of the historical facts concerning his subject. I believe I can officially call myself a fan. :-)