Reddit reviews The Rommel Papers

One should also consider that Patton and Montgomery were two great Generals, couple that leadership with superior training and equipment, and you have a recipe for one sided battles.

Rommel had been quoted saying the following regarding the Italian infantry in Africa

> The Italian command was, for the most part, not equal to the task of carrying on war in the desert, where the requirement was lightning decision followed by immediate action. The training of the Italian infantryman fell far short of the standard required by modern warfare. … Particularly harmful was the all pervading differentiation between officer and man

Source: The Rommel Papers, Ch. 11: The Initiative Passes
http://www.amazon.ca/Rommel-Papers-B-h-Liddell-Hart/dp/0306801574

While I'm at it, great book. Truly offers insight into the brilliance of Erwin, worth the read for anyone interested.

Implications everywhere in your response. Erwin Rommel also fought much of the war in Europe.

Rommel certainly knew the Nazi regime was anti-semitic, he sent a letter to Nazi High Command in 1937 telling them "This business with the Jews has got to stop" and in 1940 he personally asked Hitler to reinstate Jewish soldiers and officers who had been fired a request that went nowhere. Its clear when you read the Rommel Papers (mostly his own papers) and interviews with his trusted allies and family he did not know until quite late in the war that the regime was genocidal.
Rommel also ignored Order 15 which stated no prisoners are to be taken during the North Africa campaign. Many other German Generals made no outward indication of anti-semitism either (Von Stauffenberg, anyone?).
So no, the general consensus is that Rommel was one of the genuine "heros" of WWII, and someone to be admired.

His book from WWI is Infantry Attacks and he never got a chance to edit his journals from WWII into its intended sequel but they were published by his son as The Rommel Papers.

The Rommel Papers is the first thing that comes to mind, a diary of Erwin Rommel. He was the leading commander of the North Africa campaign, among many other things.

>Rommel is considered to have been 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, soldiers captured 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.

http://www.amazon.com/Rommel-Papers-Da-Capo-Paperback/dp/0306801574/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1246901510&sr=8-1

Limited preview on google: http://books.google.com/books?id=JE8VFsdxNGgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=rommel+papers&ei=KDVSSsHgMarYygS1vNjSAg

Most of my knowledge regarding the matter is European, so I'm going to give a list of my favorites regarding the European / African front.

To get the German perspective of the war, I'd recommend:

• Panzer Commander - Hans von Luck - One of my favorites
  
  
• Panzer Leader - Heinz Guderian - He developed Blitzkrieg tactics
  
  
• The Rommel Papers - Erwin Rommel - Written by my favorite German Field Marshal up until his forced suicide by Hitler. Good read of the Western and African theaters of war. Also a good book to read if you're interested in what German command was doing on the lead up to D-Day.
  
  I have a few battle-specific books I enjoy too:
  
  
• Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege 1942-1943 - You really don't know the brutality of Stalingrad till you've read this book. You'll see it in a whole new light I think.
  
  
• Berlin: Downfall 1945 - Battle of Berlin at the end of the war, another good book.
  
  Now if you want to play games, Hearts of Iron series is great (someone recommended the Darkest Hour release of the game. Allows you to play historical missions based on historical troop layouts, or play the entire war as a nation. Historical events are incorporated into the game. While you'll rarely get a 100% accurate game as it is abstracted, it is an excellent way to see what challenges faced the nations of the time. You could play as Russia from 1936 and prepare yourself for the eventual German invasion. Or maybe you decide to play as Germany, and not invade Russia. But will Russia invade you when they are stronger? Will warn you: It does not have a learning curve. As with almost all Paradox Interactive games, it is a learning cliff.

Reading his own works would be a good place to start

Start with Infantry Attacks and The Rommel Papers

You can also read With Rommel in the Desert which was written by one of his batmen.

From the other side The Desert War Is a good account by what we would now call an imbedded journalist with the British Empire's 8th Army.

There have been quite a few threads about Rommel both here and on r/badhistory where there's generally a "Good guy Rommel" anti-circlejerk attitude. This thread being but one of many. I'll copy over my comment from that thread

> The Good Guy Rommel thing goes back to ww2 itself. It suited both the Nazis and the western allies to create a myth about Rommel. For the Nazis, it was an obvious propaganda op and the western allies saw in him a reason to explain their failings. Sure, it nothing to do with your rubbish commanders and bad tanks, its all because of GGR!

> After the war its necessary to rehabilitate Germany as an ally of the west, so we create the Clean Heer myth with GGR as its poster boy and dump all the bad stuff on the SS.

Overall, its important to remember that Rommel was a Nazi General. He was very fortunate to have earned his reputation fighting in theatres in which military law and civilisation were not completely abandoned (France) or in North Africa, where there were no untermensch or juden to be persecuted and exterminated.

If he had been sent to the east, there is no reason to suppose that he would not have become involved in war crimes to same extent as other generals such as Manstein.