"Battle without Hope"

[Sir John]

Gen Rommel's words describing the Battle of el Alamein in Oct/Nov 1942.

Been reading the 580+ pages of the Rommel Papers, found via my very good friend Mr Google, as a downloadable PDF.

The Africa Corps was on a hiding to nothing with his supply lines of vital fuel, ammo and food for his troops, and the fatal handicap of a useless 2 Divisions of the Italian Army, ever ready to surrender at the first sight of a British soldier. Rommel's words not mine!

Very complimentary of the Australians at both Tobruk and el Alamein. "The elite of the British Empire"

I highly recommend it.

SJ

[Swampy]

Also, once the Allies broke out of the beachheads in Normandy, the German elite units could also see the writing on the wall, fighting half-heartedly. The only ones who fought ferociously till the end were those on the Russian front, for obvious reasons.

Do you have a link?

[Sir John]

archive.org/details/THEROMMELPAPERS


'Download Options' on the right.


SJ

[hornet32]

After El Alamein Rommel was down to less than a hundred tanks but he did have several 8.8's which were extremely affective against tanks he was able to slow down Monty who had 500 tanks 75% made in the U.S. another plus for Rommel is he had got rid of most of the Italians which were completely useless

[Sir John]

"another plus for Rommel is he had got rid of most of the Italians which were completely useless"

A large number of whom went into POW captivity in a string of POW camps near my birth place at Shepparton in Victoria. After WW2 they were repatriated back to Italy, and then almost immediately applied for refugee places in the same area. They ended up being major producers of Tomatoes and fruit etc up to the 1980s or so. Many retired very rich men.

There were a few camps for our peace loving Japanese brothers who did themselves in on a regular basis, and my undertaker Grandfather held the government contract to arrange cremation etc of the bodies. He also retired a VERY rich man! ;-)

SJ