Quotulatiousness

June 17, 2023

Why Rommel Lost the Battle for North Africa

Real Time History
Published 16 Jun 2023

The North African campaign of WW2 is one of the most famous ones. The almost mythical story of the British “Desert Rats” defeating Erwin Rommel’s Afrika Korps. But why did Rommel lose in North Africa?

» SUPPORT US
https://patreon.com/realtimehistory
https://nebula.tv/realtimehistory

» THANK YOU TO OUR CO-PRODUCERS
Lisa Anderson, Brad Durbin, Jeremy K Jones, Murray Godfrey, John Ozment, Stephen Parker, Mavrides, Kristina Colburn, Stefan Jackowski, Cardboard, William Kincade, William Wallace, Daniel L Garza, Chris Daley, Malcolm Swan, Christoph Wolf, Simen Røste, Jim F Barlow, Taylor Allen, Adam Smith, James Giliberto, Albert B. Knapp MD, Tobias Wildenblanck, Richard L Benkin, Marco Kuhnert, Matt Barnes, Ramon Rijkhoek, Jan, Scott Deederly, gsporie, Kekoa, Bruce G. Hearns, Hans Broberg, Fogeltje

» SOURCES

Barr, Niall “Rommel in the Desert, 1942” in Beckett, Ian F.W., Rommel: A Reappraisal, (Barnsley: Pen & Sword Books Ltd, 2013)

Beckett, Ian F.W., Rommel: A Reappraisal, (Barnsley: Pen & Sword Books Ltd, 2013)

Cernuschi, Enrico & O’Hara, Vincent P., “THE OTHER ULTRA: Signal Intelligence and the Battle to Supply Rommel’s Attack toward Suez”, Naval War College Review, Vol. 66, No. 3 (Summer 2013)

R.I. Cunningham, “Turning Point – 3rd July 1942: An Eye-Witness Account”, Military History Journal, Volume 6, Number 5, (1985)

Kitchen, Martin, Rommel’s Desert War: Waging World War II in North Africa, 1941-1943, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009)

Klein, Hans, “Hans Klein Recalls His Time in Erwin Rommel’s Afrika Korps“, History Net (https://www.historynet.com/hans-klein…)

Lewin, Ronald, Rommel as Military Commander, (New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1968)

Nickerson, Hoffman, “Portrait of a German General: Rommel’s Papers Reveal a Great Tactician and Strategist”, Ordnance, Vol. 38, No. 200 (SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 1953)

Roy, Kaushik, Fighting Rommel: The British Imperial Army in North Africa during the Second World War, 1941–1943, (London : Routledge India, 2019)

Sadkovich, James J., “Of Myths and Men: Rommel and the Italians in North Africa, 1940-1942”, The International History Review, Vol. 13, No. 2 (May, 1991)

Scianna, Bastian Matteo, “Rommel Almighty? Italian Assessments of the ‘Desert Fox’ during and after the Second World War”, The Journal of Military History, Vol. 82, No. 1, (2018)

Watson, Bruce Allen, Exit Rommel: The Tunisian Campaign, 1942-1943, (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1999)

»CREDITS
Presented by: Jesse Alexander
Written by: Mark Newton
Director: Toni Steller & Florian Wittig
Director of Photography: Toni Steller
Sound: Above Zero
Editing: Toni Steller
Motion Design: Toni Steller
Mixing, Mastering & Sound Design: http://above-zero.com
Research by: Mark Newton
Fact checking: Florian Wittig, Jesse Alexander

Channel Design: Simon Buckmaster

Contains licensed material by getty images
Maps: MapTiler/OpenStreetMap Contributors & GEOlayers3
All rights reserved – Real Time History GmbH 2023

2 Comments

  1. Logistics, plus the NOV 42 Allied landings.

    Comment by MBlanc46 — June 17, 2023 @ 12:43

  2. They rather downplayed both of those factors, I have to agree.

    Comment by Nicholas — June 18, 2023 @ 08:43

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.

Powered by WordPress