Good Morning...the Desert Fox bails out Italian ally

[Okla-homey]

April 2, 1941: "The Desert Fox" recaptures Libya

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66 years ago on this day in 1941, German Lieutenant General Erwin Rommel, "the Desert Fox," resumes his advance into Cyrenaica, modern-day Libya, signaling the beginning of what nine days later will become the recapture of Libya by the Axis forces.

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Early Italian successes in East Africa, which included occupying parts of Sudan, Kenya, and British Somaliland, were soon reversed after British offensives, led by British Field Marshall Archibald Wavell, resulted in heavy Italian casualties and forced the Italians to retreat into Libya.

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FM Archibald Wavell

But Axis control of the area was salvaged by the appearance of Rommel and the Afrika Korps, sent to East Africa by the German High Command to bail their Italian ally out.

On the verge of capturing Tripoli, the Libyan capital, Britain's forces were suddenly depleted when British Prime Minister Winston Churchill transferred British troops to Greece. Seizing the opportunity of a weakened British force, Rommel struck quickly, despite orders to remain still for two months. With 50 tanks and two fresh Italian divisions, Rommel forced the British to begin a retreat into Egypt.

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Dr Suess even weighed-in on the situation

Operation BATTLEAXE, the counteroffensive by British Field Marshall Archibald Wavell, resulted in little more than the loss of large numbers of British tanks to German 88mm anti-tank guns, as well as Wavell's ultimately being transferred from North Africa to India.

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Rommel, known for his trademark goggles, which he pilfered from a British general's command vehicle, may have had some help in defeating his British counterpart. He was known to carry with him a book called Generals and Generalship, written by Archibald Wavell.

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The Desert Fox...the inspiration for Rommel's nickname

Not a committed Nazi, and alleged to have been taken into confidence by the conspiratiorial Germal generals who plotted a coup-d'etat and to assasinate Hitler near the end of the war, Rommel was given a choice; death by his own hand or arrest, trial and execution. Rommel was given the option because he was trmendously popular with the German people. He killed himself to avoid harm to his family. The Nazi's gave him a state funeral and heaped honors upon him.

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[SoonerStormchaser]

Rommel, you magnificant bastard...I read your book!

:pop:

[AggieTool]

And this is important why?:confused:

[Xstnlsooner]

Nice one Homey! I read Rommel's biography and he said if only he had
had another division of medium tanks and infantry, he would have
easily beaten the allied forces in North Africa and then turned and
swept around the Mediterranean sea headed north, but providentially,
Hitler wouldn't send them to him. Shoulda, coulda, woulda, I guess.

:rolleyes:

[Okla-homey]

And this is important why?:confused:

because grasshoppa, as Sun Tzu wrote in his magnum opus The Art of War over a thousand years ago, "Know your enemy and you will not be defeated in a thousand battles."

If you are indeed an aggie, I would not expect you to understand the modern and everyday implications of that sage counsel.

[Vaevictis]

because grasshoppa, as Sun Tzu wrote in his magnum opus The Art of War over a thousand years ago, "Know your enemy and you will not be defeated in a thousand battles."

IIRC, you have to know yourself also for that particular record.

(Knowing your enemy or knowing yourself, but not both, apparently results in a 50/50 record, iirc. Knowing neither, 0%.)