In any numbering of the great captains of history, the name of Erwin Rommel must stand in the first rank. He was the outstanding Axis field commander of the Second World War, and was respected, even admired, as well as feared by his opponents. Here was a supremely professional solder: chivalrous, decent, untainted by the crimes of the Nazi regime, carrying out his duty with often dazzling success.David Fraser's book--surely the definitive study--brings to Rommel's career not only the perceptions of an acclaimed biographer, but those of a distinguished soldier too: his insights into Rommel's mind and methods carry the authority of experience. He shows how inspiringly spontaneous and superficially haphazard Rommel's style of leadership could be. His hallmarks were boldness of manoeuvre, ferocity in attack, and tenacity in pursuit. These were the qualities he displayed in his great battles in the North African desert; they were evident from his earliest battles in the First World War to his last, defending Fortress Europe from the Allied invasion of 1944.This is, first and foremost, a biography of a soldier. But Rommel reached a position in which he almost inevitably became embroiled in politics. When he realized that the Allied invasion was going to succeed, he realized also that the only way to save Germany was somehow to negotiate a peace settlement. He tried to present Hitler--to whom he had always been devoted, and who had always shown him a particular respect and affection--with the military realities: he was branded a defeatist and ignored. But his opinions, and his apparent links with the Stauffenberg plotters of July 1944--one of them, under interrogation, mentioned Rommel as a possible head of post-Hitlerian Germany--condemned him in the eyes of the Führer he had served so loyally. He was offered the choice of trial by a People's Court--a sham of course--or suicide, a state funeral and protection for his family. He chose the latter. From Booklist The paradox of a great general serving an evil cause looms over the reputation of the Desert Fox, bridged somewhat by Rommel's forced suicide after the anti-Hitler plot in July_ 1944. Would that he had survived to write his memoirs, for his influence on military thought to this day (his 1937 bookInfantry Attacks is still in print) would certainly be felt in doctrines on armored maneuver. In lieu of such, Fraser presents what definitely will become the standard biography (only the second since 1950), as the author astutely traces the qualities of leadership which Rommel embodied. A retired British general himself, Fraser brings a cerebral tone to his analysis, noting Rommel's almost animalistic warrior quality--his zest for war and ability to master its fears, tempered by knowledge of its art and the critical necessity of independent decisions to attain victory. He was thrice wounded in World War I, in actions here meticulously described, and spent the interwar period training new officers. Essentially a patriot, he was ostensibly apolitical but rose meteorically as commandant of Hitler's personal guard, then of a division in France and of the Afrikakorps in the desert. The question of whether his tactical brillance carried over into strategy divides military opinions, but opinion in general--or rather Fraser's convincing work might mold it so--is that he was brilliant, brave, even chivalrous. Technical text in places, but engaging throughout for the library readership.Gilbert Taylor Review David Fraser's biography of Erwin Rommel, 'Knight's Cross,' is subtitled, 'A Life of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel.' It should be subtitled, 'A Career of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel.' While the great General's skillful campaigns in France, North Africa, and France again are nothing short of brilliant, quite a bit is left out of the overall picture of the man. Rommel's years before World War I and during the Weimar era are barely examined. In