During the years of victory, the German propaganda machine used him as an example to the nation. As is often the case, his relationship to the media was both self-serving and self-destructive. He loved nothing better than having a camera crew along with him on campaign, and he would regularly order scenes to be reshot if his posture was insufficiently heroic or the lighting had not shown him to best advantage. He was not merely a passive bystander to the hype he was an active accomplice. Nazi propaganda painted him not only as a garden-variety hero, but as a model National Socialist and Aryan, a man who could overcome stronger enemies through the sheer force of his will. He was Hitler's fair-haired boy, a young officer repeatedly promoted over more senior candidates. His entire career had been based on Hitler's favor, and we might reasonably describe his attitude toward the Führer as worshipful. Here, too, we should challenge the mythology. Contrary to the alleged mobility of desert warfare, both sides would spend far more time in static defensive positions, often quite elaborate, then they would launching tank charges. Far from letting the respective tank fleets roam free, the desert chained them irresistibly to their supply lines, and a single failed supply convoy or a lost column of trucks could stop an entire offensive dead in its tracks. It was a pain, and fighting in it was a nightmare for both sides. The desert was hardly a haven of beauty or romance. It’s an attractive image all around, and it is unfortunate that practically all of it is false. It was war, yes, but almost uniquely in World War II, it was a 'war without hate.' Placing Rommel and his elite Afrika Korps to the fore allows us to view the desert war as a clean fight against a morally worthy opponent.

Everything about him attracts us-the manly poses, the out-of-central-casting good looks, even the goggles perched just so. Finally, it implies a bold hero, in this case Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, a noble commander who fought the good fight, who hated Hitler and everything he stood for, and who couldn’t have been farther away from our stereotyped image of the Nazi fanatic. It calls forth a war of near-absolute mobility, where tanks could operate very much like ships at sea, “sailing” where they wished, setting out on bold voyages hundreds of miles into the deep desert, then looping around the enemy flank and emerging like pirates of old to deal devastating blows to an unsuspecting foe. There is no more evocative phrase to emerge from World War II than Afrika Korps. The name conjures up a unique theater of war, a hauntingly beautiful empty quarter where armies could roam free, liberated from towns and hills, choke points and blocking positions, and especially those pesky civilians.

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