Very interesting replies, FRiends! I admit I’ve taken Rommel largely as the “good guy” among Nazi generals, as the character in “Patton” more or less.
Can any of you suggest a good book about the Italian campaign? I’d like to have a better idea of what’s going on in the “current” news.
One of my favorite WW2 authors is Carlo D’Este. He wrote some good books on the Italian Campaign:
Bitter Victory: The Battle for Sicily, 1943, Dutton (New York, NY), 1988. ISBN 9780525244714
World War II in the Mediterranean, 1942–1945, Algonquin (Chapel Hill, NC), 1990. ISBN 9780945575047
Fatal Decision: Anzio and the Battle for Rome, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1991. ISBN 9780060158903
I second the suggestion of The Day of Battle. I also enjoyed An Army At Dawn because I really didn’t know much about the North Africa campaign.