On the 15th of February 1941, a German fighting unit arrived in Tripoli, Libya. Their commander was about to become famous. Soon millions were familiar with these early pictures from the North African theatre of war. General Rommel, commander in chief of the German fighting troops in Africa, with his men at the front. Goebbels wanted to make him into a folk hero, but he wasn't easy to get close to.
Part 1 of three examines Rommel's childhood, his early career and his gifts as a military tactician in World Wars I and II. What determined the defeat of the Afrikakorps at El Alamein? Was it Rommel's own strategic error, his opponent Montgomery or the successful deciphering of the Enigma coding machine?