At Rommel’s Side: The Lost Letters of Hans-Joachim Schraepler

This is a very good book! In his WWII letters home to his wife from North Africa Major Hans-Joachim Schraepler provides considerable insight on the war in North Africa, the German Africa Corps and their Italian allies, Erwin Rommel, and the British. The author makes it clear that North Africa was a side show for Hitler with Rommel and his soldiers receiving very little support. Further, he writes with tremendous respect and admiration for the British soldier, specially for the Royal Air Force and British artillery, which made life for the Germans a bit of a living hell. This is an insightful and extremely interesting book.

get book in library.not worth buying

These arfe letter of a German officer to his wife during his service during WW2 in the North African desert. They are poignant and remind one that even from an officer of high rank, the conditions were a huge test for man's endurance. It is also the testimony of a son who hardly knew his father. They present a very human side of the German side of the war.

A personal account of war by a soldier recorded in letters to his wife. Not for the casual student of WWII; but if you are familiar with events in North Africa you will appreciate this first-person narrative. A man's view as observed from behind the curtain of general history. Liked it's nuance on the day--sincerely.

This slim volume ( only 192 pp. ) contains the letters home of Major Hans-Joachim Schraepler, a staff officer of the famous Deutches Afrika Korps commanded by the legendary Erwin Rommel. The title of this translation plays heavily on that connection and perhaps with at least a little exaggeration, since Schraepler spent most of his time at headquarters rather than in the field literally alongside his commander. The letters cover the period from when Schraepler left Germany with Rommel for the desert, Feb. 20, 1941, until his untimely death during the battle outside Tobruk, Libya, Dec. 9, 1941. It should be observed that this is a period of only about ten months, and ends with the failure of Rommel's first attempt to capture the African port, therefore really missing Rommel's greatest victories and ultimate defeat at El Alamein at the end of 1942.Schraepler's position with Rommel was as his adjutant, a sort of "military secretary" whose duties ranged variously from running Afrika Korps headquarters to answering Rommel's "fan mail". This was a position he had held under Rommel in France the year before during the lightning victories there. Rommel was always one to favor using the same capable subordinates, and so persuaded Schraepler to come along with him to Africa. Rommel was in the habit of writing daily to his wife back in Austria, and Schraepler's letters are likewise daily affairs recounting the weather, sandstorms, gazelle hunts, food, health issues, friends and relations with whom he serves, the unreliability of the Italian allies, etc., etc.: a fascinating look at day-to-day life of the army in the field.In late '41, a reorginizational shift saw Rommel promoted and Schraepler left as adjutant to his replacement, Gen. Ludwig Cruwell, with whom he got along very well. Rommel had a tendency to be rather abrupt and stand-offish with his immediate subordinates, and though Schraepler obviously admired and respected him, he seems to have gotten along better with Cruwell and his chief-of-staff Fritz Bayerlein. I especially enjoyed some of his comments about fellow officers, including one of his wife's cousins, a general who commanded one of the panzer divisions. Sadly, this book has very little in the way of true editorial comment, and if the reader isn't very familliar with the structure and personnel of Rommel's force, a lot of interesting information will be missed.Tragically, Schraepler was killed Dec. 9, 1941, during the British offensive known as Operation Crusader. Letters from the final few months of his life are especially poignant, filled with concern about and longing for the Christmas leave the reader realizes all-too-well will never come. ( The book never says so, but he was run over by one of the captured British "Mammoths", giant headquarters vehicles used by both Rommel and Cruwell. ) His letters to his wife lay forgotten until after her death in 2001, edited and published by their son, Hans-Albrecht Schraepler. If the book has a flaw, it is in the editing, sometimes careless proofreading, and sloppy connecting narrative by Hans-Albrecht. He also clumsily summarizes his father's life and service's; one chapter in particular makes little sense, trying much too hard to show that his father was beginning to oppose the war and had concerns as to its eventual outcome. Written as they were, prior to any of the great German defeats, the letters instead show common-sense concerns and mainly reveal a great deal about the day-to-day workings of the famous military machine that was the Deutches Afrika Korps.