Rommel's greatest victory

In May of 1942, Erwin Rommel, already famed as the "Desert Fox," launched an audacious campaign against the British forces defending the road to Alexandria, the Suez canal, and the oil-rich Middle East. The prize was Tobruk, the most important port along the Libyan coast east of Tripoli, the Axis base of operations. Possession of this fortress would give the Afrika Korps a secure base of supply almost a thousand miles closer to the Egyptian border. The spring 1942 battle for Tobruk is a study of Rommel, the foremost strategist and tactician of his generation, at his best, daring but never foolhardy. It also studies Rommel the combat leader at his greatest, discerning the critical moment in time and the critical point on the battlefield, and then being present to personally influence the result.