Rommel’s Leadership in the Battle of El Alamein

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ROMMEL’S LEADERSHIP IN THE BATTLE OF EL ALAMEIN The nine principles of war provide general guidance for conducting war and military operations, The Principles are the enduring bedrock of Army doctrine. The nine principles of war are Mass, Objective, Offensive, Surprise, Economy of Force, Maneuver, Unity of Command, Security, and Simplicity (Army, 2008). Erwin Rommel was one of Germany’s most respected military leaders in World War Two and he played a part in two very significant battles during the war at El Alamein in North Africa and at D-Day. Rommel’s nickname was the ‘Desert Fox’ a title given to him by the British. During the battle of El Alamein, Rommel had Failures in six of the nine principles and successes in only three. Rommel’s failures were in the offensive, objective, mass, maneuver, security, and surprise lead to his demise in the African desert handing the British their first victory of WWII. Offensive definition is to seize, retain, and exploit the initiative (Army, 2008). During all his battles Rommel was known for seizing the initiative except for the El Alamein, after being turned away at the Alma el Halfa ridge Rommel had to return and set up defensive position at El Alamein (Harvey 2008). Rommel no longer had the initiative, it was seized by Montgomery, Rommel knows had to sit and wait for Montgomery to attack after being stop on his tracks. Objective is to direct every military operation toward a clearly defined, decisive, and attainable objective (Army, 2008). Rommel lost the objective when he went on the attack against Montgomery at Alma el Halfa ridge. Montgomery noticed that Rommel had become predictable and was waiting for him, dug in on the ridge. Montgomery’s defense’s where set up on top of the ridge and south of the ridge when Rommel made his typical flanking maneuver around the ridge and Montgomery’s forces were waiting on them and
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