With Rommel in the Desert

This WWII pictorial history illustrates Nazi Germany’s North African campaign, showing life under Rommel through vivid wartime photographs.

Prior to the outbreak of World War II, the German Army had focused exclusively on preparations needed to wage war in continental Europe. The threat of an Italian collapse in North Africa in early 1941, however, prompted Hitler to aid his ally by sending an armored blocking force to Libya. Not content to merely thwart the British from capturing Tripoli, Lieutenant-General Erwin Rommel harried his inexperienced expeditionary force eastward towards the Nile Delta.

With Rommel in the Desert presents a pictorial narrative of the unfolding conflict from the arrival of the Deutsches Afrikakorps until Rommel's departure from the battlefield in March 1943. These rare wartime photographs show daily life in the desert war, with its shifting fortunes and unique challenges. Primarily viewed from the perspective of ordinary combatants, this is their personal record of serving with Rommel in the desert.