The Rising Tide: A Novel of World War II Read Online Free PDF Page A

aggressiveness against Czechoslovakia and Austria keep their criticisms behind closed doors. Compared to the chaos of the 1920s, Hitler has given Germany’s officers a powerful structure within which they can ply their trade.
    In February 1937, Rommel is assigned to command the Hitler Youth, a new organization that seeks to educate German boys in the art of war. But Rommel recognizes the group for what it quickly becomes: a nest of bullies and spoiled misfits. Rommel finds the job utterly distasteful, remarks that he did not join the army just to train “little Napoléons.” A year later, he is given command of the War Academy at Wiener Neustadt, near Vienna, Austria. Once again he captures the attention of Joseph Goebbels, who has arranged for Rommel’s textbook, titled Infantry Attacks, to be published. For this, Rommel will feel a debt toward Goebbels for the rest of his life.
    In August 1939, Rommel is promoted to major general, and he witnesses the invasion of Poland from Hitler’s headquarters. Ignoring the brutality inflicted on the Polish people, Rommel absorbs the lessons of the German attack, which plays into his own military instincts: strike hard and fast, with overwhelming power. He is especially drawn to the brutal success of the German armor, the panzers. He realizes with perfect certainty that his place is at the vanguard of a massive column of powerful tanks.
    During and after the invasion of Poland, Rommel is assigned to command Hitler’s personal security force, essentially becoming Hitler’s bodyguard. During this time, Hitler forms an attachment to Rommel that will influence both men. But Rommel chafes at such a command, despises the staff officers who flock around Hitler, referring to them as “so many pitiful birds.” When Hitler offers Rommel a command in the field, Rommel does not hesitate, and Hitler grants his particular request, command of the Seventh Panzer Division. Within weeks, Rommel begins preparing for the order from Hitler that will unleash the German army westward.
    In May 1940, Rommel’s Seventh Armor bursts through the frontier south of Liège, Belgium, and he is the first German commander to cross the Meuse River. Driving the enemy before him, he nearly drives too far and is almost crushed by British tanks, who are surprised to find themselves on the German flank. But Rommel’s audacity rescues him, and continuing his push westward, he arrives at the coast near Dunkirk, only to be told that Hitler has ordered a halt.
    After the British escape at Dunkirk, a disgusted Rommel goes on the attack once more and captures several French towns, crushing pockets of French and British opposition as he goes. On June 12, 1940, he captures the coastal town of Saint-Valéry, France, along with twelve thousand British and French prisoners. Two days after the Germans march into Paris, Rommel captures the city of Cherbourg and receives the surrender of thirty thousand French soldiers.
    In the overall campaign that results in Hitler’s conquest of Western Europe, Rommel’s command captures nearly a hundred thousand prisoners, three hundred artillery pieces, and more than four hundred tanks. His own division suffers casualties of less than three thousand men, with a loss of forty-two tanks. Though Rommel’s star rises considerably, he receives his first taste of the jealousy and backbiting from other officers that will haunt his career. Hitler is not swayed by talk from Rommel’s superiors, who insist that Rommel is too brash for high command.
    Though Hitler soon becomes obsessed with his dreams of conquering Russia, he cannot completely ignore his own staff officers, who suggest that Mussolini is unstable. Hitler is convinced that if the Italians continue to suffer setbacks against the British in North Africa, Mussolini might simply drop out of the war. Hitler calls upon Rommel, and against the advice of many of his senior staff, Hitler offers Rommel command of what will become the Deutsches