Why Rommel Warned His Generals About Patton After 3 Weeks - They Ignored Him

Описание: In February 1943, Field Marshal Rommel wrote to his wife that American soldiers were soft and poorly trained after watching them collapse at Kasserine Pass with over 6,000 casualties in six days. Drawing on Rommel's personal letters, German operational records, and post-war testimony from generals like von Manteuffel and Kesselring, this documentary examines how Patton transformed II Corps in just 21 days by changing leadership, doctrine, and mindset—not equipment or soldiers. When German forces attacked the same American units at El Guettar on March 23, 1943, they discovered a completely different army that forced von Arnim to withdraw and shattered German assumptions. The story culminates with German generals' post-war admission that Americans learned faster than any army we faced—a case study in how doctrine and aggressive leadership matter more than technical superiority in determining battlefield outcomes.

Sources:
• B.H. Liddell Hart (editor) - "The Rommel Papers" (translated by Paul Findlay, 1953, Rommel's personal letters and diary entries)
• National Archives - "II Corps After Action Reports, February-April 1943" (operational records and battle assessments)
• Carlo D'Este - "Patton: A Genius for War" (William Morrow, 1995)
• Rick Atkinson - "An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943" (Henry Holt, 2002, Pulitzer Prize winner)
• U.S. Army Historical Division - "Post-war interrogations of German generals" (Von Manteuffel and Kesselring testimonies, 1945-1946)