Erwin Rommel: Most

“The Italian command was, for the most part, not equal to the task of carrying on war in the desert, where the requirement was lightning decision followed by immediate action. The training of the Italian infantryman fell far short of the standard required by modern warfare. … Particularly harmful was the all pervading differentiation between officer and man.”

Erwin Rommel

Source: The Rommel Papers (1953), Ch. XI : The Initiative Passes, p. 262.[[Courage which goes against military expediency is stupidity, or, if it is insisted upon by a commander, irresponsibility.]]
Context: The Italian command was, for the most part, not equal to the task of carrying on war in the desert, where the requirement was lightning decision followed by immediate action. The training of the Italian infantryman fell far short of the standard required by modern warfare. … Particularly harmful was the all pervading differentiation between officer and man. While the men had to make shift without field-kitchens, the officers, or many of them, refused adamantly to forgo their several course meals. Many officers, again, considered it unnecessary to put in an appearance during battle and thus set the men an example. All in all, therefore, it was small wonder that the Italian soldier, who incidentally was extraordinarily modest in his needs, developed a feeling of inferiority which accounted for his occasional failure and moments of crisis. There was no foreseeable hope of a change for the better in any of these matters, although many of the bigger men among the Italian officers were making sincere efforts in that direction.

War , Decision , Parting , Training

“In Tunisia the Americans had to pay a stiff price for their experience, but it brought rich dividends. Even at that time, the American generals showed themselves to be very advanced in the tactical handling of their forces, although we had to wait until the Patton Army in France to see the most astonishing achievements in mobile warfare.”

Erwin Rommel

Source: The Rommel Papers (1953), Ch. XXIII : The Sky Has Grown Dark, p. 523.

Time , Waiting

“It is during the pursuit, when the beaten enemy is still dispirited and disorganised, that most prisoners are made and most booty captured.”

Erwin Rommel

Source: The Rommel Papers (1953), Ch. V : Graziani's Defeat - Cause and Effect, p. 96.
Context: When a commander has won a decisive victory - and Wavell's victory over the Italians was devastating - it is generally wrong for him to be satisfied with too narrow a strategic aim. For that is the time to exploit success. It is during the pursuit, when the beaten enemy is still dispirited and disorganised, that most prisoners are made and most booty captured. Troops who on one day are flying in a wild panic to the rear, may, unless they are continually harried by the pursuer, very soon stand in battle again, freshly organised as fully effective fighting men.

“The military career of most of the people who aimed these accusations at us was notable for a consistent absence from the front, on the principle of "weit vom Schuss gibt alte Kreiger" - "far from the battle makes old soldiers."”

Erwin Rommel

Ch XV : Alamein in Retrospect, p. 327.
The Rommel Papers (1953)

People

“Anyone who has to fight, even with the most modern weapons, against an enemy in complete command of the air, fights like a savage against modern European troops, under the same handicaps and with the same chances of success.”

Erwin Rommel

Ch XIII : Now or Never - Alam Halfa, p. 285.
The Rommel Papers (1953)

Chance , Success , Fight