Few military commanders of World War II have remained as famous, debated, and enigmatic as German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, the legendary "Desert Fox."

Was Rommel truly one of the great military commanders of the twentieth century?

Was he a loyal servant of Hitler, an honorable soldier trapped inside an evil regime, or something far more complicated?

And how did a celebrated German commander eventually find himself implicated in the movement to overthrow the very dictator he had once served?

In THE DESERT FOX: THE STORIED MILITARY CAREER OF ERWIN ROMMEL, acclaimed military historian Samuel W. Mitcham Jr. takes us beyond the legend to explore the remarkable and ultimately tragic career of one of World War II's most famous generals.

Mitcham traces Rommel's story from his youth in Imperial Germany through his distinguished service during World War I and the military career that eventually placed him at the center of some of the most dramatic campaigns of World War II.

But it was in the deserts of North Africa that the Rommel legend was truly born.

Commanding German forces against the British and their Allies, Rommel developed a formidable reputation for mobility, surprise, aggressive tactics, and an uncanny ability to keep his opponents guessing.

His battlefield successes earned him the nickname "The Desert Fox" and made him one of the most recognizable commanders of the war.

Yet victory depended upon far more than battlefield brilliance.

Rommel faced the enormous problem of keeping an army supplied across the vast distances of North Africa, while strategic decisions from Hitler and the German high command complicated an already difficult campaign.

Eventually, the enormous resources available to the Allies, a grinding war of attrition, and Hitler's own disastrous decisions helped bring the Axis campaign in North Africa to defeat.

Rommel's story, however, did not end in the desert.

He would later become deeply involved in preparing German defenses against the expected Allied invasion of Western Europe. As the war increasingly turned against Germany, Rommel's relationship with Hitler and the Nazi leadership became ever more complicated.

That conflict ultimately brought him into the shadow of the 1944 plot against Hitler.

After Rommel's connection to the conspiracy was discovered, the celebrated field marshal faced an extraordinary and terrible choice. Rather than endure a public trial that could endanger his family, Rommel agreed to take his own life.

It was a tragic ending for the commander whose exploits had once made him a hero throughout Germany and a respected adversary among many of the Allied soldiers who fought against him.

THE DESERT FOX examines both the legend and the man behind it: the brilliant battlefield commander, the officer serving an infamous regime, the increasingly disillusioned soldier, and finally the German field marshal caught in the deadly political struggle surrounding Adolf Hitler.

Was Erwin Rommel a military genius?

Was the legend of the Desert Fox greater than the man himself?

And how should history remember a commander who achieved fame serving Nazi Germany but ultimately became entangled in the effort to remove Hitler from power?

Join us for the fascinating and controversial story of Erwin Rommel, the Desert Fox, as told by military historian Samuel W. Mitcham Jr., on 1001 HISTORY'S GREATEST STORYTELLERS.