ABSTRACT
The inheritance of General von Stumme, commanding the German-Italian army in the desert, was the reverse of Montgomery’s. Reluctantly, sadly, Rommel had handed over to von Stumme on September 22nd. On the 23rd he had flown to Austria to seek to regain his health. His every instinct was to stay with his army to the end. The army faced a battle without hope, but in a sense there was always hope, if not of victory, then of some unpredictable salvation, to be seized, if such a chance should flare suddenly out of the utter darkness of inevitable defeat. The removal of Auchinleck and his staff was the only faint advantage he could discover, for Montgomery’s remarkable caution at Alam Halfa had lit in Rommel a small spark of hope.
