Rommel and the Rebel

In 1937, a group of German officers toured Civil War battlefields. What if one of them was Erwin Rommel? And what if he was obsessed with rebel Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, unorthodox but successful cavalry leader? German-speaking U.S. Army Intelligence Lt. Max Speigner is sent to Oxford, Miss., as liaison. He becomes friendly with Rommel because of their mutual regard for Forrest. When the British later find his memo on Rommel's tactics (borne out in the blitzkrieg), they call Max to Cairo in late 1941 to help in ""divining'' Rommel's plans. The former friends eventually meet again, struggling as enemies. Part of the book is silly (Rommel in New York at a ballgame), part is very unlikely (Rommel on a drunken, midnight tour of Shiloh with ``Bill Faulkner'') and part is overblown (fanciful flashbacks to Forrest's behavior in battle). But there's real excitement, especially in the scenes of Rommel's drive on Benghazi and a good depiction of the ``Desert Fox'' as the ``respectable'' German warrior. First novelist Wells runs the Yoknapatawpha Press in Oxford, Miss. February 7