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." - Meaning and context.">
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Ch. V : Graziani's Defeat - Cause and Effect, p. 96.
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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.

— Erwin Rommel

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "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." in the context of "Ch. V : Graziani's Defeat - Cause and Effect, p. 96." to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Erwin Rommel" (Quotes, The Rommel Papers (1953): The Rommel Papers (1953) edited by Basil Henry Liddell Hart) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app

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#Erwin Rommel#victory#disorganised#devastating#continually#dispirited#commander#generally#satisfied#strategic#prisoners#organised
Erwin Rommel

About Erwin Rommel

Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel (15 November 1891 – 14 October 1944) was a German Field Marshal and commander of the Deutsches Afrika Korps in World War II, widely referred to as The Desert Fox (Der Wüstenfuchs). Linked to a conspiracy to assassinate Adolf Hitler, he was ordered to commit suicide with a cyanide pill, in return for assurances that his family would not be persecuted following his death.