Mr Red, think for a minute about the fact that you even know that the Desert Fox was Rommel. Why was he the hero of that film, played by James Mason, no less?

By pumping Rommel’s reputation, those who defeated him pump their own. It’s a fine old propaganda trick, dating back to the Romans. Julius Caesar devoted large hunks of “The Gallic Wars” to the cleverness and courage of Vercingetorix, whose death by strangling was the climax of Caesar’s first triumph.