 Young interviewed Rommel's widow extensively and worked with several individuals who had been close to him, including Hans Speidel, with Liddell Hart also supporting the project.Speidel had already written in 1946 that he planned to turn Rommel into "the hero of the German people", to give them a positive role model.Rommel was a suitable candidate, since the manner of his death had led to the assumption that he had not been a supporter of Nazism.