Erwin Rommel

Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel ({{Audio|De-Erwin_Rommel-pronunciation.ogg|listen}}) (November 15, 1891 – October 14, 1944) was one of the most distinguished German Field Marshals and commander of the Deutsches Afrika Korps in World War II. He is also known by his nickname The Desert Fox (Wüstenfuchs, {{Audio|De-Wüstenfuchs-pronunciation.ogg|listen}}), for the skillful military campaigns he waged on behalf of the German Army in North Africa. He is often remembered not only for his remarkable military prowess, but also for his chivalry towards his adversaries.

World War II

Poland 1939

In the autumn of 1938 Hitler selected Rommel to be in charge of the Wehrmacht unit assigned to protect him during his visits to occupied Czechoslovakia. Just prior to the invasion of Poland he was promoted to Major General and made commander of the Führer-Begleitbattalion, responsible for the safety of Adolf Hitler's mobile headquarters during the campaign.

Related Topics:
Autumn - Czechoslovakia - Poland - Major General

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France 1940

In 1940, only three months before the invasion, Rommel was given command of the 7th Panzer Division, later nicknamed Gespenster-Division (the "Ghost Division", due to the speed and surprise it was consistently able to achieve, to the point that even the German High Command lost track of where it was), for Fall Gelb ("Case Yellow"), the invasion of France and the Low Countries. Remarkably, this was Rommel's first command of a Panzer unit. He showed considerable skill in this operation, repulsing a counter-attack by the BEF (British Expeditionary Force) at Arras. 7th Panzer was one of the first German units to reach the English Channel (on 10 June) and would capture the vital port of Cherbourg (19 June). As a reward Rommel was promoted and appointed commander of the 5th Light Division (later reorganized and redesignated as the 21st Panzer) and of the 15th Panzer Division, which were sent to Libya in early 1941 to aid the defeated and demoralized Italian troops, forming the Deutsches Afrika Korps

Related Topics:
1940 - 7th Panzer Division - Fall Gelb - France - Low Countries - BEF - Arras - English Channel - Cherbourg - 5th Light Division - 15th Panzer Division - Libya - 1941 - Deutsches Afrika Korps

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({{Audio|De-Deutsches_Afrikakorps-pronunciation.ogg|listen}}). It was in Africa where Rommel achieved his greatest fame as a commander.

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Africa 1941-43

Rommel spent most of 1941 building his organization and re-forming the shattered Italian units, who had suffered a string of defeats at the hands of British Commonwealth forces under Major General Richard O'Connor. An offensive pushed the Allied forces back out of Libya, but it stalled a relatively short way into Egypt, and the important port of Tobruk, although surrounded, was still held by Allied forces under an Australian General, Leslie Morshead. The Allied Commander-in-Chief, General Archibald Wavell made two unsuccessful attempts to relieve the seige ( Operation Brevity and Operation Battleaxe ). Following the costly failure of Battleaxe, Wavell swapped commands with the British Commander-in-Chief India, General Claude Auchinleck. Auchinleck launched a major offensive to relieve Tobruk ( Operation Crusader ) which eventually succeeded. However, when this offensive ran out of steam, Rommel struck.

Related Topics:
British Commonwealth - Richard O'Connor - Libya - Tobruk - Australia - Leslie Morshead - Archibald Wavell - Operation Brevity - Operation Battleaxe - Claude Auchinleck - Operation Crusader

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In a classic blitzkrieg, Rommel outflanked the British at Gazala, surrounded and reduced the strongpoint at Bir Hakeim and forced the British to quickly retreat, in the so-called "Gazala Gallop", to avoid being completely cut off. Tobruk, isolated and alone, was now all that stood between the Afrika Korps and Egypt. On 21 June 1942, after a swift, coordinated and fierce combined arms assault, the city surrendered along with its 33,000 defenders. Only at the fall of Singapore, earlier that year, had more British and Commonwealth troops been captured. Allied forces were comprehensively beaten. Within weeks they had been pushed back far into Egypt.

Related Topics:
Blitzkrieg - Gazala - Bir Hakeim - 21 June - 1942 - Combined arms - Singapore - Commonwealth - Egypt

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Rommel's offensive was eventually stopped at the small railway town of El Alamein, just 60 miles from Cairo. The First Battle of El Alamein was lost by Rommel due to a combination of supply problems and improved Allied tactics. The Allies, with their backs against the wall, were very close to their supplies and had fresh troops on hand to reinforce their positions. Auchinleck's tactics of continually attacking the weaker Italian forces during the battle forced Rommel to use the Deutsches Afrika Korps in a "Fire Brigade" role and placed the initiative in Allied hands. Rommel tried again to break through the Allied lines during the Battle of Alam Halfa. He was decisively stopped by the newly arrived Allied commander, Lieutenant General Bernard Montgomery; mainly due to the fact that the allies had devised a machine capable of deciphering German communications, thus alerting them to Rommel's battle plan prior to the battle. This was known as the "Ultra".

Related Topics:
El Alamein - Cairo - First Battle of El Alamein - Deutsches Afrika Korps - Battle of Alam Halfa - Bernard Montgomery - Ultra

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With Allied forces from Malta interdicting his supplies at sea, and the massive distances they had to cover in the desert, Rommel could not hold the El Alamein position forever. Still, it took a large set piece battle, the Second Battle of El Alamein, to force his troops back. After the defeat at El Alamein, despite urgings from Hitler and Mussolini, Rommel's forces did not again stand and fight until they had entered Tunisia. Even then, their first battle was not against the British Eighth Army, but against the U.S. II Corps. Rommel inflicted a sharp reversal on the American forces at the Battle of the Kasserine Pass.

Related Topics:
Malta - Second Battle of El Alamein - Hitler - Mussolini - Tunisia - British Eighth Army - U.S. II Corps - Battle of the Kasserine Pass

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Turning once again to face the British Commonwealth forces in the old French border defences of the Mareth Line, Rommel could only delay the inevitable. Ultra was a major factor that led to the defeat of his forces. He left Africa after falling sick, and the men of his former command eventually became prisoners of war.

Related Topics:
Mareth Line - Ultra - Prisoners of war

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Some historians contrast Rommel's withdrawal of his army back to Tunisia against Hitler's dreams of much greater success than even his capture of Tobruk (in sharp contrast to the fate suffered by the German 6th Army at the Battle of Stalingrad under the command of Friedrich Paulus which stood its ground and was annihilated).

Related Topics:
German 6th Army - Battle of Stalingrad - Friedrich Paulus

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France 1943-1944

Back in Germany, Rommel was for some time virtually "unemployed". However, when the tide of war shifted against Germany, Hitler made Rommel the commander of Army Group B, responsible for defending the French coast against a possible Allied invasion. Dismayed with the situation he found, the slow building pace and realizing he had just months before an invasion, Rommel invigorated the whole fortification effort along the Atlantic coast, under his direction work was significantly speeded up, millions of mines laid, and thousands of tank traps and obstacles were set up on beaches and throughout the countryside.

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After his battles in Africa, Rommel concluded that any offensive movements would be impossible due to the overwhelming Allied air superiority. He argued that the tank forces should be dispersed in small units and kept in heavily fortified positions located as close to the front as possible, so they wouldn't have to move far and en masse when the invasion started. He wanted the invasion stopped right on the beaches. However his commander, Gerd von Rundstedt, felt that there was no way to stop the invasion near the beaches due to the equally overwhelming firepower of the Royal Navy. He felt the tanks should be formed into large units well inland near Paris, where they could allow the Allies to extend into France and then be cut off. When asked to pick a plan, Hitler then vacillated and placed them in the middle, far enough to be useless to Rommel, not far enough to watch the fight for von Rundstedt. Rommel's plan nearly came to fruition anyway.

Related Topics:
Air superiority - Gerd von Rundstedt - Royal Navy - Paris

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During D-Day several tank units, notably the 12th SS Panzer Division, were near enough to the beaches and created serious havoc. The overwhelming Allied numbers and Hitler's refusal to release the Panzer reserves in time made any success unlikely, however, and soon the beachhead was secure.

Related Topics:
D-Day - 12th SS Panzer Division - Beachhead

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The plot against Hitler

On July 17, 1944 Rommel's staff car was strafed by an RCAF Spitfire, and he was hospitalized with major head injuries. In the meantime, after the failed July 20 Plot against Adolf Hitler a major crackdown was conducted throughout the Wehrmacht. As the investigation proceeded, numerous connections started appearing that tied Rommel with the conspiracy, in which many of his closest aides were deeply involved. At the same time, local Nazi party officials reported on Rommel's extensive and scornful criticism of Nazi leadership during the time he was hospitalized. Bormann was certain of Rommel's involvement, Goebbels was not.

Related Topics:
July 17 - 1944 - Staff car was strafed - RCAF - Spitfire - July 20 Plot - Adolf Hitler - Bormann - Goebbels

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The true extent of Rommel's knowledge of, or involvement with, the plot is still unclear. After the war, however, his wife maintained that Rommel had been against the plot as it was carried out. It has been stated that Rommel wanted to avoid giving future generations of Germans the perception that the war was lost because of a backstab, the infamous Dolchstoßlegende, as it was commonly believed by some Germans following WWI. Instead, he favored a coup where Hitler would be taken alive and made to stand trial before the public.

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Due to Rommel's popularity with the German people, Hitler gave him an option to commit suicide with cyanide or face a humiliating sham trial before Roland Freisler's "People's Court" and retaliation against his family and staff. Rommel ended his own life on October 14, 1944, and was buried with full military honours. After the war his diary was published as The Rommel Papers. He is the only member of the Third Reich establishment to have a museum dedicated to his person and his career.

Related Topics:
Suicide - Cyanide - Roland Freisler - People's Court - October 14 - 1944 - Third Reich

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