Rise Of A Military Genius
He was respected by his adversaries, loved by his men, and even feared by the dictator to whom he served. Erwin Rommel was one of the most astonishing characters that arose during the aftermath of World War 2. He was born to Professor Erwin Rommel Sr. and Helene von Luz on 15 November 1891 in Heidenheim. He also had two other brothers and a sister. Rommel was extraordinarily well known in his lifetime, not only by the German people, but also by his adversaries. Publicized stories of his chivalry and tactical cunning earned him the respect of many rivals, including Winston Churchill and Bernard Montgomery, the commander for the British Army in North Africa. Rommel, on the other hand, was both professional and respectful of his foes. It is a known fact that throughout the campaign, however, he was always a high value target for an assassination plot by Allied planners.
His beginnings for a military career began during his incorporation into the 124th Württemberg Infantry Regiment as an officer cadet in 1910. He was recommended for Officer Cadet School in Danzig and eventually graduated on 15 November 1911 to be commissioned a year later as a lieutenant. He met his future wife, Lucia Maria Mollin, at cadet school and was married on 27 November 1916.
During the pre-war years, he held battalion commands and was a military instructor at the Dresden Infantry School from 1929 to 1933. He managed to write books which would eventually catch Hitler’s attention particularly his Infanterie greift an.
It was also during this time that Rommel turned down a post in the General Staff, whose existence was not allowed by the Treaty of Versailles. Instead, he opined to stay as a frontline officer until war broke out.
Prior to the war, he took charge of the paramilitary training of the Hitler Youth and was awarded numerous commendations for exemplary performance. Unknown to many, he also took command of FührerBegleitbataillon, Hitler’s personal guard for a short while. When the invasion of France was imminent, he personally asked Hitler for command of a panzer division, the now legendary 7th Panzer Division, through the auspices of Joseph Goebbels, a staunch supporter of the dashing soldier.
Rommels Glory
Dubbed as the Ghost Division, he achieved sweeping success over the invasion of France. Rommel's unorthodox technique of pushing forward boldly, ignoring risks to his flanks and rear and relying on the shock to enemy morale to hinder attacks on his vulnerable flanks, paid off during his rapid march across France. It was during the campaign of June 1940 in France that he would be awarded the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross.
North African Campaign
It was in North Africa that Rommel earned the nickname "The Desert Fox." On February 6, 1941 Rommel was given the command of the Afrika Korps, sent to Italian Libya to help to help Mussolini’s forces which had been driven back by British Commonwealth forces in a humiliating defeat during December of 1940. In addition to the Afrika Korps, Rommel's Panzer Group also had the 90th Light Division and six Italian divisions, the Ariete and Trieste Divisions forming the Italian XX Motorized Corps, three infantry divisions investing Tobruk, and one holding Bardia. It can be noted that the Italian Army in North Africa were poorly trained, had poor equipment and armed with the M11/39s, a light medium built tank so obsolete that many were damaged, broken, or immobilized and these M11s could do little against the heavy armour of the Matildas.
Immediately after his arrival at Tripoli, Libya, he knew of the presence of numerous double agents and the British determination to find out information of the new general of the German panzer army for the African campaign. In paper, Rommel was under Marshal d’Armata Rodolfo Graziani, a veteran career soldier of the previous war. But it was Rommel who took command of the real army, which would often result in conflicting interests between the two generals.
His cunningness was immediately put to the test. He ordered for a parade review of his troops and armored columns. It was a spectacular show, with new Mark III tanks passing through the parade ground as if their numbers with limited. Truth was, he put up the show to display the belief of division strength by having his tanks march to a hidden corner, veer away, and return to the parade review again. Making it appear that he has hundreds of tanks under his command.
He began preparations for his advance and started employing intelligent tactics to fool the British into believing that he had a much superior army and equipment. He made use of dummy rubber tanks and vehicles made of wood and had them spread out in the desert, making it appear to Allied reconnaissance planes that Tripoli, their base, was held in force. He was simply biding time to consolidate his forces, and then he struck. Sending only an armoured reconnaissance at first to probe the Allied lines, it soon fledged into full scale campaign. In March of 1941, the German armoured columns surprised the British at El Agheila, the Allies’ northernmost garrison. Their advance was so fast that the Allied soldiers, Australians and British alike, had a hasty retreat, leaving behind most of their equipment. In the confusion of the rapid advance, even British soldiers have no clue which was the point of enemy-held lines. On the German’s drive to Benghazi, the Allied generals Neame and O’Connor were captured, and were professionally treated well by Rommel.
His advance was finally checked at Halfaya Pass. Compounding his problem also this time was surrounding Tobruk, a garrison so fortified that wave after wave of German armored columns were mired in heavy artillery and mines trying to take it. Unable to take the fortified port of Tobruk, he just left a siege force of mostly Italian units and continued his push for the Egyptian border. It was a decision Rommel later regretted. It would tie down vital manpower and supplied for his drive to Alexandra. Thus, is must be conquered. On May 26, 1942, Rommel renewed the attack, but was blocked by strong resistance and caught on the Gazala Line. Living up to his nickname of the “Desert Fox,” Rommel wheeled on the British, smashed the defenders of Bir Hacheim, and finally took Tobruk on June 17. Rommel captured 30,000 defenders and captured the supply dump there. Hitler promoted Rommel to Feldmarschall. “It would be better if he sent me another division.” Rommel was quoted as saying when was told of his promotion. The British fell back on their first line of defense in Egypt, Mersa Matruh, and Rommel followed. The line fell at the end of June 1942. But alas, as luck would have it, Operation Barbarossa began on June 22. The Russian campaign would be a much bigger priority for Hitler because there it was not just a battle between soldiers but a war of attrition for the continued existence of the Aryan race. Hitler hated the Bolsheviks and consider them untermensch or sub-humans. He’s determined to wipe them out and occupy the vast Russian territory, thus, diverting majority of logistical supplies, armor and manpower from Rommel’s Army. It was the beginning of the end. But not without putting up a fight.
Rommels Retreat and Final Attack
While many argue that the fall of the German panzer army in North Africa was not entirely his fault, there‘s truth to the fact that by this time disillusionment with a lost cause was more evident than his willingness to continue the campaign. Rommel was furious with what he perceived as the lack of fighting spirit in his commanders and Italian allies He felt frustrated by the lack of support from the Army High Command but as a soldier, will do his task with whatever he could to fight for his country. When the British struck the massive death knell during the El Alamein second campaign, he was in Germany nursing a sickness. General Georg Stumme was in command in Rommel's absence but during the initial fighting he died of a heart attack. This paralyzed the German HQ until General Ritter von Thoma took command. After returning, Rommel learned that the fuel supply situation, critical when he left in September, was now disastrous. His army lacked the necessary supplies to prolong the war into an offensive campaign. Rather, it was a war of attrition to defend what was left of his battered tank columns. From their harrowing defeat in the Second Battle of El Alamein, he was still able to muster his forces in classic rearguard actions while being pursued by Montgomery all the way to Tunisia. While an entire discussion of his North African campaign would delve into a full lecture, nonetheless, it must be emphasized that Rommel’s gallantry saved many of his men from utter destruction.
Battle for North Africa: The Retreat
The battle for North Africa witnessed one of the bloodiest confrontations of the entire war, with entire tank divisions thrown into the fray, artillery barrage reminiscent of World War I, and hand-to-hand combat fighting.
Having reached Tunisia, Rommel launched an attack against the U.S. II Corps which was threatening to cut his lines of supply north to Tunis. Rommel inflicted a sharp defeat on the American forces at the Kasserine Pass in February.
Rommel immediately turned back against the British forces, occupying the Mareth Line (old French defences on the Libyan border). But Rommel could only delay the inevitable. At the end of January 1943, the Italian General Giovanni Messe had been appointed the new commander of Rommel's Panzer Army Africa while Rommel had been at Kasserine, which was renamed the Italo-German Panzer Army (in recognition of the fact that it consisted of one German and three Italian corps). Though Messe replaced Rommel, he diplomatically deferred to him, and the two coexisted in what was theoretically the same command. On 23 February Armeegruppe Afrika was created with Rommel in command. It included the Italo-German Panzer Army under Messe (renamed 1st Italian Army) and the German 5th Panzer Army in the north of Tunisia under General Hans-Jürgen von Arnim.
The last of Rommel’s offensive in North Africa was on March 6 1943, when he attacked the Eighth Army at the Battle of Medenine. The British, warned by coded intercepts, was able to deploy large numbers of anti-tank guns in the path of the offensive. After losing 52 tanks, Rommel called off the assault. On 9 March he handed over command of Armeegruppe Afrika to General Hans-Jürgen von Arnim and left Africa, because of health reasons and was never to return. On May 13 1943, General Messe surrendered the remnants of Armeegruppe Afrika to the Allies. Thus ended the chapter of the German Panzer Army in North Africa.
Back In Germany
His time in France would augur well for his task to defend the coastline of France against an Allied invasion. In fact, he put to good use his being a brilliant tactician. Rommel’s Asparagus or what came to be known of the dotted metal spikes that would dominate the stretch of coastline in the Atlantic Wall he helped built. He felt their best chance was to confront the invading force immediately and drive it into the sea. He felt the German armour should be held in reserve well inland near Paris where they could be used to counter attack in force in a more traditional military doctrine. By June 6, however, Rommel was not in Normandy when the landings occurred. And on July 17, 1944, Rommel’s staff car was strafed by a Spitfire piloted by Charley Fox near Sainte-Foy-de-Montgommery. He was hospitalised with major head injuries.
Death and Betrayal
Though not privy to the plot against Hitler, he knew of the assassination attempt but never raise an objection nor approve of it. He was contacted by the plotters’ inner circle and was offered an important role in the upcoming new leadership. He politely refused. After the failed bomb attack of 20 July, many conspirators were arrested and the dragnet expanded to anyone even suspected of participating. Rommel was fairly perturbed at this development, telling Hans Speidel that Hitler's behavior after the attack proved that the dictator had "gone completely mad." It did not take long, however, for Rommel's involvement to come to light. His name was first mentioned when Stülpnagel blurted it out after a botched suicide attempt. Later, another conspirator, Caesar von Hofacker, admitted under particularly severe Gestapo torture that Rommel was actively involved.
This was the blow that dealt him an untimely end. The official story of Rommel's death, as initially reported to the general public, stated that Rommel had either suffered a heart attack or succumbed to his injuries from the earlier strafing of his staff car. To further strengthen the story, Hitler ordered an official day of mourning in commemoration and Rommel was buried with full military honours.
Legacy
His Afrika Korps were never accused of any war crimes, and he himself made reference to the fighting in North Africa through his letter as war without hate. He defied Hitler’s orders to execute Jewish soldiers and commandos. Even making a bold move of disobeying Hitler’s order for him to move Jews within his area of responsibility.
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