(Field Marshal Erwin Rommel exerted an almost hypnotic inf...)
Field Marshal Erwin Rommel exerted an almost hypnotic influence not only over his own troops but also over the Allied soldiers of the Eighth Army in World War II. Even when the legend surrounding his invincibility was overturned at El Alamein, the aura surrounding Rommel himself remained unsullied. In this classic study of the art of war, Rommel analyzes the tactics that lay behind his success. First published in 1937, it quickly became a highly regarded military textbook and also brought its author to the attention of Adolph Hitler. Rommel was to subsequently advance through the ranks to the high command in World War II. Though most people immediately connect Rommel with the African campaigns of World War II, he made his initial legendary giant steps during the First World War.
Erwin Rommel was a German general and military theorist. Popularly known as the Desert Fox, he served as field marshal in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II.
Background
Erwin Rommel was born Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel on November 15, 1891, in Heideheim, German Empire. His parents were Erwin Rommel Sr., a schoolmaster and Helene von Lutz, who’s father was a local government official.
Rommel was the third of five siblings.
Education
Rommel was described as a gentle child by his sister. He initially wanted to be an engineer, having developed an interest in mathematics and technology. His father urged him to join the military and that’s what he did, serving in both the World Wars.
He joined the 124th Württemberg Infantry Regiment and started studying in Officer Cadet School in 1910. He graduated in 1911.
In World War I, Rommel fought as a lieutenant in France, Romania, and Italy. His deep understanding of his men, his unusual courage, and his natural gift of leadership quite early showed promise of a great career. In the Prussian-German army, a career on the general staff was the normal avenue for advancement, yet Rommel declined to take that road. Both in the Reichswehr of the Weimar Republic and in Adolf Hitler’s Wehrmacht, he remained in the infantry as a frontline officer. Like many great generals, he possessed a pronounced talent for teaching and was accordingly appointed to posts at various military academies. The fruit of his battle experiences in World War I, combined with his ideas on training young soldiers in military thinking, formed the main components of his military textbook, Infanterie greift an (1937; “Infantry Attacks”), which received high initial esteem.
In 1938, after Austria’s annexation by Germany, Colonel Rommel was appointed commandant of the officers’ school in Wiener Neustadt, near Vienna. At the beginning of World War II, he was appointed commander of the troops guarding the Führer’s headquarters and became personally known to Hitler. Rommel’s chance to prove himself as a commander came in February 1940 when he assumed command of the 7th Panzer Division. He had never commanded armoured units before, yet he quickly grasped the tremendous possibilities of mechanized and armoured troops in an offensive role. His raid on France’s Channel coast in May 1940 provided the first proof of his boldness and initiative.
Less than a year later, in February 1941, Rommel was appointed the commander of the German troops dispatched to aid the all-but-defeated Italian army in Libya. The deserts of North Africa became the scene of his greatest successes - and of his defeat at the hands of a vastly superior enemy. In the North African theatre of war, the “Desert Fox,” as he came to be called by both friend and foe because of his audacious surprise attacks, acquired a formidable reputation, and soon Hitler, impressed by such successes, promoted him to field marshal.
Rommel had difficulty following up these successes, however. North Africa was, in Hitler’s view, only a sideshow. Nonetheless, despite the increasing difficulties of supply and Rommel’s request to withdraw his exhausted troops, in the summer of 1942 Hitler ordered an attack on Cairo and the Suez Canal. Rommel and his German-Italian army were stopped by the British at El-Alamein (Al-ʿAlamayn, Egypt), 60 miles (100 km) from Alexandria. At that time Rommel won astounding popularity in the Arab world, where he was regarded as a “liberator” from British rule. At home, the propaganda ministry portrayed him as the invincible “people’s marshal” (Volksmarschall). But the offensive against Egypt had overtaxed his resources. At the end of October 1942, he was defeated in the Second Battle of El-Alamein and had to withdraw to the German bridgehead in Tunis. In March 1943 Hitler ordered him home.
In 1944 Rommel was entrusted with the defense of France’s Channel coast against a possible Allied invasion. The master of the war of movement then developed an unusual inventiveness in the erection of coastal defense works. From his experience in North Africa with Allied air interdiction, Rommel believed the only successful defense of the beaches lay in preventing the enemy a bridgehead by all possible means. To do so, he boldly advocated the placement of reserve forces immediately behind coastal defense works for counterattacks. His superiors, most notably Gerd von Rundstedt, demurred, however, insisting on a more traditional placement of reserves farther behind the lines to maximize the forces’ potential range of movement after the place of invasion became known. This disagreement and the dissonance it fostered within organizations charged with repelling the Allies weakened the effectiveness of the German defense when the invasion finally came along the Normandy coast.
At some point in 1944, Rommel grew doubtful of Germany’s ultimate prospects in the war and Hitler’s capacity to face reality and make peace with the western powers. In the spring of 1944, some of Rommel’s friends who had joined the clandestine opposition to Hitler approached Rommel and suggested to him that it was his duty to take over as head of state after Hitler had been overthrown. Rommel did not reject the suggestion, but the men who wanted to extricate Germany from the war never revealed to Rommel that they planned to assassinate Hitler. They knew that Rommel did not accept the idea of murder for political ends; he had invariably disregarded any execution orders given to him by Hitler. When the invasion began, Rommel tried on several occasions to point out to Hitler that the war was lost and that he should come to terms with the western powers.
On July 17, 1944, at the height of the invasion battle, Rommel’s car was attacked by British fighter-bombers and forced off the road. It somersaulted, and Rommel was hospitalized with serious head injuries. In August he had recovered sufficiently to be able to return to his home to convalesce. In the meantime, after the failure of the attempt on Hitler’s life on July 20, 1944, Rommel’s contacts with the conspirators had come to light. Hitler did not want the “people’s marshal” to appear before the court as his enemy and thence be taken to the gallows. He sent two generals to Rommel to offer him poison with the assurance that his name and that of his family would remain unsullied if he avoided a trial. On October 14 Rommel took poison, thus ending his life. He was later buried with full military honours.
(Field Marshal Erwin Rommel exerted an almost hypnotic inf...)
1937
Religion
Rommel was raised in a Protestant family.
Politics
Numerous authors considering Rommel an apolitical commander. Rommel was not a member of the Nazi Party. Rommel and Hitler had a close and genuine, if complicated, personal relationship. Rommel, as other Wehrmacht officers, welcomed the Nazi rise to power.
According to the 1993 biography "Knight's Cross," by David Fraser, a former senior British Army officer: "To [Rommel] Hitler was his Fuhrer and Commander-in-Chief, who had restored the morale of the German people and their army, and who had presided over the fortunes of both in a brilliantly successful campaign [against France and Britain] waged in the course of a just war, with every hope of culminating in an enduring peace. It was as simple as that... Rommel had no knowledge of Hitler's wider intentions."
Views
Rommel was interested in propaganda, beyond the promotion of his own image. In 1944, after visiting Rommel in France and reading his proposals on counteracting Allied propaganda, Alfred-Ingemar Berndt remarked: "He is also interested in this propaganda business and wants to develop it by all means. He has even thought and brought out practical suggestions for each program and subject."
Rommel saw the propaganda and education values in his and his nation's deeds (He also did value justice itself: According to Admiral Ruge's diary, Rommel told Ruge: "Justice is the indispensable foundation of a nation. Unfortunately, the higher-ups are not clean. The slaughterings are grave sins.") The key to the successful creating of an image, according to Rommel, was leading by example: "The men tend to feel no kind of contact with a commander who, they know, is sitting somewhere in headquarters. What they want is what might be termed a physical contact with him. In moments of panic, fatigue, or disorganization, or when something out of the ordinary has to be demanded from them, the personal example of the commander works wonders, especially if he has had the wit to create some sort of legend around himself." He urged Axis authorities to treat the Arab with the utmost respect to prevent uprisings behind the front.
He protested the use of propaganda at the cost of explicit military benefits though. Ruge suggests that his chief treated his own fame as a kind of weapon.
The political scientist and historian Randall Hansen suggests that Rommel chose his whole command style for the purpose of spreading meritocracy and egalitarianism, as well as Nazi ideals he shared with Hitler due to their common non-aristocratic background. His egalitarianism extended to people of other races: in replying to white South African officers' demands that the black POWs should be housed in separated compounds, he refused, commenting that the black soldiers wore the same uniforms and had fought alongside the whites, and thus were their equals. On the other hand, Watson comments that, regarding the Afrika Korps, any Nazi indoctrination was minimized, allowing Rommel the freedom to reinvent his army in his own style. Rommel's proposals were not always practical: in 1943, he surprised Hitler by proposing that a Jew should be made into a Gauleiter to prove to the world that Germany was innocent of accusations that Rommel had heard from the enemy's propaganda regarding the mistreatment of Jews. Hitler replied "Dear Rommel, you understand nothing about my thinking at all."
Quotations:
"I would rather be the hammer than the anvil."
"Men are basically smart or dumb and lazy or ambitious. The dumb and ambitious ones are dangerous and I get rid of them. The dumb and lazy ones I give mundane duties. The smart ambitious ones I put on my staff. The smart and lazy ones I make my commanders."
"Be an example to your men, in your duty and in private life. Never spare yourself, and let the troops see that you don'tin your endurance of fatigue and privation. always be tactful and well-mannered and teach your subordinates to do the same. Avoid excessive sharpness or harshness of voice, which usually indicates the man who has shortcomings of his own to hide."
"A risk is a chance you take; if it fails you can recover. A gamble is a chance taken; if it fails, recovery is impossible."
"The German soldier has impressed the world, however, the Italian Bersagliere soldier has impressed the German soldier. "
"For me, soldiers are all equal. Those black people wore your same uniform, fought on your side, and so you will be in the same jail."
"Winning the men's confidence requires much of a commander. He must exercise care and caution, look after his men, live under the same hardships, and-above all- apply self discipline. But once he has their confidence, his men will follow him through hell and high water."
Personality
Many authors describe Rommel as having a reputation of being a chivalrous, humane, and professional officer, and that he earned the respect of both his own troops and his enemies. Rommel is praised by numerous authors as a great leader of men. The historian and journalist Basil Liddell Hart concludes that he was a strong leader who was worshipped by his troops and respected by his adversaries, and is deserving to be named as one of the "Great Captains of History."
Taking his opponents by surprise and creating uncertainty in their minds were key elements in Rommel's approach to offensive warfare: he took advantage of sand storms and the dark of night to conceal the movement of his forces. Rommel was aggressive, often directed battle from the front or piloted a reconnaissance aircraft over the lines to get a view of the situation. When the British mounted a commando raid deep behind German lines in an effort to kill Rommel and his staff on the eve of their Crusader offensive, Rommel was indignant that the British expected to find his headquarters 250 miles behind his front. Friedrich von Mellenthin and Harald Kuhn write that at times in North Africa his absence from a position of communication made command of the battles of the Afrika Korps difficult. Mellenthin lists Rommel's counterattack during Operation Crusader as one such instance. Butler concurred, saying that leading from the front is a good concept, however Rommel took it so far (he frequently directed the actions of a single company or battalion) that he made communication and coordination between units problematic, as well as risking of life to where he could have been easily killed even by one of his own artillery batteries. Kesselring also complained about Rommel cruising about the battlefield like a division or corps commander, but Gause and Westphal supported Rommel and replied that in the African desert only this method would work, and that it was useless to try to restrain Rommel anyway. His staff officers, although admiring towards their leader, complained about the self-destructive Spartan lifestyle that made life harder, diminished his effectiveness and forced them to "babi[ed] him as unobstrusively as possible."
Rommel was direct, unbending, tough in his manners, to superiors and subordinates alike, disobedient even to Hitler whenever he saw fit, although he was gentle and diplomatic to the lower ranks (German and Italian alike) and POWs. Despite being publicity-friendly, he was also shy, introverted, clumsy and overly formal even to his closest aides, judging people only on their merits, although loyal and considerate to those who had proved reliability, and displayed a surprisingly passionate and devoted side to a very small few (including Hitler) with whom he had dropped down the seemingly impenetrable barriers (many of these traits seemed to manifest even at a very young age).
Physical Characteristics:
Rommel was injured multiple times in both world wars. Taking part in dangerous raids and reconnaissance missions throughout World War I, his men supposedly joked, “Where Rommel is, there is the front.” But all of this fighting, including one 52-hour period in which his unit captured some 9,000 Italian prisoners, came with a price. In September 1914, for example, Rommel charged three French soldiers with a bayonet after running out of ammunition, only to be shot in the thigh so badly that a hole opened up as big as his fist. Three years later in Romania, he lost quite a bit of blood from a bullet to the arm, and he also continuously suffered from stomach ailments, fevers, and exhaustion. More physical hardships came during World War II, from appendicitis to a face wound caused by a shell splinter. Then, in the wake of the D-Day invasion, Allied aircraft strafed his open-topped car as it rode through Normandy, France, causing it to somersault off the road. When the dust cleared, Rommel was unconscious, with multiple skull fractures and glass fragments in his face.
Quotes from others about the person
Churchill: "[Rommel] (...) deserves our respect because, although a loyal German soldier, he came to hate Hitler and all his works, and took part in the conspiracy of 1944 to rescue Germany by displacing the maniac and tyrant."
Claus Telp: "For all his craftiness, Rommel was chivalrous by nature and not prone to order or condone acts of needless violence ... He treated prisoners of war with consideration. On one occasion, he was forced to order the shooting of a French lieutenant-colonel for refusing to obey his captors.
Interests
Politicians
Adolf Hitler
Sport & Clubs
skiing
Connections
While at Cadet School in 1911, Rommel met and became engaged to 17-year-old Lucia (Lucie) Maria Mollin (1894–1971). While stationed in Weingarten in 1913, Rommel developed a relationship with Walburga Stemmer, which produced a daughter, Gertrude, born 8 December 1913. Because of elitism in the officer corps, Stemmer's working-class background made her unsuitable as an officer's wife, and Rommel felt honour-bound to uphold his previous commitment to Mollin. With Mollin's cooperation, he accepted financial responsibility for the child. Rommel and Mollin were married in November 1916 in Danzig. Rommel's marriage was a happy one, and he wrote his wife at least one letter every day while he was in the field.
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 27 May 1940 as commander of the 7th Panzer-Division;
Oak Leaves (10th recipient) on 20 March 1941 as commander of the 7th Panzer-Division;
Swords (6th recipient) on 20 January 1942 as commander of the Panzer Group Afrika;
Diamonds (6th recipient) on 11 March 1943 as commander in chief of the Army Group Afrika.
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 27 May 1940 as commander of the 7th Panzer-Division;
Oak Leaves (10th recipient) on 20 March 1941 as commander of the 7th Panzer-Division;
Swords (6th recipient) on 20 January 1942 as commander of the Panzer Group Afrika;
Diamonds (6th recipient) on 11 March 1943 as commander in chief of the Army Group Afrika.