Erwin Rommel

Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel (pronounced

ⓘ ; 15 November 1891 – Erwin Rommel
[ˈɛʁviːn ˈʁɔməl]
14 October 1944), popularly known as The
Desert Fox (German: Wüstenfuchs, pronounced
[ˈvyːstn̩ ˌfʊks] ⓘ ), was a German

Generalfeldmarschall (field marshal) during

World War II. He served in the Wehrmacht
(armed forces) of Nazi Germany, as well as in
the Reichswehr of the Weimar Republic, and
the army of Imperial Germany.

Rommel was a highly decorated officer in

World War I and was awarded the Pour le
Mérite for his actions on the Italian Front. In
1937, he published his classic book on military
tactics, Infantry Attacks, drawing on his
Rommel as Generalfeldmarschall in 1942
experiences in that war. In World War II, he
commanded the 7th Panzer Division during the Birth name Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel[1]
1940 invasion of France. His leadership of Nickname(s) The Desert Fox
German and Italian forces in the North African Born 15 November 1891
campaign established his reputation as one of Heidenheim, German Empire
the ablest tank commanders of the war, and
Died 14 October 1944 (aged 52)
earned him the nickname der Wüstenfuchs, "the
Herrlingen, Nazi Germany
Desert Fox". Among his British adversaries he
Cause of death Forced suicide by cyanide poisoning
had a reputation for chivalry, and his phrase
"war without hate" has been uncritically used Buried Herrlingen cemetery
to describe the North African campaign.[2] A Allegiance German Empire (1911–1918)
number of historians have since rejected the Weimar Republic (1918–1933)
phrase as a myth and uncovered numerous Nazi Germany (1933–1944)
examples of German war crimes and abuses German resistance to Nazism
towards enemy soldiers and native populations (May–October 1944)
in Africa during the conflict.[3] Other historians Service / Imperial German Army
note that there is no clear evidence Rommel branch Reichsheer
was involved in or aware of these crimes,[4] German Army
with some pointing out that the war in the Years of 1911–1944
desert, as fought by Rommel and his service
opponents, still came as close to a clean fight Rank Generalfeldmarschall
as there was in World War II.[5] He later
Commands 7th Panzer Division
Afrika Korps
commanded the German forces opposing the Panzer Army Africa
Allied cross-channel invasion of Normandy in Army Group Africa
June 1944. Army Group B

After the Nazis gained power in Germany, Battles / See battles

Rommel gradually accepted the new regime. wars World War I
Historians have given different accounts of the First Battle of the Argonne (1915)
specific period and his motivations.[6] He was a Masivul Lesului and Oituz
supporter of Adolf Hitler, at least until near the campaigns (1916–1917)
end of the war, if not necessarily sympathetic Battle of Caporetto (1917)
to the party and the paramilitary forces
associated with it.[7] In 1944, Rommel was World War II
implicated in the 20 July plot to assassinate Poland campaign
Hitler. Because of Rommel's status as a Battle of France
national hero, Hitler wanted to eliminate him Battle of Arras (1940)
quietly instead of having him immediately Siege of Lille (1940)

executed, as many other plotters were. Rommel North African campaign

was given a choice between suicide, in return Operation Sonnenblume

for assurances that his reputation would remain (1941)

intact and that his family would not be Siege of Tobruk (1941)

persecuted following his death, or facing a trial Operation Brevity (1941)

that would result in his disgrace and execution; Operation Battleaxe (1941)
Operation Crusader (1941)
he chose the former and took a cyanide pill.[8]
Battle of Gazala (1942)
Rommel was given a state funeral, and it was
Battle of Bir Hakeim (1942)
announced that he had succumbed to his
First Battle of El Alamein
injuries from the strafing of his staff car in
(1942)
Normandy.
Battle of Alam Halfa (1942)
Rommel became a larger-than-life figure in Second Battle of El Alamein
both Allied and Nazi propaganda, and in (1942)
postwar popular culture. Numerous authors Battle of El Agheila (1942)
portray him as an apolitical, brilliant Battle of the Kasserine Pass
commander and a victim of Nazi Germany, (1943)
although other authors have contested this Battle of Medenine (1943)
assessment and called it the "Rommel myth". Battle of Normandy (1944)
Rommel's reputation for conducting a clean Awards Iron Cross,1st Class & 2nd Class
war was used in the interest of the West
Friedrich Order
German rearmament and reconciliation
Pour le Mérite
between the former enemies – the United
Kingdom and the United States on one side and The Honour Cross of the World War
the new Federal Republic of Germany on the 1914/1918
other. Several of Rommel's former Wehrmacht Long Service Award,1st
subordinates, notably his chief of staff Hans Class with 3rd Class (gold cross with
Speidel, played key roles in German gold medal)
rearmament and integration into NATO in the Heer Panzer Battle Badge in Silver
postwar era. The German Army's largest Pilot/Observer Badge,in Gold
military base, the Field Marshal Rommel
Barracks, Augustdorf, and a third ship of Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with
Lütjens-class destroyer of the German Navy Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds
are both named in his honour. His son Manfred Wound Badge,in Gold
Rommel was the longtime mayor of Stuttgart,
Spouse(s) Lucia Maria Mollin ​(m. 1916)​
Germany and namesake of Stuttgart Airport.
Children Gertrud Stemmer
Manfred Rommel
Early life and career Signature

Rommel was born on 15 November 1891 in

Heidenheim, 45 kilometres (28 mi) from Ulm,
in the Kingdom of Württemberg, Southern Germany, then part of the German Empire. He was the third of
five children to Erwin Rommel Senior (1860–1913) and his wife Helene von Luz. Her father, Karl von
Luz, headed the local government council. As a young man, Rommel's father had been an artillery
lieutenant. Rommel had one older sister who was an art teacher and his favourite sibling, one older
brother named Manfred who died in infancy, and two younger brothers, of whom one became a
successful dentist and the other an opera singer.[9]

At age 18, Rommel joined the Württemberg Infantry Regiment No. 124 in Weingarten as a Fähnrich
(ensign), in 1910, studying at the Officer Cadet School in Danzig.[10] He graduated in November 1911
and was commissioned as a lieutenant in January 1912 and was assigned to the 124th Infantry in
Weingarten.[11] He was posted to Ulm in March 1914 to the 49th Field Artillery Regiment, XIII (Royal
Württemberg) Corps, as a battery commander. He returned to the 124th when war was declared.[12] While
at Cadet School, Rommel met his future wife, 17-year-old Lucia (Lucie) Maria Mollin (1894–1971), of
Italian and Polish descent.[13]

World War I
During World War I, Rommel fought in France as well as in the Romanian
(notably at the Second Battle of the Jiu Valley) and Italian campaigns. He
successfully employed the tactics of penetrating enemy lines with heavy
covering fire coupled with rapid advances, as well as moving forward
rapidly to a flanking position to arrive at the rear of hostile positions, to
achieve tactical surprise.[14] His first combat experience was on 22 August
1914 as a platoon commander near Verdun, when – catching a French
garrison unprepared – Rommel and three men opened fire on them
without ordering the rest of his platoon forward.[15] The armies continued
to skirmish in open engagements throughout September, as the static
trench warfare typical of the First World War was still in the future.[16] For
his actions in September 1914 and January 1915, Rommel was awarded
the Iron Cross, Second Class.[17] Rommel was promoted to Oberleutnant
Lieutenant Rommel in Italy,
(first lieutenant) and transferred to the newly created Royal Wurttemberg
1917
Mountain Battalion of the Alpenkorps in September 1915, as a company
commander.[18] In November 1916 in Danzig, Rommel and Lucia
married.[19]
In August 1917, his unit was involved in the battle for Mount Cosna, a heavily fortified objective on the
border between Hungary and Romania, which they took after two weeks of difficult uphill fighting.[20]
The Mountain Battalion was next assigned to the Isonzo front, in a mountainous area in Italy. The
offensive, known as the Battle of Caporetto, began on 24 October 1917.[21] Rommel's battalion,
consisting of three rifle companies and a machine gun unit, was part of an attempt to take enemy
positions on three mountains: Kolovrat, Matajur, and Stol.[22] In two and a half days, from 25 to 27
October, Rommel and his 150 men captured 81 guns and 9,000 men (including 150 officers), at a loss of
six dead and 30 wounded.[23] Rommel achieved this remarkable success by taking advantage of the
terrain to outflank the Italian forces, attacking from unexpected directions or behind enemy lines, and
taking the initiative to attack when he had orders to the contrary. In one instance, the Italian forces, taken
by surprise and believing that their lines had collapsed, surrendered after a brief firefight.[24] In this
battle, Rommel helped pioneer infiltration tactics, a new form of manoeuvre warfare just being adopted
by German armies, and later by foreign armies,[25] and later described by some as Blitzkrieg without
tanks.[26] But he played no role in the early adoption of Blitzkrieg in World War II.[27]

Acting as advance guard in the capture of Longarone on 9 November, Rommel again decided to attack
with a much smaller force. Convinced that they were surrounded by an entire German division, the 1st
Italian Infantry Division – 10,000 men – surrendered to Rommel. For this and his actions at Matajur, he
received the order of Pour le Mérite.[25]

In January 1918, Rommel was promoted to Hauptmann (captain) and assigned to a staff position in the
64th Army Corps, where he served for the remainder of the war.[28]

Between the wars

Rommel remained with the 124th Regiment until October 1920.[29][23] The regiment was involved in
quelling riots and civil disturbances that were occurring throughout Germany at this time.[30] Wherever
possible, Rommel avoided the use of force in these confrontations.[31] In 1919, he was briefly sent to
Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance, where he restored order by "sheer force of personality" in the 32nd
Internal Security Company, which was composed of rebellious and pro-communist sailors.[32] He decided
against storming the nearby city of Lindau, which had been taken by revolutionary communists.[33]
Instead, Rommel negotiated with the city council and managed to return it to the legitimate government
through diplomatic means.[34][35] This was followed by his defence of Schwäbisch Gmünd, again
bloodless.[36] He was then posted to the Ruhr, where a Red Army was responsible for fomenting unrest.
Historian Raffael Scheck praises Rommel as a coolheaded and moderate mind, exceptional amid the
many takeovers of revolutionary cities by regular and irregular units and the associated massive
violence.[34]

According to Reuth, this period gave Rommel the indelible impression that "Everyone in this Republic
was fighting each other", along with the direct experience of people who attempted to convert Germany
into a socialist republic on Soviet lines. There are similarities with Hitler's experiences: like Rommel,
Hitler had known the solidarity of trench warfare and then had participated in the Reichswehr's
suppression of the First and Second Bavarian Soviet Republics. The need for national unity thus became
a decisive legacy of the first World War.[35] Brighton notes that while both believed in the Stab-in-the-
back myth, Rommel was able to succeed using peaceful methods because he saw the problem as related
to economic problems and empty stomachs, rather than to Judeo-Bolshevism – which right-wing soldiers
such as Hitler blamed for the chaos in Germany.[37]

On 1 October 1920, Rommel was appointed to a company

command with the 13th Infantry Regiment in Stuttgart, a post he
held for the next nine years.[29] He was then assigned to an
instruction position at the Dresden Infantry School from 1929 to
1933; during this time, in April 1932, he was promoted to
major.[23] While at Dresden, he wrote a manual on infantry
training, published in 1934. In October 1933, he was promoted to
Oberstleutnant (lieutenant colonel) and given his next command,
the 3rd Jäger Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, stationed at Rommel and Adolf Hitler in Goslar,
Goslar.[38] Here he first met Hitler, who inspected his troops on 30 1934

September 1934.[39]

In September 1935, Rommel was moved to the War Academy in Potsdam as an instructor, serving for the
next three years.[40] His book Infanterie greift an (Infantry Attacks), a description of his wartime
experiences along with his analysis, was published in 1937. It became a best-seller, which, according to
Scheck, later "enormously influenced" many armies of the world.[34][41] Adolf Hitler was one of many
people who owned a copy.[42]

Hearing of Rommel's reputation as an outstanding military instructor, in February 1937 Hitler assigned
him as the War Ministry liaison officer to the Hitler Youth in charge of military training. Here Rommel
clashed with Baldur von Schirach, the Hitler Youth leader, over the training that the boys should
receive.[43] Trying to fulfil a mission assigned to him by the Ministry of War,[44] Rommel had twice
proposed a plan that would have effectively subordinated Hitler Youth to the army, removing it from
NSDAP control. That went against Schirach's express wishes. Schirach appealed directly to Hitler;
consequently, Rommel was quietly removed from the project in 1938.[45] He had been promoted to
Oberst (colonel), on 1 August 1937, and in 1938, following the Anschluss, he was appointed commandant
of the Theresian Military Academy at Wiener Neustadt.[46]

In October 1938, Hitler specially requested that Rommel be seconded to command the
Führerbegleitbatallion (his escort battalion).[47] This unit accompanied Hitler whenever he travelled
outside of Germany.[39] During this period, Rommel indulged his interest in engineering and mechanics
by learning about the inner workings and maintenance of internal combustion engines and heavy machine
guns.[48] He memorised logarithm tables in his spare time, and enjoyed skiing and other outdoor
sports.[49] Ian F. Beckett writes that by 1938, Rommel drifted towards uncritical acceptance of Nazi
regime, quoting Rommel's letter to his wife in which he stated "The German Wehrmacht is the sword of
the new German world view", as a reaction to a speech by Hitler.[50]

During his visit to Switzerland in 1938, Rommel reported that Swiss soldiers who he met showed
"remarkable understanding of our Jewish problem".[51] American writer and Rommel biographer Daniel
Allen Butler comments that he did share the view (popular in Germany and many European countries
during that time) that as a people, the Jews were loyal to themselves rather than the nations in which they
lived. Despite this fact, other pieces of evidence show that he considered the Nazi racial ideologies to be
rubbish.[52] Historian Alaric Searle comments that Rommel knew the official stand of the regime, but in
this case, the phrase was ambiguous and there is no evidence after or before this event that he ever
sympathised with the antisemitism of the Nazi movement.[53] Rommel's son Manfred Rommel stated in
the documentary The Real Rommel, released in 2001 by Channel 4, that his father would "look the other
way" when faced with anti-Jewish violence on the streets. But, according to the documentary, Rommel
requested proof of "Aryan descent" from the Italian boyfriend of his illegitimate daughter Gertrud.[54][55]
According to Remy, during the time Rommel was posted in Goslar, he repeatedly clashed with the SA
whose members terrorised the Jews and dissident Goslar citizens. After the Röhm Purge, he mistakenly
believed that the worst was over, although restrictions on Jewish businesses were still being imposed and
agitation against their community continued. According to Remy, Manfred Rommel recounts that his
father knew about and privately disagreed with the government's antisemitism, but by this time, he had
not actively campaigned on behalf of the Jews.[56] However, Uri Avnery notes that even when Rommel
was a low-ranking officer, he protected the Jews who lived in his district.[57] Manfred Rommel tells the
Stuttgarter Nachrichten that their family lived in isolated military lands but knew about the
discrimination against the Jews which was occurring on the outside. They could not foresee the enormity
of the impending atrocities, about which they only knew much later.[58]

At one point, Rommel wrote to his wife that Hitler had a "magnetic, maybe hypnotic, strength" that had
its origin in Hitler's belief that he "was called upon by God", and Hitler sometimes "spoke from the depth
of his being [...] like a prophet".[59]

World War II

Poland 1939
Rommel was promoted to Generalmajor on 23 August 1939 and
assigned as commander of the Führerbegleitbatallion, tasked with
guarding Hitler and his field headquarters during the invasion of
Poland, which began on 1 September.[60] According to Remy,
Rommel's private letters at this time show that he did not
understand Hitler's true nature and intentions, as he quickly went
from predicting a swift peaceful settlement of tensions to
approving Hitler's reaction ("bombs will be retaliated with Hitler in Poland (September 1939).
bombs") to the Gleiwitz incident (a false flag operation staged by Rommel is on his left and Martin
Hitler and used as a pretext for the invasion). [61] Hitler took a Bormann on his right.
personal interest in the campaign, often moving close to the front
in the Führersonderzug (headquarters train).[62] Rommel attended
Hitler's daily war briefings and accompanied him everywhere, making use of the opportunity to observe
first-hand the use of tanks and other motorised units.[63] On 26 September Rommel returned to Berlin to
set up a new headquarters for his unit in the Reich Chancellery.[64] Rommel briefly returned to occupied
Warsaw on 5 October in order to prepare for the German victory parade.[65] In a letter to his wife he
claimed that the occupation by Nazi Germany was "probably welcomed with relief" by the inhabitants of
the ruined city and that they were "rescued".[66][67]

France 1940

Promotion to armoured division commander

Following the invasion of Poland, Rommel began lobbying for command
of one of Germany's panzer divisions, of which there were then only
ten.[68] Rommel's successes in World War I were based on surprise and
manoeuvre, two elements for which the new panzer units were ideally
suited.[69] Rommel received a promotion to a general's rank from Hitler
ahead of more senior officers. Rommel obtained the command he aspired
to, despite having been earlier turned down by the army's personnel office,
which had offered him command of a mountain division instead.[70]
According to Peter Caddick-Adams, he was backed by Hitler, the
influential Fourteenth Army commander Wilhelm List (a fellow
Württemberger middle-class "military outsider") and likely Heinz
Guderian, the commander of XIX Army Corps, as well.[71]
General Erwin Rommel and
Going against military protocol, this promotion added to Rommel's his staff observe troops of
growing reputation as one of Hitler's favoured commanders, [72] although the 7th Panzer Division
his later outstanding leadership in France quelled complaints about his practising a river crossing at
the Moselle River in France
self-promotion and political scheming.[73] The 7th Panzer Division had
in 1940.
recently been converted to an armoured division consisting of 218 tanks in
three battalions (thus, one tank regiment, instead of the two assigned to a
standard panzer division),[74] with two rifle regiments, a motorcycle battalion, an engineer battalion, and
an anti-tank battalion.[75] Upon taking command on 10 February 1940, Rommel quickly set his unit to
practising the manoeuvres they would need in the upcoming campaign.[76]

Invasion of the Netherlands, Belgium and France

The invasion began on 10 May 1940. By the third day Rommel and the advance elements of his division,
together with a detachment of the 5th Panzer Division, had reached the Meuse, where they found the
bridges had already been destroyed (Guderian and Georg-Hans Reinhardt reached the river on the same
day).[77][78] Rommel was active in the forward areas, directing the efforts to make a crossing, which were
initially unsuccessful because of suppressive fire by the French on the other side of the river. Rommel
brought up tanks and flak units to provide counter-fire and had nearby houses set on fire to create a
smokescreen. He sent infantry across in rubber boats, appropriated the bridging tackle of the 5th Panzer
Division, personally grabbed a light machine gun to fight off a French counterattack supported by tanks,
and went into the water himself, encouraging the sappers and helping lash together the pontoons.[79][80]
By 16 May Rommel reached Avesnes, and contravening orders, he pressed on to Cateau.[81] That night,
the French II Army Corps was shattered and on 17 May, Rommel's forces took 10,000 prisoners, losing
36 men in the process. He was surprised to find out only his vanguard had followed his tempestuous
surge. The High Command and Hitler had been extremely nervous about his disappearance, although they
awarded him the Knight's Cross. Rommel's (and Guderian's) successes and the new possibilities offered
by the new tank arm were welcomed by a small number of generals, but worried and paralysed the
rest.[82]

On 20 May, Rommel reached Arras.[83] General Hermann Hoth received orders that the town should be
bypassed and its British garrison thus isolated. He ordered the 5th Panzer Division to move to the west
and the 7th Panzer Division to the east, flanked by the SS Division Totenkopf.[84] The following day, the
British launched a counterattack in the Battle of Arras. It failed and the British withdrew.[85]

On 24 May, Generaloberst (Colonel General) Gerd von Rundstedt and Generaloberst Günther von Kluge
issued a halt order, which Hitler approved.[86] The reason for this decision is still a matter of
debate.[87][88][89] The halt order was lifted on 26 May.[88] 7th Panzer continued its advance, reaching
Lille on 27 May.[90] The Siege of Lille continued until 31 May, when the French garrison of 40,000 men
surrendered. Rommel was summoned to Berlin to meet with Hitler. He was the only divisional
commander present at the planning session for Fall Rot (Case Red), the second phase of the invasion of
France. By this time the Dunkirk evacuation was complete; over 338,000 Allied troops had been
evacuated across the Channel, though they had to leave behind all their heavy equipment and vehicles.[91]

Drive for the Channel

Rommel, resuming his advance on 5 June, drove for the River Seine to secure the bridges near Rouen.
Advancing 100 kilometres (60 mi) in two days, the division reached Rouen to find it defended by three
French tanks which managed to destroy a number of German tanks before being taken out. The German
force, enraged by this resistance, forbade fire brigades access to the burning district of the old Norman
capital, and as a result, most of the historic quarter was reduced to ashes.[92] According to David Fraser,
Rommel instructed the German artillery to bombard the city as a "fire demonstration".[93] According to
one witness report, the smoke from burning Rouen was intense enough that it reached Paris.[94] Daniel
Allen Butler states that the bridges to the city were already destroyed. After the fall of the city, both black
civilians and colonial troops were summarily executed on 9 June by unknown German units.[95][96][97]
The number of black civilians and prisoners killed is estimated at 100.[98] According to Butler and
Showalter, Rouen fell to the 5th Panzer Division, while Rommel advanced from the Seine towards the
Channel.[99][100] On 10 June, Rommel reached the coast near Dieppe, sending Hoth the message "Bin an
der Küste" ("Am on the coast").[101] On 17 June, 7th Panzer was ordered to advance on Cherbourg, where
additional British evacuations were under way. The division advanced 240 km (150 mi) in 24 hours, and
after two days of shelling, the French garrison surrendered on 19 June.[102] The speed and surprise that it
was consistently able to achieve, to the point at which both the enemy and the Oberkommando des
Heeres (OKH; German "High Command of the Army") at times lost track of its whereabouts, earned the
7th Panzers the nickname Gespensterdivision ("ghost division").[103]

After the armistice with the French was signed on 22 June, the division was placed in reserve, being sent
first to the Somme and then to Bordeaux to re-equip and prepare for Unternehmen Seelöwe (Operation
Sea Lion), the planned invasion of Britain.[104] This invasion was later cancelled, as Germany was not
able to acquire the air superiority needed for a successful outcome, while the Kriegsmarine was
massively outnumbered by the Royal Navy.[105]

North Africa 1941–1943

On 6 February 1941, Rommel
was appointed commander of
the new Afrika Korps
(Deutsches Afrika Korps;
DAK), consisting of the 5th
Light Division (later renamed
21st Panzer Division) and of the
15th Panzer Division.[106] He
was promoted to
Generalleutnant three days later
and flew to Tripoli on 12 Western Desert battle area
February. [107] The DAK had
been sent to Libya in Operation
Sonnenblume to support Italian troops who had been roundly defeated by British Commonwealth forces
in Operation Compass.[107][N 1] His efforts in the Western Desert Campaign earned Rommel the
nickname the "Desert Fox" from journalists on both sides of the war.[108][N 2] Allied troops in Africa were
commanded by General Archibald Wavell, Commander-in-Chief, Middle East Command.[109]

First Axis offensive

Rommel and his troops were technically subordinate to Italian commander-in-chief General Italo
Gariboldi.[106] Disagreeing with the orders of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW, German armed
forces high command) to assume a defensive posture along the front line at Sirte, Rommel resorted to
subterfuge and insubordination to take the war to the British.[110] According to Remy, the General Staff
tried to slow him down but Hitler encouraged him to advance—an expression of the conflict that had
existed between Hitler and the army leadership since the invasion of Poland.[111] He decided to launch a
limited offensive on 24 March with the 5th Light Division, supported by two Italian divisions.[112] This
thrust was not anticipated by the British, who had Ultra intelligence showing that Rommel had orders to
remain on the defensive until at least May when the 15th Panzer Division were due to arrive.[113]

The British Western Desert Force had meanwhile been weakened by the transfer in mid-February of three
divisions for the Battle of Greece.[114] They fell back to Mersa El Brega and started constructing
defensive works.[115] After a day of fierce fighting on 31 March, the Germans captured Mersa El
Brega.[116] Splitting his force into three groups, Rommel resumed the advance on 3 April. Benghazi fell
that night as the British pulled out of the city.[117][118] Gariboldi, who had ordered Rommel to stay in
Mersa El Brega, was furious. Rommel was equally forceful in his response, telling Gariboldi, "One
cannot permit unique opportunities to slip by for the sake of trifles."[119] A signal arrived from General
Franz Halder reminding Rommel that he was to halt in Mersa El Brega. Knowing Gariboldi could not
speak German, Rommel told him the message gave him complete freedom of action. Gariboldi backed
down.[120] Throughout the campaign, fuel supply was problematic, as no petrol was available locally; it
had to be brought from Europe by tanker and then carried by road to where it was needed.[121][122] Food
and fresh water were also in short supply, and it was difficult to move tanks and other equipment off-road
through the sand.[123] Cyrenaica was captured by 8 April, except for the port city of Tobruk, which was
besieged on 11 April.[124][125]

Siege of Tobruk
The siege of Tobruk was not technically a siege, as the defenders
were still able to move supplies and reinforcements into the city
via the port.[126] Rommel knew that by capturing the port he could
greatly reduce the length of his supply lines and increase his
overall port capacity, which was insufficient even for day-to-day
operations and only half that needed for offensive operations.[127]
The city, which had been heavily fortified by the Italians during
their 30-year occupation, was garrisoned by 36,000 Afrika Korps Panzer III drives past a
Commonwealth troops,[128] commanded by Australian Lieutenant vehicle burning in the desert, April
General Leslie Morshead.[129] Hoping to catch the defenders off- 1941
guard, Rommel launched a failed attack on 14 April.[130]

Rommel requested reinforcements, but the OKW, then completing

preparations for Operation Barbarossa, refused.[131] General
Friedrich Paulus, head of the Operations Branch of the OKH,
arrived on 25 April to review the situation.[132] He was present for
a second failed attack on the city on 30 April. On 4 May, Paulus
ordered that no further attempts should be made to take Tobruk via
a direct assault.[133] Following a failed counter-attack in Operation
Brevity in May,[134] Wavell launched Operation Battleaxe on 15
June; this attack was also defeated.[135] The defeat resulted in
Churchill replacing Wavell with General Claude Auchinleck as
theatre commander.[136]
Map of Halfaya Pass and
In August, Rommel was appointed commander of the newly
surrounding area
created Panzer Army Africa, with Fritz Bayerlein as his chief of
staff.[137] The Afrika Korps, comprising the 15th Panzer Division
and the 5th Light Division, now reinforced and redesignated 21st Panzer Division, was put under
command of Generalleutnant Ludwig Crüwell. In addition to the Afrika Korps, Rommel's Panzer Group
had the 90th Light Division and four Italian divisions, three infantry divisions investing Tobruk, and one
holding Bardia. The two Italian armoured divisions, formed into the Italian XX Motorized Corps under
the command of General Gastone Gambara, were under Italian control.[138] Two months later Hitler
decided he must have German officers in better control of the Mediterranean theatre, and appointed Field
Marshal Albert Kesselring as Commander in Chief, South. Kesselring was ordered to get control of the
air and sea between Africa and Italy.[138]

Following his success in Battleaxe, Rommel returned his attention

to the capture of Tobruk. He made preparations for a new
offensive, to be launched between 15 and 20 November.[139]
Meanwhile, Auchinleck reorganised Allied forces and
strengthened them to two corps, XXX and XIII, which formed the
British Eighth Army. It was placed under the command of Alan
Cunningham. [140] Auchinleck launched Operation Crusader, a
major offensive to relieve Tobruk, on 18 November 1941.[141] Near Bir Hachiem 8.8cm Flak 18
guns firing. Rommel's vehicle in the
Rommel reluctantly decided on 20 November to call off his
background
planned attack on Tobruk.[142]
In four days of heavy fighting, the Eighth Army lost 530 tanks and Rommel only 100.[143] Wanting to
exploit the British halt and their apparent disorganisation, on 24 November Rommel counterattacked near
the Egyptian border in an operation that became known as the "dash to the wire". Cunningham asked
Auchinleck for permission to withdraw into Egypt, but Auchinleck refused and soon replaced
Cunningham as commander of the Eighth Army with Major General Neil Ritchie.[144][145] The German
counterattack stalled as it outran its supplies and met stiffening resistance, and was criticised by the
German High Command and some of Rommel's staff officers.[146]

While Rommel drove into Egypt, the remaining Commonwealth forces east of Tobruk threatened the
weak Axis lines there. Unable to reach Rommel for several days, Rommel's Chief of Staff, Siegfried
Westphal, ordered the 21st Panzer Division to withdraw to support the siege of Tobruk. On 27 November,
the British attack on Tobruk linked up with the defenders, and Rommel, having suffered losses that could
not easily be replaced, had to concentrate on regrouping the divisions that had attacked into Egypt. By 7
December, Rommel fell back to a defensive line at Gazala, just west of Tobruk, all the while under heavy
attack from the Desert Air Force.[147] The Allies kept up the pressure, and Rommel was forced to retreat
all the way back to the starting positions he had held in March, reaching El Agheila in December
1941.[148] The British had retaken almost all of Cyrenaica, but Rommel's retreat dramatically shortened
his supply lines.[149]

Battle of Gazala and capture of Tobruk

On 5 January 1942, the Afrika Korps received 55 tanks and new supplies and Rommel started planning a
counterattack, which he launched on 21 January.[150][151] Caught by surprise, the Allies lost over 110
tanks and other heavy equipment. The Axis forces retook Benghazi on 29 January and Timimi on 3
February, with the Allies pulling back to a defensive line just before the Tobruk area south of the coastal
town of Gazala.[152] Between December 1941 and June 1942, Rommel had excellent information about
the disposition and intentions of the Commonwealth forces. Bonner Fellers, US military attaché in Egypt,
was sending detailed reports to the US State Department using a compromised code.[153]

Following Kesselring's successes in creating local air superiority around the British naval and air bases at
Malta in April 1942, an increased flow of supplies reached the Axis forces in Africa.[154] With his forces
strengthened, Rommel contemplated a major offensive operation for the end of May. He knew the British
were planning offensive operations as well, and he hoped to pre-empt them.[155] Early in the afternoon of
26 May 1942, Rommel attacked first and the Battle of Gazala commenced.[156] Under the cover of
darkness, the bulk of Rommel's motorised and armoured forces drove south to skirt the left flank of the
British, coming up behind them and attacking to the north the following morning.[157]

On 30 May, Rommel resumed the offensive,[158] and on 1 June, Rommel accepted the surrender of some
3,000 Commonwealth soldiers.[159] On 6 June, Rommel's forces assaulted the Free French strongpoint in
the Battle of Bir Hakeim, but the defenders continued to thwart the attack until finally evacuating on 10
June.[160] Rommel then shifted his attack north; threatened with being completely cut off, the British
began a retreat eastward toward Egypt on 14 June, the so-called "Gazala Gallop".[161]

The assault on Tobruk proper began at dawn on 20 June, and the British surrendered at dawn the
following day.[162] Rommel's forces captured 32,000 Commonwealth troops, the port, and huge quantities
of supplies.[163] Only at the fall of Singapore, earlier that year, had more British Commonwealth troops
been captured at one time. On 22 June, Hitler promoted Rommel to Generalfeldmarschall for this
victory.[164] Following his success at Gazala and Tobruk, Rommel wanted to seize the moment and not
 allow the 8th Army a chance to regroup.[165] He strongly argued
that the Panzerarmee should advance into Egypt and drive on to
Alexandria and the Suez Canal, as this would place almost all the
Mediterranean coastline in Axis hands and, according to Rommel,
potentially lead to the capture from the south of the oil fields in
the Caucasus and Middle East.[166]

Rommel's success at Tobruk worked against him, as Hitler no

longer felt it was necessary to proceed with Operation Herkules,
Rommel in his command vehicle
the proposed attack on Malta.[167] Auchinleck relieved Ritchie of
follows a Panzer in Tobruk.
command of the Eighth Army on 25 June, and temporarily took
command himself.[168] Rommel knew that delay would only
benefit the British, who continued to receive supplies at a faster rate than Rommel could hope to achieve.
He pressed an attack on the heavily fortified town of Mersa Matruh, which Auchinleck had designated as
the fall-back position, surrounding it on 28 June.[169] The fortress fell to the Germans on 29 June. In
addition to stockpiles of fuel and other supplies, the British abandoned hundreds of tanks and trucks.
Those that were functional were put into service by the Panzerarmee which by now relied on British
trucks for half its transport. [170]

El Alamein

First Battle of El Alamein

Rommel continued his pursuit of the Eighth Army, which had
fallen back to heavily prepared defensive positions at El Alamein.
This region is a natural choke point, where the Qattara Depression
creates a relatively short line to defend that could not be
outflanked to the south because of the steep escarpment. During
this time Germans prepared numerous propaganda postcards and
leaflets for the Egyptian and Syrian populations urging them to
"chase English out of the cities", warning them about "Jewish
peril" and with one leaflet printed in 296,000 copies and aimed at
Syria stating among others

Because Marshal Rommel, at the head of the brave Axis El Alamein and surrounding area

troops, is already rattling the last gates of England's

power! Arabs! Help your friends achieve their goal:
abolishing the English-Jewish-American tyranny![171]

On 1 July, the First Battle of El Alamein began. Rommel had around 100 available tanks. The Allies were
able to achieve local air superiority, with heavy bombers attacking the 15th and 21st Panzers, who had
also been delayed by a sandstorm. The 90th Light Division veered off course and were pinned down by
South African artillery fire. Rommel continued to attempt to advance for two more days, but repeated
sorties by the Desert Air Force meant he could make no progress.[172] On 3 July, he wrote in his diary that
his strength had "faded away".[173] Attacks by 21st Panzer on 13 and 14 July were repulsed, and an
Australian attack on 16–17 July was held off with difficulty.[174] Throughout the first half of July,
Auchinleck concentrated attacks on the Italian 60th Infantry Division Sabratha at Tel el Eisa. The ridge
was captured by the 26th Australian Brigade on 16 July.[175] Both sides suffered similar losses throughout
the month, but the Axis supply situation remained less favourable. Rommel realised that the tide was
turning.[176] A break in the action took place at the end of July as both sides rested and regrouped.[177]

Preparing for a renewed drive, the British replaced Auchinleck with General Harold Alexander on 8
August. Bernard Montgomery was made the new commander of the Eighth Army that same day. The
Eighth Army had initially been assigned to General William Gott, but he was killed when his plane was
shot down on 7 August.[178] Rommel knew that a British convoy carrying over 100,000 tons of supplies
was due to arrive in September.[179] He decided to launch an attack at the end of August with the 15th and
21st Panzer Division, 90th Light Division, and the Italian XX Motorized Corps in a drive through the
southern flank of the El Alamein lines.[180] Expecting an attack sooner rather than later, Montgomery
fortified the Alam el Halfa ridge with the 44th Division, and positioned the 7th Armoured Division about
25 kilometres (15 mi) to the south.[181]

Battle of Alam El Halfa

The Battle of Alam el Halfa was launched on 30 August. The
terrain left Rommel with no choice but to follow a similar tactic as
he had at previous battles: the bulk of the forces attempted to
sweep around from the south while secondary attacks were
launched on the remainder of the front. It took much longer than
anticipated to get through the minefields in the southern sector,
and the tanks got bogged down in unexpected patches of
Rommel in a [Link]. 250/3 quicksand (Montgomery had arranged for Rommel to acquire a
falsified map of the terrain).[182][183] Under heavy fire from
British artillery and aircraft, and in the face of well-prepared
positions that Rommel could not hope to outflank for lack of fuel, the attack stalled. By 2 September,
Rommel realised the battle was unwinnable, and decided to withdraw.[184]

On the night of 3 September, the 2nd New Zealand Division and 7th Armoured Division positioned to the
north engaged in an assault, but they were repelled in a fierce rearguard action by the 90th Light Division.
Montgomery called off further action to preserve his strength and allow for further desert training for his
forces.[185] In the attack, Rommel had suffered 2,940 casualties and lost 50 tanks, a similar number of
guns, and 400 lorries, vital for supplies and movement. The British losses, except tank losses of 68, were
much less, further adding to the numerical inferiority of Panzer Army Africa. The Desert Air Force
inflicted the highest proportions of damage on Rommel's forces. He now realised the war in Africa could
not be won.[186] Physically exhausted and suffering from a liver infection and low blood pressure,
Rommel flew home to Germany to recover his health.[187][188] General Georg Stumme was left in
command in Rommel's absence.[179]

Second Battle of El Alamein

Improved decoding by British intelligence (see Ultra) meant that the Allies had advance knowledge of
virtually every Mediterranean convoy, and only 30 per cent of shipments were getting through.[189] In
addition, Mussolini diverted supplies intended for the front to his garrison at Tripoli and refused to
release any additional troops to Rommel.[190] The increasing Allied air superiority and lack of fuel meant
Rommel was forced to take a more defensive posture than he would have liked for the second Battle of El
Alamein.[191] The German defences to the west of the town
included a minefield eight kilometres (five miles) deep with the
main defensive line—itself several thousand yards deep—to its
west.[192] This, Rommel hoped, would allow his infantry to hold
the line at any point until motorised and armoured units in reserve
could move up and counterattack any Allied breaches.[193] The
British offensive began on 23 October. Stumme, in command in Destroyed Panzer IIIs at Tel el Eisa,
Rommel's absence, died of an apparent heart attack while near El Alamein (1942)

examining the front on 24 October, and Rommel was ordered to

return from his medical leave, arriving on the 25th.[194]
Montgomery's intention was to clear a narrow path through the
minefield at the northern part of the defences, at the area called
Kidney Ridge, with a feint to the south. By the end of 25 October,
the 15th Panzer, the defenders in this sector, had only 31
serviceable tanks remaining of their initial force of 119.[195]
Rommel brought the 21st Panzer and Ariete Divisions north on 26
October, to bolster the sector. On 28 October, Montgomery shifted
his focus to the coast, ordering his 1st and 10th Armoured
Divisions to attempt to swing around and cut off Rommel's line of
retreat. Meanwhile, Rommel concentrated his attack on the Allied
salient at Kidney Ridge, inflicting heavy losses. However, Second Battle of El Alamein.
Rommel had only 150 operational tanks remaining, and Situation on 28 October 1942
Montgomery had 800, many of them Shermans.[196]

Montgomery, seeing his armoured brigades losing tanks at an alarming rate, stopped major attacks until
the early hours of 2 November, when he opened Operation Supercharge, with a massive artillery
barrage.[197] Due to heavy losses in tanks, towards the end of the day, Rommel ordered his forces to
disengage and begin to withdraw.[198] At midnight, he informed the OKW of his decision, and received a
reply directly from Hitler the following afternoon: he ordered Rommel and his troops to hold their
position to the last man. Rommel, who believed that the lives of his soldiers should never be squandered
needlessly, was stunned.[199] Rommel initially complied with the order, but after discussions with
Kesselring and others, he issued orders for a retreat on 4 November.[200] The delay proved costly in terms
of his ability to get his forces out of Egypt. He later said the decision to delay was what he most regretted
from his time in Africa.[201] Meanwhile, the British 1st and 7th Armoured Division had broken through
the German defences and were preparing to swing north and surround the Axis forces.[202] On the
evening of the 4th, Rommel finally received word from Hitler authorising the withdrawal.[203]

End of Africa campaign

As Rommel attempted to withdraw his forces before the British could cut off his retreat, he fought a
series of delaying actions. Heavy rains slowed movements and grounded the Desert Air Force, which
aided the withdrawal, yet Rommel's troops were under pressure from the pursuing Eighth Army and had
to abandon the trucks of the Italian forces, leaving them behind.[204] Rommel continued to retreat
west,[205] aiming for 'Gabes gap' in Tunisia.[206] Kesselring strongly criticised Rommel's decision to
retreat all the way to Tunisia, as each airfield the Germans abandoned extended the range of the Allied
bombers and fighters. Rommel defended his decision, pointing out that if he tried to assume a defensive
position the Allies would destroy his forces and take the airfields anyway; the retreat saved the lives of
his remaining men and shortened his supply lines. By now, Rommel's remaining forces fought in
reduced-strength combat groups, whereas the Allied forces had great numerical superiority and control of
the air. On his arrival in Tunisia, Rommel noted with some bitterness the reinforcements, including the
10th Panzer Division, arriving in Tunisia following the Allied invasion of Morocco.[207]

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, his last battlefield victory
of the war, and his first engagement against the United States
Army.[208]

Rommel immediately turned back against the British forces,

Rommel speaks with troops who are occupying the Mareth Line (old French defences on the Libyan
using a captured American M3 half- border). While Rommel was at Kasserine at the end of January
track, Tunisia. 1943, the Italian General Giovanni Messe was appointed
commander of Panzer Army Africa, 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 Army Group 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 Rommel offensive in North Africa was on 6 March 1943, when he attacked the Eighth Army at
the Battle of Medenine.[209] The attack was made with 10th, 15th, and 21st Panzer Divisions. Alerted by
Ultra intercepts, Montgomery deployed large numbers of anti-tank guns in the path of the offensive. After
losing 52 tanks, Rommel called off the assault.[210] On 9 March he returned to Germany.[211] Command
was handed over to General Hans-Jürgen von Arnim. Rommel never returned to Africa.[212] The fighting
there continued for another two months, until 13 May 1943, when Messe surrendered the army group to
the Allies.

Italy 1943
On 23 July 1943, Rommel was moved to Greece as commander of Army Group E to counter a possible
British invasion. He arrived in Greece on 25 July but was recalled to Berlin the same day following
Mussolini's dismissal from office. This caused the German High Command to review the defensive
integrity of the Mediterranean and it was decided that Rommel should be posted to Italy as commander of
the newly formed Army Group B. On 16 August 1943, Rommel's headquarters moved to Lake Garda in
northern Italy and he formally assumed command of the group, consisting of the 44th Infantry Division,
the 26th Panzer Division and the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler. When Italy
announced its armistice with the Allies on 8 September, Rommel's group took part in Operation Achse,
disarming the Italian forces.[213]

Hitler met with Rommel and Kesselring to discuss future operations in Italy on 30 September 1943.
Rommel insisted on a defensive line north of Rome, while Kesselring was more optimistic and advocated
holding a line south of Rome. Hitler preferred Kesselring's recommendation, and therefore revoked his
previous decision for the subordination of Kesselring's forces to Rommel's army group. On 19 October,
Hitler decided that Kesselring would be the overall commander of the forces in Italy, sidelining
Rommel.[214]

Rommel had wrongly predicted that the collapse of the German line in Italy would be fast. On 21
November, Hitler gave Kesselring overall command of the Italian theatre, moving Rommel and Army
Group B to Normandy in France with responsibility for defending the French coast against the long-
anticipated Allied invasion.[215]

Atlantic Wall 1944

On 4 November 1943, Rommel became General Inspector of the
Western Defences. He was given a staff that befitted an army
group commander, and the powers to travel, examine and make
suggestions on how to improve the defences. Hitler, who was
having a disagreement with him over military matters, intended to
use Rommel as a psychological trump card.[216]

There was broad disagreement in the German High Command as Rommel observes the fall of shot at
to how best to meet the expected Allied invasion of Northern Riva-Bella, just north of Caen in the
France. The Commander-in-Chief West, Gerd von Rundstedt, area that would become Sword
believed there was no way to stop the invasion near the beaches Beach in Normandy.
because of the Allied navies' firepower, as had been experienced at
Salerno.[217] He argued that 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. The allies could be allowed to extend themselves deep into France, where a battle for
control would be fought, allowing the Germans to envelop the allied forces in a pincer movement, cutting
off their avenue of retreat. He feared the piecemeal commitment of their armoured forces would cause
them to become caught in a battle of attrition which they could not hope to win.[217]

The notion of holding the armour inland to use as a mobile reserve

force from which they could mount a powerful counterattack
applied the classic use of armoured formations as seen in France
in 1940. These tactics were still effective on the Eastern Front,
where control of the air was important but did not dominate the
action. Rommel's own experiences at the end of the North African
campaign revealed to him that the Germans would not be able to
A sketch by Rommel. His words on preserve their armour from air attack for this type of mass
the picture: "Patterns for anti- assault.[217] Rommel believed their only opportunity would be to
airlanding obstacles. Now to be oppose the landings directly at the beaches, and to counterattack
spaced irregularly instead of there before the invaders could become well-established. Though
regularly". The House of Local
there had been some defensive positions established and gun
History of Baden-Württemberg now
keeps several of these, some hand-
emplacements made, the Atlantic Wall was a token defensive line.
coloured by Rommel himself.[218] Rundstedt had confided to Rommel that it was for propaganda
purposes only.[219]
Upon arriving in Northern France, Rommel was dismayed by the lack of completed works. According to
Ruge, Rommel was in a staff position and could not issue orders, but he made every effort to explain his
plan to commanders down to the platoon level, who took up his words eagerly, but "more or less open"
opposition from the above slowed down the process.[220] Rundstedt intervened and supported Rommel's
request for being made a commander.[221] It was granted on 15 January 1944.[220]

He and his staff set out to improve the fortifications along the Atlantic Wall with great energy and
engineering skill.[N 3][N 4][N 5] This was a compromise: Rommel now commanded the 7th and 15th
armies; he also had authority over a 20-kilometre-wide strip of coastal land between Zuiderzee and the
mouth of the Loire. The chain of command was convoluted: the air force and navy had their own chiefs,
as did the South and Southwest France and the Panzer group; Rommel also needed Hitler's permission to
use the tank divisions.[225] Rommel had millions of mines laid and thousands of tank traps and obstacles
set up on the beaches and throughout the countryside, including in fields suitable for glider aircraft
landings, the so-called Rommel's asparagus[226] (the Allies would later counter these with Hobart's
Funnies[227]). In April 1944, Rommel promised Hitler that the preparations would be complete by 1 May,
a promise he failed to deliver. By the time of the Allied invasion, the preparations were far from finished.
The quality of some of the troops manning them was poor and many bunkers lacked sufficient stocks of
ammunition.[226]

Rundstedt expected the Allies to invade in the Pas-de-Calais because it was the shortest crossing point
from Britain, its port facilities were essential to supplying a large invasion force, and the distance from
Calais to Germany was relatively short.[228] Rommel and Hitler's views on the matter are a matter of
debate between authors, with both seeming to change their positions.[229][230][231]

Hitler vacillated between the two strategies. In late April, he

ordered the I SS Panzer Corps placed near Paris, far enough inland
to be useless to Rommel, but not far enough for Rundstedt.
Rommel moved those armoured formations under his command as
far forward as possible, ordering General Erich Marcks,
commanding the 84th Corps defending the Normandy section, to
move his reserves into the frontline. Rundstedt was willing to
delegate a majority of the responsibilities to Rommel (the central Inspecting 21st Panzer Division
reserve was Rundstedt's idea but he did not oppose some form of troops and a mule track carrier of
coastal defence), Rommel's strategy of an armour-supported the Nebelwerfer
coastal defence line was opposed by some officers, most notably
Leo Geyr von Schweppenburg, who was supported by
Guderian.[217][232][233][221][234] Hitler compromised and gave Rommel three divisions (the 2nd, the 21st
and the 116th Panzer), let Rundstedt retain four and turned the other three to Army Group G, pleasing no
one.[235]

The Allies staged elaborate deceptions for D-Day (see Operation Fortitude), giving the impression that
the landings would be at Calais. Although Hitler himself expected a Normandy invasion for a while,
Rommel and most Army commanders in France believed there would be two invasions, with the main
invasion coming at the Pas-de-Calais. Rommel drove defensive preparations all along the coast of
Northern France, particularly concentrating on fortification building in the River Somme estuary. By D-
Day on 6 June 1944 nearly all the German staff officers, including Hitler's staff, believed that Pas-de-
Calais was going to be the main invasion site, and continued to believe so even after the landings in
Normandy had occurred.[236]

The 5 June storm in the channel seemed to make a landing very

unlikely, and a number of the senior officers left their units for
training exercises and various other efforts. On 4 June the chief
meteorologist of the 3 Air Fleet reported that weather in the
channel was so poor there could be no landing attempted for two
weeks. Rommel left France on 5 June, and on the next day he was
at home celebrating his wife's 50th birthday.[226] He was recalled
Generalfeldmarschälle Gerd von and returned to his headquarters at 10 pm. Meanwhile, earlier in
Rundstedt and Erwin Rommel the day, Rundstedt had requested the reserves be transferred to his
meeting in Paris command. At 10 am Keitel advised that Hitler declined to release
the reserves but that Rundstedt could move the 12th SS Panzer
Division Hitlerjugend closer to the coast, with the Panzer-Lehr-
Division placed on standby. Later in the day, Rundstedt received authorisation to move additional units in
preparation for a counterattack, which Rundstedt decided to launch on 7 June. Upon arrival, Rommel
concurred with the plan. By nightfall, Rundstedt, Rommel and Speidel continued to believe that the
Normandy landing might have been a diversionary attack, as the Allied deception measures still pointed
towards Calais. The 7 June counterattack did not take place because Allied air bombardments prevented
the 12th SS's timely arrival.[237] All this made the German command structure in France in disarray
during the opening hours of the D-Day invasion.[238]

The Allies secured five beachheads by nightfall of 6 June, landing 155,000 troops.[239] The Allies pushed
ashore and expanded their beachhead despite strong German resistance. Rommel believed that if his
armies pulled out of range of Allied naval fire, it would give them a chance to regroup and re-engage
them later with a better chance of success. While he managed to convince Rundstedt, they still needed to
win over Hitler. At a meeting with Hitler at his Wolfsschlucht II headquarters in Margival in northern
France on 17 June, Rommel warned Hitler about the inevitable collapse in the German defences but was
rebuffed and told to focus on military operations.[240][241]

By mid-July the German position was crumbling. On 17 July 1944, as Rommel was returning from
visiting the headquarters of the I SS Panzer Corps, a fighter plane piloted by either Charley Fox of 412
Squadron RCAF,[242] Jacques Remlinger of No. 602 Squadron RAF,[243][244] or Johannes Jacobus le
Roux of No. 602 Squadron RAF[245] strafed his staff car near Sainte-Foy-de-Montgommery. The driver
sped up and attempted to get off the main roadway, but a 20 mm round shattered his left arm, causing the
vehicle to veer off the road and crash into trees. Rommel was thrown from the car, suffering injuries to
the left side of his face from glass shards and three fractures to his skull.[242][246] He was hospitalised
with major head injuries (assumed to be almost certainly fatal).[247]

Plot against Hitler

The role that Rommel played in the military's resistance against Hitler or the 20 July plot is difficult to
ascertain as most of the leaders who were directly involved did not survive, and limited documentation
exists on the conspirators' plans and preparations.[248][249] One piece of evidence that points to the
possibility that Rommel came to support the assassination plan was General Eberbach's confession to his
son (eavesdropped on by British agencies) while in British captivity which stated that Rommel explicitly
said to him that Hitler and his close associates had to be killed because this would be the only way out for
Germany.[250][251][252][253] This conversation occurred about a month before Rommel was coerced into
suicide.

Other notable evidence includes the papers of Rudolf Hartmann (who survived the later purge) and Carl-
Heinrich von Stülpnagel, who were among the leaders of the military resistance (alongside Rommel's
chief of staff General Hans Speidel, Colonel Karl-Richard Koßmann, Colonel Eberhard Finckh and
Lieutenant Colonel Caesar von Hofacker). These papers, accidentally discovered by historian Christian
Schweizer in 2018 while doing research on Rudolf Hartmann, include Hartmann's eyewitness account of
a conversation between Rommel and Stülpnagel in May 1944, as well as photos of the mid-May 1944
meeting between the inner circle of the resistance and Rommel at Koßmann's house. According to
Hartmann, by the end of May, in another meeting at Hartmann's quarters in Mareil–Marly, Rommel
showed "decisive determination" and clear approval of the inner circle's plan.[254] In a post-war account
by Karl Strölin, three of Rommel's friends—the Oberbürgermeister of Stuttgart, Strölin (who had served
with Rommel in the First World War), Alexander von Falkenhausen and Stülpnagel—began efforts to
bring Rommel into the anti-Hitler conspiracy in early 1944. According to Strölin, sometime in February,
Rommel agreed to lend his support to the resistance.[255]

On 15 April 1944, Rommel's new chief of staff, Hans Speidel, arrived in

Normandy and reintroduced Rommel to Stülpnagel.[256] Speidel had
previously been connected to Carl Goerdeler, the civilian leader of the
resistance, but not to the plotters led by Claus von Stauffenberg, and came
to Stauffenberg's attention only upon his appointment to Rommel's
headquarters. The conspirators felt they needed the support of a field
marshal on active duty. Erwin von Witzleben, who would have become
commander-in-chief of the Wehrmacht had the plot succeeded, was a field
marshal, but had been inactive since 1942. The conspirators gave
instructions to Speidel to bring Rommel into their circle.[257] Speidel met
with former foreign minister Konstantin von Neurath and Strölin on 27
May in Germany, ostensibly at Rommel's request, although the latter was
not present. Neurath and Strölin suggested opening immediate surrender
negotiations in the West, and, according to Speidel, Rommel agreed to A meeting of the military
further discussions and preparations.[241] Around the same timeframe, the resistance's inner circle and
plotters in Berlin were not aware that Rommel had allegedly decided to Rommel at Mareil-Marly 15
May 1944. From left,
take part in the conspiracy. On 16 May, they informed Allen Dulles,
Speidel – behind, Rommel
through whom they hoped to negotiate with the Western Allies, that
– centre, Stülpnagel – front.
Rommel could not be counted on for support.[258] The officer standing left is
Rudolf Hartmann. The
At least initially, Rommel opposed assassinating Hitler.[259] According to others are unknown.
some authors,[260][261][262][263][264] he gradually changed his attitude.
After the war, his widow—among others—maintained that Rommel
believed an assassination attempt would spark a civil war in Germany and Austria, and Hitler would have
become a martyr for a lasting cause.[265] Instead, Rommel reportedly suggested that Hitler be arrested
and brought to trial for his crimes; he did not attempt to implement this plan when Hitler visited
Margival, France, on 17 June. The arrest plan would have been highly improbable as Hitler's security was
extremely tight. Rommel would have known this, having commanded Hitler's army protection detail in
1939.[266] He was in favour of peace negotiations and repeatedly urged Hitler to negotiate with the Allies
which is dubbed by some as "hopelessly naive" considering no one would trust Hitler.[267][34][268] "As
naive as it was idealistic, the attitude he showed to the man he had sworn loyalty".[269]

According to Reuth, the reason Lucie Rommel did not want her husband to be associated with any
conspiracy was that even after the war, the German population neither grasped nor wanted to comprehend
the reality of the genocide, thus conspirators were still treated as traitors and outcasts.[270] On the other
hand, the resistance depended on the reputation of Rommel to win over the population.[271][272] Some
officers who had worked with Rommel also recognised the relationship between Rommel and the
resistance: Westphal said that Rommel did not want any more senseless sacrifices.[271] Butler, using
Ruge's recollections, reports that when told by Hitler himself that "no one will make peace with me",
Rommel told Hitler that if he was the obstacle to peace, he should resign or kill himself, but Hitler
insisted on fanatical defence.[273]

Reuth, based on Jodl's testimony, reports that Rommel forcefully presented the situation and asked for
political solutions from Hitler, who rebuffed that Rommel should leave politics to him.[274] Brighton
comments that Rommel seemed devoted, even though he did not have much faith in Hitler anymore
considering he kept informing Hitler in person and by letter about his changing beliefs despite facing a
military dilemma as well as a personal struggle.[275] Lieb remarks that Rommel's attitude in describing
the situation honestly and requiring political solutions was almost without precedent and contrary to the
attitude of many other generals.[276][262] Remy comments that Rommel put himself and his family (which
he had briefly considered evacuating to France, but refrained from doing so) at risk for the resistance out
of a combination of his concern for the fate of Germany, his indignation at atrocities and the influence of
people around him.[277]

On 15 July, Rommel wrote a letter to Hitler giving him a "last chance" to end the hostilities with the
Western Allies, urging Hitler to "draw the proper conclusions without delay". What Rommel did not
know was that the letter took two weeks to reach Hitler because of Kluge's precautions.[278][279] Various
authors report that many German generals in Normandy, including some SS officers like Hausser,
Bittrich, Dietrich (a hard-core Nazi and Hitler's long-time supporter) and Rommel's former opponent
Geyr von Schweppenburg, pledged support to him even against Hitler's orders, while Kluge supported
him with much hesitation.[280][248][281] Rundstedt encouraged Rommel to carry out his plans but refused
to do anything himself, remarking that it had to be a man who was still young and loved by the
people,[282][283] while Erich von Manstein was also approached by Rommel but categorically refused,
although he did not report them to Hitler either.[284] Peter Hoffmann reports that he also attracted into his
orbit officials who had previously refused to support the conspiracy, like Julius Dorpmüller and Karl
Kaufmann (according to Russell A. Hart, reliable details of the conversations are now lost, although they
certainly met).[272][285]

On 17 July 1944, Rommel was incapacitated by an Allied air attack, which many authors describe as a
fateful event that drastically altered the outcome of the bomb plot.[286][287][288] Writer Ernst Jünger
commented: "The blow that felled Rommel ... robbed the plan of the shoulders that were to be entrusted
the double weight of war and civil war—the only man who had enough naivety to counter the simple
terror that those he was about to go against possessed."[289] After the failed bomb attack of 20 July, many
conspirators were arrested and the dragnet expanded to thousands.[290] Rommel was first implicated
when Stülpnagel, after his suicide attempt, repeatedly muttered "Rommel" in delirium.[291][292] Under
torture, Hofacker named Rommel as one of the participants.[293] Additionally, Goerdeler had written
down Rommel's name on a list as potential Reich President (according to Stroelin. They had not managed
to announce this intention to Rommel yet and he probably never heard of it until the end of his
life).[294][295][296][297]

On 27 September, Martin Bormann submitted to Hitler a memorandum which claimed that "the late
General Stülpnagel, Colonel Hofacker, Kluge's nephew who has been executed, Lieutenant Colonel
Rathgens, and several ... living defendants have testified that Field Marshal Rommel was perfectly in the
picture about the assassination plan and has promised to be at the disposal of the New
Government."[298][299] Gestapo agents were sent to Rommel's house in Ulm and placed him under
surveillance.[300] Historian Peter Lieb considers the memorandum, as well as Eberbach's conversation
and the testimonies of surviving resistance members (including Hartmann), to be the three key sources
that indicate Rommel's support of the assassination plan. He further notes that while Speidel had an
interest in promoting his own post-war career, his testimonies should not be dismissed, considering his
bravery as an early resistance figure.[301] Remy writes that even more important than Rommel's attitude
to the assassination is the fact Rommel had his own plan to end the war. He began to contemplate this
plan some months after El Alamein and carried it out with a lonely decision and conviction, and in the
end, had managed to bring military leaders in the West to his side.[302]

Death
Rommel's case was turned over to the "Court of Military
Honour"—a drumhead court-martial convened to decide the fate
of officers involved in the conspiracy. The court included
Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel, Generalfeldmarschall Gerd
von Rundstedt, Generaloberst Heinz Guderian, General der
Infanterie Walther Schroth and Generalleutnant Karl-Wilhelm
Specht, with General der Infanterie Karl Kriebel and
Generalleutnant Heinrich Kirchheim (whom Rommel had fired
Rommel's funeral procession
after Tobruk in 1941)[303] as deputy members and Generalmajor
Ernst Maisel as protocol officer. The Court acquired information
from Speidel, Hofacker and others that implicated Rommel, with
Keitel and Ernst Kaltenbrunner assuming that he had taken part in
the subversion. Keitel and Guderian then made the decision that
favoured Speidel's case and at the same time shifted the blame to
Rommel.[304][305][306] By normal procedure, this would lead to
Rommel's being brought to Roland Freisler's People's Court, a
kangaroo court that always decided in favour of the prosecution.
However, Hitler knew that having Rommel branded and executed The official announcement of Erwin
as a traitor would severely damage morale on the home Rommel's death by the Nazi
front.[307][308] He thus decided to offer Rommel the chance to take newspaper Bozner Tagblatt, 16
his own life.[309] October 1944

Two generals from Hitler's headquarters, Wilhelm Burgdorf and

Ernst Maisel, visited Rommel at his home on 14 October 1944. Burgdorf informed him of the charges
against him and offered him three options: (a.) he could choose to defend himself personally in front of
Hitler in Berlin,[N 6] or he could refuse to do so (but, having done so, would be taken as an admission of
guilt); (b.) he could face the People's Court (which would have
been tantamount to a death sentence); or (c.) choose death by
suicide. In the former case (b.), his family would have suffered
even before the all-but-certain conviction and execution, and his
staff would have been arrested and executed as well. In the latter
case (c.), the government would claim that he died a hero and bury
him with full military honours, and his family would receive full
pension payments. In support of the suicide option, Burgdorf had
Erwin Rommel Memorial, place of
brought a cyanide capsule.[311] his suicide with a cyanide pill,
Herrlingen (2019)
Rommel chose suicide, and explained his decision to his wife and
son.[312] Wearing his Afrika Korps jacket and carrying his field
marshal's baton, he got into Burgdorf's car, driven by SS-Stabsscharführer Heinrich Doose, and was
driven out of the village. After stopping, Doose and Maisel walked away from the car leaving Rommel
with Burgdorf. Five minutes later Burgdorf gestured to the two men to return to the car, and Doose
noticed that Rommel was slumped over, having taken the cyanide. He died before being taken to the
Wagner-Schule field hospital. Ten minutes later, the group telephoned Rommel's wife to inform her of his
death.[313][314][315][316]

The official notice of Rommel's death as reported to the public

stated that he had died of either a heart attack or a cerebral
embolism—a complication of the skull fractures he had suffered in
the earlier strafing of his staff car.[317][318][319][320] To strengthen
the story, Hitler ordered an official day of mourning in
commemoration of his death. As promised, Rommel was given a
state funeral, but it was held in Ulm instead of Berlin as had been
requested by Rommel.[321] Hitler sent Field Marshal Rundstedt
Tomb of Erwin Rommel in
(who was unaware that Rommel had died as a result of Hitler's Herrlingen (2019)
orders) as his representative to the funeral.[322]

The truth behind Rommel's death became known to the Allies when intelligence officer Charles Marshall
interviewed Rommel's widow, Lucia Rommel,[323] as well as from a letter by Rommel's son Manfred in
April 1945.

Rommel's grave is located in Herrlingen, a short distance west of Ulm. For decades after the war on the
anniversary of his death, veterans of the Africa campaign, including former opponents, would gather at
his tomb in Herrlingen.[324]

Style as military commander

On the Italian front in the First World War, Rommel was a successful tactician in fast-developing mobile
battle and this shaped his subsequent style as a military commander. He found that taking initiative and
not allowing the enemy forces to regroup led to victory. Some authors argue that his enemies were often
less organised, second-rate, or depleted, and his tactics were less effective against adequately led, trained
and supplied opponents and proved insufficient in the later years of the war.[325] Others point out that
through his career, he frequently fought while outnumbered and outgunned, sometimes overwhelmingly
so, while having to deal with internal opponents in Germany who hoped that he would
fail.[326][327][328][329]

Rommel is praised by numerous authors as a great leader of men.[330][331][332][333] The historian and
journalist Basil Liddell Hart concludes that he was a strong leader worshipped by his troops, respected by
his adversaries and deserving to be named as one of the "Great Captains of History".[334] Owen Connelly
concurs, writing that "No better exemplar of military leadership can be found" and quoting Friedrich von
Mellenthin on the inexplicable mutual understanding that existed between Rommel and his troops.[335]
Hitler, though, remarked that, "Unfortunately Field-Marshal Rommel is a very great leader full of drive in
times of success, but an absolute pessimist when he meets the slightest problems."[336] Telp criticises
Rommel for not extending the benevolence he showed in promoting his own officers' careers to his peers,
whom he ignored or slighted in his reports.[337]

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.[339] He was aggressive and often directed the 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 400 kilometres (250 miles) behind his
front.[340] 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.[341][342]
Rommel helping to free up Butler concurred, saying that leading from the front is a good concept
his staff car, a Škoda Superb
but Rommel took it so far—he frequently directed the actions of a single
Kfz 21[338]
company or battalion—that he made communication and coordination
between units problematic, as well as risking his life to the extent that he
could easily have been killed even by his own artillery.[104] Albert Kesselring also complained about
Rommel cruising about the battlefield like a division or corps commander; but Gause and Westphal,
supporting Rommel, replied that in the African desert, only this method would work and that it was
useless to try to restrain Rommel anyway.[343][344] 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 "bab[y] him as unobtrusively as possible".[345][346][347]

For his leadership during the French campaign, Rommel received both praise and criticism. Many, such
as General Georg Stumme, who had previously commanded the 7th Panzer Division, were impressed
with the speed and success of Rommel's drive.[348] Others were reserved or critical: Kluge, his
commanding officer, argued that Rommel's decisions were impulsive and that he claimed too much
credit, by falsifying diagrams or by not acknowledging contributions of other units, especially the
Luftwaffe. Some pointed out that Rommel's division took the highest casualties in the campaign.[349]
Others point out that in exchange for 2,160 casualties and 42 tanks, it captured more than 100,000
prisoners and destroyed nearly two divisions' worth of enemy tanks (about 450 tanks), vehicles and
guns.[350][351]
Rommel spoke German with a pronounced southern German or Swabian accent. He was not a part of the
Prussian aristocracy that dominated the German high command, and as such was looked upon somewhat
suspiciously by the Wehrmacht's traditional power structure.[352][353] Rommel felt a commander should
be physically more robust than the troops he led, and should always show them an example.[354][N 7] He
expected his subordinate commanders to do the same.[355]

Rommel was direct, unbending, tough in his manners, to superiors and subordinates alike, and
disobedient even to Hitler whenever he saw fit, although gentle and diplomatic to the lower
ranks.[356][357][358][359] 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 he displayed a surprisingly passionate and devoted side to a very
small few (including Hitler) with whom he had dropped the seemingly impenetrable barriers.[360][361]

Relationship with Italian forces

Rommel's relationship with the Italian High Command in North
Africa was generally poor. Although he was nominally
subordinate to the Italians, he enjoyed a certain degree of
autonomy from them; since he was directing their troops in battle
as well as his own, this was bound to cause hostility among Italian
commanders. Conversely, as the Italian command had control over
the supplies of the forces in Africa, they resupplied Italian units
preferentially, which was a source of resentment for Rommel and
Rommel with German and Italian
his staff.[362] Rommel's direct and abrasive manner did nothing to officers, 1942
smooth these issues.[363][364][365]

While certainly much less proficient than Rommel in their leadership, aggression, tactical outlook and
mobile warfare skills,[366] Italian commanders were competent in logistics, strategy and artillery doctrine:
their troops were ill-equipped but well-trained. As such, the Italian commanders were repeatedly at odds
with Rommel over concerns with issues of supply.[367] Field Marshal Kesselring was assigned Supreme
Commander Mediterranean, at least in part to alleviate command problems between Rommel and the
Italians. This effort resulted only in partial success, with Kesselring's own relationship with the Italians
being unsteady and Kesselring claiming Rommel ignored him as readily as he ignored the
Italians.[368][369] Rommel often went directly to Hitler with his needs and concerns, taking advantage of
the favouritism that the Führer displayed towards him and adding to the distrust that Kesselring and the
German High Command already had of him.[370]

According to Scianna, the opinion among the Italian military leaders was not unanimous. In general,
Rommel was a target of criticism and a scapegoat for defeat rather than a glorified figure, with certain
generals also trying to replace him as the heroic leader or hijack the Rommel myth for their own benefit.
Nevertheless, he never became a hated figure, although the "abandonment myth", despite being
repudiated by officers of the X Corps themselves, was long-lived. Many found Rommel's chaotic
leadership and emotional character hard to work with, yet the Italians held him in higher regard than other
German senior commanders, militarily and personally.[371]
Very different, however, was the perception of Rommel by Italian common soldiers and NCOs, who, like
the German field troops, had the deepest trust and respect for him.[372][N 8] Paolo Colacicchi, an officer in
the Italian Tenth Army recalled that Rommel "became sort of a myth to the Italian soldiers".[373] Rommel
himself held a much more generous view about the Italian soldier[374] than about their leadership,
towards whom his disdain, deeply rooted in militarism, was not atypical, although unlike Kesselring he
was incapable of concealing it.[375] Unlike many of his superiors and subordinates who held racist views,
he was usually "kindly disposed" to the Italians in general.[376]

James J. Sadkovich cites examples of Rommel abandoning his Italian units, refusing cooperation, rarely
acknowledging their achievements and other improper behaviour towards his Italian allies, Giuseppe
Mancinelli, who was the liaison between German and Italian command, accused Rommel of blaming
Italians for his own errors. Sadkovich names Rommel as arrogantly ethnocentric and disdainful towards
Italians.[377]

Views on the conduct of war

Combat
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. [378][379][380][381][382][383][384][385][386][387] Gerhard
Schreiber quotes Rommel's orders, issued together with
Kesselring: "Sentimentality concerning the Badoglio following
gangs ("Banden" in the original, indicating a mob-like crowd) in
Rommel walks past Allied prisoners
the uniforms of the former ally is misplaced. Whoever fights
taken at Tobruk, 1942
against the German soldier has lost any right to be treated well and
shall experience toughness reserved for the rabble which betrays
friends. Every member of the German troop has to adopt this stance." Schreiber writes that this is
exceptionally harsh and, according to him, "hate fuelled" order brutalised the war and was clearly aimed
at Italian soldiers, not just partisans.[388] Dennis Showalter writes that "Rommel was not involved in
Italy's partisan war, though the orders he issued prescribing death for Italian soldiers taken in arms and
Italian civilians sheltering escaped British prisoners do not suggest he would have behaved significantly
different from his Wehrmacht counterparts."[389]

According to Maurice Remy, orders issued by Hitler during Rommel's stay in a hospital resulted in
massacres in the course of Operation Achse, disarming the Italian forces after the armistice with the
Allies in 1943. Remy also states that Rommel treated his Italian opponents with his usual fairness,
requiring that the prisoners should be accorded the same conditions as German civilians. Remy opines
that an order in which Rommel, in contrast to Hitler's directives, called for no "sentimental scruples"
against "Badoglio-dependent bandits in uniforms of the once brothers-in-arms" should not be taken out of
context.[390] Peter Lieb agrees that the order did not radicalise the war and that the disarmament in
Rommel's area of responsibility happened without major bloodshed.[391] Italian internees were sent to
Germany for forced labour, but Rommel was unaware of this.[390][391] Klaus Schmider comments that the
writings of Lieb and others succeed in vindicating Rommel "both with regards to his likely complicity in
the July plot as well as his repeated refusal to carry out illegal orders."[392] Rommel withheld Hitler's
Commando Order to execute captured commandos from his Army Group B, with his units reporting that
they were treating commandos as regular POWs. It is likely that he had acted similarly in North
Africa.[393] Historian Szymon Datner argues that Rommel may have been simply trying to conceal the
atrocities of Nazi Germany from the Allies.[394] Remy states that although Rommel had heard rumours
about massacres while fighting in Africa, his personality, combined with special circumstances, meant
that he was not fully confronted with the reality of atrocities before 1944.[395] When Rommel learned
about the atrocities that SS Division Leibstandarte committed in Italy in September 1943, he allegedly
forbade his son from joining the Waffen-SS.[396]

Attitude toward colonial troops

By the time of the Second World War, French colonial troops were
portrayed as a symbol of French depravity in Nazi propaganda;
Canadian historian Myron Echenberg writes that Rommel, just
like Hitler, viewed black French soldiers with particular
disdain.[397] According to author Ward Rutherford, Rommel also
held racist views towards British colonial troops from India;
Rutherford in his The biography of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel
writes: "Not even his most sycophantic apologists have been able General Field Marshal Erwin
to evade the conclusion, fully demonstrated by his later behaviour, Rommel inspecting a unit of the
that Rommel was a racist who, for example, thought it desperately German Free India Legion in
unfair that the British should employ 'black'—by which he meant France, February 1944
Indian—troops against a white adversary."[398] Vaughn Raspberry
writes that Rommel and other officers considered it an insult to
fight against black Africans because they considered black people to be members of "inferior races".[399]

Bruce Watson comments that whatever racism Rommel might have had in the beginning, it was washed
away when he fought in the desert. When he saw that they were fighting well, he gave the members of the
4th Division of the Indian Army high praise.[400] Rommel and the Germans acknowledge the Gurkhas'
fighting ability, although their style leaned more towards ferocity. Once he witnessed German soldiers
with throats cut by a khukri knife.[401][402] Originally, he did not want Chandra Bose's Indian formation
(composed of the Allied Indian soldiers), captured by his own troops, to work under his command.[403] In
Normandy though, when they had already become the Indische Freiwilligen Legion der Waffen SS, he
visited them and praised them for their efforts (while they still suffered general disrespect within the
Wehrmacht).[404] A review on Rutherford's book by the Pakistan Army Journal says that the statement is
one of many that Rutherford uses, which lack support in authority and analysis. Rommel saying that
using the Indians was unfair should also be put in perspective, considering the disbandment of the battle-
hardened 4th Division by the Allies.[405] Rommel praised the colonial troops in the battle of France: "The
(French) colonial troops fought with extraordinary determination. The anti-tank teams and tank crews
performed with courage and caused serious losses," though that might be an example of generals
honouring their opponents so that "their own victories appear the more impressive."[406] Reuth comments
that Rommel ensured that he and his command would act decently (shown by his treatment of the Free
French prisoners who were considered partisans by Hitler, the Jews and the coloured men), while he was
distancing himself from Hitler's racist war in the East and deluding himself into believing that Hitler was
good, only the Party big shots were evil.[407] The black South African soldiers recount that when they
were held as POWs after they were captured by Rommel, they initially slept and queued for food away
from the whites, until Rommel saw this and told them that brave soldiers should all queue together.
Finding this strange coming from a man fighting for Hitler, they adopted this behaviour until they went
back to the Union of South Africa, where they were separated again.[408]

There are reports that Rommel acknowledged the Maori soldiers' fighting skills, yet at the same time he
complained about their methods which were unfair from the European perspective.[409][410] When he
asked the commander of the New Zealand 6th Infantry Brigade about his division's massacres of the
wounded and POWs, the commander attributed these incidents to the Maoris in his unit. Hew Strachan
notes that lapses in practising the warriors' code of war were usually attributed to ethnic groups which
lived outside Europe with the implication that those ethnic groups which lived in Europe knew how to
behave (although Strachan opines that such attributions were probably true).[411] Nevertheless, according
to the website of the 28th Maori Battalion, Rommel always treated them fairly and he also showed
understanding with regard to war crimes.[412]

Politics
Some authors cite, among other cases, Rommel's naive reaction to events in Poland while he was there:
he paid a visit to his wife's uncle, famous Polish priest and patriotic leader, Edmund Roszczynialski who
was murdered within days, but Rommel never understood this and, at his wife's urgings, kept writing
letter after letter to Himmler's adjutants asking them to keep track and take care of their
relative.[413][414][415] Knopp and Mosier agree that he was naive politically, citing his request for a Jewish
Gauleiter in 1943.[416][417] Despite this, Lieb finds it hard to believe that a man in Rommel's position
could have known nothing about atrocities, while accepting that locally he was separated from the places
where these atrocities occurred.[262] Der Spiegel comments that Rommel was simply in denial about what
happened around him.[218] Alaric Searle points out that it was the early diplomatic successes and
bloodless expansion that blinded Rommel to the true nature of his beloved Führer, whom he then naively
continued to support.[418] Scheck believes it may be forever unclear whether Rommel recognised the
unprecedented depraved character of the regime.[34]

Civilians
Historian Richard J. Evans has stated that German soldiers in Tunisia raped Jewish women, and the
success of Rommel's forces in capturing or securing Allied, Italian and Vichy French territory in North
Africa led to many Jews in these areas being killed by other German institutions as part of the
Holocaust.[419] Anti-Jewish and Anti-Arab violence erupted in North Africa when Rommel and Ettore
Bastico regained territory there in February 1941 and then again in April 1942. While committed by
Italian forces, Patrick Bernhard writes "the Germans were aware of Italian reprisals behind the front lines.
Yet, perhaps surprisingly, they seem to have exercised little control over events.

The German consul general in Tripoli consulted with Italian state and party officials about possible
countermeasures against the natives, but this was the full extent of German involvement. Rommel did not
directly intervene, though he advised the Italian authorities to do whatever was necessary to eliminate the
danger of riots and espionage; for the German general, the rear areas were to be kept "quiet" at all costs.
Thus, according to Bernhard, although he had no direct hand in the atrocities, Rommel made himself
complicit in war crimes by failing to point out that international laws of war strictly prohibited certain
forms of retaliation. By giving carte blanche to the Italians, Rommel implicitly condoned, and perhaps
even encouraged, their war crimes".[420] Gershom reports that the recommendation came from officers
"speaking for Rommel", and comments, "Perhaps Rommel did not know or care about the specifics;
perhaps his motivation was not hate but dispassionate efficiency. The distinctions would have escaped the
men hanging from hooks."[421]

In his article Im Rücken Rommels. Kriegsverbrechen, koloniale Massengewalt und Judenverfolgung in

Nordafrika, Bernhard writes that North African campaign was hardly "war without hate" as Rommel
described it, and points out rapes of women, ill-treatment and executions of captured POWs, as well as
racially motivated murders of Arabs, Berbers and Jews, in addition to the establishment of concentration
camps. Bernhard again cites discussion among the German and Italian authorities about Rommel's
position regarding countermeasures against local insurrection (according to them, Rommel wanted to
eliminate the danger at all costs) to show that Rommel fundamentally approved of Italian policy in the
matter. Bernhard opines that Rommel had informal power over the matter because his military success
brought him influence on the Italian authorities.[422]

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum describes relationship between Rommel and the proposed
Einsatzgruppen Egypt as "problematic". The Museum states that this unit was to be tasked with
murdering the Jewish population of North Africa, and Palestine, and it was to be attached directly to
Rommel's Afrika Korps. According to the museum Rauff met with Rommel's staff in 1942 as part of
preparations for this plan. The Museum states that Rommel was certainly aware that planning was taking
place, even if his reaction to it isn't recorded, and while the main proposed Einsatzgruppen were never set
in action, smaller units did murder Jews in North Africa.[423]

On the other hand, Christopher Gabel remarks that Richards Evans seems to attempt to prove that
Rommel was a war criminal by association but fails to produce evidence that he had actual or
constructive knowledge about said crimes.[424] Ben H. Shepherd comments that Rommel showed insight
and restraint when dealing with the nomadic Arabs, the only civilians who occasionally intervened in the
war and thus risked reprisals as a result. Shepherd cites a request by Rommel to the Italian High
Command, in which he complained about excesses against the Arabic population and noted that reprisals
without identifying the real culprits were never expedient.[425]

The documentary Rommel's War (Rommels Krieg), made by Caron and Müllner with advice from Sönke
Neitzel, states that even though it is not clear whether Rommel knew about the crimes (in Africa) or not,
"his military success made possible forced labour, torture and robbery. Rommel's war is always part of
Hitler's war of worldviews, whether Rommel wanted it or not."[426] More specifically, several German
historians have revealed the existence of plans to exterminate Jews in Egypt and Palestine, if Rommel
had succeeded in his goal of invading the Middle East during 1942 by SS unit embedded to Afrika
Korps.[218]

According to Mallmann and Cüppers, a post-war CIA report described Rommel as having met with
Walther Rauff, who was responsible for the unit, and been disgusted after learning about the plan from
him and as having sent him on his way; but they conclude that such a meeting is hardly possible as Rauff
was sent to report to Rommel at Tobruk on 20 July and Rommel was then 500 km away conducting the
First El Alamein.[427] On 29 July, Rauff's unit was sent to Athens, expecting to enter Africa when
Rommel crossed the Nile. However, in view of the Axis' deteriorating situation in Africa it returned to
Germany in September.[428]
Historian Jean-Christoph Caron opines that there is no evidence that Rommel knew or would have
supported Rauff's mission; he also believes Rommel bore no direct responsibility regarding the SS's
looting of gold in Tunisia.[429] Historian Haim Saadon, Director of the Center of Research on North
African Jewry in WWII, goes further, stating that there was no extermination plan: Rauff's documents
show that his foremost concern was helping the Wehrmacht to win, and he came up with the idea of
forced labour camps in the process.[430][431] By the time these labour camps were in operation, according
to Ben H. Shepherd, Rommel had already been retreating and there is no proof of his contact with the
Einsatzkommando.[432]

Haaretz comments that the CIA report is most likely correct regarding both the interaction between
Rommel and Rauff and Rommel's objections to the plan: Rauff's assistant Theodor Saevecke, and
declassified information from Rauff's file, both report the same story. Haaretz also remarks that
Rommel's influence probably softened the Nazi authorities' attitude to the Jews and to the civilian
population generally in North Africa.[433]

Rolf-Dieter Müller comments that the war in North Africa, while as bloody as any other war, differed
considerably from the war of annihilation in eastern Europe, because it was limited to a narrow coastline
and hardly affected the population.[434]

Showalter writes that:

From the desert campaign’s beginning, both sides consciously sought to wage a "clean" war—
war without hate, as Rommel put it in his reflections. Explanations include the absence of
civilians and the relative absence of Nazis; the nature of the environment, which conveyed a
"moral simplicity and transparency"; and the control of command on both sides by prewar
professionals, producing a British tendency to depict war in the imagery of a game, and the
corresponding German pattern of seeing it as a test of skill and a proof of virtue. The nature of
the fighting as well diminished the last-ditch, close-quarter actions that are primary nurturers of
mutual bitterness. A battalion overrun by tanks usually had its resistance broken so completely
that nothing was to be gained by a broken-backed final stand.[435]

Joachim Käppner writes that while the conflict in North Africa was not as bloody as in Eastern Europe,
the Afrika Korps committed some war crimes.[436] Historian Martin Kitchen states that the reputation of
the Afrika Korps was preserved by circumstances: The sparsely populated desert areas did not lend
themselves to ethnic cleansing; the German forces never reached the large Jewish populations in Egypt
and Palestine; and in the urban areas of Tunisia and Tripolitania the Italian government constrained the
German efforts to discriminate against or eliminate Jews who were Italian citizens.[437] Despite this, the
North African Jews themselves believed that it was Rommel who prevented the "Final Solution" from
being carried out against them when Germany might dominate North Africa from Egypt to
Morocco.[438][439] According to Curtis and Remy, 120,000 Jews lived in Algeria, 200,000 in Morocco,
about 80,000 in Tunisia. Remy writes that this number was unchanged following the German invasion of
Tunisia in 1942 while Curtis notes that 5000 of these Jews would be sent to forced labour camps.[440] and
26,000 in Libya.[441]

Hein Klemann writes that the confiscations in the "foraging zone" of Afrika Korps threatened the survival
chances of local civilians, just as plunder enacted by the Wehrmacht in the Soviet Union.[442]
In North Africa, Rommel's troops laid down landmines, which in decades to come killed and maimed
thousands of civilians. Since statistics started in the 1980s, 3,300 people have lost their lives, and 7,500
maimed[443] There are disputed whether the landmines in El Alamein, which constitute the most notable
portion of landmines left over from World War II, were left by the Afrika Korps or the British Army led
by Field Marshal Montgomery. Egypt has not joined the Mine Ban Treaty until this day.[444]

Rommel sharply protested the Jewish policies and other immoralities and was an opponent of the Gestapo
He also refused to comply with Hitler's order to execute Jewish POWs.[445][N 9] Controversial author
Bryan Mark Rigg[446] writes: "The only place in the army where one might find a place of refuge was in
the Deutsches Afrika-Korps (DAK) under the leadership of the 'Desert Fox,' Field Marshal Erwin
Rommel. According to this study's files, his half-Jews were not as affected by the racial laws as most
others serving on the European continent." He notes, though, that "Perhaps Rommel failed to enforce the
order to discharge half-Jews because he was unaware of it".

Captain Horst van Oppenfeld (a staff officer to Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg and a quarter-Jew) says
that Rommel did not concern himself with the racial decrees and he had never experienced any trouble
caused by his ancestry during his time in the DAK even if Rommel never personally interfered on his
behalf.[447] Another quarter-Jew, Fritz Bayerlein, became a famous general and Rommel's chief-of-staff,
despite also being a bisexual, which made his situation even more precarious.[448]

Building the Atlantic Wall was officially the responsibility of the Organisation Todt,[449] which was not
under Rommel's command, but he enthusiastically joined the task,[450][451] protesting slave labour and
suggesting that they should recruit French civilians and pay them good wages.[452] Despite this, French
civilians and Italian prisoners of war held by the Germans were forced by officials under the Vichy
government,[453] the Todt Organization and the SS forces[454][455] to work on building some of the
defences Rommel requested, in appalling conditions according to historian Will Fowler. Although they
got basic wages, the workers complained because it was too little and there was no heavy
equipment.[453][456][457][458]

German troops worked almost round-the-clock under very harsh conditions, with Rommel's rewards
being accordions.[459][460]

Rommel was one of the commanders who protested the Oradour-sur-Glane massacre.[461]

Reputation as a military commander

Rommel was famous in his lifetime, including among his adversaries. His tactical prowess and decency
in the treatment of Allied prisoners earned him the respect of opponents including Claude Auchinleck,
Archibald Wavell, George S. Patton, and Bernard Montgomery.[462]

Rommel's military reputation has been controversial. While nearly all military practitioners acknowledge
Rommel's excellent tactical skills and personal bravery, some, such as U.S. major general and military
historian David T. Zabecki of the United States Naval Institute, consider Rommel's performance as an
operational level commander to be highly overstated and that other officers share this belief.[72][N 10]
General Klaus Naumann, who served as Chief of Staff of the Bundeswehr, agrees with the military
historian Charles Messenger that Rommel had challenges at the operational level, and states that
Rommel's violation of the unity of command principle, bypassing the chain of command in Africa, was
unacceptable and contributed to the eventual operational and strategic
failure in North Africa.[463][N 11] The German biographer Wolf Heckmann
describes Rommel as "the most overrated commander of an army in world
history".[464]

Nevertheless, there is also a notable number of officers who admire his

methods, like Norman Schwarzkopf who described Rommel as a genius at
battles of movement saying "Look at Rommel. Look at North Africa, the
Arab-Israeli wars, and all the rest of them. A war in the desert is a war of
mobility and lethality. It's not a war where straight lines are drawn in the
sand and [you] say, 'I will defend here or die."[465][466] Ariel Sharon
deemed the German military model used by Rommel to be superior to the
British model used by Montgomery.[467] His compatriot Moshe Dayan Rommel and Vice Admiral
likewise considered Rommel a model and icon.[468] Wesley Clark states Friedrich Ruge visiting the
that "Rommel's military reputation, though, has lived on, and still sets the U-boat base in La Rochelle,
standard for a style of daring, charismatic leadership to which most France, February 1944
officers aspire."[469] During the recent desert wars, Rommel's military
theories and experiences attracted great interest from policymakers and
military instructors.[470][471] Chinese military leader Sun Li-jen had the laudatory nickname "Rommel of
the East".[472] Certain modern military historians, such as Larry T. Addington, Niall Barr, Douglas Porch
and Robert Citino, are sceptical of Rommel as an operational, let alone strategic level commander. They
point to Rommel's lack of appreciation for Germany's strategic situation, his misunderstanding of the
relative importance of his theatre to the German High Command, his poor grasp of logistical realities,
and, according to the historian Ian Beckett, his "penchant for glory hunting".[473][474] Citino credits
Rommel's limitations as an operational level commander as "materially contributing" to the eventual
demise of the Axis forces in North Africa,[474][N 12] while Addington focuses on the struggle over
strategy, whereby Rommel's initial brilliant success resulted in "catastrophic effects" for Germany in
North Africa.[475] Porch highlights Rommel's "offensive mentality", symptomatic of the Wehrmacht
commanders as a whole in the belief that the tactical and operational victories would lead to strategic
success. Compounding the problem was the Wehrmacht's institutional tendency to discount logistics,
industrial output and their opponents' capacity to learn from past mistakes.[476]

The historian Geoffrey P. Megargee points out Rommel's playing the German and Italian command
structures against each other to his advantage. Rommel used the confused structure—the High command
of the armed forces, the OKH (Supreme High Command of the Army) and the Comando Supremo (Italian
Supreme Command)—to disregard orders that he disagreed with or to appeal to whatever authority he felt
would be most sympathetic to his requests.[477]

Some historians take issue with Rommel's absence from Normandy on the day of the Allied invasion, 6
June 1944. He had left France on 5 June and was at home on the 6th celebrating his wife's birthday.
(According to Rommel, he planned to proceed to see Hitler the next day to discuss the situation in
Normandy).[478][479] Zabecki calls his decision to leave the theatre in view of an imminent invasion "an
incredible lapse of command responsibility".[478] Lieb remarks that Rommel displayed real mental
agility, but the lack of an energetic commander, together with other problems, caused the battle largely
not to be conducted in his concept (which is the opposite of the German doctrine), although the result was
still better than Geyr's plan.[480] Lieb also opines that while his
harshest critics (who mostly came from the General Staff) often
said that Rommel was overrated or not suitable for higher
commands, envy was a big factor here.[481]

T.L. McMahon argues that while Rommel no doubt possessed

operational vision, he did not have the strategic resources to effect
his operational choices while his forces provided the tactical
ability to accomplish his goals, and the German staff and system Inspecting the soldiers of the anti-
of staff command were designed for commanders who led from British Free India Legion, France,
1944
the front, and in some cases he might have chosen the same
options as Montgomery (a reputedly strategy-oriented
commander) had he been put in the same conditions.[482] According to Steven Zaloga, tactical flexibility
was a great advantage of the German system, but in the final years of the war, Hitler and his cronies like
Himmler and Goering had usurped more and more authority at the strategic level, leaving professionals
like Rommel increasing constraints on their actions.[483] Martin Blumenson considers Rommel a general
with a compelling view of strategy and logistics, which was demonstrated through his many arguments
with his superiors over such matters, although Blumenson also thinks that what distinguished Rommel
was his boldness, his intuitive feel for the battlefield.[384](Upon which Schwarzkopf also comments
"Rommel had a feel for the battlefield like no other man."[484])

Joseph Forbes comments that: "The complex, conflict-filled interaction between Rommel and his
superiors over logistics, objectives and priorities should not be used to detract from Rommel's reputation
as a remarkable military leader", because Rommel was not given powers over logistics, and because if
only generals who attain strategic-policy goals are great generals, such highly regarded commanders as
Robert E. Lee, Hannibal, Charles XII would have to be excluded from that list.[485] General Siegfried F.
Storbeck, Deputy Inspector General of the Bundeswehr (1987–1991), remarks that, Rommel's leadership
style and offensive thinking, although carrying inherent risks like losing the overview of the situation and
creating overlapping of authority, have been proved effective, and have been analysed and incorporated in
the training of officers by "us, our Western allies, the Warsaw Pact, and even the Israel Defense
Forces".[486] Maurice Remy defends his strategic decision regarding Malta as, although risky, the only
logical choice.[N 13]

Rommel was among the few Axis commanders (the others being Isoroku Yamamoto and Reinhard
Heydrich) who were targeted for assassination by Allied planners. Two attempts were made, the first
being Operation Flipper in North Africa in 1941, and the second being Operation Gaff in Normandy in
1944.[488]
Research by Norman Ohler claims that Rommel's behaviours were heavily influenced by Pervitin which
he reportedly took in heavy doses, to such an extent that Ohler refers to him as "the Crystal Fox"
("Kristallfuchs")[489][490]—playing off the nickname "Desert Fox" famously given to him by the
British.[491][492]

Debate about atrocities

Executions of prisoners in France

In France, Rommel ordered the execution of one French officer who refused three times to cooperate
when being taken prisoner; there are disputes as to whether this execution was justified.[493][494]
Caddick-Adams comments that this would make Rommel a war criminal condemned by his own hand,
and that other authors overlook this episode.[495] Butler notes that the officer refused to surrender three
times and thus died in a courageous but foolhardy way.[496] French historian Petitfrère remarks that
Rommel was in a hurry and had no time for useless palavers, although this act was still debatable.[497]
Telp remarks that, "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."[498] Scheck says,
"Although there is no evidence incriminating Rommel himself, his unit did fight in areas where German
massacres of black French prisoners of war were extremely common in June 1940."[499][500][501][502]

Historian David Stone notes that acts of shooting surrendered prisoners were carried out by Rommel's 7th
Panzer Division and observes contradictory statements in Rommel's account of the events; Rommel
initially wrote that "any enemy troops were wiped out or forced to withdraw" but also added that "many
prisoners taken were hopelessly drunk."[503] Stone attributes the massacres of soldiers from the 53ème
Regiment d'Infanterie Coloniale (N'Tchoréré's unit) on 7 June to the 5th Infantry Division.[N 14] Historian
Daniel Butler agrees that it was possible that the massacre at Le Quesnoy happened given the existence of
Nazis, such as Hanke, in Rommel's division, while stating that in comparison with other German units,
few sources regarding such actions of the men of the 7th Panzer exist. Butler believes that "it's almost
impossible to imagine" Rommel authorising or countenancing such actions. He also writes that "Some
accusers have twisted a remark in Rommel's own account of the action in the village of Le Quesnoy as
proof that he at least tacitly condoned the executions—'any enemy troops were either wiped out or forced
to withdraw'—but the words themselves as well as the context of the passage hardly support the
contention."[504]

Treatment of Jews and other civilians in North Africa

Giordana Terracina writes that: "On April 3, the Italians recaptured Benghazi and a few months later the
Afrika Korps led by Rommel was sent to Libya and began the deportation of the Jews of Cyrenaica in the
Giado concentration camp and other smaller towns in Tripolitania. This measure was accompanied by
shooting, also in Benghazi, of some Jews guilty of having welcomed the British troops, on their arrival,
treating them as liberators."[505] Gershom states that Italian authorities were responsible for bringing
Jews into their concentration camps, which were "not built to exterminate its inmates", yet as the water
and food supply was meagre, were not built to keep humans alive either. Also according to Gershom, the
German consul in Tripoli knew about the process and trucks used to transport supplies to Rommel were
sometimes used to transport Jews, despite all the problems the German forces were having.[506] The
Jerusalem Post's review of Gershom Gorenberg's War of shadows writes that: "The Italians were far more
brutal with civilians, including Libyan Jews, than Rommel’s Afrika Korps, which by all accounts abided
by the laws of war. But nobody worried that the Italians who sent Jews to concentration camps in Libya,
would invade British-held Egypt, let alone Mandatory Palestine."[507]

According to German historian Wolfgang Proske, Rommel forbade his soldiers from buying anything
from the Jewish population of Tripoli, used Jewish slave labour and commanded Jews to clear out
minefields by walking on them ahead of his forces.[508] According to Proske, some of the Libyan Jews
were eventually sent to concentration camps.[509] Historians Christian Schweizer and Peter Lieb note
that: "Over the last few years, even though the social science teacher Wolfgang Proske has sought to
participate in the discussion [on Rommel] with very strong opinions, his biased submissions are not
scientifically received."[510] The Heidenheimer Zeitung notes that Proske was the publisher of his main
work Täter, Helfer, Trittbrettfahrer – NS-Belastete von der Ostalb, after failing to have it published by
another publisher.[511]

According to historian Michael Wolffsohn, during the Africa campaign, preparations for committing
genocide against the North African Jews were in full swing and a thousand of them were transported to
East European concentration camps.[512] At the same time, he recommends the Bundeswehr to keep the
names and traditions associated with Rommel (although Wolffsohn opines that focus should be put on the
politically thoughtful soldier he became at the end of his life, rather than the swashbuckler and the
humane rogue).[513]

Robert Satloff writes in his book Among the Righteous: Lost Stories from the Holocaust's Long Reach
into Arab Lands that as the German and Italian forces retreated across Libya towards Tunisia, the Jewish
population became victim upon which they released their anger and frustration. According to Satloff
Afrika Korps soldiers plundered Jewish property all along the Libyan coast. This violence and
persecution only came to an end with the arrival of General Montgomery in Tripoli on 23 January
1943.[514] According to Maurice Remy, although there were antisemitic individuals in the Afrika Korps,
actual cases of abuse are not known, even against the Jewish soldiers of the Eighth Army. Remy quotes
Isaac Levy, the Senior Jewish Chaplain of the Eighth Army, as saying that he had never seen "any sign or
hint that the soldiers [of the Afrika Korps] are antisemitic.".[515] The Telegraph comments: "Accounts
suggest that it was not Field Marshal Erwin Rommel but the ruthless SS colonel Walter Rauff who
stripped Tunisian Jews of their wealth."[516]

Commenting on Rommel's conquest of Tunisia, Marvin Perry writes that: "The bridgehead Rommel
established in Tunisia enabled the SS to herd Jews into slave labor camps."[517]

Jan Friedmann writes that: "The SS had established a network of labor camps in Tunisia. More than 2,500
Tunisian Jews died in six months of German rule, and the regular army was also involved in
executions."[518] Caron writes in Der Spiegel that the camps were organised in early December 1942 by
Nehring, the commander in Tunisia, and Rauff, while Rommel was retreating.[429] As commander of the
German Afrika Korps, Nehring would continue to use Tunisian forced labour.[519] According to Caddick-
Adams, no Waffen-SS served under Rommel in Africa at any time and most of the activities of Rauff's
detachment happened after Rommel's departure.[402] Shepherd notes that during this time Rommel was
retreating and there is no evidence that he had contact with the Einsatzkommando.[432] Addressing the
call of some authors to contextualise Rommel's actions in Italy and North Africa, Wolfgang Mährle
argues that while it is undeniable that Rommel played the role of a Generalfeldmarschall in a criminal
war, this only illustrates in a limited way his personal attitude and the actions resulted from that.[520]

Alleged treasure and spoils

According to several historians, allegations and stories that associate Rommel and the Afrika Korps with
the harassing and plundering of Jewish gold and property in Tunisia are usually known under the name
"Rommel's treasure" or "Rommel's gold".[521][429][522] Michael FitzGerald comments that the treasure
should be named more accurately as Rauff's gold, as Rommel had nothing to do with its acquisition or
removal.[523] Jean-Christoph Caron comments that the treasure legend has a real core and that Jewish
property was looted by the SS in Tunisia and later might have been hidden or sunken around the port city
of Corsica, where Rauff was stationed in 1943. The person who gave birth to the full-blown legend was
the SS soldier Walter Kirner, who presented a false map to the French authorities.[429] Caron and Jörg
Müllner, his co-author of the ZDF documentary Rommel's treasure (Rommels Schatz) tell Die Welt that
"Rommel had nothing to do with the treasure, but his name is assocỉated with everything that happened in
the war in Africa."[522]

Rick Atkinson criticises Rommel for gaining a looted stamp collection (a bribe from Sepp Dietrich) and a
villa taken from Jews.[524] Lucas, Matthews and Remy though describe the contemptuous and angry
reaction of Rommel towards Dietrich's act and the lootings and other brutal behaviours of the SS that he
had discovered in Italy.[525][526] Claudia Hecht also explains that although the Stuttgart and Ulm
authorities did arrange for the Rommel family to use a villa whose Jewish owners had been forced out
two years earlier, for a brief period after their own house had been destroyed by Allied bombing,
ownership of it was never transferred to them.[527] Butler notes that Rommel was one of the few who
refused large estates and gifts of cash Hitler gave to his generals.[528]

In Nazi and Allied propaganda

At the beginning, although Hitler and Goebbels took particular notice of Rommel, the Nazi elites had no
intent to create one major war symbol (partly out of fear that he would offset Hitler[529][530]), generating
huge propaganda campaigns for not only Rommel but also Gerd von Rundstedt, Walther von Brauchitsch,
Eduard Dietl, Sepp Dietrich (the latter two were party members and also strongly supported by Hitler),
etc.[531][286][532] Nevertheless, a multitude of factors—including Rommel's unusual charisma,[N 15][N 16]
his talents both in military matters and public relations,[534][N 17], the efforts of Goebbels's propaganda
machine, and the Allies' participation in mythologising his life (either for political benefits,[531] sympathy
for someone who evoked a romantic archetype,[536] or genuine admiration for his actions[537])—
gradually contributed to Rommel's fame. Spiegel wrote, "Even back then his fame outshone that of all
other commanders."

Rommel's victories in France were featured in the German press and in the February 1941 film Sieg im
Westen (Victory in the West), in which Rommel personally helped direct a segment re-enacting the
crossing of the Somme River.[538]According to Scheck, although there is no evidence of Rommel
committing crimes, during the shooting of the movie, African prisoners of war, were forced to take part in
its making, and forced to carry out humiliating acts.[539][540] Stills from the re-enactment are found in
"Rommel Collection"; it was filmed by Hans Ertl, assigned to this task by Dr. Kurt Hesse, a personal
friend of Rommel, who worked for Wehrmacht Propaganda Section V [541] Rommel's victories in 1941
were played up by the Nazi propaganda, even though his successes in North Africa were achieved in
arguably one of Germany's least strategically important theatres of World War II.[495][N 18] In November
1941, Reich Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels wrote about "the urgent need" to have Rommel
"elevated to a kind of popular hero." Rommel, with his innate abilities as a military commander and love
of the spotlight, was a perfect fit for the role Goebbels designed for him.[495]

Successes in North Africa

In North Africa, Rommel received help in cultivating his image
from Alfred Ingemar Berndt, a senior official at the Reich
Propaganda Ministry who had volunteered for military
service.[543] Seconded by Goebbels, Berndt was assigned to
Rommel's staff and became one of his closest aides. Berndt often
acted as a liaison between Rommel, the Propaganda Ministry, and
the Führer Headquarters. He directed Rommel's photo shoots and
filed radio dispatches describing the battles.[544][474]
Rommel at a Paris victory parade
In the spring of 1941, Rommel's name began to appear in the
(June 1940). Rommel had access to
British media. In the autumn of 1941 and early winter of
Reich Minister of Propaganda
1941/1942, he was mentioned in the British press almost daily. Joseph Goebbels via a senior
Toward the end of the year, the Reich propaganda machine also propaganda official Karl Hanke, who
used Rommel's successes in Africa as a diversion from the served under Rommel during the
Wehrmacht's challenging situation in the Soviet Union with the 1940 campaign.[542]
stall of Operation Barbarossa.[545][546][N 19] The American press
soon began to take notice of Rommel as well, following the
country's entry into the war on 11 December 1941, writing that "The British (...) admire him because he
beat them and were surprised to have beaten in turn such a capable general." General Auchinleck
distributed a directive to his commanders seeking to dispel the notion that Rommel was a
"superman".[547][548] Rommel, no matter how hard the situation was, made a deliberate effort at always
spending some time with soldiers and patients, his own and POWs alike, which contributed greatly to his
reputation of not only being a great commander but also "a decent chap" among the troops.[537][549]

The attention of the Western and especially the British press thrilled Goebbels, who wrote in his diary in
early 1942: "Rommel continues to be the recognized darling of even the enemies' news agencies."[550]
The Field Marshal was pleased by the media attention, although he knew the downsides of having a
reputation.[550][N 20][551] Hitler took note of the British propaganda as well, commenting in the summer
of 1942 that Britain's leaders must have hoped "to be able to explain their defeat to their own nation more
easily by focusing on Rommel".[552]

The Field Marshal was the German commander most frequently covered in the German media and the
only one to be given a press conference, which took place in October 1942.[474][553] The press conference
was moderated by Goebbels and was attended by both domestic and foreign media. Rommel declared:
"Today we (...) have the gates of Egypt in hand, and with the intent to act!" Keeping the focus on
Rommel distracted the German public from Wehrmacht losses elsewhere as the tide of the war began to
turn. He became a symbol that was used to reinforce the German public's faith in an ultimate Axis
victory.[554]

Military reverses
In the wake of the successful British offensive in November 1942 and other military reverses, the
Propaganda Ministry directed the media to emphasise Rommel's invincibility. The charade was
maintained until the spring of 1943, even as the German situation in Africa became increasingly
precarious. To ensure that the inevitable defeat in Africa would not be associated with Rommel's name,
Goebbels had the Army High Command announce in May 1943 that Rommel was on a two-month leave
for health reasons.[555][N 21] Instead, the campaign was presented by Berndt, who resumed his role in the
Propaganda Ministry, as a ruse to tie down the British Empire while Germany was turning Europe into an
impenetrable fortress with Rommel at the helm of this success. After the radio programme ran in May
1943, Rommel sent Berndt a case of cigars as a sign of his gratitude.[555]

Although Rommel then entered a period without a significant

command, he remained a household name in Germany,
synonymous with the aura of invincibility.[557] Hitler then made
Rommel part of his defensive strategy for Fortress Europe
(Festung Europa) by sending him to the West to inspect
fortifications along the Atlantic Wall. Goebbels supported the
decision, noting in his diary that Rommel was "undoubtedly the
suitable man" for the task. The propaganda minister expected the One of the many propaganda
move to reassure the German public and at the same time to have photographs of Rommel on
a negative impact on the Allied forces' morale.[558] inspection tours of the Atlantic Wall

In France, a Wehrmacht propaganda company frequently

accompanied Rommel on his inspection trips to document his work for both domestic and foreign
audiences.[222][559] In May 1944 the German newsreels reported on Rommel's speech at a Wehrmacht
conference, where he stated his conviction that "every single German soldier will make his contribution
against the Anglo-American spirit that it deserves for its criminal and bestial air war campaign against our
homeland." The speech led to an upswing in morale and sustained confidence in Rommel.[560]

When Rommel was seriously wounded on 17 July 1944, the Propaganda Ministry undertook efforts to
conceal the injury so as not to undermine domestic morale. Despite those, the news leaked to the British
press. To counteract the rumours of a serious injury and even death, Rommel was required to appear at a
1 August press conference. On 3 August, the German press published an official report that Rommel had
been injured in a car accident. Rommel noted in his diary his dismay at this twisting of the truth,
belatedly realising how much the Reich propaganda was using him for its own ends.[560]

Rommel's views on propaganda

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."[561]
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."[562]) 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.[563]

He urged Axis authorities to treat the Arab with the utmost respect to prevent uprisings behind the
front.[564] He protested the use of propaganda at the cost of explicit military benefits though, criticising
Hitler's headquarters for being unable to tell the German people and the world that El Alamein had been
lost and preventing the evacuation of the German forces in Northern Africa in the process.[565][566] Ruge
suggests that his chief treated his own fame as a kind of weapon.[220]

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."[218][6][567][568]

Relationship with Nazism

Rommel was not a member of the Nazi Party.[52] Rommel and
Hitler had a close and genuine, if complicated, personal
relationship. Rommel, as other Wehrmacht officers, welcomed the
Nazi rise to power.[569][70] Numerous historians state that Rommel
was one of Hitler's favourite generals and that his close
relationship with the dictator benefited both his inter-war and war-
time career.[72][570][70] Robert Citino describes Rommel as "not
apolitical" and writes that he owed his career to Hitler, to whom Erwin Rommel and Adolf Hitler in
1942
Rommel's attitude was "worshipful",[474] with Messenger agreeing
that Rommel owed his tank command, his hero status and other
promotions to Hitler's interference and support.[474][571][N 22]

Kesselring described Rommel's own power over Hitler as "hypnotic".[573] In 1944, Rommel himself told
Ruge and his wife that Hitler had a kind of irresistible magnetic aura ("Magnetismus") and was always
seemingly in an intoxicated condition.[574] Maurice Remy identifies that the point at which their
relationship became a personal one was 1939 when Rommel proudly announced to his friend Kurt Hesse
that he had "sort of forced Hitler to go with me (to the Hradschin Castle in Prague, in an open top car,
without another bodyguard), under my personal protection ... He had entrusted himself to me and would
never forget me for my excellent advice."[575]
The close relationship between Rommel and Hitler continued following the Western campaign; after
Rommel sent him a specially prepared diary on the 7th Division, he received a letter of thanks from the
dictator.[576] (According to Speer, he would normally send extremely unclear reports which annoyed
Hitler greatly.[577]) According to Maurice Remy, the relationship, which Remy calls "a dream marriage",
showed the first crack only in 1942,[578] and later gradually turned into, in the words of German writer
Ernst Jünger (in contact with Rommel in Normandy), "Haßliebe" (a love-hate relationship).[579] Ruge's
diary and Rommel's letters to his wife show his mood fluctuating wildly regarding Hitler: while he
showed disgust towards the atrocities and disappointment towards the situation, he was overjoyed to
welcome a visit from Hitler, only to return to depression the next day when faced with reality.[580]

Hitler displayed the same emotions. Amid growing doubts and differences, he would remain eager for
Rommel's calls (they had almost daily, hour-long, highly animated conversations, with the preferred topic
being technical innovations[581]): he once almost grabbed the telephone out of Linge's hand. But,
according to Linge, seeing Rommel's disobedience Hitler also realised his mistake in building up
Rommel, whom not only the Afrika Korps but also the German people in general now considered the
German God.[582] Hitler tried to fix the dysfunctional relationship many times without results, with
Rommel calling his attempts "Sunlamp Treatment", although later he said that "Once I have loved the
Führer, and I still do."[218][583] Remy and Der Spiegel remark that the statement was very much genuine,
while Watson notes that Rommel believed he deserved to die for his treasonable plan.[584]

Rommel was an ambitious man who took advantage of his proximity to Hitler and willingly accepted the
propaganda campaigns designed for him by Goebbels.[569] On one hand, he wanted personal promotion
and the realisation of his ideals. On the other hand, being elevated by the traditional system that gave
preferential treatment to aristocratic officers would be betrayal of his aspiration "to remain a man of the
troops".[N 23] In 1918, Rommel refused an invitation to a prestigious officer training course, and with it,
the chance to be promoted to general.[586] Additionally, he had no inclination towards the political route,
preferring to remain a soldier ("Nur-Soldat").[587][588][589] He was thus attracted by the Common Man
theme which promised to level German society,[590] the glorification of the national community,[262] and
the idea of a soldier of common background who served the Fatherland with talent and got rewarded by
another common man who embodied the will of the German people.[590] While he had much indignation
towards Germany's contemporary class problem, this self-association with the Common Man went along
well with his desire to simulate the knights of the past, who also led from the front.[591] Rommel seemed
to enjoy the idea of peace, as shown by his words to his wife in August 1939: "You can trust me, we have
taken part in one World War, but as long as our generation live, there will not be a second", as well as his
letter sent to her the night before the Invasion of Poland, in which he expressed (in Maurice Remy's
phrase) "boundless optimism": "I still believe the atmosphere will not become more bellicose."[592]
Butler remarks that Rommel was centre in his politics, leaning a little to the left in his attitude.[593]

Messenger argues that Rommel's attitude towards Hitler changed only after the Allied invasion of
Normandy when Rommel came to realise that the war could not be won,[571] while Maurice Remy
suggests that Rommel never truly broke away from the relationship with Hitler but praises him for
"always [having] the courage to oppose him whenever his conscience required so".[578] The historian
Peter Lieb states that it was not clear whether the threat of defeat was the only reason Rommel wanted to
switch sides.[262] The relationship seemed to go significantly downhill after a conversation in July 1943,
in which Hitler told Rommel that if they did not win the war, the Germans could rot. Rommel even began
to think that it was lucky that his Afrika Korps were now safe as POWs and could escape Hitler's
Wagnerian ending.[594][595][596] Die Welt commented in 2011 that Hitler chose Rommel as his favourite
because he was apolitical, and that the combination of his military expertise and circumstances allowed
Rommel to remain clean.[597]

Rommel's political inclinations were a controversial matter even among the contemporary Nazi elites.
Rommel himself, while showing support to some facets of the Nazi ideology[299] and enjoying the
propaganda machine that the Nazis had built around him, was enraged by the Nazi media's effort to
portray him as an early Party member and son of a mason, forcing them to correct this
misinformation.[598][599] The Nazi elites were not comfortable with the idea of a national icon who did
not wholeheartedly support the regime. Hitler and Goebbels, his main supporters, tended to defend him.
When Rommel was being considered for appointment as Commander-in-Chief of the Army in the
summer of 1942, Goebbels wrote in his diary that Rommel "is ideologically sound, is not just
sympathetic to the National Socialists. He is a National Socialist; he is a troop leader with a gift for
improvisation, personally courageous and extraordinarily inventive. These are the kinds of soldiers we
need."[570] Despite this, they gradually saw that his grasp of political realities and his views could be very
different from theirs.[567][600][N 24] Hitler knew, though, that Rommel's optimistic and combative
character was indispensable for his war efforts. When Rommel lost faith in the final victory and Hitler's
leadership, Hitler and Goebbels tried to find an alternative in Manstein to remedy the fighting will and
"political direction" of other generals but did not succeed.[602][603]

Meanwhile, officials who did not like Rommel, such as Bormann and Schirach, whispered to each other
that he was not a Nazi at all.[604] Rommel's relationship to the Nazi elites, other than Hitler and Goebbels,
was mostly hostile, although even powerful people like Bormann[605] and Himmler had to tread carefully
around Rommel. Himmler, who played a decisive role in Rommel's death, tried to blame Keitel and Jodl
for the deed. And in fact the deed was initiated by them. They deeply resented Rommel's meteoric rise
and had long feared that he would become the Commander-in-Chief.[582][606] (Hitler also played innocent
by trying to erect a monument for the national hero, on 7 March 1945[607]) Franz Halder, after concocting
several schemes to rein in Rommel through people like Paulus and Gause to no avail (even willing to
undermine German operations and strategy in the process for the sole purpose of embarrassing him[329]),
concluded that Rommel was a madman with whom no one dared to cross swords because of "his brutal
methods and his backing from the highest levels". (Rommel imposed a high number of courts-martial, but
according to Westphal, he never signed the final order. Owen Connelly comments that he could afford
easy discipline because of his charisma).[608][609][610][611] Rommel for his part was highly critical of
Himmler, Halder, the High Command and particularly Goering who Rommel at one point called his
"bitterest enemy".[N 25] Hitler realised that Rommel attracted the elites' negative emotions to himself, in
the same way he generated optimism in the common people. Depending on the case, Hitler manipulated
or exacerbated the situation in order to benefit himself,[613][614][N 26] although he originally had no intent
of pushing Rommel to the point of destruction.[587] (Even when informed of Rommel's involvement in
the plot, hurt and vengeful,[218] Hitler at first wanted to retire Rommel,[616] and eventually offered him a
last-minute chance to explain himself and refute the claims, which Rommel apparently did not take
advantage of.[617][618]) Ultimately Rommel's enemies worked together to bring him down.[613]

Maurice Remy concludes that, unwillingly and probably without ever realising it, Rommel was part of a
murderous regime, although he never actually grasped the core of Nazism.[619] Peter Lieb sees Rommel
as a person who could not be put into a single drawer, although problematic by modern moral standards,
and suggests people should personally decide for themselves whether Rommel should remain a role
model or not.[262] He was a Nazi general in some aspects, considering his support for the leader cult
(Führerkult) and the Volksgemeinschaft, but he was not an antisemite, nor a war criminal, nor a radical
ideological fighter.[620] Historian Cornelia Hecht remarks "It is really hard to know who the man behind
the myth was," noting that in numerous letters he wrote to his wife during their almost 30-year marriage,
he commented little on political issues as well as his personal life as a husband and a father.[621]

Rommel myth
According to some revisionist authors, an assessment of Rommel's role in history has been hampered by
views of Rommel that were formed, at least in part, for political reasons, creating what these historians
have called the "Rommel myth". The interpretation considered by some historians to be a myth is the
depiction of the Field Marshal as an apolitical, brilliant commander and a victim of Nazi Germany who
participated in the 20 July plot against Adolf Hitler. There are a notable number of authors who refer to
"Rommel Myth" or "Rommel Legend" in a neutral or positive manner though.[622] The seeds of the myth
can be found first in Rommel's drive for success as a young officer in World War I and then in his popular
1937 book Infantry Attacks, which was written in a style that diverged from the German military
literature of the time and became a best-seller.

The myth then took shape during the opening years of World War
II, as a component of Nazi propaganda to praise the Wehrmacht
and instil optimism in the German public, with Rommel's willing
participation. When Rommel came to North Africa, it was picked
up and disseminated in the West by the British press as the Allies
sought to explain their continued inability to defeat the Axis forces
in North Africa.[623] The British military and political figures
contributed to the heroic image of the man as Rommel resumed Rommel with Hans Speidel, who
offensive operations in January 1942 against the British forces was involved in the 20 July plot
weakened by redeployments to the Far East. During parliamentary
debate following the fall of Tobruk, Churchill described Rommel
as an "extraordinary bold and clever opponent" and a "great field commander".[547]

According to Der Spiegel following the war's end, West Germany yearned for father figures who were
needed to replace the former ones who had been unmasked as criminals. Rommel was chosen because he
embodied the decent soldier, cunning yet fair-minded, and if guilty by association, not so guilty that he
became unreliable, and additionally, former comrades reported that he was close to the Resistance.[218]
While everyone else was disgraced, his star became brighter than ever, and he made the historically
unprecedented leap over the threshold between eras: from Hitler's favourite general to the young
republic's hero. Cornelia Hecht notes that despite the change of times, Rommel has become the symbol of
different regimes and concepts, which is paradoxical, whoever the man he really was.[624]

At the same time, the Western Allies, and particularly the British, depicted Rommel as the "good
German". His reputation for conducting a clean war was used in the interest of the West German
rearmament and reconciliation between the former enemies—Britain and the United States on one side
and the new Federal Republic of Germany on the other.[625] When Rommel's alleged involvement in the
plot to kill Hitler became known after the war, his stature was enhanced in the eyes of his former
adversaries. Rommel was often cited in Western sources as a patriotic German willing to stand up to
Hitler. Churchill wrote about him in 1950: "[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."[626]

Family life
While at Cadet School in 1911, Rommel met and became engaged to 17-year-old Lucia (Lucie) Maria
Mollin (1894–1971).[19] While stationed in Weingarten in 1913, Rommel developed a relationship with
Walburga Stemmer, which produced a daughter, Gertrud, born 8 December 1913.[627] 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.[628] Rommel and Mollin were married in November 1916
in Danzig.[19] Rommel's marriage was a happy one, and he wrote his wife at least one letter every day
while he was in the field.[19]

After the end of the First World War, the couple settled initially in Stuttgart, and Stemmer and her child
lived with them. Gertrud was referred to as Rommel's niece, a fiction that went unquestioned because of
the enormous number of women widowed during the war.[629] Walburga died suddenly in October 1928,
and Gertrud remained a member of the household until Rommel's death in 1944.[630] The incident with
Walburga seemed to affect Rommel for the rest of his life: he would always keep women distant.[631] A
son, Manfred Rommel, was born on 24 December 1928, and later served as Mayor of Stuttgart from 1974
to 1996.[632]

Awards
Military Merit Order (Württemberg)[634]
Friedrich Order Knight 1st Class (Württemberg)
Military Merit Cross, 3rd class with war decoration and swords
(Austria-Hungary)
Military Merit Order (Bavaria) 4th Class with Swords
Iron Cross 2nd Class on 24 September 1914 and 1st Class on
29 January 1915[635]
Pour le Mérite on 18 December 1917[636]
Bust of Rommel at Al
Wound Badge 1918 in Silver
Alamein war museum in
Clasp to the Iron Cross 2nd Class on 13 May 1940 and 1st
Egypt, which was built by
Class on 15 May 1940[637] Anwar Sadat in honour of
Panzer Badge In Silver Rommel. The museum was
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and later expanded into a
Diamonds general war museum but
Rommel remains a central
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 27 May 1940 as
figure.[633]
commander of the 7th Panzer-Division[638]
Oak Leaves (10th recipient) on 20 March 1941 as
commander of the 7th Panzer-Division[638]
 Swords (sixth recipient) on 20 January 1942 as commander of the Panzer Group
Afrika[638]
Diamonds (sixth recipient) on 11 March 1943 as commander in chief of the Army Group
Afrika[638]
Grand Officer of the Military Order of Savoy on 11 May 1941[164]
Knight Grand Cross in the summer of 1942
Italian Gold Medal of Military Valour in February 1942[639]
Knight of the Colonial Order of the Star of Italy in February 1942[639]

Commemoration
The German Army's largest base, the Field Marshal Rommel
Barracks, Augustdorf, is named in his honour; at the dedication in
1961, his widow Lucie and son Manfred Rommel were guests of
honour.[640] The Rommel Barracks, Dornstadt, was also named for
him in 1965.[640] A third base named for him, the Field Marshal
Rommel Barracks, Osterode, closed in 2004. The German
destroyer Rommel was named for him in 1969 and christened by
his widow; the ship was decommissioned in 1998.[641]
Memorial to Erwin Rommel in
Heidenheim, Germany
The Rommel Memorial was erected in Heidenheim in 1961. In
2020, a sculpture of a landmine victim was placed next to the
Rommel Memorial in Heidenheim. The city mayor Bernhard Ilg comments that, regarding "the great son
of Heidenheim", "there are many opinions".[642] Heidenheim eventually dedicated the Memorial towards
a stand against war, militarism and extremism, stating that when the memorial was erected in 1961,
statements were added that now are not compatible with modern knowledge about Rommel.[643]
Deutsche Welle noted that the 17 million mines the British, Italian, and German armies left continue to
claim lives to this day.[644]

In Aalen, after a discussion on renaming a street named after him, a new place of commemoration was
created, where stelae with information on the lives of Rommel and three opponents of the regime (Eugen
Bolz, Friedrich Schwarz and Karl Mikeller) stand together (Rommel's stele is dark blue and rusty red
while the others are light-coloured). The History Association of Aalen, together with an independent
commission of historians from Düsseldorf, welcomes the keeping of the street's name and notes that
Rommel was neither a war criminal nor a resistance fighter, but a perpetrator and victim at the same time
– he willingly served as figurehead for the regime, then lately recognised his mistake and paid for that
with his life. An education program named "Erwin Rommel and Aalen" for schoolchildren in Aalen is
also established.[645][646]

In 2021, the Student Council of the Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) decided to

change the name of their Süd-Campus (South Campus, Erlangen) into Rommel-Campus, emphasising
that the city of Erlangen stands behind the name and the university needs to do the same.[647] The
university's branch of the Education and Science Workers' Union (GEW) describes the decision as
problematic considering Rommel's history of supporting the Nazi regime militarily and
propagandistically.[648]
Numerous streets in Germany, especially in Rommel's home state of Baden-Württemberg, are named in
his honour, including the street near where his last home was located. The Rommel Museum opened in
1989 in the Villa Lindenhof in Herrlingen.[649] The museum now operates under the name Museum
Lebenslinien (Lifelines Museum), which presents the lives of Rommel and other notable residents of
Herrlingen, including the poet Gertrud Kantorowicz (whose collection is presented together with the
Rommel Archive inside a building on a road named after Rommel), the educators Anna Essinger and
Hugo Rosenthal.[650] There is also a Rommel Museum in Mersa Matruh in Egypt which opened in 1977,
and which is located in one of Rommel's former headquarters; various other localities and establishments
in Mersa Matruh, including Rommel Beach, are also named for Rommel.[651] The reason for the naming
is that he respected the Bedouins' traditions and the sanctity of their homes (he always kept his troops at
least 2 kilometres from their houses) and refused to poison the wells against the Allies, fearing doing so
would harm the population.[652]

In Italy, the annual marathon tour "Rommel Trail", which is sponsored by the Protezione Civile and the
autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia through its tourism agency, celebrates Rommel and the Battle
of Caporetto. The naming and sponsoring (at that time by the centre-left PD) was criticised by the
politician Giuseppe Civati in 2017.[653][654]

Portrayals
Erich von Stroheim (1943) (Five Graves to Cairo)
James Mason (1951) (The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel)
James Mason (1953) (The Desert Rats)
Paul Klinger (1959) (Rommel Calls Cairo)
Werner Hinz (1962) (The Longest Day)
Christopher Plummer (1967) (The Night of the Generals)
Robert Hossein (1969) (The Battle of El Alamein)
Karl Michael Vogler (1970) (Patton)
Wolfgang Preiss (1971) (Raid on Rommel)
Ulrich Tukur (2012) (Rommel)
Robert Pike Daniel (2014) (P-51 Dragon Fighter)

Notes
1. The Italian army had been pushed back out of Cyrenaica and nearly 140,000 troops
captured
2. It is not known exactly who coined the name first, as Desert Fox (in Britain) and
Wüstenfuchs (in Germany) seemingly came into use at the same time.[108]
3. Lieb: Of course, Rommel did not conceive all these devices himself ... [222]
4. Earle Rice, historian and senior design engineer in aerospace and nuclear industries: he
would add all manner of ingenious obstacles and impedance devices to the anticipated
landing areas. But ... shortages of concrete and other materials and insufficient time
prevented him from completing the Atlantic Wall to his satisfaction.[223]
 5. Zaloga, historian and military technology expert: Rommel and his headquarters developed a
variety of obstacles to interfere with landing craft. This was Rommel's single most important
contribution to the defence of the Normandy coast ... Rommel's pet project, the coastal
obstacles, had proven to be one of the most successful innovations in the German
defences.[224]
6. "Burgdorf had with him copies of the interrogations of Hofacker, Stülpnagel and Speidel,
along with a letter written by Keitel ostensibly dictated by Hitler himself. In the letter, the
Führer gave Rommel an impossible choice: if he believed himself innocent of the allegations
against him, then Rommel must report to Hitler in person in Berlin; refusal to do so would be
considered an admission of guilt ... There was no mention of Rommel's case first being put
to the Wehrmacht's Court of Honor, a curious omission if Rommel were indeed being
brought to book as part of Stauffenberg's conspiracy."[310]
7. According to Lewin, in 1933 when Rommel became commander of a Hanoverian Jaeger
battalion, which was composed of soldiers with skiing expertise, its officers gave him the
mandatory test on the snow slopes. No lift was present, and the men had to climb to ski
down the hillside. They trudged to the top and descended, and honour was satisfied, but the
41-year-old commander led his officers up and down the slope twice more before he let
them fall out.[354]
8. Spiegel quoted Goebbels: "Rommel is amazingly popular with the troops, German and
Italian. He is almost a mythical figure."[218]
9. Mitcham's Life and Death of the Afrika Korps: "OKW sent an order ... spoke of numerous
German "political refugees" (that is, Jews) ...
10. According to Zabecki, Rommel's insubordination also played a role, leading to a calamitous
misuse of resources when Rommel went over the head of his superior, Field Marshal Albert
Kesselring, to appeal directly to Hitler to approve an assault on Egypt instead of occupying
Malta, as Kesselring and OKW were planning.[72]
11. Naumann: "Rommel's way out in Africa—bypassing the chain of command by seeking direct
access to Hitler—must never be taken as an example to be followed." This allowed him to
achieve some tactical victories, but this contributed to eventual operational and strategic
failure in North Africa.[463]
12. Robert Citino: "[Rommel's] disinterest in the dreary science of logistics, his love of action,
his tendency to fly off to wherever the fighting was hottest—all of these qualities (...) are
problems in a commander under modern conditions, and they all contributed materially to
the disaster that ultimately befell him and his army in the desert."[474]
13. Remy: Kesselring, ... in his memoirs that criticises the five-year younger and much more
popular Rommel, ... he already knew at least since the war's end about American arms
shipment and intention to intervene which would render the strategical value of Malta
meaningless, that left Rommel only one choice ...[487]
14. "On 7 June, a number of soldiers of the 53ème Régiment d'Infanterie Coloniale were shot,
probably by troops of the 5th Panzer."
15. Remy:"On 8 August 1914, ... Rommel discovered that he had unusual charisma ... This
effect (he had on the troops) would become the fundamental element of Mythos
Rommel.",[533]
16. Der Spiegel: "The Wehrmacht had many capable generals ... but none had the charisma of
the Swabian with that distinctive round head."[218]
17. Majdalany: Rommel was, among other things, clever at public relations.[535]
18. Niall Barr: "... came to fame in a theatre which held almost no strategic interest for Hitler
whatsoever."(Barr 2014, p. 60). Martin Kitchen: "German historians have largely ignored the
North African campaign, not only because it was peripheral ..."(Kitchen 2009, p. 9).
19. Peter Caddick-Adams: "Rommel's advances over the winter 1941–42 became a very useful
distraction away from Germany's failure before Moscow."[546]
20. Quote from one of Rommel's letters, January 1942: "The opinion of me in the world press
has improved."[550]
21. Peter Lieb: "Hitler was well aware that it would be unwise [...] to link the downfall of Army
Group Africa to the name of Rommel, the child of Joseph Goebbel's propaganda
machinery."[556]
22. Robert Citino: "His career had been based solely on Hitler's favor, and we might reasonably
describe his attitude toward the Führer as worshipful."[474] Peter Caddick-Adams: "As is now
clear, Rommel had been very close to Hitler and the Third Reich ..."[572]
23. Maurice Remy: "... Rommel wollte bleiben, was es war: ein Mann der Truppe."[585]
24. Kubetzky: "Politics-wise, he has nothing but fantastic conceptions." (Goebbels' diary, after
the assassination)[601]
25. Erwin Rommel: "During the whole of this period my bitterest enemy was Goering. I think he
wanted to get me sacked in order to realise his own plans in North Africa."[612]
26. Erwin Rommel: "I was not very happy at the prospect of having to go on playing whipping-
boy for the Fuehrer s H.Q, the Commando Supremo and the Luftwaffe."[615]

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a unique case since, after the fall of Rouen, on June 9, 1940, executions of colored civilians
are mentioned".
96. Rouen sous l'occupation: 1940–1944, Patrick Coiffier, p. 6, Bertout, 2004 Tous les hommes
de couleur sont regroupés [...] Ils seront tous conduits sur les hauteurs, dans une propriété
située au n° 11 rue de Bihorel où ils seront massacrés à la mitrailleuse. "All the men of color
are grouped together [...] They will all be taken to the heights, to a property located at 11 rue
de Bihorel where they will be massacred with a machine gun."
97. Paroles de résistance – p. 75, Jean Pierre Brulé, ditions de la Veytizou, 2003 A Rouen, dès
le 9 juin 1940, les premiers détachements Allemands entrés dans la ville s'emparèrent de
civils d'origine africaine et, dans le parc d'une propriété où ils avaient installé un PC, 11 rue
de Bihorel, ils les abattirent à la... "In Rouen, from June 9, 1940, the first German
detachments to enter the city seized civilians of African origin and, in the park of a property
[...], 11 rue de Bihorel, they shot them down".
98. Histoire de la Normandie et questions diverses, Volume 2 Comité des Travaux Historiques
et Scientifiques 1984, p. 373 Les exécutions de prisonniers, comme celle d'une centaine de
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North Africans, rue Bihorel in Rouen"
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Further reading
Bierman, John; Smith, Colin (2002). The Battle of Alamein: Turning Point, World War II (http
s://[Link]/details/battleofalameint00bier). Viking. ISBN 978-0-670-03040-8.
Chambers, Madeline (2012). "The Devil's General? German film seeks to debunk Rommel
myth" ([Link]
M20121101). Reuters. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
 Citino, Robert (2007). Death of the Wehrmacht: The German Campaigns of 1942. University
Press of Kansas.
De Lannoy, Francois (2002). Afrikakorps, 1941–1943: the Libya Egypt Campaign. Bayeux:
Heimdal. ISBN 978-2-84048-152-2.
Gibson, Charles M. (2001). "Operational Leadership as Practiced by Field Marshall Erwin
Rommel During the German Campaign in North Africa 1941–1942: Success of Failure?" (htt
p://[Link]/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/[Link]) (PDF). Naval War College. Archived (https://
[Link]/web/20160307100810/[Link]
(PDF) from the original on 7 March 2016.
Greene, Jack; Massignani, Alessandro (1994). Rommel's North Africa Campaign:
September 1940 – November 1942. Conshohocken, PA: Combined Books. ISBN 978-1-
58097-018-1.
Kelly, Orr (2002). Meeting the Fox: The Allied Invasion of Africa, from Operation Torch to
Kasserine Pass to Victory in Tunisia ([Link]
New York: J. Wiley. ISBN 978-0-471-41429-2 – via Internet Archive.
Kriebel, Rainer; Gudmundsson, Bruce I (1999). Inside the Afrika Korps: The Crusader
Battles, 1941–1942. London: Greenhill. ISBN 978-1-85367-322-1.
Latimer, Jon (2001). Tobruk 1941: Rommel's Opening Move. Oxford: Osprey Military.
ISBN 978-1-84176-092-6.
Lieb, Peter (2018). Krieg in Nordafrika 1940–1943. Ditzingen: Reclam, Philipp. ISBN 978-3-
15-011161-1.
Pyta, Wolfram (2015). Hitler: Der Künstler als Politiker und Feldherr. Eine
Herrschaftsanalyse ([Link]
Siedler Verlag. ISBN 978-3-641-15701-2.
Robinson, James R. (1997). "The Rommel Myth" ([Link]
240/[Link] Military
Review Journal. Archived from the original ([Link]
24710/the-rommel-myth) on 8 March 2016. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
Samuels, Martin (2017) "Erwin Rommel and German Military Doctrine, 1912–1940" War in
History v. 24 n. 3 pp. 308–335
Thompson, Julian (2011) [2008]. Dunkirk: Retreat to Victory. New York: Arcade. ISBN 978-1-
61145-314-0.
Windrow, Martin (1976). Rommel's Desert Army. Osprey. ISBN 978-0-85045-095-8.
Wilks, John; Wilks, Eileen (2001). Rommel and Caporetto. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Books.
ISBN 978-0850527728.

External links
Works by or about Erwin Rommel ([Link]
3A%22Rommel%2C%20Erwin%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Erwin%20Rommel%22%20
OR%20creator%3A%22Rommel%2C%20Erwin%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Erwin%20
Rommel%22%20OR%20title%3A%22Erwin%20Rommel%22%20OR%20description%3A%
22Rommel%2C%20Erwin%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Erwin%20Rommel%22%2
9%20OR%20%28%221891-1944%22%20AND%20Rommel%29%29%20AND%20%28-me
diatype:software%29) at the Internet Archive
Erwin Rommel ([Link] [Link]
Neitzel, Sönke (2005), "Rommel, Eugen Johannes Erwin" ([Link]
[Link]/0001/bsb00016410/images/[Link]?seite=37), Neue Deutsche Biographie (in
German), vol. 22, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 23–24; (full text online ([Link]
[Link]/[Link]))
 "Defeating the Desert Fox": Video ([Link] on
YouTube, via the official channel of The National WWII Museum; session by Nigel Hamilton
at the 2012 International Conference on World War II
"Erwin Rommel 1891–1944" ([Link]
l). LeMO at Deutsches Historisches Museum (in German). Retrieved 13 May 2016.
Newspaper clippings about Erwin Rommel ([Link]
8) in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW

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