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Erwin Rommel

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: World War II

   Erwin Rommel
   15 November 1891 - 14 October 1944
   Image:Rommel portrait.jpg
   Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel in 1942
   Nickname Desert Fox
   Place of birth Heidenheim, Germany
   Place of death Herrlingen, Germany
   Allegiance Germany
   Years of service 1911 - 1944
   Rank Field Marshal
   Unit Alpen Korps
   Commands 7th Panzer Division
   Afrika Korps
   Commander in chief North Italy
   Army Group E, Greece
   Army Group B
   Battles/wars World War I
   World War II
   -Fall of France
   - North African Campaign
   -Battle of Normandy
   Awards Pour le Mérite
   Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oakleaves, Swords, and Diamonds

   Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel ( listen ) ( 15 November 1891 – 14 October
   1944) was one of the most distinguished German field marshals of World
   War II. He was the commander of the Deutsches Afrika Korps and also
   became known by the nickname The Desert Fox (Wüstenfuchs, listen ) for
   the skillful military campaigns he waged on behalf of the German Army
   in North Africa. He was later in command of the German forces opposing
   the Allied cross-channel invasion at Normandy.

   Rommel is often remembered not only for his remarkable military
   prowess, but also for his reputation for chivalry towards his
   adversaries - being one of the German commanders who disobeyed the
   commando order. He is also noted for possibly having taken part in a
   plot to assassinate Hitler, for which he was forced to commit suicide
   before the war's end.

Early life and career

   Rommel was born in Heidenheim, Germany, approximately 45 kilometres
   from Ulm, in the state of Württemberg. He was baptised on November 17,
   1891. He was the second son of a Protestant headmaster of the secondary
   school at Aalen, Prof. Erwin Rommel the elder and Helene Luz, a
   daughter of a prominent local dignitary. The couple also had three more
   children, two sons, Karl and Gerhard, and a daughter, Helene. Later,
   recalling his childhood, Rommel wrote that "my early years passed very
   happily". At the age of fourteen, Rommel and a friend built a
   full-scale glider that was able to fly, although not very far. Young
   Erwin considered becoming an engineer and would throughout his life
   display extraordinary technical aptitude; however, at his father's
   insistence, he joined the local 124th Württemberg Infantry Regiment as
   an officer cadet in 1910 and, shortly after, was sent to the Officer
   Cadet School in Danzig.

   While at Cadet School, early in 1911, Rommel met his future wife,
   17-year-old Lucia Maria Mollin (commonly called Lucie). He graduated in
   November 1911 and was commissioned as a Lieutenant January 1912. Rommel
   and Lucie married in 1916, and in 1928, they had a son, Manfred, who
   would later become the mayor of Stuttgart. Scholars Bierman and Smith
   argue that, during this time, Rommel also had an affair with Walburga
   Stemmer in 1913 and that relationship produced a daughter named
   Gertrud. ( 1 p. 56).

World War I

   During World War I, Rommel fought in France, as well as in Romania
   (see: Romanian Campaign) and Italy (see: Italian Campaign) as part of
   the elite Alpen Korps. While serving with that unit, he gained a
   reputation for making quick tactical decisions and taking advantage of
   enemy confusion. He was wounded three times and awarded the Iron Cross;
   First and Second Class. Rommel also received Prussia's highest medal,
   the Pour le Mérite - an honour traditionally reserved for generals only
   - after fighting in the mountains of west Slovenia – Battle of the
   Isonzo – Soca front. The award came as a result of the Battle of
   Longarone, and the capture of Mount Matajur, Slovenia, and its
   defenders, numbering 150 Italian officers, 7,000 men and 81 pieces of
   artillery. His battalion also played a key role in the decisive victory
   of the Central Powers over the Italian Army at the Battle of Caporetto.
   Interestingly, Rommel for a time served in the same infantry regiment
   as Friedrich Paulus, both of whom were to preside over catastrophic
   defeats for the Third Reich in their own markedly different ways.

Inter-war years

   After the war, Rommel held battalion commands and was an instructor at
   the Dresden Infantry School from 1929 to 1933 and the Potsdam War
   Academy from 1935 to 1938. Rommel's war diaries, Infanterie greift an (
   Infantry Attacks), published in 1937, became a highly regarded military
   textbook, and attracted the attention of Adolf Hitler, who placed him
   in charge of the War Ministry liaison with the Hitler Jugend's
   Headquarters of Military Sports, the Hitler Jugend branch involved with
   paramilitary activities: terrain exercises and marksmanship. Rommel
   applied himself energetically to the new task. The army provided
   instructors to the Hitler Jugend Rifle School in Thuringia, which in
   turn supplied qualified instructors to the HJ's regional branches. In
   1937 Rommel conducted a tour of HJ meetings and encampments, delivered
   lectures on German soldiering while inspecting facilities and
   exercises. Simultaneously he was pressuring Baldur von Schirach, the
   Hitler Jugend leader, to accept an agreement expanding the army's
   involvement in Hitler Jugend training. Schirach interpreted this as a
   bid to turn the Hitler Jugend into an army auxiliary, a "junior army"
   in his words. He refused and Rommel, whom he had came to dislike
   personally and apparently envy for his "real soldier"'s appeal to the
   youngsters, was denied access to the Hitler Jugend . An army-Hitler
   Jugend agreement was concluded, but on a far more limited scope then
   Rommel had sought; cooperation was restricted to the army providing
   personnel to the Rifle School, much to the army's chagrin. By 1939 the
   Hitler Jugend had 20,000 rifle instructors. Simultaneously Rommel
   retained his place at Potsdam. In his class Rommel was awarded the
   highest war ribbons for excellent performance.

   In 1938, Rommel, now a colonel, was appointed commandant of the War
   Academy at Wiener Neustadt ( Theresian Military Academy). Here he
   started his follow-up to Infantry Attacks, Panzer greift an (Tank
   Attacks, sometimes translated as The Tank In Attack). Rommel was
   removed after a short time however, to take command of Adolf Hitler's
   personal protection battalion (FührerBegleitbataillon), assigned to
   protect him in the special railway train (Führersonderzug) used during
   his visits to occupied Czechoslovakia and Memel. It was at this period
   that he met and befriended Joseph Goebbels, the Reich's minister of
   propaganda. Goebbels became a fervent admirer of Rommel and later he
   would see to it that Rommel's exploits would be celebrated in the media

World War II

Poland 1939

   Rommel continued as FührerBegleitbataillon commander during the Polish
   campaign, often moving up close to the front in the Führersonderzug,
   and seeing much of Hitler. After the Polish defeat, Rommel returned to
   Berlin to organise the Führer's victory parade, taking part himself as
   a member of Hitler's entourage. During the Polish campaign Rommel was
   asked to intervene on behalf of one of Lucie's relatives, a Polish
   Priest who had been arrested. He has been criticised for not doing
   enough on the man's behalf, though he did at least apply to the Gestapo
   for information, only to be, inevitably, brushed off with the reply
   that no information on the man existed.

France 1940

   Rommel asked from Hitler command of a panzer division and, on 6
   February 1940 only three months before the invasion, Rommel was given
   command of the 7th Panzer Division for Fall Gelb ("Case Yellow"), the
   invasion of France and the Low Countries. This string-pulling provoked
   resentment among fellow officers, the more so as Rommel, remarkably,
   had no experience with armour whatever. He showed considerable skill in
   this operation, repulsing a counterattack by the British Expeditionary
   Force (BEF) at Arras. 7th Panzer was later nicknamed
   Gespenster-Divisionen (the "Ghost Division"), due to the speed and
   surprise it was consistently able to achieve, to the point that even
   the German High Command lost track of where it was. 7th Panzer was one
   of the first German units to reach the English Channel (on 10 June) and
   captured the vital port of Cherbourg on 19 June. Rommel's success owed
   partially to his misappropriating supplies and bridging tackle
   belonging to the neighbouring divisions. His commander Hermann Hoth
   considered court-martialing him for this, but was dissuaded by his own
   commander Gunther von Kluge. The fame gained by Rommel during the
   campaign made a court martial, or even a reprimand, impractical.
   Rommel's reward for his success was to be promoted and appointed
   commander of the 5th Light Division (later reorganized and redesignated
   the 21st Panzer) and of the 15th Panzer Division, which were sent to
   Libya in early 1941 to aid the hapless and demoralized Italian troops,
   forming the Deutsches Afrika Korps ( listen ). It was in Africa where
   Rommel achieved his greatest fame as a commander.

Africa 1941-43

   Erwin Rommel, 1941
   Enlarge
   Erwin Rommel, 1941

   His campaign in Africa earned Rommel the nickname "The Desert Fox". He
   spent most of 1941 building up his forces, the Italian component of
   which had suffered a string of defeats at the hands of British
   Commonwealth forces under Major General Richard O'Connor. An offensive
   pushed the Allied forces out of Libya. Though ordered not to advance
   beyond the oasis of Maradah, Rommel disobeyed and was shortly stalled
   exactly on the Egyptian border at Helfaya pass, after he, disregarding
   the objections of his staff and divisional commanders, ordered that the
   important port of Tobruk, be outflanked, hoping thus to trap the bulk
   of the enemy force in Tobruk. This outflanking could not be carried out
   as rapidly as was necessary due to logistical overstretch, the road
   parallel to the coastal road not reconnecting to the coastal road,
   spoiling flank attacks from Tobruk and before long a sand storm.
   Although surrounded, Tobruk was still held by Allied forces under the
   Australian General, Leslie Morshead. The Allied Commander-in-Chief,
   General Archibald Wavell made two unsuccessful attempts to relieve
   Tobruk ( Operation Brevity and Operation Battleaxe). Both easily
   defeated as they were hastily prepared due to Churchill's impatience
   for speedy action. The assault on Tobruk, whose capture was
   logistically imperative, was a failure which imperilled Rommel's
   career. Impatient to secure success Rommel ordered repeated, barely
   prepared, small-scale attacks which were easily gobbled up by the
   defenders. Before long his logistically strapped forces became so weak
   that a break-out from Tobruk could most likely have reached El Adem,
   sever the Afrikakorps' communications and topple it. Very luckily,
   Morshead was misled by intelligence overestimates of the German forces
   opposing Tobruk, thus Rommel was saved. Reflecting on this period,
   Kircheim, the then commander of the 5th light division said: "I do not
   like to be reminded of that time because so much blood was needlessly
   shed". At this time Rommel also began clamouring for reinforcements
   which the High Command then completing the preparations for Operation
   Barbarossa could not spare, and which, in any event, could not be
   logistically sustained as Halder had already pointed out to him. Halder
   sarcastically commented: "now at last he is constrained to state that
   his forces are not sufficiently strong to allow him to take full
   advantage of the 'unique opportunities' offered by the overall
   situation. That is the impression we have had for quite some time over
   here". Angry that his order, not to advance beyond Maradah, had been
   disobeyed and alarmed at mounting losses, Halder, never an admirer of
   Rommel, dispatched Friedrich Paulus to "head off this soldier gone
   stark mad" in Halder's words. Upon arrival Paulus soon forbade Rommel
   from undertaking any more small-scale assaults, but to plan a
   systematic all-out one. His composure restored, Rommel complied. His
   elaborately prepared great assault scheduled for 21 November was not to
   take place.

   Following the costly failure of Battleaxe, Wavell was relieved by
   Commander-in-Chief India, General Claude Auchinleck. Auchinleck
   launched a major offensive to relieve Tobruk ( Operation Crusader).
   Initially Crusader appeared as doomed as Brevity and Battleaxe. The
   British (including Commonwealth troops) deeply outflanked the German
   defences along the Egyptian frontier with a left hook through the
   desert, and reached a position whence they could strike at both Tobruk
   and the coastal road, "Via Balbia". The Germans were then supposed to
   counter-attack so as to drive the British back. This, as a result of
   British numerical superiority in both planes and tanks, would result in
   the Germans' annihilation. The Germans, confident in the strength of
   the defences covering the Via Babia did not oblige but stayed put
   waiting on the Allies’ next move. The baffled British, whose plan did
   not provide for this eventuality, felt compelled to attack and try to
   relieve Tobruk and sever the Via Balbia. They were cut to pieces in an
   effort for which they had neglected to bring the necessary heavy
   artillery and because British breakthrough tactics comprised a headlong
   charge with the tanks in the lead, paying little or no attention to
   mine fields and anti-tank guns. The problem was that Rommel, drunk with
   victory, tried to over-exploit this success and, against the advice of
   his officers, resolved to drive the British further than their start
   line and himself outflank the border positions through the desert.
   According to Bernd Stegmann, Rommel knew his forces were incapable of
   driving such an effort home, but believed that the British, traumatised
   by their recent debacle, would abandon their defences along the border
   at the mere appearance of a German threat to their rear. If so his
   contempt for the enemy proved excessive and the gamble failed. His
   forces suffered heavy losses from British anti-tank guns and, as they
   dispersed over the desert, the RAF, unscathed by the earlier fighting.
   Losses which, unlike the British they could not replace, and soon were
   unable even to hold their initial positions. During the confusion
   caused by the Crusader operation, Rommel and his staff found themselves
   behind Allied lines several times. On one occasion, he visited a New
   Zealand Army field hospital that was still under Allied control.
   "[Rommel] inquired if anything was needed, promised the British [sic]
   medical supplies and drove off unhindered." (General Fritz Bayerlein,
   The Rommel Papers, chapter 8.)

   Crusader was a defeat for Rommel. After several weeks of fighting,
   Rommel ordered the withdrawal of all his forces from the area around
   Tobruk ( 7 December 1941) towards El Agheila. The Allies followed,
   attempting to cut off the retreating troops as they had done in 1940,
   but Rommel's counter-attack on 20 January 1942 mauled the Allied
   forces. The Afrika Korps retook Benghazi and the Allies pulled back to
   the Tobruk area and commenced building defensive positions.

   On 24 May 1942 Rommel's army attacked. In a classic blitzkrieg, he
   outflanked the Allies at Gazala, surrounded and reduced the strongpoint
   at Bir Hakeim and forced the Allies to quickly retreat, in the
   so-called "Gazala Gallop", to avoid being completely cut off. Tobruk,
   isolated and alone, was now all that stood between the Afrika Korps and
   Egypt. On 21 June 1942, after a swift, coordinated and fierce combined
   arms assault, the city surrendered along with its 33,000 defenders. By
   then the able troops who had defended Tobruk in 1941, had been
   dispatched to the Pacific at the insistence of the Australian
   Government. Only at the fall of Singapore, earlier that year, had more
   British Commonwealth troops been captured. Hitler made Rommel a field
   marshal. (Rommel later told his confidante, Hans von Luck, that he
   would have preferred the Führer gave him another division.) Within
   weeks, the Allies were pushed back far into Egypt.

   Rommel's 21st Panzer Division was eventually stopped at the small
   railway town of El Alamein, just sixty miles from Alexandria.

   With Allied forces from Malta interdicting his supplies at sea, and the
   enormous distances supplies had to travel to reach his forward troops,
   Rommel could not hold the El Alamein position forever. Still, it took a
   large set piece battle, the Second Battle of El Alamein, to dislodge
   his forces and even this British attack would not have pushed the
   Germans further than Fuka had Hitler not forbidden a retreat, during a
   lull in the battle, that was already in progress with his infamous
   "victory or death" stand fast order.

   In September, he took sick leave in Italy and Germany, but immediately
   returned when news of the battle reached him. After the defeat at El
   Alamein, Rommel's forces managed to escape by using all the Italian
   transports. Despite urgings from Hitler and Mussolini, Rommel's forces
   did not again stand and fight until they had entered Tunisia. Even
   then, their first battle was not against the British Eighth Army, but
   against the U.S. II Corps. Rommel inflicted a sharp defeat on the
   American forces at the Battle of Kasserine Pass.

   Turning once again to face the British Commonwealth forces in the old
   French border defences of the Mareth Line, Rommel could only delay the
   inevitable. At the end of January 1943, the Italian General Giovanni
   Messe was appointed the new commander of Rommel’s Panzer Army Africa,
   which was now renamed 1st Italo-German Panzer Army (in recognition of
   the fact that it consisted of one German and three Italian corps).
   Though Messe was to replace Rommel, he diplomatically deferred to the
   German, and the two co-existed in what was theoretically the same
   command until 9 March, when Rommel finally departed Africa. Rommel's
   departure was kept secret on Hitler's explicit orders, so that the
   morale of the Axis troops could be maintained and respectful fear by
   their enemies retained. The last Rommel offensive in North Africa
   occurred on 6 March 1943, when he attacked Montgomery's 8th Army at the
   Battle of Medenine with three panzer divisions (10th, 15th and 21st).
   Decoded Ultra intercepts allowed Montgomery to deploy large numbers of
   anti-tank guns in the path of the offensive. After losing 52 tanks,
   Rommel was forced to call off the assault. On 9 March he handed over
   command of Armeegruppe Afrika to General Hans-Jürgen von Arnim and left
   Africa, because of health reasons, never to return. On 13 May 1943,
   after the collapse of the 5th German Army, the fall of Tunis and the
   surrounding of the 1st Italian Army, still holding the line at
   Enfidaville, Giovanni Messe formally surrendered the remnants of Army
   Group Afrika to the Allies. On 12 May, one day before the surrender,
   Messe was promoted to the rank of field marshal.

   Some historians contrast Rommel's withdrawal back to Tunisia against
   Hitler's wishes with Friedrich Paulus's obedience of orders to have the
   German 6th Army stand its ground at the Battle of Stalingrad, which
   resulted in its annihilation. Field Marshal Albert Kesselring appointed
   overall axis commander in North Africa saw things differently. He
   believed the withdrawals, some of which were carried out against his
   orders, unnecessary and ruinous since they brought forward British
   airfields ever closer to the port of Tunis. As far as he was concerned
   Rommel was an insubordinate defeatist and string-puller. The
   increasingly acrimonious relations between the two did nothing to
   enhance performance.

   Some sources state that during this period, there was a failed Allied
   attempt to capture Rommel from his headquarters, 250 miles behind enemy
   lines.

France 1943-1944

   Field Marshal Erwin Rommel (centre) discusses the expected Allied
   invasion of France with Colonel General Johannes Blaskowitz and Field
   Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt.
   Enlarge
   Field Marshal Erwin Rommel (centre) discusses the expected Allied
   invasion of France with Colonel General Johannes Blaskowitz and Field
   Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt.

   Back in Germany, Rommel was for some time virtually "unemployed". On 23
   July 1943 he moved to Greece as commander of Army Group E, to defend
   the Greek coast against a possible allied landing that never happened,
   only to return to Germany two days later, upon the overthrow of
   Mussolini. On 17 August 1943, Rommel moved his headquarters from Munich
   to Lake Garda, as commander of a new Army Group B, created to defend
   the north of Italy. After Hitler gave General Albert Kesselring sole
   Italian command, on 21 November, Rommel moved Army Group B to Normandy,
   France, with responsibility for defending the French coast against the
   long anticipated Allied invasion. Dismayed by the situation he found,
   the slow building pace, and fearing he had just months before an
   invasion, Rommel reinvigorated the whole fortification effort along the
   Atlantic coast. Under his direction, work was significantly sped up,
   millions of mines laid, and thousands of tank traps and obstacles set
   up on beaches and throughout the countryside. Instead of helping,
   Hitler and his officers under him decided to strengthen the defences in
   Calais thinking the Allies would attack there since it is closer to
   England. Rommel disagreed, saying the enemy wanted the Führer to
   strengthen the defences in the wrong place and that they would attack
   Normandy instead. He was right.

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

   During D-Day, several tank units, notably the 12th SS Panzer Division,
   were close enough to the beaches to create serious havoc. Hitler
   refused however to release the panzer reserves as he believed the
   Normandy landings were a diversion. Hitler and the German High Command
   expected the main assault in the Pas de Calais area, thanks to the
   success of a secret Allied deception campaign ( Operation Fortitude).
   Facing only small-scale German attacks, the Allies quickly secured a
   beachhead.

The plot against Hitler

   A memorial at the site of Field Marshall Erwin Rommel's suicide outside
   of the town of Herrlingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany (west of Ulm).
   Enlarge
   A memorial at the site of Field Marshall Erwin Rommel's suicide outside
   of the town of Herrlingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany (west of Ulm).

   On 17 July 1944, Rommel's staff car was strafed by an RCAF Spitfire
   piloted by Charley Fox; he was hospitalized with major head injuries.
   (Although the Americans claimed to have hit the vehicle as well, many
   German reports specifically mentioned a Canadian Spitfire as the sole
   attacker). In the meantime, after the failed July 20 Plot against Adolf
   Hitler a widespread investigation was conducted to identify possible
   participants in the plot. Rommel was identified in some of the coup
   ringleaders’ documentation as a potential supporter and an acceptable
   military leader to be placed in a position of responsibility should
   their coup succeed. No evidence was found that directly linked Rommel
   to the plot, nor that he had been contacted by any of the plot
   ringleaders. At the same time, local Nazi party officials reported on
   Rommel's extensive and scornful criticism of Nazi incompetent
   leadership during the time he was hospitalized. Bormann was certain of
   Rommel's involvement, Goebbels was not. The true extent of Rommel's
   knowledge of or involvement with the plot is still unclear. After the
   war, however, his wife maintained that Rommel had been against the
   plot. It has been stated that Rommel wanted to avoid giving future
   generations of Germans the perception that the war was lost because of
   backstabbing, the infamous Dolchstoßlegende, as was commonly believed
   by some Germans of World War I. Instead, he favoured a coup where
   Hitler would be taken alive and made to stand trial before the public.
   Hard evidence exists only that he sought to arrange his forces' illicit
   surrender to the western allies.

   Because of Rommel's popularity with the German people, Hitler gave him
   the option of committing suicide with cyanide or facing a trial before
   Roland Freisler's " People's Court" and the murder of his family and
   staff. Rommel ended his own life on 14 October 1944, and was buried
   with full military honours. After the war, an edited version of his
   diary was published as The Rommel Papers. He is the only member of the
   Third Reich establishment to have a museum dedicated to him. His grave
   can be found in Herrlingen, a short distance west of Ulm.

Battles

     * Battle of Caporetto (1917)
     * Battle of Arras (1940)
     * Siege of Tobruk (1941)
     * Battle of Gazala (1942)
     * Battle of Bir Hakeim (1942)
     * First Battle of El Alamein (1942)
     * Battle of Alam Halfa (1942)
     * Second Battle of El Alamein (1942)
     * Battle of Medenine (1943)
     * Battle of the Kasserine Pass (1943)
     * Battle of Normandy (1944)

Popular perception

   Rommel was in his lifetime extraordinarily well known, not only with
   the German people, but also with his adversaries. Popular stories of
   his chivalry and tactical prowess earned him the respect of many
   opponents, particularly the British. Claude Auchinleck, Winston
   Churchill, George S. Patton, and Bernard Montgomery are all on record
   as having both positive and negative things to say about the "Desert
   Fox." Rommel, for his part, was complimentary towards and respectful of
   his foes. Hitler considered Rommel among his favourite generals.

   Rommel himself would refer to the fighting in North Africa as "Krieg
   Ohne Hass"- "War Without Hate", the war in North Africa would be
   described by both sides as one of the last to possess any pretense of
   chivalry. No war crimes charges were ever brought against the Afrika
   Korps, and to this day Rommel's gravesite is visited by British Africa
   veterans. It was also during his time in North Africa that Rommel would
   disobey Hitler's infamous Commando Order to execute captured Allied
   commandos, and also an order from Hitler to execute Jewish soldiers who
   had been taken prisoner.

   Tempering this favourable view of Rommel are the facts that he did
   loyally serve Hitler and the Nazi government if not throughout his life
   at least until 1944, that he never publicly disagreed with any Nazi
   actions or goals during his lifetime, and the fact that contemporaries
   who had to work with him under adversity had few kind words to say
   about him and his abilities. Following Paulus' return from his
   inspection of Rommel's doings in North Africa and also considering the
   reports submitted by Alfred Gause, Halder concluded: "Rommel's
   character defects make him very hard to get along with, but no one
   cares to come out in open opposition because of his brutality and the
   backing he has at top level" and yet his military colleagues would also
   play their part in perpetuating his legend. His former subordinate
   Kircheim though critical of Rommel's performance nonetheless observed:
   "thanks to propaganda, first by Goebbels, then by Montgomery, and
   finally, after he was poisoned (sic), by all former enemy powers , he
   has become a symbol of the best military traditions. ....Any public
   criticism of this legendary personality would damage the esteem in
   which the German soldier is held" (in a letter to Streich another
   former subordinate).

   After the war, when Rommel's alleged involvement in the plot to kill
   Hitler became known, his stature was enhanced greatly among the former
   Allied nations. Rommel was often cited in Western sources as a general
   who, though a loyal German, was willing to stand up to the evil that
   was Hitler (however accurate or inaccurate this depiction may be). The
   release of the film The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel (1951) helped
   enhance his reputation as one of the most widely known and
   well-regarded leaders in the German army. In 1970 a Lütjens class
   destroyer was named the FGS Rommel in his honour.

In fiction

   He has been portrayed by:
     * Erich von Stroheim in the 1943 film Five Graves to Cairo
     * James Mason in both the 1951 The Desert Fox and the 1953 The Desert
       Rats
     * Werner Hinz in 1962's The Longest Day
     * Karl Michael Vogler in the 1970 Patton, starring George C. Scott
     * Wolfgang Preiss in the 1971 Raid on Rommel
     * Hardy Kruger in the 1988 television miniseries War and Remembrance
     * Michael York in the 1990 TV-movie Night of the Fox
     * Kevin Peckenpaugh, Union Pines production of Kill Hitler

   In Philip K. Dick's alternative history novel The Man in the High
   Castle, Rommel is the Nazi-appointed president of the United States of
   America in the early 1960s.

   In Douglas Niles's and Michael Dobson's alternative history novel Fox
   on the Rhine ( ISBN 0-8125-7466-4), Hitler is killed by the bomb plot
   of 20 July 1944. This leads to Rommel's survival, and a different quick
   offensive strike. This is repelled and the book ends with his surrender
   to the Americans and British, in the belief that the Germans would be
   better off with the western powers than with the Soviets. Fox on the
   Rhine was followed by a sequel, Fox at the Front ( ISBN 0-641-67696-4).

   In Donna Barr's novel Bread and Swans, the historical Rommel shares his
   concerns and career with a fictitious younger brother, Pfirsich, also
   known as The Desert Peach. Both Rommels also appear as focal characters
   of Barr's long-running comic strip series about "The Peach".

   During the 1980's, there was a popular arcade tank-based game called
   Rommel's Revenge which found its way to the home computer market.

Quotations about Rommel

     * The British Parliament considered a censure vote against Winston
       Churchill following the surrender of Tobruk. The vote failed, but
       in the course of the debate, Churchill would say:
          + "We have a very daring and skilful opponent against us, and,
            may I say across the havoc of war, a great general."
     * Churchill again, on hearing of Rommel's death:
          + "He also deserves our respect, because, although a loyal
            German soldier, he came to hate Hitler and all his works, and
            took part in the conspiracy to rescue Germany by displacing
            the maniac and tyrant. For this, he paid the forfeit of his
            life. In the sombre wars of modern democracy, there is little
            place for chivalry."
     * Theodor Werner was an officer who, during World War I, served under
       Rommel.
          + "Anybody who came under the spell of his personality turned
            into a real soldier. He seemed to know what the enemy were
            like and how they would react."

Quotations

     * "Sweat saves blood, blood saves lives, and brains save both."
     * "Mortal danger is an effective antidote for fixed ideas."
     * "The best form of welfare for the troops is first-rate training."
     * "Don't fight a battle if you don't gain anything by winning."
     * "In a man-to-man fight, the winner is he who has one more round in
       his magazine."
     * "Courage which goes against military expediency is stupidity, or,
       if it is insisted upon by a commander, irresponsibility."
     * "In the absence of orders, find something and kill it."
     * Referring to Italians: "Good troops, bad officers. But remember
       that without them we wouldn't have civilization."
     * "Training errors are recorded on paper. Tactical errors are etched
       in stone."
     * "There is one unalterable difference between a soldier and a
       civilian: the civilian never does more than he is paid to do."
     * "Men are basically smart or dumb and lazy or ambitious. The dumb
       and ambitious ones are dangerous and I get rid of them."
     * "Be an example to your men, in your duty and in private life. Never
       spare yourself, and let the troops see that you don't in your
       endurance of fatigue and privation. Always be tactful and
       well-mannered and teach your subordinates to do the same. Avoid
       excessive sharpness or harshness of voice, which usually indicates
       the man who has shortcomings of his own to hide."
     * "This business with the Jews has got to stop."
     * "I know I haven't offered you much; sand, heat, scorpions ... but
       we've shared them together. One more last push, and it is Cairo.
       And if we fail, ... well, we tried, ... together"*

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