Erwin Rommel: the story on HearLore

Erwin Rommel

Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel was born on the 15th of November 1891 in Heidenheim, a town in the Kingdom of Württemberg, into a family that would shape his disciplined yet unconventional character. His father, Erwin Rommel senior, was an artillery lieutenant who instilled a sense of duty in his children, while his mother, Helene von Luz, came from a local government family. Rommel was the third of five children, with a sister who became an art teacher and two younger brothers who pursued careers in dentistry and opera. At the age of 18, he joined the Württemberg Infantry Regiment No. 124, beginning a military journey that would take him from the trenches of World War I to the deserts of North Africa. His early years were marked by a blend of traditional Prussian military values and a personal flair for independent action. He met his future wife, Lucia Maria Mollin, while at the Officer Cadet School in Danzig, and they married in November 1916. The couple would have three children, including Manfred, who would later become the mayor of Stuttgart. Rommel's early military career was defined by his ability to adapt to changing circumstances, a trait that would become his hallmark in later conflicts. He was posted to various units, including the 49th Field Artillery Regiment, and his first combat experience came on the 22nd of August 1914 near Verdun, where he and three men opened fire on a French garrison without waiting for the rest of his platoon. This bold move set the tone for his future tactics, which relied on surprise and rapid movement. His actions in World War I earned him the Iron Cross, Second Class, and later the Pour le Mérite, Germany's highest military honor, for his role in the Battle of Caporetto. There, he and his 150 men captured 81 guns and 9,000 Italian soldiers, losing only six dead and 30 wounded. This success was achieved by outflanking the enemy and attacking from unexpected directions, a tactic that would later be described as Blitzkrieg without tanks. Rommel's early career was not without controversy, as he often acted against orders to achieve tactical surprise. His ability to lead from the front and his willingness to take risks made him a standout officer, even as he clashed with the more conservative elements of the German high command. By the end of the war, he had been promoted to Hauptmann, or captain, and assigned to a staff position, where he began to write about his experiences, laying the groundwork for his future influence on military doctrine.

The Desert Fox

In the vast expanse of the North African desert, Erwin Rommel earned a reputation that would outlive the war itself, becoming known as the Desert Fox. His arrival in Tripoli on the 12th of February 1941 marked the beginning of a campaign that would define his legacy. Rommel was appointed commander of the Afrika Korps, a force initially consisting of the 5th Light Division and the 15th Panzer Division, to support Italian forces that had suffered heavy defeats. His operations in the Western Desert Campaign soon earned him the nickname Desert Fox, a moniker that reflected his ability to outmaneuver and outthink his opponents. Rommel's first major offensive began on the 24th of March 1941, when he launched a limited attack with the 5th Light Division and two Italian divisions, despite the 15th Panzer Division not yet arriving. The British, weakened by the transfer of formations to the Battle of Greece, fell back to Mersa El Brega, where they were defeated on the 31st of March. Rommel then pushed rapidly east, taking Benghazi on the 3rd of April as the British withdrew. His aggressive tactics and willingness to take risks paid off, as he reoccupied most of Cyrenaica by the 8th of April. However, the port of Tobruk held out, and Rommel's attempts to capture it failed. The siege of Tobruk became a symbol of the stalemate that would characterize much of the North African campaign. Rommel's leadership in North Africa was marked by his ability to adapt to the harsh conditions of the desert. He faced chronic problems with fuel, food, and water, as everything had to be brought from Europe and moved over difficult desert tracks. Despite these challenges, Rommel's forces achieved significant victories, including the capture of Tobruk on the 20th of June 1942, which resulted in the surrender of around 32,000 Commonwealth troops. This victory was one of the largest surrenders of British Commonwealth troops since the fall of Singapore earlier that year. Rommel's success in North Africa was not without its critics. Some historians argue that his methods were less effective against well-led and well-equipped forces, and that his early opponents were often second-rate or disorganized. Others note that Rommel often fought while outnumbered and outgunned, and that he had to contend with internal opponents in Germany who hoped for his failure. Despite these criticisms, Rommel's reputation as a brilliant commander grew, and he became a symbol of resistance against the Allied forces. His ability to lead from the front and his willingness to take risks made him a standout figure, even as he clashed with the more conservative elements of the German high command. By the end of the North African campaign, Rommel had been promoted to Generalfeldmarschall, and his legacy as the Desert Fox was firmly established.

When was Erwin Rommel born and where was he born?

Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel was born on the 15th of November 1891 in Heidenheim, a town in the Kingdom of Württemberg. He was the third of five children born to Erwin Rommel senior and Helene von Luz.

What nickname did Erwin Rommel earn during the North African campaign?

Erwin Rommel earned the nickname Desert Fox during his operations in the Western Desert Campaign. This moniker reflected his ability to outmaneuver and outthink his opponents while commanding the Afrika Korps.

How did Erwin Rommel die on the 14th of October 1944?

Erwin Rommel chose to take his own life by suicide on the 14th of October 1944 after being implicated in the 20th of July plot against Hitler. He was given a cyanide capsule by Wilhelm Burgdorf and Ernst Maisel to avoid a public trial and protect his family.

What role did Erwin Rommel play in the defense of Normandy?

Erwin Rommel served as General Inspector of the Western Defences and commanded Army Group B during the summer of 1943. He energetically expanded the Atlantic Wall with millions of mines and extensive beach obstacles to defeat an Allied invasion on or very close to the beaches.

Was Erwin Rommel involved in the 20th of July plot to assassinate Hitler?

Evidence suggests Erwin Rommel was involved in the 20th of July plot as he agreed to support resistance plans in February 1944 and met with conspirators in May 1944. He opposed assassinating Hitler but urged him to seek peace with the Western Allies and resigned from his duties when Hitler insisted on continued resistance.

The Atlantic Wall

In the summer of 1943, Erwin Rommel was transferred to Italy to command Army Group B, a role that would eventually lead him to the beaches of Normandy. His appointment as General Inspector of the Western Defences gave him the authority to inspect and improve the Atlantic Wall, a massive fortification system designed to repel an Allied invasion. Rommel's approach to the Atlantic Wall was marked by his belief that the invasion must be defeated on or very close to the beaches, a strategy that clashed with the views of Commander-in-Chief West, Gerd von Rundstedt. Rundstedt favored holding the armoured reserves inland near Paris for a concentrated counter-attack, while Rommel argued that German armour would be destroyed before it could assemble. Rommel energetically expanded the Atlantic Wall, with millions of mines and extensive beach obstacles, anti-landing stakes, and strengthened strongpoints. His staff developed or adapted a wide variety of obstacles to hinder landing craft and armour, a contribution that Steven Zaloga calls Rommel's most important to the defence of Normandy. However, shortages of materials, manpower, and time meant that many positions were unfinished by June 1944, and numerous units were poorly trained or inadequately supplied. The command structure remained fragmented, with Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine units answering to their own chiefs, and Rommel needing Hitler's approval to commit panzer divisions. Hitler compromised between the rival strategies, assigning three panzer divisions to Rommel, four to Rundstedt, and others to Army Group G, satisfying no one. Bad weather in the Channel at the start of June 1944 led German meteorologists to rule out an imminent invasion. When the Allied landings in Normandy began on the 6th of June, Hitler initially refused to release the armoured reserve, and German commanders hesitated, still suspecting a diversion. Only limited panzer movements were authorised, and heavy Allied air attacks disrupted counter-attacks planned for the 7th of June. By nightfall on D-Day, the Allies had secured five beachheads and landed about 155,000 troops. As the bridgehead expanded despite strong resistance, Rommel concluded that German forces should withdraw out of range of Allied naval guns, regroup, and attempt a counter-attack from a shorter line. He persuaded Rundstedt, but both failed to convince Hitler, who insisted the Wehrmacht hold its positions. At a meeting at the Wolfsschlucht II headquarters near Margival on the 17th of June, Rommel warned Hitler that the front would collapse, but was brusquely told to concentrate on military operations. By mid-July, the German position in Normandy was deteriorating rapidly, and Rommel's efforts to improve the Atlantic Wall were overshadowed by the overwhelming Allied forces.

The Plot Against Hitler

The extent of Erwin Rommel's involvement in the military resistance against Hitler and the 20th of July plot remains a subject of debate, as most conspirators were killed and documentation is fragmentary. One important piece of evidence is a conversation recorded by British intelligence in which Heinrich Eberbach, in captivity, recalled Rommel telling him that Hitler and his closest associates had to be killed as the only way out for Germany, a month before Rommel's forced suicide. Further evidence comes from the papers of Rudolf Hartmann and Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel, discovered in 2018, which include Hartmann's account of a meeting between Rommel and Stülpnagel in May 1944 and photographs of a gathering of the resistance inner circle with Rommel at Mareil-Marly. According to Hartmann, by late May Rommel was involved in their plans. In a post-war account, Stuttgart mayor Karl Strölin stated that he, Stülpnagel, and Alexander von Falkenhausen approached Rommel in early 1944, and Rommel agreed in February to support the resistance. The conspirators needed an active field marshal and instructed Hans Speidel, Rommel's new chief of staff, to bring him into their circle. Late in May, Speidel met former foreign minister Konstantin von Neurath and Strölin, who advocated opening surrender negotiations with the Western Allies. At least initially, Rommel opposed assassinating Hitler, fearing civil war and a martyr-cult, and instead favoured arrest and trial. He did not attempt to seize Hitler when he visited Margival on the 17th of June, an operation that would in any case have been highly unlikely to succeed given Hitler's security and Rommel's former role in his protection detail. Rommel repeatedly urged Hitler to seek peace with the Western Allies, a stance many historians describe as politically naïve, since the Allies no longer trusted Hitler. Post-war, Rommel's widow Lucie resisted linking her husband to the conspiracy, partly because many Germans continued to view the plotters as traitors. At the time, however, the resistance hoped to harness Rommel's popularity to win over the army and population. Several contemporaries, including Siegfried Westphal, later recalled Rommel's refusal to accept further senseless sacrifices. According to recollections reported by Butler and others, Rommel told Hitler that if he personally stood in the way of peace he should resign or kill himself, but Hitler insisted on continued resistance. Historians note that Rommel's blunt demands for political solutions were unusual among senior Wehrmacht officers. On the 15th of July, Rommel wrote to Hitler giving him what he described as a last chance to end hostilities with the Western Allies and urging him to draw the proper conclusions without delay. The letter reached Hitler only after a delay, partly due to Ob. West commander Günther von Kluge's attempts to shield himself and others in the tense days before and after the 20th of July plot. Many authors consider this a crucial blow to the conspirators, who had hoped to rely on him in the West. After the failure of the 20th of July plot, mass arrests followed. Rommel was first implicated when the badly injured Stülpnagel repeatedly muttered his name before attempting suicide, and under torture, Caesar von Hofacker also named Rommel as involved. Civilian resistance leader Carl Goerdeler had listed Rommel as a potential Reich President, though this plan was never discussed with him. On the 27th of September, Martin Bormann submitted a memorandum to Hitler stating that Stülpnagel, Hofacker, and other defendants had testified that Rommel knew about the assassination plan and had promised to serve the new government. Gestapo surveillance of Rommel's home in Ulm followed. Historian Peter Lieb identifies Bormann's memo, Eberbach's intercepted conversation, and the testimonies of surviving resistance members such as Hartmann as the key sources indicating Rommel's support for the conspiracy, while acknowledging that some, notably Speidel, had strong post-war motives to emphasize their own roles. Other historians stress that, whatever his precise involvement in the bomb plot, Rommel developed his own plan to end the war in the West and sought, increasingly openly, to bring senior commanders over to his side.

The Final Choice

On the 14th of October 1944, Erwin Rommel faced a choice that would define his legacy and the fate of his family. His 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 Generalfeldmarschalls Wilhelm Keitel and 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 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 he had taken part. Keitel and Guderian then made the decision that favoured Speidel's case and shifted the blame to Rommel. 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 having Rommel executed as a traitor would damage morale on the home front. He decided to offer Rommel the chance to take his own life. Two generals from Hitler's headquarters, Wilhelm Burgdorf and Ernst Maisel, visited Rommel at his home on the 14th of October 1944. Burgdorf informed him of the charges and offered him three options: defend himself in front of Hitler in Berlin, or refuse, but this would be taken as admission of guilt; face the People's Court, which would have been tantamount to a death sentence; or choose death by suicide. In the second option, 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 third option, the government would claim he died a hero and bury him with military honours, and his family would receive pensions. In support of the suicide option, Burgdorf had brought a cyanide capsule. Rommel chose suicide, and explained his decision to his wife and son. 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, and Doose noticed Rommel was slumped over. He died before being taken to the Wagner-Schule field hospital. Ten minutes later, the group telephoned Rommel's wife to inform her. The official notice of Rommel's death reported to the public stated he had died of either a heart attack or cerebral embolism, a complication of the skull fractures he had suffered in the strafing of his staff car. To strengthen the story, Hitler ordered a day of mourning. As promised, Rommel was given a state funeral, but it was held in Ulm instead of Berlin, as had been requested by Rommel. Hitler sent Field Marshal Rundstedt, who was unaware Rommel had died as a result of Hitler's orders, as his representative to the funeral. The truth behind Rommel's death became known to the Allies when intelligence officer Charles Marshall interviewed Rommel's widow, as well as from a letter by Rommel's son Manfred in 1945. Rommel's grave is located in Herrlingen, a short distance west of Ulm. For decades after the anniversary of his death, veterans of the Africa campaign, including former opponents, would gather at his grave.

The Myth and Reality

Erwin Rommel's reputation as a military commander has been the subject of intense debate and controversy since the end of World War II. While military practitioners acknowledge Rommel's excellent tactical skills and bravery, some, such as US major general David T. Zabecki, consider Rommel's performance as an operational level commander to be overstated and other officers agree. General Klaus Naumann agrees with historian Charles Messenger that Rommel's violation of the unity of command principle, bypassing chain of command, was unacceptable and contributed to failure in North Africa. Biographer Wolf Heckmann describes Rommel as the most overrated commander of an army. Nevertheless, there are many 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. Ariel Sharon deemed the military model used by Rommel superior that used by Montgomery. His compatriot Moshe Dayan considered Rommel a model and icon. Wesley Clark states that Rommel's military reputation has lived on, and still sets the standard for a style of daring, charismatic leadership to which most officers aspire. Rommel's reputation for conducting a clean war was used in the interest of the West German rearmament and reconciliation between the former enemies, the UK and the US on one side and the new Federal Republic of Germany on the other. Several of Rommel's former subordinates, notably his chief of staff Hans Speidel, played key roles in West German rearmament and integration into NATO in the postwar era. The German Army's largest military base, the Field Marshal Rommel Barracks, Augustdorf, and a third ship of the Lütjens-class destroyer of the German Navy are both named in his honour. His son Manfred Rommel was the longtime mayor of Stuttgart, Germany and namesake of Stuttgart Airport. However, other historians have contested this assessment and called it the Rommel myth. Some argue that Rommel's reputation for chivalry and professionalism was a post-war construct designed to rehabilitate the image of the German military. They point to evidence of Rommel's involvement in or awareness of crimes against North African Jewish populations, as well as his role in the brutal disarmament of Italian forces after the Armistice of Cassibile in 1943. Despite these criticisms, Rommel remains one of the most well-known generals on any side of World War II, with his actions in the war still attracting major attention until this day. His legacy continues to be a subject of intense debate, with some viewing him as a brilliant commander and a victim of Nazi Germany, while others see him as a symbol of the complexities and contradictions of the German military during the war.