Rommel, Field Marshal Erwin

Rommel, Field Marshal Erwin (1891–1944),one of Hitler's most charismatic generals, who was best known for his victories during the Western Desert campaigns. To those who fought against him he became something of a legend, but he is not highly regarded by German historians.

Born in Heidenheim, near Ulm, of middle-class parents with no military connections, Rommel joined the army in July 1910. On the outbreak of the First World War he immediately displayed the boldness and independence that was to characterize his leadership during the Second, and ended it a captain and the holder of Prussia's highest decoration, the Pour le Mérite.

In 1937 Rommel published a book, Infanterie greift an, (English edn., Infantry Attacks, 1979) which brought him to Hitler's notice and, as a brigadier, he was put in charge of Hitler's security unit. Always a devotee of mobile warfare, and the exploitation of the surprise it often achieved, he requested command of a panzer division which he led with élan during the German offensive in May– June 1940 which culminated in the fall of France. He ended the campaign as one of its heroes, was promoted maj-general in January 1941, and appointed to command the embryo Afrika Korps in the Western Desert. Arriving in Tripoli on 12 February 1941, he made his presence felt immediately. Ordered by the Army High Command (OKH) to remain on the defensive he blithely disobeyed and launched a blistering attack which drove the British almost out of Cyrenaica. In July 1941 his German–Italian command was enlarged to become Panzer Group Afrika and he was promoted lt-general. Although nominally under Italian command, his prestige was by now so great that he virtually held an independent command. But though he had scored remarkable victories his difficulties were immense—Tobruk remained untaken and he was acutely short of supplies. He beat off two British offensives (BREVITY and BATTLEAXE) during May and June 1941, but was forced to fall back before a third, CRUSADER, that November.

Undismayed, and bolstered by reinforcements and new supplies, Rommel, now a general commanding an enlarged force, struck back in January 1942. In June he captured Tobruk and was promoted Germany's youngest field marshal, and then pushed the British back into Egypt. But, still starved of essential supplies and far from well, he was held in July at El Alamein, stopped in September at Alam Halfa, and finally routed in November at the second battle of El Alamein—though his retreat into Tunisia was as masterly as any of his victories. His advice that North Africa should now be abandoned was ignored. Instead his force, now called the German–Italian Panzerarmee, attacked the Allied line in northern Tunisia and defeated a mixed Allied force at Kasserine Pass. However, command difficulties, misguided orders from the Italian High Command (see Comando Supremo) which he was no longer in any position to ignore, and adverse terrain combined to force Rommel to abandon his offensive. On 23 February he was given command of both panzer armies (Army Group Africa) and returned to the south to oversee an attack against Montgomery's Eighth Army. But the Medenine battle ended in failure and on 9 March he flew to Germany and was sent on extended sick leave.

In May 1943 Rommel was recalled to plan the occupation of northern Italy if it should prove necessary. It did and by August he had accomplished it. But he lost the argument as to how the Allied Italian campaign should be opposed and was given instead the job of improving the coastal defences in western Europe (see Atlantic Wall). Then, in January 1944, he established Army Group B headquarters with operational control of all forces waiting to repel the expected Allied invasion. When the Normandy landings came (see OVERLORD), Allied successes and Hitler's obstinacy convinced Rommel that the war was lost. On 17 July he was badly wounded by an air attack and, in the aftermath of the July bomb plot to kill Hitler (see Schwarze Kapelle), was unwittingly implicated by a conspirator. He was given two choices: face charges of high treason in the People's Court, or commit suicide. If he chose the latter, his family would remain unharmed and he would receive a state funeral. He took poison. Those who saw his body noted the look of contempt on his face.

Bibliography

Hart, B. L. (ed.), The Rommel Papers (London, 1953).
Schmidt, H. , With Rommel in the Desert (London, 1951).