World War II Database

Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel was born in Heidenheim, Germany to school master Erwin Rommel, Sr. and daughter of a local aristocrat Helene von Luz. Pale and sickly as a child, no one expected Rommel to become a soldier. His interest was in engineering. At the age of 14, he and a friend built a full-scale box glider; though it only barely flew, one must keep in mind that this was 1906, the first year of powered flight in Europe. His aeronautical dreams were diverted, however, when his strict father encouraged him to join the Württemberg army. On 19 Jul 1910, he was posted to the Royal Officer Cadet School in Danzig.

During WW1, Rommel first served two years in France. In Sep 1914, while facing three French soldiers alone with an empty rifle, he was wounded by a ricocheting rifle bullet in the left thigh, and won the Iron Cross, Second Class. In Jan 1915, "he crawled with his riflemen through 100 yards of barbed wire into the main French positions, captured four bunkers, held them against a counterattack by a French battalion and then withdrew before a new attack could develop"; for that action, he was awarded the Iron Cross, First Class. He was injured by shrapnel in one shin in Jul 1915. After recovery, he was posted as the company commander in the Württemberg Mountain Battalion. Theodor Werner, a comrade of 1915, recalled Rommel as "slightly built, almost schoolboyish, inspired by a holy zeal, always eager and anxious to act.... [E]verybody was inspired by his initiative, his courage, his dazzling acts of gallantry." With this unit he served in France and Romania until he was injured again in Aug 1917 with a bullet wound to his arm. Upon recovery, he was transferred to Italy, and it was really his time in Italy that transformed him into a great leader. He constantly inspired his men to put forth their best efforts, whether it was to trek through thick fresh snow with full load of equipment on their backs, or it was scaling cliff faces that daunted even the most skilled mountaineer. It was this ability to inspire that allowed him to achieve spectacular victories against the Italians, surprising the enemy from the rear and crushing them even with a smaller force. For example, in Nov 1917 at Longarone, a town in northern Italy that represented the key of the entire Italian mountain defense system in the region, his smaller force braved the raging Piave River and set up a trap that captured 8,000 Italian soldiers in one day. For his achievements including Longarone, he was awarded the Pour le Mérite, the highest Prussian military honor, by Kaiser Wilhelm II.

While on leave briefly during the war, Rommel visited Danzig in 1916 and married Lucia Maria Mollin whom he had met during his years in the Royal Officer Cadet School. He would grow to become emotionally dependent on his strong wife. "It was wonderful to see how much Erwin fussed around her," recalled a friend of Lucie's. He would write her every chance he got when he was away, including during WW2. The letters would later become valuable research material for Rommel biographers and WW2 historians. The couple produced one son, Manfred Rommel, on 24 Dec 1928; Manfred Rommel later became the mayor of the city of Stuttgart between 1974 and 1996.

After WW1, Rommel remained in the small German military. On 1 Oct 1929, upon his battalion commander's recommendation, he was posted to the Infantry School in Dresden as a junior instructor training lieutenants. "I want to teach them first how to save lives.... Shed sweat, not blood." He was a popular instructor to the students, who filled his lectures to get a glimpse of Rommel's gallantry during WW1, who was by no means shy to recite them over and over again to the point that the stories were much romanticized. "He is a towering personality even in a milieu of hand-picked officers.... A genuine leader, inspiring and arousing cheerful confidence in others.... Respected by his colleagues, worshipped by his cadets", wrote the school commandant in Sep 1931. In Oct 1933, he was posted to a battalion command in Goslar in the Hartz mountains. While at this position, he up-to-now non-political Rommel met Adolf Hitler on 30 Sep 1934. With Hitler's promise for military glory, he, like so many officers, became a stern Nazi supporter. In 1935, Rommel was posted to the Infantry School in Potsdam. He was a non-traditional instructor. While the other instructors pushed military theories on the students, Rommel placed more value on the students' own analysis. A student recalled Rommel asking "[n]evermind what [Carl von] Clausewitz thought, what do you think?"

In Sep 1936, Rommel was posted to be one of Hitler's escorts for the Nazi Party rally in Nuremberg. One day Hitler decided to go for a drive, and casually mentioned that no more than six cars should follow him. Rommel counted the number of cars after Hitler, and stopped the rest. The high ranking party leaders who were stopped were furious at the young colonel who dared to stop them. Upon receiving complaints from party leaders that evening, Hitler sent for Rommel and personally congratulated him for his job well done.

In early 1937, Rommel published a book on infantry tactics titled Infanterie greift an; a copy of the book found its way to Adolf Hitler's desk, and the writing highly impressed him. He made handsome amounts of money from the sale of the book, but in order to avoid paying taxes, he told his publisher to pay him only 15,000 Reichsmarks per year, keeping the rest in a bank account, gathering interest. Whether this was tax evasion was not really a topic of investigations, for that he was becoming closer and closer to Hitler.

In 1937, Rommel became the commander of Hitler's personal guards during the German leader's tour of newly annexed Czechoslovakia. Twice during Mar 1939, to Prague and then to Memel, Hitler sent for him to command his mobile headquarters. Being exposed to Hitler so regularly turned Rommel into the grasp of Nazism. "While many of his brother officers still hesitated to commit themselves to the Nazi philosophy, Rommel's conversion was undoubtedly complete. Even in private postcards to his friends, he now signed off: "Heil Hitler! Yours, E. Rommel". In Dec 1938, he made the note that "[t]oday's soldier must be political, Because he must always be ready to fight for our new policies". On 25 Aug 1939, he was promoted to the rank of general, and Hitler ordered that the promotion was to be back dated to 1 Jun 1939. Hitler had also begun to confide in Rommel. "I'm together with [Hitler] very often, even in the most intimate discussions", wrote Rommel in a letter to Lucie. "It means so much to me that he confides in me -- far more than being promoted to general." As Polish men were gathered and sent into camps, Rommel brushed off the observations, convinced that they must be guerilla fighters and other prisoners of war. He was so convinced that Hitler was so perfect that it did not occur to him that cruel fates awaited these men. It all began with his belief in the Prussian military tradition. "Soldiers are worth something again", he wrote Lucie happily and innocently in Sep 1939. In Oct 1939, Rommel suggested that he would like to gain field command. The army offered a mountain division, thinking of his infantry instructor experience and his time commanding mountain troops during the inter-war years. Rommel turned it down. He wanted an armor division. With Hitler's influence, he got the Seventh Panzer Division on 10 Oct.

Rommel's first field experience with the Seventh Panzer Division came in May 1940. In Belgium, and then France, his armor pushed forward brashly, ignoring risk of enemy counterattacks from the rear because the shock of his rapid advances crushed enemy morale which made calculated counterattacks impossible. Some commanders criticized his carelessness which at times cut off communications between his armor and the main army, but it worked for Rommel in the 19 days he spent in Belgium and France. His command vehicle was a modified Panzer III, and it was often seen on the front lines; at times, he would also ride with Colonel Karl Rothenburg in a Panzer IV, or fly high above in a Storch observation aircraft. Whatever the means of transportation was, he always wanted to be close to the front lines. On 27 May 1940, at the end of a routine conference with armor commanders, his aid Karl Hanke appeared unexpectedly, announcing "[o]n the Führer's orders I herewith bestow on Herr General the Knight's Cross", making him the first divisional commander to be awarded the Knight's Cross in France. His connections with the Nazi Party in Munich and Berlin probably had much to do with the award, but none could argue against his successes. On that same night of the award, he pushed forward toward Lille, one of the biggest French industrial centers. "Mount up! Start Engines! Advance!" He ordered his armor while other armor commanders were just settling down to get a few hours' sleep. The surprise night attack frustrated the the French and British retreat toward Dunkirk, but it also brought his units in the direct path of German artillery shells which had no idea his armor had already made so much progress; he had no choice but to pull back slightly and let his men rest until the morning. On the next day, he took Lille, earning him a few days' rest. By 5 Jun, he crossed the Somme using two bridges the French had failed to demolish. From there, his armor traveled in a box formation across the French countryside, trampling everything in their path, moving 40 to 50 miles a day. At Thieulloy, he captured a British supply convoy full of chocolate and canned fruit, showing the British were not ready for the Germans to advance so quickly. At Elbeuf, a French woman waved to Rommel, convinced any foreign men this far behind the battle front must be British. By 10 Jun, his units reached the English Channel near Dieppe, the first Germas to do so. On the next day, he surrounded thousands of British and French troops waiting to be evacuated at Saint-Valéry, which surrendered after a terrifying artilery and dive bombing attack. After four days of rest, Rommel started to move again. On 16 Jun crossed the Seine, and on 18 Jun he pushed 220 miles to captured Cherbourg, a major French port city with a garrison 20 times larger than Rommel's numbers. The capture of Cherbourg ended the campaign for Rommel. By this time, he was credited with the capture of 97,000 prisoners of war at the cost of 42 armor and crew.

Rommel's methods were questionable at times however. For example, the German 32nd Division, on Rommel's left flank in France, complained that Rommel had used up not only his own bridging tackle on the first day, but also helped himself to use the 32nd's, which delayed the 32nd Division's timetable. Being a favored commander of Nazi political officers gave him the immunity from much criticism.

In Feb 1941, Rommel was selected by Hitler to lead the German forces in North Africa. He arrived there on 12 Feb, witnessing a full retreat of the Italian forces toward Tripoli. with his usual willingness to see the front line situations for himself, he jumped into a Heinkel bomber and took off immediately for an observation run. His troops arrived two days later, on 14 Feb. Several days later, his troops staged a parade at Tripoli. To falsify the numbers to the lower ranks in order to boost morale and to any British spy that could be observing, he ordered his armor to circle the block several times. "We've got to keep the enemy guessing about our strength - that is, about our weakness - until the rest of the Fifth Light Division gets here", he said. Meanwhile, to trick British air reconnaissance, he ordered his men to construct fake armor. Some of the fake armor were built atop Volkswagen cars that moved around every so often, while others were stationary wooden ones. Intercepted British messages revealed British warnings of presence of German medium armor, which meant the fake armor had worked.

Once Rommel received adequate equipment, he attacked aggressively, driving the British 8th Army out of Libya and attempted to venture into Egypt. At El Alamein, his aura of invincibility was finally lifted as his supply lines stretched too far. When the Americans landed in North Africa, he turned his attention west, realizing that if the newly arrived troops had the opportunity to meet with the British in his east, the German army would face an even greater challenge. He left the North African theater to meet with Hitler in Berlin on the issues in the theater, and as events would turn out, he would never return to North Africa again.

Rommel's feat in North Africa was not only respected by the Germans, but by his enemies as well. British general Harold Alexander commented that Rommel "was a very chivalrous enemy", and Allied Supreme Commander Dwight Eisenhower also held Rommel's capabilities in the utmost regard. American general George Patton, with his colorful and usual expression, symbollically yelled at the German commander, "Rommel, you magnificent bastard! I read your book!", perhaps commenting on the impressive works on military maneuvers that Rommel had published. It was in North Africa that Rommel, nicknamed the Desert Fox, made himself known as an extremely capable and innovative leader.

After North Africa, Rommel served briefly in Italy before returning to France to strengthen the coastal defenses there. He was convinced that if the western Allies launched an attack on continental Europe, the Allies must not be given the chance to gain secure footing, otherwise all would be lost. He prepared armor units miles from the beaches, prepared to counterattack any landing attempts on the French coast without risking exposing tanks in transit to Allied air power. His deployment strategy for his tanks fell in line with his belief that air power was the key to winning a modern war. "The future battle on the ground will be preceded by battle in the air", he said. "This will determine which of the contestants has to suffer operational and tactical disadvantages and be forced throughout the battle into adoption compromise solutions."

Early 1944, Rommel was approached to participate in the July Plot to assassinate Hitler. It is popularly believed by historians today that Rommel had refused due to his loyalty, but the exact facts are still unknown.

After the western Allies launched the Normandy landings in Jun 1944, Rommel was out of the area and unable to get a clear picture of the situation, and then Hitler hesitated to approve the commence a counterattack by armor until it was too late. Rommel's nightmare came true over the next six weeks as the Allied beachhead strengthened. On 15 Jul, he communicated to Hitler that Germany should seriously consider ending the war on favorable terms when it was still possible, but Hitler refused to heed the advice. Five days later, the conspirators of the July Plot struck on 20 Jul, nearly succeeding in killing Hitler. Later in 1944, Rommel's meetings with the July Plot conspirators were uncovered by Gestapo agents. Even though Rommel had refused to participate in the assassination, Hitler was convinced that he was a threat. Rommel avoided being tried as a traitor by committing suicide by ingesting cyanide. Officially, Germany noted his cause of death as a brain seizure. After Rommel had died, a personal correspondence from Wilhelm Keitel to his wife dated 24 Oct 1944 noted that "Rommel has died after all from the multiple skull injuries he received on a car journey, through a blood-clot." Only later in Keitel's memoirs written in 1945 had he admitted in knowing the truth about Rommel. Keitel explained that orders were given to prevent Rommel from shooting himself; instead, poison was offered so that the cause of death could be attributed to brain damage suffered in an accident. Rommel was buried as a national hero, receiving a state funeral with full military honors.

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Visitor Submitted Comments

1. Alan Chanter says:
   29 Sep 2007 02:52:30 AM
   
   Men are basically smart or dumb and lazy or ambitious. The dumb and ambitious ones are dangerous and I get rid of them. The dumb and lazy ones I give mundane duties. The smart ambitious ones I put on my staff. The smart and lazy ones I make my commanders. (Erwin Rommel)
   
2. HARSHAD DAVE says:
   8 Sep 2008 12:04:16 AM
   
   There are such dynamic and good persons in this world who commits such mistake that Erwin Rommel did. To be dynamic is a potential... a God-given gift to the person. But to have the control to use the dynamic potential for the wise & good cause, behind the justified person/social-body is the moral duty of the dynamic person. FM Erwin Rommel became too late to realize this.
   
   Harshad Dave.
3. Anonymous says:
   16 Feb 2009 03:45:29 PM
   
   Erwin Rommel will forever be connected with the Afrika Corps. He was after all " The Desert Fox". When I was stationed in W. Germany during the 60's I was able to talk with a man, who served in the Afrika Corps. and like my late Uncle, he would say with pride " I served with Rommel"
4. Anonymous says:
   27 Feb 2009 07:42:32 AM
   
   Rommel was key to win the vast oil resources in the middle east and africa, that would have give Germany the much needed economic power to boost its wealth production machine. A network of several german cities foundations would have follow to secure properly this new logistic position. Too bad Hitler didnt have a prudent vision of this strategy.
5. BILL says:
   6 May 2009 12:29:47 PM
   
   Lili Marlene was a wartime favorite song, of both allied and axis soldiers. Joseph Goebbels banned the song for not being Military enough, but Field Marshal Erwin Rommel requested Radio Belgrade to play Lili Marlene every night for his Africa Korps.
6. BILL says:
   10 Jun 2009 06:41:16 PM
   
   "We have a very daring and skillful opponet against us. And may I say across the havoc of war, a great general". Commenting on Rommel
   -Winston Churchill-
7. BILL says:
   22 Jun 2009 08:27:59 AM
   
   "Don't fight a battle if you don't gain
   anything by winning."
   
   -Erwin Rommel, In his book
   "Infanterie greift An", 1937
   
   "I would be rather more happy had he given
   me one more division."
   
   Comment after receiving the rank of
   Field Marshal from Hitler, 1942
   

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