Posted on 10/17/2018 10:54:48 AM PDT by C19fan
A senior official at Germany's defence ministry has sparked an uproar with a tweet commemorating the death of Erwin Rommel, a favourite general of Adolf Hitler who was later involved in a plot to kill the Führer. "Erwin Rommel, who was forced to commit suicide by the Nazis, died 74 years ago today," wrote Peter Tauber, a former close ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel, on Twitter.
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I met Gen. Rommel’s son Manfred, then the Oberbuergermeister of Stuttgart, the first year I was assigned to EUCOM in 1989. He was a really nice guy, and very pro-American.
That isn’t very clean.
Gen. Rommel was admired by his peers on both sides of the war. Though he was a dedicated soldier, he detested Naziism.
Rommel wasn’t a Nazi. In fact he turned against Hitler and was part of the General’s plot to blow Hitler up at the Wolf’s Lair on July 20th 1944.
The Germans knocking this guy for the tweet are like the people we have here who want to remove the statues of confederate generals and soldiers. The left constantly seeks to demonize historical figures of the past (except their own pantheon of heroes, of course).
Agreed. Rommel did the best he could under untenable circumstances. Patton adored him. Studied him.
Line from the movie: “Rommel, you magnificent bastard, I read your book!”
“Though he was a dedicated soldier, he detested Naziism.”
Apparently not enough to not fight for them.
Like some other great military men he made the wrong decision on whom to fight for over misplaced or mistaken loyalties.
“Rommel wasn’t a Nazi. In fact he turned against Hitler and was part of the General’s plot to blow Hitler up at the Wolf’s Lair on July 20th 1944.”
A bit late.
However, he ignored, or went against, some of the more odious directives from High Command, and was ultimately killed for his involvement in the plots to assassinate Hitler. Accounts that I read said that he chose suicide over trial and reprisals against his family.
Might have been interesting to see what would have happened had the assassination been successful, a settlement reached with US/France/UK, and Rommel was turned against the Russians in the East in mid-1944 while German Industry was at its peak.
Erwin Rommel was Germany’s Patton. Both shared a dislike for politics.
Both Officers were Career Military and great statisticians and theorists. Both Patton and Rommel fought in WW1 and WW2.
No, he wasn't. He had an unsubstantiated allegation made against him by a person who was being tortured and gave up lots of names to try and save himself. Rommel was confronted with the allegation and told that if he were to request a trial, then his family would receive no protection from the Reich.
“The Tank in Attack”
It’s amazing how new all of this was back then. Patton came up through Calvary. He designed their new sabers at one point.
When the tank first emerged, it was slow and designed to help the Army hold ground once it was taken.
Rommel changed all of that. The Blitzkrieg was a revolution.
Patton added close air support to that model, allowing the aviators to decide when to attack in order to best time the order of battle.
The idea was to bomb clear an area of ingress and then roll through to the back. The tanks followed the bombing within seconds.
When Patton became frustrated about the timing issues initially, it was an O-2 aviator who lost his cool and explained to the General the facts of it - air speed, cross wind, visibility, etc.
It was Patton who decided to relinquish control of the moment of attack to the aviators almost on the spot.
For an egomaniac, it is a singular act of humility and practicality.
I think the 1970 movie on Patton was as close a portrait as were going to get. I think we are getting better in terms of innovation in warfare, not fighting the last war, etc. I’m not sure there will be as pure a genius general as Patton was ever again.
Unfortunately for Patton, he was not facing Rommel at that point. Nor did he in any subsequent engagements.
There have been several movies made showing Rommel in a good light. The only one I can think that did not treat him such was FIVE GRAVES TO CAIRO (1943).
Generals sometimes are in the unenviable position of choosing the lives of their soldiers over the desires of the politics. We often say, “If he really believes that, then he should resign.” Well, if he resigns who does he leave his soldiers to...a butcher, an incompetent, a sadist?
So, staying with your troops is sometimes to protect them from something worse.
The Germans SHOULD be proud of Rommel. He invented tank warfare as we still know it today. One of my best friends on earth was a tank platoon commander in Desert Storm.
He told me that Rommel was the father of all of it, and that for the purely tank part of it, little has changed. Patton added coordinated air support.
When tanks got super fast in comparison, tactics changed too, but not far afield from what Rommel had first conceived.
“Patton came up through Calvary.”
It’s cavalry. There was a guy who you could say ROSE up through Calvary, but he wasn’t a general. Patton had a lot of respect for Him, though.
> In fact he turned against Hitler and was part of the General’s plot to blow Hitler up at the Wolf’s Lair on July 20th 1944. <
I don’t know about Rommel, but many of those plotters were Nazis who just didn’t like the way Hitler was conducting the war. One example of that is Arthur Nebe. Nebe commanded the notorious Einsatzgruppe B on the Eastern front.
He was part of the July 20 plot, and was caught and executed after the plot failed.
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