General Rommel is a well-known German Field Marshal who received this title in 1942. Most of all he became famous, commanding the troops of the Nazi coalition during the hostilities in North Africa. This article describes the basic facts of his biography, the ups and downs, and the career of a German officer.
Childhood and youth
General Rommel was born in the town of Heidenheim an der Brenz in 1891. At that time it was the territory of the kingdom of Württemberg, which was part of the German Empire. His full name is Erwin Eugen Johannes.
His father worked as an ordinary teacher, and his mother was from a wealthy family of the ex-president of the government of Württemberg. He grew up with two brothers, whose names were Gerhard and Karl. The first became an opera singer, and the second a dentist. The hero of this article also had a sister, Helen, to whom he treated with special love. She became a teacher of art and needlework, worked at the Waldorf School in Stuttgart.
Biographers note that the childhood of General Rommel was truly violent. As a child, he regularly set himself incredibly difficult tasks that seemed impossible to many, and then he successfully dealt with them.
When Erwin was in school, he wanted to become an aviation engineer when he grew up. But the boy’s pedantic father noted that there was no support in the air, so he insisted that his son choose his future between military service and a teacher’s career. Rommel's career seemed more promising to Rommel, and he stopped at it.
Military service
In 1910, Rommel graduated as a fan cadet in an infantry regiment. This title corresponds to the candidate for officer in the German army . A year later, he had already graduated from a military school in Danzig, and in 1912 he received the rank of lieutenant.
In the same year, the hero of this article fell in love with 20-year-old Valbura Stemmer. He counted on marriage, but his financial situation did not allow him to make an offer. In those days, under the rules of the German army, an officer was required to pay ten thousand marks to marry. This amount far exceeded its capabilities at that time.
In 1913, his father found out about the connection with Valbura, immediately demanding that Rommel interrupt her. He refused. This was largely due to the fact that the girl was in her fifth month of pregnancy. True, the father of the hero of this article did not find out about this, he died a few months later. But Rommel's relationship with Valbura did not work out.
During training at an officer school, he met Lucy Mollen, who became his wife. Officially, they formalized the relationship in 1916. In 1928 they had an only child - it was a son who was named Manfred.
World War
When the First World War began, Rommel was in the Alpine battalion, which was located on the border with Italy in the mountains. He took part in the so-called Romanian and Italian campaigns. During battles around Mount Caporetto, a detachment led by Rommel captured strategically important positions, forcing the Italians to surrender, and then captured a lot of captured weapons. For this brave maneuver, the officer received the highest German award at that time - the Order of Pour le Mérite.
After being wounded, he received two Iron Crosses (in 1914 and 1915), as well as seven other orders during the First World War. In October 1917 he was promoted to captain.
Rommel's feat
One episode was a true testament to the heroism and courage of the still young Rommel. On August 22, 1914, the German army carried out a swift attack on Paris. In military history, this battle entered as a battle on the Marne River. Rommel commanded a platoon that was tasked with reconnaissance.
At that time there was a thick fog, and the hero of this article, together with three soldiers, approached a small village that was occupied by French troops. Rounding the house of a local farmer, Rommel suddenly ran into 20 enemy soldiers. Because of the thick fog, the enemy did not expect an ambush, at that moment Erwin ordered to open fire. During the shootout, a platoon, which he commanded, arrived in time for help. As a result, the attack on the village, which was carried out without command approval, was completed successfully. Half of the detachment attacked the French, while the rest at that time set fire to barns and houses, forcing the enemy to retreat.
In this battle, for the first time, the courage of the future General Rommel, his commitment to sharp and independent actions, so clearly manifested.
Treaty of Versailles
When Germany was defeated in World War I, a peace treaty was concluded at Versailles. After this, Rommel continued to serve at the Reichswehr base. These are limited German armed forces. They were limited by the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. This situation continued until 1935.
At this time, Erwin Rommel commanded a separate battalion, served in the infantry school of Dresden as an instructor, and taught at the military academy in Potsdam. In 1937, he published war diaries, entitled "Infantry Attacks." And soon after that he received the rank of colonel, when, with the advent of Adolf Hitler, the German armed forces began to recover in full.
In 1938 he was appointed head of the military academy in the Wiener Neustadt castle. A month before the start of World War II, he was appointed commandant of the Fuhrer headquarters.
Start of war
In early 1940, Rommel took part in the so-called French campaign. In February, he received the rank of Major General, leading the seventh Panzer Division on the Western Front. In particular, she took part in the implementation of the Gelb plan during the capture of France.
On May 27, Wehrmacht General Rommel received the levels for the Iron Crosses of the second and first degree for battles conducted on the Western Front. Among them were repeated awards, which was often used in the German army.
In February 1941, General Rommel, a brief biography of which is given in this article, was appointed commander of the African Corps. He was tasked with discarding the British army in Egypt, thereby improving the position of the Italian army in North Africa. At that time, the situation for the Italians was unfavorable, they were practically defeated by British forces, they needed urgent help from the Germans.
Campaign in North Africa
Just by his actions in northern Africa, the General of the Wehrmacht Rommel became famous first of all. The situation in this sector of the front developed as follows.
In December 1940, the British launched an offensive in the region against Italian units. Literally in the first two months, the Italians were driven back almost 600 miles, losing about 130 thousand people, while they themselves managed to destroy about two thousand British.
General Rommel, whose biography is described in this article, arrived in Tripoli on February 12, 1941 as part of the advanced units of the German African Corps. At that time, the key forces of the African Corps were to reach Tripoli only a month later, but even at the end of March they did not have time to assemble in full force.
Once in North Africa, General Erwin Rommel first ordered the construction of mock tanks. Fake guns were installed on Volkswagen cars. The main goal of this plan was to try to deceive the British, forcing them to believe that the German forces are much larger than it actually was.
On March 19, German troops were expected to go on the offensive, but General Rommel, whose photo is in this article, ordered the attack to be postponed. In the future, it turned out that it only came to his advantage. The British, deciding that the battle was over, sent on vacation the army commander O'Connor. The seventh armored division was replaced by a second, which actually had no combat experience, especially in North Africa. Australian veterans were replaced by the ninth infantry division.
On the side of the German command and General Erwin Rommel was a factor of surprise. Five days later, without waiting for reinforcements, he sent all the military units he had in the attack. It is worth noting that in terms of numbers they were very modest. The German general Rommel was counting on distracting the British from the final destruction of the Italian army, trying to save at least part of it. At that time, the third tank regiment, as well as the first echelon of the fifth light African division and the units responsible for reconnaissance, remained in combat-ready condition. The counterattack was so successful that a few days later the British were driven back almost a thousand miles ago. The German general Rommel, whose photo is presented in the article, showed courage and courage. He received an unofficial title - "Soldier for soldiers." Then everyone found out who General Rommel was.
Rommel rushes deep into the continent
A few days after such a success, General Erwin Rommel, whose biography can be found in this article, decided to capture a number of cities that are strategically important. And immediately after that he went deep into Egypt to the shores of the Nile.
The British, who did not expect such a pressure, quickly retreated. And at such a speed that the German motorized units simply did not keep pace with them in order to organize the persecution. It was not even about any organized resistance at that time.
Rommel's successes were highly appreciated by the German command. On March 20, he was presented with Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross, on July 1, he received the rank of General of Tank Forces, and on September 1, 1941, he became the commander of a tank group called Africa.
Only when the offensive capabilities of the German army were finally exhausted did the British manage to gain a foothold in the Benghazi region. At the end of 1941, they took advantage of the considerable fatigue of the Africa Tank Group, as well as insufficient supply. Moreover, they had a significant advantage in technology and manpower, which allowed them to launch a planned attack. Rommel's troops were forced to return to their original positions on the Tripolitanian border. However, even in such a situation, the hero of this article proved to be a competent military leader. He escaped the trap prepared for him and did not allow the complete encirclement of his units, being able to save most of the military equipment. It was after this strategic success that he was assigned the nickname Desert Fox. Field Marshal Erwin Rommel received approval even from the English Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who at a speech in the House of Commons noted that the British army has a worthy rival, a great commander.
General Okinleklet, who at that time commanded forces in the Middle East, issued an order not to mention Rommel's name so as not to spread the opinion of him as a superman.
Hitler greatly appreciated Field Marshal Rommel. In early 1942, he awarded him Swords in addition to the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves. January 30, promoted to the rank of colonel general.
The brightest moment in the African career of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel happened in June 1942, when he commanded units in the battle for the city of Torbuk. At that time, it was one of the most fortified fortresses throughout Africa. Many believed that it was simply impossible to take this fortress.
For the Allies, this was a key springboard, it was repeatedly blocked, attempts were made to storm, but they could not get the defenders of the fortress out of it. On June 20, German planes dropped bombs on a minefield, due to which sappers managed to clear the passage to the fortress, several hundred tanks immediately rushed into the hole.
By the morning of June 21, the last opposing units were liquidated. When Torbut was captured, the situation on this part of the front changed in favor of Germany, they began to write about Rommel in British newspapers.
Taking advantage of the confusion of the enemy, Rommel launched a counterattack against the superior British. The operation was called "Aida." In July, the units were a hundred kilometers from Alexandria. Rommel managed to push the British back to their original positions in just two weeks. This was a critical episode for the entire British army. Meanwhile, on June 22, the hero of this article received another promotion, becoming Field Marshal.
At the same time, the offensive itself had to be suspended due to lack of reinforcements and lack of fuel. In October, a precarious balance was outlined in North Africa. The Germans and Italians did not have fuel for motorized units, and the British concentrated their forces at the expense of colonial divisions. Soon, new military equipment from America arrived.
The position of Field Marshal Rommel was complicated by the fact that he was diagnosed with an acute form of amoebic dysentery, due to which he was forced to go to a hospital in Germany. When the British went on the offensive, he decided to urgently return to Africa, without finishing treatment. But while he arrived, the Germans lost the battle of El Alamein. In less than two weeks, Rommel's army had to retreat almost a thousand kilometers back to Tunisia.
In November, the American army landed in Algeria and Morocco. The Germans and Italians were actually trapped. But even in this situation, Rommel decided to go on the offensive, even though there were much more Americans. This happened at the Kasserinsky pass. They suffered serious damage, but it did not bring tangible success. When it became apparent that the operation had failed, the hero of this article concluded that the only way to save the armies entrusted to him would be to urgently evacuate him.
In March 1943, he left von Arnim as army commander, and he himself went to Hitler’s headquarters in Ukraine, citing illness. He decided to persuade the Fuhrer to leave Tunisia, returning the armies there to Europe. Hitler flatly refused, removing Rommel from further participation in the African campaign. Von Arnim became the leader of the troops.
It all ended as Rommel had predicted. In May 1943, after two months of fighting, German and Italian troops were blocked from the sea and from land. They were forced to capitulate.
Service on the Western Front
Rommel himself went to the north of Italy in the status of commander of an army group. Despite the fact that he was removed from the African operation, in March 1943 he was awarded Diamonds to the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords.
Having received a new appointment, Erwin Rommel immediately made an attempt to turn the “Atlantic Wall” into an insurmountable obstacle for rivals. But he had strategic disagreements with the commander of the group in France, Rundstedt. As a result, the Reich was not able to develop a unified plan for the defense of the western borders. This led to the inconsistency and low efficiency of the Germans during the landing of the Allies on the shore of Normandy.
Shortly after the opening of the Second Front, Rommel was seriously injured. His car was fired from an English plane. The treatment in Ulm was successful, doctors even managed to ensure that his damaged left eyelid opens.
General's death
July 20, 1944 the failed assassination attempt on the Fuhrer. It was organized by the German Resistance, consisting mainly of Wehrmacht officers who conceived the coup and the overthrow of the Nazis in power.
The conspirators were able to organize an explosion at Hitler’s headquarters in East Prussia. Four senior officers died, but the Fuhrer himself survived, having received shrapnel wounds and burns. During the interrogation, one of the organizers of the attempt (presumably it was Hans Speidel) mentioned Rommel, who did not take part in the conspiracy.
The German command, given its military merits, gave him a choice: to go to the tribunal or commit suicide. On October 14, 1944, Rommel adopted potassium cyanide. The Führer ordered to be buried with all military honors.