Erwin Rommel

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Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, 1942
Erwin Rommel

Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel , called Wüstenfuchs (born November 15, 1891 in Heidenheim an der Brenz , † October 14, 1944 in Herrlingen ), was a German field marshal and military strategist .

Rommel joined the German Army in 1910 and was honored for bravery during the First World War . He was then accepted into the Reichswehr and the Wehrmacht . In 1937 his book Infantry Attack was published , in which he processed his war experiences and military strategies. During the Second World War , he served as commander of the 7th Panzer Division in France from February 1940 . His work as commander of the German Africa Corps and the Panzer Army Africa in North Africa , with whose troops he advanced to El Alamein in July 1942 , earned him great popularity at home and open respect abroad. He later served as Commander in Chief of Army Group B again in France, where he was wounded in an air raid on July 17, 1944 . After the assassination attempt on July 20, 1944 , Adolf Hitler accused him of involvement and forced him to commit suicide .

Rommel had an ambivalent relationship to National Socialism and the resistance . While his change to Hitler's opponent is accepted in research, his involvement in the July 20, 1944 assassination attempt remains controversial. Recent research indicates that Rommel "not only knew about the coup d'état of July 20, but also supported it and moved to the camp of the conspirators."

Private life

Rommel's house in Weingarten

Rommel was born in Heidenheim an der Brenz in 1891 as the second of four children of the secondary school teacher and later rector Erwin Rommel and his wife Helene, née Luz (since 1880 by Luz ), and grew up in Aalen . From 1900 to 1908 he attended the Latin school there , then from 1908 to 1910 the Realgymnasium Schwäbisch Gmünd (today's Parler-Gymnasium ). In 1910 he joined the Württemberg Army .

From 1912, Rommel had a love affair with Walburga Stemmer from Weingarten , who gave birth to their daughter Gertrud in December 1913. In November 1916, Rommel married Lucie Maria Mollin (1894–1971), whom he had met in 1911 during a war school course in Danzig . Rommel's wife was a niece of the Polish priest Edmund Roszczynialski in Neustadt in West Prussia near Danzig. This was considered lost after the German conquest of Poland . At the request of his wife, Rommel asked about the persecuted uncle. He was put off by the bureaucracy and had to tell her a year later that nothing was found. Roszczynialski was arrested by the Gestapo on October 30, 1939 and was shot almost two weeks later, on November 11 or 12, near Cewice , probably in the Piaśnic forest .

The illegitimate daughter Gertrud grew up with her grandmother. Rommel and his wife took care of the girl who was passed off as Rommel's niece. In December 1928, her son came Manfred Rommel to the world, the future CDU - politician and Stuttgart mayor . Walburga Stemmer died in October 1928, presumably by suicide. The children of Gertrud, Rommel's grandson, settled in the Allgäu.

In October 1943 the Rommel family moved from Wiener Neustadt to Herrlingen. There she moved into a building that was called "Haus Breitenfels" or " Martin Buber House" and was part of the Jewish country school home that was dissolved in spring 1939. This educational reform institution, headed by the Berlin educator Hugo Rosenthal , was founded in 1926 by Anna Essinger , who fled to England with her pupils in autumn 1933. The residents of the Jewish retirement home set up in these buildings in mid-1939 had been deported in 1941/42 .

The Propaganda Ministry wrote a different life story to Rommel, which was printed in the weekly newspaper Das Reich in April 1941 . In it he was portrayed as a working-class son who was one of the first SA leaders to have gained National Socialist convictions from a personal relationship with Hitler. Rommel himself complained about this false vita .

Military career

German Empire and First World War

Rommel as first lieutenant , 1917

Rommel, who actually wanted to become an aircraft engineer, was given the choice by his father of either becoming a teacher or an officer . Rommel opted for a military career. After he had been rejected by the artillery and the pioneers , he joined the infantry regiment "King Wilhelm I." (6th Württembergisches) No. 124 in Weingarten in Upper Swabia on July 19, 1910 as a flag junior . Between March and November 1911 he completed the obligatory course at the war school in Danzig.

On January 27, 1912, Erwin Rommel was promoted to lieutenant and was now working in Weingarten as part of his recruit training. On March 1, 1914, he was assigned to the 4th Battery of Field Artillery Regiment No. 49 in Ulm for five months . With the beginning of the First World War on August 1, 1914, he fought with his old regiment in the Longuyon area , on the Maas and west of Verdun . In September 1914 he received the Iron Cross, Second Class, followed in January 1915 by the Iron Cross, First Class. On September 18, 1915, he was promoted to first lieutenant .

From October 1915 was Rommel Theodor Sproesser company commander at the Württemberg Mountain Battalion, the first in the trench warfare in the high Vosges and 1916, then at the Romanian Front fought. At the end of September 1917, Rommel's battalion was relocated to the Isonzo Front and took part in the mountain war. With Rommel's participation, he broke into the Kolovrat position and in the Battle of Good Freit at the end of October 1917, the storming of Monte Matajur . In mid-November, Rommel took part in taking Longarone . For his commitment, Rommel received the order Pour le Mérite in December without the usual previous award of the House Order of Hohenzollern . Before the award, Rommel had complained that the success at Matajur had initially been credited to an officer from another unit. In his book Infanterie Attacks, published in 1937, Rommel reported extensively on his use in World War I.

In January 1918 Rommel became an orderly officer in the Württemberg General Command z. b. V. 64 in Friedrichshafen, where he was promoted to captain on October 18 . After the end of the war, around Christmas 1918, he returned to the 7th  Company of Infantry Regiment No. 124 in Weingarten.

Weimar Republic

The Versailles Treaty stipulated that the army strength of the Reichswehr could not exceed one hundred thousand men. Rommel was spared the mass layoffs: he was able to stay in the military.

In March 1919, Rommel led the Württemberg Security  Company 32 in Friedrichshafen . On June 25, 1919 he became company commander in the Rifle Regiment "Alt-Württemberg" (1st Württ.) No. 25. On October 18, he was sworn in to the new Weimar constitution . In 1919 and 1920 Rommel was deployed against insurgents in Lindau , in the Münsterland and in Westphalia . In 1924 he was in the staff of the 2nd Battalion of the 13th Infantry Regiment , from 1925 to 1929 he was chief of the 4th ( MG )  company of this regiment .

From October 1929 to September 1933 Rommel was head of inspections and teacher at the infantry school in Dresden's Albertstadt , today's army officers' school . On April 1, 1932, he was appointed major .

Period of National Socialism and World War II

Rommel (left) and Hitler pacing an honor formation in Goslar, September 1934
Rommel (center) as commandant of the Führer Headquarters with Hitler in Poland, September 1939

Like many other members of the Reichswehr, Rommel welcomed the Nazis' seizure of power . He was of the opinion that after years of political unrest there was a clear leader again. This was all the more true as Adolf Hitler demanded and enforced the revision of the Versailles Treaty . The upgrading, enlargement and modernization of the military by Hitler met with the approval of the soldiers, whose social standing had suffered after the First World War, as had the central position of the military in the state. However, Rommel and other officers reacted with discomfort to the role that the SA , which was perceived as a competitor, played under the new regime. The elimination of the SA in June 1934 was therefore also rated positively by Rommel. By the Nazi regime promoted upgrading of the armed forces implicated better career prospects for officers.

Rommel first met Hitler at the end of September 1934 when he was visiting the 5th Division's autumn maneuvers on the Swabian Alb. On October 1, 1933, Rommel was appointed commander of the III. Battalion ("Goslarer Jäger") of the 17th Infantry Regiment was transferred to Goslar , where he stayed until mid-January 1935. In 1934, Rommel's book was published for training combat tasks for platoons and companies: Ein Handb. Fd Officerunterricht . This book was printed in five editions by 1945 with revisions and title changes.

In mid-October 1935, Rommel, who had been promoted to lieutenant colonel on January 1, 1935 , became a course director at the new war school in Potsdam , which he left again in November 1938. During this time he wrote his book Infantry Attacks , which had an edition of around 400,000 copies by 1945. From February 21, 1937 to August 31, 1938, Rommel was also a part-time liaison officer of the Wehrmacht with the Reich Youth Leader . At the beginning of October 1937 he was promoted to colonel .

As a (peacetime) course leader, Rommel had a mobilization assignment as commander of the leader escort battalion . As such, he was first in the Nazi Party used in Nuremberg in September 1936, the NSDAP, as the annexation of Austria in March 1938, and shortly thereafter during the invasion of the Sudetenland in October 1938. The result was drum of 10 November 1938 to 22 August 1939 briefly commander of the war school in Wiener Neustadt .

During the smashing of the rest of Czech Republic and the invasion of Memelland in March 1939, Rommel, as commander of the escort battalion, was also in command of the Führer headquarters .

Poland and France campaign

Rommel at a meeting with officers in France, June 1940

During the attack on Poland , which marked the beginning of the Second World War , Rommel was again in command of the Fuehrer's headquarters from 23 August 1939 to 14 February 1940. Hitler appointed him major general with retroactive effect from August 1, 1939 .

After the invasion of Poland, Hitler complied with Rommel's request to lead a tank division by appointing him in February 1940 in Bad Godesberg as commander of the 7th Panzer Division . Up until then, Rommel had no practical experience in commanding tank units, but in the “ Yellow Case ” in France he proved to be successful with his idiosyncratic leadership . The unpredictability and speed of his operations irritated not only his opponents, but also the German high command . It earned his division the nickname "Ghost Division ". Rommel's association advanced across the Meuse at Dinant , broke through the extended Maginot Line and advanced to the La Bassée Canal . On May 27, 1940, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross .

Use in Libya and Egypt

Award of the Colonial Order of the Star of Italy to Rommel (right), April 1942
Rommel in his command vehicle Sd.Kfz. 250/3 "Greif" , June 1942
The "Desert Fox" with his driver Hellmut von Leipzig near Tobruk, June 1942
Rommel as Field Marshal General , around 1942/43

In September 1940 had Italy from Italian Libya from an invasion into the alliance with Great Britain Kingdom of Egypt started. The British counter-offensive from early December 1940 collapsed the Italian 10th Army and led to the complete loss of Cyrenaica by February 8, 1941 . Under this impression, Benito Mussolini and Hitler agreed in January on direct German support in Libya. In addition to additional air force units, this should consist of a tank corps with two divisions.

Rommel, who had been promoted to lieutenant general in January 1941 , was chosen personally for the command by Hitler against the resistance of the commander-in-chief of the army, Walther von Brauchitsch . On February 12, 1941, Rommel reached Tripoli as part of the Sonnenblume company and was appointed commander of the German troops in North Africa with effect from February 15 . His mission was to assist Italy in its defense, to prevent a British advance on Tripoli and to present a plan for the reconquest of Cyrenaica by April 20 . As such, the German Africa Corps was subordinate to the Italian commander-in-chief on site, but the German leadership had ensured that the corps could only be used as a complete unit, which gave Rommel tactical and operational freedoms, which he used extensively. As early as April 3, 1941, he was supposed to come into conflict with General Italo Gariboldi when, against his will, he expanded a reconnaissance mission to Ajdabiya into a counter-offensive. With its strategic planning, the Italian operations staff threatened to "get caught in the tow of Rommel's initiatives".

Rommel only waited for the arrival of the first of his two divisions: with the first detachments of the 5th Motorized Light Division (motorized) to arrive in Africa, later reclassified into the 21st Panzer Division , Rommel advanced rapidly along the Mediterranean coast to the east reached Sirte on February 16 , while the British General Staff assumed that “a considerable amount of time would pass before a serious counter-offensive can be launched from Tripoli”. The area of El Agheila , where the British had broken off the advance of their Operation Compass on February 8 , reached Rommel on February 22. Two days later there was the first battle with a British unit, the King's Dragoon Guards .

On March 20, 1941, during a visit to Germany, Rommel received the oak leaves for the Knight's Cross from Hitler's hand as the second soldier in the army . On March 24th, during a reconnaissance attempt , he surprisingly succeeded in occupying El Agheila , although the Army High Command had previously instructed him several times to wait for the 15th Panzer Division to arrive . Since the British had deciphered the Enigma encryption, they listened to the repeated waiting orders to Rommel and did not expect any further action from his 5th Light Division. He succeeded in making further advances and, with the support of two Italian divisions relocated to Africa, the reconquest of Cyrenaica as far as the Tobruk fortress and the enclosure of the city by April 10 . His subsequent attacks on Tobruk failed (see Siege of Tobruk ). Last but not least, the transfer of British forces from the Middle East Command to Greece because of the Balkan campaign had made Rommel's success possible.

No further advance was possible without the conquest of Tobruk. An attempt was made by Rommel at the beginning of May after the arrival of the missing 15th Panzer Division. Rommel and his troops succeeded in repelling a British counter-offensive in mid-May and another major Allied counter-offensive in mid-June ( Operation Battleaxe ).

Overall, the German mission in North Africa was characterized by supply problems. The main reason for this was the preferential supply of German troops in the war against the Soviet Union , which began in June 1941 with Operation Barbarossa . The supplies for the ports of Tripoli and Benghazi suffered badly from British naval and air attacks, as the supply routes and dates were known to the British through the decryption of the Enigma . In addition, the German conquest of Malta , the base of the supply hindrance, was repeatedly postponed. Rommel did not take sufficient note of the operational restrictions that resulted from this or did not include them in further offensive operations.

In July 1941, Rommel was promoted to General of the Panzer Force. In September he was appointed commander of Panzer Group Africa , which comprised the entire - mostly Italian - Axis forces in Cyrenaica. Another attack by Rommel on Tobruk, planned for November 23, 1941, was preceded by the British Crusader offensive on November 18 . By December 31, Rommel's troops had to retreat beyond the El Agheila line.

On January 20, 1942, Rommel was the first soldier in the army to be awarded the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves . When Panzergruppe Afrika was upgraded to Panzerarmee Afrika , Rommel was Army Commander-in-Chief from January 22, 1942. At the end of January Rommel undertook the second Cyrenaica offensive, during which the British 1st Panzer Division was overrun and the 8th Army was pushed back to Gazala / Bir Hacheim by February 7th . Rommel was then promoted to Colonel General on February 1, 1942 .

On May 26th, Rommel began the Gazala offensive . While at times on the brink of complete defeat, he managed to defeat all of the British armored forces off Tobruk in mid-June. On June 21, 1942, Rommel's army finally captured the city. For this he was promoted to field marshal general the following day . At the age of 50 he was the youngest holder of this rank in the Wehrmacht.

In July 1942 the first battle of El Alamein took place, which ended in a stalemate. On the British side, Claude Auchinleck was replaced in mid-August by General Alexander as Commander in Chief Middle East and by General Bernard Montgomery as Commander of the 8th Army. A second attempt by Rommel to break through the Allied positions was prevented in the battle of Alam Halfa in late August / early September. At this point in time, Rommel was already suffering from stomach problems, reported to the OKH on August 22 that he was ill and proposed Colonel-General Heinz Guderian as his successor. Two days later, however, he was informed that no suitable tank general was currently available. An emergency plan provided that Albert Kesselring should take over the supreme command of the African theater of war, while Walther Nehring should take over the role as commander in chief of the tank army and Gustav von Vaerst should be in command of the Africa Corps. Rommel replied that although he now felt well enough to lead the operation, he would need a longer break at home afterwards. The attack of the Axis powers on Alexandria and then Cairo was stopped. Rommel stayed in Germany from late September to late October for health reasons. The General of the Panzer Troop Georg Stumme took over his representation .

On October 23, the Allies under General Montgomery began their counter-offensive and forced Rommel to retreat in the second Battle of El Alamein . Despite considerable losses, Hitler ordered Rommel in an order to hold out on November 3rd to avert defeat by all means. Rommel, who no longer believed in victory in North Africa, defied the order and withdrew his army after British troops under Montgomery broke the lines at El Alamein. On November 8, 1942, British and American forces landed in French North Africa as part of Operation Torch .

Use in Tunisia

After the retreat to Tunisia , the front in western Tunisia and in the east to the Libyan-Tunisian border came to a standstill. The British 8th Army halted their advance in front of the Mareth Line to allow their supplies to advance . Rommel used this time window. According to his plan, the British 1st Army should be encircled by an encircling movement between the Tunisian border, Constantine and Bône . This led to the battle of the Kasserin Pass . Although this battle was a tactical success, the strategic goal of destroying the Allied forces in Algeria and thus avoiding the two-front war was missed. This battle was Rommel's last success in Africa. To Rommel's disadvantage, there was no joint Axis High Command in Tunisia, which made strategic goals more difficult, as both armies acted completely autonomously. While the 5th Panzer Army under Hans-Jürgen von Arnim acted cautiously and hesitantly in the north , Rommel's southern army had to bear the brunt of the attack.

He created a lasting memory with the United States Army , because (among other things) the American 1st Armored Division suffered a bitter defeat in its first confrontation in modern mobile warfare, despite its quantitative and qualitative superiority. The British historian Paul Kennedy describes the defeat of the American land forces at Kasserine as “the most humiliating defeat” (besides the Battle of the Philippines ) in the entire war.

On February 23, 1943, Rommel became Commander in Chief of Army Group Africa . When the defeat of the German troops was foreseeable, Rommel left Africa on March 6th: Rommel, adored by the German population, who was deliberately used as a propaganda figure by the Nazi regime, should not be associated with the defeat. On March 11th, Hitler awarded Rommel the diamonds for the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords for his service in Africa . Rommel was the first soldier in the army to receive this exclusive award. It was only after Rommel's successor Colonel General Hans-Jürgen von Arnim surrendered near Tunis in mid-May 1943 that the public learned that Rommel had already left Africa in March and received another award. Previously, because of Rommel's disregard for orders, tensions between Hitler and Rommel had arisen for the first time, which only resolved when Rommel's assessment of the unavoidable defeat in North Africa was finally confirmed.

Overall, the successes in the Africa campaign brought Rommel great popularity at home and open respect abroad, as well as the nickname “Desert Fox”.

Use in Italy

From May 20 to July 12, 1943, as head of a task force named after him, Rommel was involved in the preparations for the German countermeasures when Italy was expected to leave the war. When the Allies landed in Sicily in Operation Husky in July , he was given command of Army Group B on July 15 . After Mussolini's dismissal in July, the occupation of Italy began under Rommel's command. While he was leading the troops in northern Italy, Albert Kesselring was in charge in southern Italy . Allied troops landed on mainland Italy in September. The Cassibile Armistice was announced on September 8th .

On September 23, 1943, Rommel gave the following instructions:

“Any sentimental inhibitions on the part of the German soldier towards badoglio-listening gangs in the uniform of the former comrade in arms are completely inappropriate. Whoever of these fights against the German soldier has lost any right to sparing and must be treated with the severity that deserves the rabble that suddenly turns its arms against its friend. This view must be accelerated to become common property of all German troops. "

Contrary to the provisions of the Geneva Convention of 1929, approximately 1,070,000 disarmed Italian soldiers were called " military internees declared" and (for the prisoners of war permissible) forced labor in the German war economy undertaken (the Badoglio government declared Germany only on 13 October under pressure from the Allies to War). Rommel's order of October 1, 1943 was:

“This war is an all-out war . As far as the men of Italy no longer have the opportunity to fight with arms for the freedom and honor of their fatherland, they have the duty to use their full labor in this fight. "

Use on the Atlantic Wall

“ Rommel asparagus ” on the Atlantic Wall, April 1944

In November 1943 Army Group B was transferred to France under its Commander-in-Chief Rommel. Rommel was also tasked with overseeing the defense measures on the Atlantic Wall . In this function he was directly subordinate to Hitler and built the fortifications on the coast with assertiveness and organizational skills. His tactical creativity was shown, among other things, in the use of simple obstacles made of tree trunks against landing craft and cargo gliders . The soldiers named individually buried tree trunks as " Rommel asparagus ".

At the beginning of January 1944, Rommel took command of all German troops north of the Loire . He was subordinate to the Commander-in-Chief West , Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt . He and Rommel disagreed as to where the Allied invasion was taking place and how it could most effectively be fought.

In March 1944, Rommel, like all other Field Marshals General, signed a declaration of loyalty to Hitler, although he felt it was unnecessary, since in his view a military vow of loyalty that had been given would be permanent. From June 4, Rommel went on a short vacation to southern Germany on the occasion of his wife's birthday. When the Allied invasion ( D-Day ) did take place, he returned to the front on June 6th. Both in personal discussions with Hitler in June 1944 and in his letter “Reflections on the Situation” of July 15, Rommel made it clear that he considered a victory for the German troops to be unlikely: “The troops fought heroically everywhere, but the unequal struggle tends to be towards the end. In my opinion it is necessary to draw the [political] conclusions from this situation. ”His chief of staff, Hans Speidel , who was close to the resistance , was able to convince Rommel to delete the word“ political ”. On July 17, Rommel was seriously wounded in a low -flying attack near Sainte-Foy-de-Montgommery and transferred to the Bernay Air Force hospital. On August 1, he made his last appearance at a press conference in Paris to dispel rumors of his death in the foreign press. After resigning his command of the Army Group, he stayed at his house in Herrlingen to relax .

Rommel and National Socialism

Rommel at a meeting with Adolf Hitler, 1942

The question of Rommel's attitude towards National Socialist ideology is difficult to answer and threatens to be masked by the portrayal of his military career and the myth associated with it . Although Rommel was never a member of the NSDAP , he accepted the establishment of the National Socialist system without contradiction and made a career in the Wehrmacht.

In literature the close relationship between Hitler and Rommel is mentioned again and again. Hitler personally promoted Rommel's career. As the commander of the Führer Headquarters, he found himself in close proximity to the dictator from an early age. Both men are said to have respected each other and got along extremely well. Rommel was generally considered to be Hitler's “favorite general”. According to Albert Kesselring , he exerted an "almost hypnotic influence" on Hitler. Goebbels noted in October 1942 after a conversation with Hitler:

“Rommel made a very deep impression on him [Hitler]. [...] He is ideologically stable, is not only close to us National Socialists, but is a National Socialist [...]. "

- Joseph Goebbels

Maurice Philip Remy points out that Rommel admired Hitler and the regime established by him and served him without contradiction. One should not equate this attitude with a National Socialist conviction, especially since Rommel seemed to have little concerned with the Nazi ideology. The loyalty of Rommel to Adolf Hitler is repeatedly emphasized in the literature and Rommel is described as a "staunch supporter" and "unconditional follower of Hitler". In a letter to his wife dated September 2, 1939, Rommel enthused: “It's wonderful that we have this man”.

Hitler tried to bind Rommel to himself by showing favors, for example personal conversations or attending important meetings. Rommel thanked him with admiration and obedience: “To find his [Hitler's] recognition for my actions and actions is the highest I can wish for.” Elsewhere he wrote: “I often spend a lot with the Führer in intimate meetings. This trust is my greatest joy, more than my rank as general. ”In some cases, Rommel seems to have overestimated the importance of his person for Hitler.

As part of his mission in North Africa, tensions arose between Rommel and Hitler for the first time. Rommel, who had always admired Hitler's military understanding up to now, had to realize that Hitler made his assessments of the situation according to different criteria than he did himself. While Rommel made his own assessments according to military-strategic aspects, he saw ideological reasons predominating in Hitler. He condemned Hitler's actions in relation to North Africa unusually harshly: "It became clear to me that Adolf Hitler did not want to see the real situation and emotionally defended himself against what his intellect had to tell him." There were more tensions than Rommel after D-Day came to the conclusion in mid-1944 that the war could no longer be won and asked Hitler to draw conclusions from this assessment of the situation. He misunderstood the character of the war started by the National Socialists (→ Total War ).

In the literature it is therefore repeatedly emphasized how little Rommel dealt with the National Socialist ideology and how uncritically he adapted to the political situation. Rommel is assessed as “politically naive”, as someone who was unable or unwilling to “perceive political facts in a differentiated manner”. Rommel's self-image as a soldier also included not expressing himself politically. Because he admired Hitler and saw himself as a loyal soldier, he ignored or overlooked the criminal character of the regime. Rommel "never understood Hitler's strategy and warfare," said Reuth. Fraser shares this assessment: “Nonetheless, he was politically naive. Hitler particularly impressed him without his being aware of his criminal side - either out of ignorance or deliberately - ”The following episode illustrates how accurate these research positions are: In 1943, Rommel is said to have pointed out to Hitler that Germany's reputation abroad was good would do if a Jew were also appointed Gauleiter . Hitler responded with the words: "My dear Rommel, you have understood nothing of what I want."

According to the military historian Peter Lieb , Rommel was “Goebbels' favorite general”, but “not a Nazi”. The British and American opponents had also certified him fair. In addition, neither war crimes nor anti-Semitic statements can be proven. He said that he had repeatedly "disobeyed" criminal and nonsensical orders from Hitler and also seemed to have "not accepted" the dictator's endowments. After the Allies landed in Normandy , Rommel believed the war was lost and, “in contrast to many other generals,” called on Hitler to “take political consequences”, which from the dictator's point of view was an “outrageous process”. Letters in which he posed as a loyal follower of Hitler had to be read “critically” because Rommel feared surveillance by the Gestapo or the SD .

Rommel and the Resistance

Rommel (right) with his chief of staff Hans Speidel (left), who was supposed to win him over to the resistance, April 1944

Rommel's name was and is repeatedly associated with the assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler on July 20, 1944 . Overall, it is emphasized today that Rommel was not actively involved in the planning and execution of the attack. However, there is no consensus as to whether he knew of the planned assassination attempt or suspected that Hitler's murder was planned. Recent research indicates that Rommel knew about the coup plans and supported the assassination attempt on Hitler.

Joseph Goebbels' diary entry on November 24, 1944 provides evidence of Rommel's participation in the resistance against National Socialism :

“ Stülpnagel has provided evidence that Field Marshals General Kluge and Rommel were involved in the planning of the putsch on July 20, albeit not in the assassination attempt against the Führer. I think we can thank fate that both passed away by death. "

- Joseph Goebbels

In a letter to his wife dated July 24, 1944, Rommel expressed his disapproval of the failed assassination attempt: “In addition to my accident, the assassination attempt on the Fuehrer shook me particularly hard. You can thank God that it went so well. ”It remains unclear whether he was expressing his true opinion or whether he was just trying to exonerate himself with this document.

Lieutenant General Hans Speidel had joined Army Group B, led by Rommel, in April 1944 as chief of staff. His unofficial assignment was to win Rommel over to the resistance. At the beginning of July 1944, Caesar von Hofacker was also sent to Rommel to clarify whether he wanted to join the resistance. Hofacker, who led the coup attempt in Paris, was arrested and tortured when it failed. Speidel visited Rommel in Herrlingen at the beginning of September and told him that he had been removed from his post as Chief of Staff of Army Group B. Rommel's name was found in the documents of the former mayor of Leipzig, Carl Friedrich Goerdeler , who was also a member of the resistance. Overall, however, there are still uncertainties about how exactly the incriminating statements came about. This is not least due to the fact that there was definitely an interest in the Wehrmacht leadership in eliminating Rommel. "Because of his steep career, his popularity and above all because of the favor he enjoyed with Hitler, he had many enemies in the Wehrmacht."

After the war Speidel, who, unlike von Hofacker, had also been arrested but not sentenced to death, published the book in 1944. A contribution to Rommel's and the Reich's fate , in which he portrayed Rommel as a member of the resistance. Rommel's widow published her husband's notes in 1950 and also stated that her husband's soldiery self-image had denied him any political activities: "During his entire career he was always a soldier and never a politician." He was therefore not involved in the resistance.

Helmut Krausnick already counted Rommel in 1953, when the assassination attempt of July 20, 1944 was still controversial in West Germany, to be a resistance against National Socialism . Beyond the military, Rommel had "also worried about the undermining of the rule of law by the methods of the Gestapo, Hitler's excess in the human, military and state spheres, his suppression of the churches and his policy of extermination against the Jews, his contempt for all genuine humanity in general". He had planned Hitler's arrest and sentencing in order not to make the dictator a martyr through an assassination, which other resistance fighters also supported. From the other people of July 20, 1944 , the Generalfeldmarschall “does not differ in his inner attitude, but at most the point in time when he became aware of it and the question of how Hitler would be eliminated as a person.” Rommel's change to Hitler’s opponent was “all the more valuable in itself and for posterity that is still wrong in many ways ”.

Wistrich wrote in 1983 that Rommel "sympathized [...] with the conspirators [...] without actively participating in the conspiracy", but remained "undecided" overall. But he assumed that Rommel had been very well informed of the plans. Reuth, however, ruled in 1987 that Rommel neither knew about the assassination plans nor was won over to the resistance. He said that Rommel had agreed with the representatives of the resistance, Speidel and von Hofacker, with regard to the assessment of the military situation and, like these, demanded the consequences of the unfavorable course of the war for the Wehrmacht. "What they meant by 'consequences', however, differed fundamentally." Rommel never thought of a murder of Hitler.

In his 1997 essay, Reuth states that "neither Hofacker nor Speidel [...] Rommel definitely won for the resistance". David Fraser supports Reuth's assessment: "Rommel had always rejected the idea of ​​killing Hitler, although he was now convinced of the need to end the war and realized that this included the elimination of Hitler." Both Fraser and Reuth see Rommel therefore not as a confidante of the conspiracy against Hitler, but recognize that it was quite obviously the endeavor of the conspirators to win the popular Rommel for themselves. From the mid-1990s, the entries on Rommel disappeared from the July 20th. Portraits of the Resistance (edited by Rudolf Lill) and from the Lexicon of Resistance 1933–1945 (edited by Peter Steinbach ).

In September 1944, General Heinrich Eberbach told other German officers that Rommel had spoken to him in a one-on-one conversation in favor of killing Hitler and those around him. Eberbach was a British prisoner of war in Trent Park in September 1944 ; the intercepted conversations were first published in 2005. After the end of the war, Eberbach repeated his statements from 1944. The historian Sönke Neitzel sees no evidence in Eberbach's statements, but an indication of the thesis advocated by Maurice Philip Remy that Rommel had been informed about the planned assassination attempt on Hitler by Caesar von Hofacker. In addition, Peter Lieb referred in 2013 to Lieutenant General Alfred Gause , who had recorded by hand in his copy of Desmond Young's biography "Rommel: Der Wüstenfuchs" (1950) that it was not true that Rommel did not know about Valkyrie . In 2010, the military history researcher Jörg Echternkamp repeated the well-known thesis in a popular scientific work that Rommel's role as a resistance fighter in 1944 was exhausted in the fact that "he wanted to make a separate peace with the western allies, but only to fight the war in the east against the." Win the Red Army. "

According to the military historian Gerd R. Ueberschär , "a constant change that can be observed from 1941, at the latest from the end of November 1942 in connection with the requested evacuation of North Africa", Rommel's from supporter to opponent of Hitler "is largely accepted in research," as is the case recent biographies of Sir David Fraser and Maurice P. Remy showed. Since 1943, Rommel had had a “distanced and critical attitude towards Hitler and his warfare” and “through v. Hofacker of the considerations about the coup ”.

According to the military historian Peter Lieb , a memo by Martin Bormann from September 28, 1944, an entry in Joseph Goebbels ' diary from November 24, 1944 and other evidence indicate that “Rommel not only knew about the coup d'état of July 20 , but also supported and supported it had transferred to the camp of the conspirators. ”He had joined the resistance movement very late and played no role in the preparations for the assassination. The General Field Marshal was therefore not to be included in the narrower group of people on July 20 . At the same time, Rommel was more than just a sympathizer and paid for it with his life. "So you have to give it a firm place in the military resistance against National Socialism - and to a greater extent than has recently been the case in historical studies and in public."

After evaluating other sources, Lieb came to the same conclusion in 2018. He relies on statements made by General Heinrich Eberbach that Rommel had addressed him [Eberbach] specifically about the overthrow of the Nazi dictatorship during the Battle of Normandy; on documents of the Paris conspirator Rudolf Hartmann, who described Rommel as the “bearer of the resistance” in France; and on Bormann's memos that Rommel was “well informed” about the coup and would “be available to the new government after a successful attack”. "That Hitler gave the popular Rommel the option of a trial without any incriminating material being available seems implausible," said Lieb. This alone speaks in favor of Rommel's support for the resistance. It remains unclear "which role Rommel was specifically intended to play during and after the attack."

Suicide and state funeral

Memorial stone for Erwin Rommel at the site of the suicide in Herrlingen (2019)
Official account of Erwin Rommel's death in the National Socialist Bozner Tagblatt from October 16, 1944, p. 1
State funeral on October 18, 1944 in Ulm

After a call from the previous day, General Wilhelm Burgdorf , Hitler's chief adjutant, and General Ernst Maisel , chief for honorary affairs in the Army Personnel Office , arrived in Herrlingen on October 14, 1944 . They presented Rommel with the allegedly incriminating material and presented him with the alternative of killing himself or answering the People's Court . Although Rommel was convinced that it must be an intrigue , he did not resist. In the car he drove with the two generals as far as the town limits of Herrlingen, where he took his own life with the help of the cyanide ampoule the generals had brought with them . Rommel's wife was subsequently told that her husband became unwell during the journey and that he eventually died of complications from an embolism .

However, these circumstances did not prevent the regime from concealing the actual circumstances of his death in order to use the dead Rommel effectively for propaganda purposes. Rommel's injury in a low-flying attack was reported in the press with a considerable delay, namely on August 3, 1944: “Field Marshal Rommel had an accident in France on July 17 as a result of an air raid in a car, resulting in injuries and a concussion. His condition is satisfactory. There is no danger to life. "When the death report on October 18, 1944, the air attack was not mentioned at all, as the nimbus of the invincible soldier should not be tarnished:" Field Marshal Rommel suffered from the consequences of a serious head injury that he suffered as commander in chief of an army group West had suffered in a motor vehicle accident, died. "

The funeral service for Rommel took place on October 18th as part of a state ceremony in the town hall in Ulm. According to his son, Rommel had still negotiated that the state ceremony would take place there. Gerd von Rundstedt held the funeral speech . His body was then cremated and the urn was later buried in the cemetery of St. Andrew's Church in Herrlingen, Blaustein parish.

Rommel's death mask in the German Tank Museum in Munster.

Hitler's order of the day honored Rommel with the words: "In the current struggle for fate of the German people, his name is the term for outstanding bravery and fearless bravado."

Gerd von Rundstedt ( so was) seeks in his eulogy, the "myth Rommel" maintain "the leader and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces has called us hither, to take leave of his left on the field of honor Field Marshal. […] With Field Marshal Rommel, that great soldierly leader has passed away that is seldom given to a people. Deeply rooted in German soldiery, his life was devoted exclusively to work and the fight for the Führer and Reich. ”The speech ended with the words:“ His heart belonged to the Führer. ”

Rommel propaganda figure

Rommel pushes a car that got stuck in the desert sand, photo taken by the propaganda company , January 1941

Rommel was deliberately built up into a National Socialist propaganda figure and "loved to be portrayed by Goebbels and his propaganda as a legendary troop leader". He was extraordinarily ambitious and, as a member of the military, saw himself committed to absolute loyalty to the rulers to whom he had been sworn in (see Oath of the Fiihrer ). Then there was his military talent and his special, often successful leadership style . He hoped that the propaganda about himself would boost his career. The close relationship with the dictator Hitler, which he was considered to be his “favorite general”, was helpful. Hitler, who otherwise strictly controlled the publication of images of his commanders and generals, made an exception with Rommel. Propaganda Minister Goebbels had a free hand to develop Rommel into a propaganda figure who embodied all the virtues that, according to the Nazi understanding, made an ideal soldier. There were also very specific personal connections between the Propaganda Ministry and Rommel's staff, for example in the form of Karl Hanke and Alfred-Ingemar Berndt . Goebbels gave Rommel a camera ( Leica IIIc ) with which he could record his missions in France and Africa. Rommel enthusiastically used this possibility of self-staging, the results of which were also partially published in Germany. Goebbels was therefore probably not wrongly of the opinion “that hardly any general was so impressed with the importance of the propaganda mission as Rommel. The fact also testifies to how much he is an open-minded, modern general in the best sense of the word. ”How important Rommel was for propaganda was also shown by the fact that his successful breakthrough of the Maginot Line during the western campaign in France (June 1940) was filmed in the same year under the title "Victory in the West" by the Propaganda Ministry on original locations. The film premiered in February 1941 in Berlin's Ufa-Palast am Zoo .

The deployment in North Africa meant that Rommel's character and skills were now also exaggerated by the Allies. The recognition that British Prime Minister Churchill paid him, for example, was less due to Rommel's talent than to trying to explain to his own public why the British troops in North Africa had not yet triumphed despite their superior military strength. In fact, according to the British historian Antony Beevor , Rommel acted rather recklessly in his military decisions from the beginning and ultimately only achieved a great reputation because the Allied propagandists had an interest in stylizing him as a capable military leader in order to avoid the incompetent action to disguise the British military leadership in North Africa.

In order to satisfy the interest of the foreign press, the Propaganda Ministry even published a résumé of Rommel, which was adapted to National Socialist ideals. Rommel was said to have come from the working class and was a member of the SA and NSDAP. Rommel protested against these falsifications without success.

A Gallup survey from 1942 showed how popular Rommel was abroad : After Hitler, Rommel was the world's best-known German. Goebbels noted in his diary in February 1942: "Rommel continues to be the declared favorite object of even the enemy intelligence services."

In order to avert damage to the carefully staged propaganda figure Rommel, Rommel was recalled from North Africa before the foreseeable defeat. Rommel's subsequent transfer to the Atlantic Wall was intended to convey the same hope and perseverance to the population as with regard to North Africa. The injury that he suffered in an Allied low-flying attack on July 17, 1944, did not fit into the image of an invincible and honorable German soldier and was therefore portrayed as the result of a car accident. Speculation by the foreign press that Rommel died in the process was countered with a press conference in Paris on August 1, 1944, at which Rommel presented himself to the press for the last time.

aftermath

Erwin Rommel's grave in Herrlingen (2019)

Rommel's assessment as an apolitical, ingenious commander and victim of National Socialism is sometimes referred to as the “Rommel myth”, which still shapes the image of the Field Marshal today. His reputation for clean warfare was used in the post-war period in the interests of rearming the Federal Republic and reconciliation with the former German war opponents Great Britain and the USA . His person is seen less critically than other representatives of the Wehrmacht, although he reached the peak of his career during the Nazi era and had an ambivalent relationship to the resistance . It is still associated with ideas of an honorable and "knightly" fight, of a " clean Wehrmacht ". The main focus is on its use in North Africa. The fact that this theater of war was far from the deportations and extermination camps in the east made it easier to maintain the image of an immaculate soldier. The honesty of his work in North Africa was also emphasized by his wife, who in 1950 published her husband's war records under the title War Without Hate .

Rommel's relationship to resistance, which has been discussed again and again, plays its part in making Rommel appear in a positive light. The great recognition and attention that Rommel received abroad after 1945 can be seen in the fact that Rommel's first biographies were published by the English, for example by Desmond Young, who himself fought against Rommel in North Africa. Overall, it is therefore not surprising that groups such as the “Association of German Africa Corps eV” and the “Rommel Sozialwerk eV” were founded after the war.

Honors

The Bundeswehr honored him in 1961 by naming the Generalfeldmarschall Rommel barracks in Augustdorf and in 1965 with the Rommel barracks in Dornstadt near Ulm. The Rommel barracks in Osterode am Harz has since been closed. In 1969 the German Navy named a destroyer of the Lütjens class with the name Rommel . His widow performed the baptism. The ship was decommissioned in 1998.

Numerous streets in German cities, especially in Baden-Württemberg , are named after him, for example Erwin-Rommel-Steige, formerly Wippinger Steige, in his last place of residence Blaustein-Herrlingen, on which his former home is located. In Erlangen, a student residence hall is named after the adjoining Erwin-Rommel-Straße.

On November 12, 1961, a memorial in honor of Rommel was erected on the Zanger Berg in Heidenheim . The keynote speaker was Hans Filbinger . On the 50th anniversary of its inauguration, the city administration had a notice board put up in November 2011 at the suggestion of Mayor Bernhard Ilg ( CDU ). It contains the sentence “bravery and heroism, guilt and crime are closely related in war”, which Peter Steinbach, history professor at the University of Mannheim and scientific director of the German Resistance Memorial Center , describes as a “leisurely text that is afraid to deal with the complexity of the To deal with the person ”, criticized: To speak of“ heroism ”in the case of Erwin Rommel is completely wrong. The Rommel Museum was opened in 1989 in Herrlingen near Ulm in Baden-Württemberg.

From December 18, 2008 to August 30, 2009, the "Mythos Rommel" exhibition took place in the House of History Baden-Württemberg in Stuttgart.

Even decades after the end of the war, mainly on the anniversary of his death, veterans of the African campaign, including former opponents of the war, gathered at Rommel's grave site in Herrlingen. In addition to the Federal Ministry of Defense , the US Army also laid funeral wreaths at the grave.

Awards

Fonts

  • Combat Duties for Platoons and Companies: A Manual for Officer Instruction. Mittler, Berlin 1934.
  • Infantry attack . Voggenreiter, Potsdam 1937.
  • War without hatred. African memoir. Edited by Lucie-Maria Rommel and Fritz Bayerlein . Heidenheimer Zeitung publishing house, Heidenheim, Brenz 1950.

literature

Movies

Web links

Commons : Erwin Rommel  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b William L. Hosch: World War II: People, Politics and Power . Rosen Publishing, New York 2010, ISBN 978-1-61530-008-2 , pp. 224 .
  2. ↑ Brockhaus Encyclopedia . 21st edition. tape 23 . FA Brockhaus, Leipzig / Mannheim 2006, p. 333 .
  3. ↑ a b Gerd R. Ueberschär: Stauffenberg and the assassination attempt of July 20, 1944 . Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2006, ISBN 978-3-596-16278-9 , pp. 204 .
  4. ↑ a b Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, 61st volume, issue 3, July 2013, p. 343. Weblink
  5. ↑ Ralf Georg Reuth: Rommel: The end of a legend . Piper ebooks, 2017, ISBN 978-3-492-96714-3 ( google.de [accessed May 4, 2019]).
  6. ^ Erwin Rommel's descendants ( memento of July 26, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on April 25, 2015.
  7. ^ Daniel Allen Butler: Field Marshal: The Life and Death of Erwin Rommel . Oxford: Casemate, 2015, p. 148, Googlebooks .
  8. ↑ Maurice Philip Remy: Myth Rommel. List, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-471-78572-8 , pp. 15-29.
  9. ^ Caddick-Adams, Peter, Monty and Rommel: Parallel Lives, Arrow . 2012 (English).
  10. ↑ Contemporary history: The grandchildren of the desert fox Erwin Rommel live in Kempten. Retrieved May 10, 2019 .
  11. ^ Ulrich Seemüller: The Jewish retirement home Herrlingen and the fate of its residents . Süddeutsche Verlagsgesellschaft, Blaustein 2009, ISBN 978-3-88294-403-7 , pp. 13-17 and pp. 76 ff.
  12. ^ Ralf Georg Reuth: Erwin Rommel. The Fuehrer's general. Piper, Munich 1987, pp. 85-86. Berthold Seewald: Desert Fox. Erwin Rommel, hero of the "clean Wehrmacht". In: The world. December 21, 2008, accessed November 17, 2009 .
  13. ↑ Joachim Lenk: Trouble about the appointment as a simple platoon leader . In: Albbote , August 12, 2009.
  14. ↑ See on this phase: Ralf Georg Reuth: Erwin Rommel. The Fuehrer's general. Piper, Munich 1987, pp. 9-14 and pp. 141-142. David Fraser: Rommel. The biography. Siedler, Berlin 1995, ISBN 3-88680-559-X , pp. 16-71; Maurice Philip Remy: The Rommel Myth. List, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-471-78572-8 , pp. 18-27.
  15. ↑ This information is made by David Fraser: Rommel. The biography. Siedler, Berlin 1995, ISBN 3-88680-559-X , p. 535. According to Ralf Georg Reuth: Erwin Rommel. The Fuehrer's general. Piper, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-492-15222-8 , p. 142, Rommel was not appointed major until 1933. On Rommel's career in the Weimar Republic, see also: David Fraser: Rommel. The biography. Siedler, Berlin 1995, ISBN 3-88680-559-X , pp. 75-85; Maurice Philip Remy: The Rommel Myth. List, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-471-78572-8 , pp. 28-31; Ralf Georg Reuth: Erwin Rommel. The Fuehrer's general. Piper, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-492-15222-8 , pp. 14-18 and pp. 141-142.
  16. ↑ Ralf Georg Reuth: Rommel , p. 39.
  17. ^ Erwin Rommel: Combat tasks for platoons and companies: A manual for officers' instruction. Mittler, Berlin 1934.
  18. ^ According to David Fraser: Rommel. The biography. Siedler, Berlin 1995, ISBN 3-88680-559-X , p. 535, he was promoted on October 1, 1933. According to Ralf Georg Reuth: Erwin Rommel. The Fuehrer's general. Piper, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-492-15222-8 , p. 142, the promotion did not take place until 1935. According to the seniority list of the majors of April 1, 1932, Rommel was ranked 22 out of 25. In the copy of the Bundeswehr Central Library in Strausberg the handwritten addition that numbers 1 to 22 were promoted to lieutenant colonels on January 1, 1935.
  19. ↑ See on this section: Ralf Georg Reuth: Erwin Rommel. The Fuehrer's general. Piper, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-492-15222-8 , pp. 14-27; David Fraser: Rommel. The biography. Siedler, Berlin 1995, ISBN 3-88680-559-X , pp. 86-115; Maurice Philip Remy: The Rommel Myth. List, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-471-78572-8 , pp. 31-43.
    The German Army, structure, locations, staffing on January 3, 1939. Bad Nauheim 1953.
  20. ↑ Ralf Georg Reuth names this date : Erwin Rommel. The Fuehrer's general. Piper, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-492-15222-8 , p. 143. According to David Fraser: Rommel. The biography. Siedler, Berlin 1995, ISBN 3-88680-559-X , p. 535, the transport did not take place until February 1941.
  21. ↑ a b c February 1941 ( Memento from October 21, 2013 in the Internet Archive ). In: The campaign in Africa 1941-1943 (deutsches-afrikakorps.de). Retrieved November 24, 2009.
  22. ↑ Malte König: Cooperation as a power struggle. The fascist axis alliance Berlin-Rome in the war 1940/41. VS-Verlag, Cologne 2007, ISBN 978-3-89498-175-4 , pp. 63-66 (quote: p. 66).
  23. ↑ So far see: Maurice Philip Remy: Mythos Rommel. List, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-471-78572-8 , pp. 44-49.
    David Fraser: Rommel. The biography. Siedler, Berlin 1995, ISBN 3-88680-559-X , pp. 119-183.
    Ralf Georg Reuth: Erwin Rommel. The Fuehrer's general. Piper, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-492-15222-8 , pp. 27-34, 142-143.
  24. ↑ a b March 1941. ( Memento from February 5, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) In: The campaign in Africa 1941–1943. (deutsches-afrikakorps.de) Retrieved November 24, 2009.
  25. ^ Ian Stanley Ord Playfair: The Mediterranian and the Middle East. Volume III, September 1941 - September 1942, British Fortune reaches their Lowest Ebb. P. 383.
  26. ↑ America's most humiliating defeat in World War The World. February 14, 2013
  27. ↑ so in Sönke Neitzel:  Rommel, Eugen Johannes Erwin. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 22, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-428-11203-2 , p. 23 f. ( Digitized version ).
  28. ↑ On Rommel's mission in North Africa see: Fraser (2002), 187–397; Ralf Georg Reuth: Erwin Rommel. The Fuehrer's general. Piper, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-492-15222-8 , pp. 35-44, 143-144; Maurice Philip Remy: The Rommel Myth. List, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-471-78572-8 , pp. 56-169.
  29. ↑ So far see: David Fraser: Rommel. The biography. Siedler, Berlin 1995, ISBN 3-88680-559-X , pp. 401-423; Maurice Philip Remy: The Rommel Myth. List, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-471-78572-8 , pp. 177-200.
    Ralf Georg Reuth: Erwin Rommel. The Fuehrer's general. Piper, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-492-15222-8 , pp. 45-47.
  30. ↑ Cf. Gerhard Schreiber : The Italian military internees - political, humane and racial ideological aspects of a special prisoner of war. In: Rolf-Dieter Müller , Hans-Erich Volkmann (Hrsg.): The Wehrmacht. Myth and Reality. Edited on behalf of the Military History Research Office , Munich 1999, ISBN 3-486-56383-1 , pp. 803–815.
  31. ^ Peter Tompkins: Treason in Italian . Molden Verlag 1967. Excerpts from it here: Peter Tompkins: Mussolini's fall and Italy's change of front 1943 (3rd part). In: Der Spiegel 14/1967.
  32. ↑ Maurice Philip Remy: Myth Rommel . List, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-548-60385-8 , p. 283.
  33. ↑ Maurice Philip Remy: Myth Rommel . List, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-548-60385-8 , p. 286 f.
  34. ↑ In addition: David Fraser: Rommel. The biography. Siedler, Berlin 1995, ISBN 3-88680-559-X , pp. 424-472; Ralf Georg Reuth: Erwin Rommel. The Fuehrer's general. Piper, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-492-15222-8 , pp. 47-52; Maurice Philip Remy: The Rommel Myth. List, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-471-78572-8 , pp. 201-223.
  35. ^ David Fraser: Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. In: Gerd R. Ueberschär (ed.): Hitler's military elite. Volume 2: From the beginning of the war to the end of the war. Primus Verlag, Darmstadt 1998, pp. 184-193, here p. 184; Ralf Georg Reuth: Erwin Rommel. The Fuehrer's general. Piper, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-492-15222-8 , p. 86.
  36. ↑ So Speer's statement, quoted from: Ralf Georg Reuth: Erwin Rommel. The propaganda creation. In: Ronald Smelser / Enrico Syring (ed.): The military elite of the Third Reich. 27 biographical sketches. Ullstein Verlag, Berlin 1997, pp. 460-475, here p. 470.
  37. ↑ Ralf Georg Reuth, Erwin Rommel - The Propaganda Creation. In: Ronald Smelser and Enrico Syring (eds.), The military elite of the Third Reich , Ullstein Verlag, Berlin 1997, 470.
  38. ^ A b Maurice Philip Remy: Myth Rommel. List, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-471-78572-8 , p. 116 f.
  39. ^ Ralf Georg Reuth: Erwin Rommel. The propaganda creation. In: Ronald Smelser / Enrico Syring (ed.): The military elite of the Third Reich. 27 biographical sketches. Ullstein Verlag, Berlin 1997, pp. 460-475, here p. 463; David Fraser: Field Marshal General Erwin Rommel. In: Gerd R. Ueberschär (ed.): Hitler's military elite. Volume 2: From the beginning of the war to the end of the war. Primus Verlag, Darmstadt 1998, pp. 184–193, here p. 184.
  40. ↑ Quoted from Ralf Georg Reuth: Erwin Rommel. The propaganda creation. In: Ronald Smelser / Enrico Syring (ed.): The military elite of the Third Reich. 27 biographical sketches. Ullstein Verlag, Berlin 1997, pp. 460-475, here p. 463.
  41. ↑ So Rommel in a letter home, quoted from: Ralf Georg Reuth: Erwin Rommel. The Fuehrer's general. Piper, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-492-15222-8 , p. 38.
  42. ↑ So Rommel in a letter to his wife from September 9, 1939. Quoted from: Maurice Philip Remy: Mythos Rommel. List, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-471-78572-8 , p. 46.
  43. ↑ Quoted from Maurice Philip Remy: Mythos Rommel. List, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-471-78572-8 , p. 170.
  44. ^ David Fraser: Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. In: Gerd R. Ueberschär (ed.): Hitler's military elite. Volume 2: From the beginning of the war to the end of the war. Primus Verlag, Darmstadt 1998, pp. 184–193, here p. 184 and p. 192.
  45. ^ Ralf Georg Reuth: Erwin Rommel. The propaganda creation. In: Ronald Smelser / Enrico Syring (ed.): The military elite of the Third Reich. 27 biographical sketches. Ullstein Verlag, Berlin 1997, pp. 460-475, here p. 467.
  46. ^ David Fraser: Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. In: Gerd R. Ueberschär (ed.): Hitler's military elite. Volume 2: From the beginning of the war to the end of the war. Primus Verlag, Darmstadt 1998, pp. 184–193, here p. 192. See also ibid., P. 185: “Rommel did not see and feel the dark and dangerous side of this fanatical and charismatic leader.” Ralf Georg Reuth: Erwin Rommel . The propaganda creation. In: Ronald Smelser / Enrico Syring (ed.): The military elite of the Third Reich. 27 biographical sketches. Ullstein Verlag, Berlin 1997, pp. 460–475, here p. 463: “Rommel did not see the inhuman nature of this 'new German worldview'. Nor did he even bother to ever see it. This was all the more true when he began his career. "
  47. ^ Ralf Georg Reuth: Erwin Rommel. The Fuehrer's general. Piper, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-492-15222-8 , p. 28.
  48. ↑ a b c Sven Felix Kellerhoff: Wüstenfuchs: "Erwin Rommel stood on the side of the resistance" . October 25, 2018 ( welt.de [accessed July 20, 2019]).
  49. ↑ a b Rommel supported the assassination attempt on Hitler. July 8, 2014, accessed August 3, 2019 .
  50. ↑ The Diaries of Joseph Goebbels, Part II, Volume 14: October to December 1944, Saur Verlag, Munich 1996, p. 268 f., Entry from November 24, 1944
  51. ↑ Quoted from: Ralf Georg Reuth: Erwin Rommel. The Fuehrer's general. Piper, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-492-15222-8 , p. 52.
  52. ^ Ralf Georg Reuth: Erwin Rommel. The Fuehrer's general. Piper, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-492-15222-8 , p. 115. For this section as a whole, see pp. 110–125.
  53. ↑ Quoted from: Ralf Georg Reuth: Erwin Rommel. The Fuehrer's general. Piper, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-492-15222-8 , p. 132.
  54. ↑ Helmut Krausnick: Erwin Rommel and the German resistance against Hitler . In: Institute for contemporary history (ed.): Quarterly books for contemporary history . tape 1 , no. 1 . Munich 1953, p. 65-70 .
  55. ^ Robert Wistrich: Erwin Rommel. In: Robert Wistrich: Who was who in the Third Reich. Harnack, Munich 1983, p. 228 f.
  56. ^ Ralf Georg Reuth: Erwin Rommel. The Fuehrer's general. Piper, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-492-15222-8 , p. 113.
  57. ^ Ralf Georg Reuth: Erwin Rommel. The propaganda creation. In: Ronald Smelser, Enrico Syring (ed.): The military elite of the Third Reich. 27 biographical sketches. Ullstein Verlag, Berlin 1997, pp. 460-475, here p. 471.
  58. ^ David Fraser: Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. In: Gerd R. Ueberschär (ed.): Hitler's military elite. Volume 2: From the beginning of the war to the end of the war. Primus Verlag, Darmstadt 1998, pp. 184–193, here p. 191.
  59. ↑ Maurice Philip Remy: Myth Rommel. List, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-471-78572-8 , p. 9.
  60. ↑ Guido Knopp: Secrets of the Third Reich . 1st edition. C. Bertelsmann, Munich 2011 ( Google Books [accessed September 7, 2012]).
  61. ^ Sönke Neitzel: bugged. German generals in British captivity 1942–1945. Propylaeen, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-549-07261-9 , p. 61.
  62. ^ Antonia Kleikamp: Resistance: Rommel probably knew of the planned Hitler assassination attempt . July 23, 2013 ( welt.de [accessed April 20, 2019]).
  63. ^ Sven Felix Kellerhoff: Wüstenfuchs: "Erwin Rommel stood on the side of the resistance" . October 25, 2018 ( welt.de [accessed April 20, 2019]).
  64. ↑ Jörg Echternkamp: The 101 most important questions: The Second World War. Beck, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-406-59314-7 , p. 114 f.
  65. ↑ a b Gerd R. Ueberschär: Stauffenberg and the assassination attempt of July 20, 1944 . Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2006, ISBN 978-3-596-16278-9 , pp. 85 .
  66. ^ Rommel's motor vehicle accident . In: Völkischer Beobachter . No. 216 , August 3, 1944, pp. 2 ( ANNO - AustriaN Newspapers Online [accessed April 20, 2020]).
  67. ↑ Field Marshal Rommel has died . In: New waiting room at the Inn . No. 42 , October 18, 1944, p. 1 ( ANNO - AustriaN Newspapers Online [accessed April 20, 2020]).
  68. ↑ Manfred Rommel: In spite of everything, cheerful. Stuttgart 1998, 3rd edition, p. 69.
  69. ^ David Fraser: Rommel. The biography. Siedler, Berlin 1995, ISBN 3-88680-559-X , pp. 507-512; Maurice Philip Remy: The Rommel Myth. List, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-471-78572-8 , pp. 322-330; Ralf Georg Reuth: Erwin Rommel. The Fuehrer's general. Piper, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-492-15222-8 , pp. 108f., 125-128.
  70. ↑ Quoted from: Ralf Georg Reuth: Erwin Rommel. The Fuehrer's general. Piper, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-492-15222-8 , p. 129.
  71. ↑ Farewell to our Rommel . In: Völkischer Beobachter . No. 289 , October 20, 1944, pp. 1 ( ANNO - AustriaN Newspapers Online [accessed April 20, 2020]).
  72. ^ Image of Rommel with a Leica on the Internet
  73. ^ Ralf Georg Reuth: Erwin Rommel. The propaganda creation. In: Ronald Smelser / Enrico Syring (ed.): The military elite of the Third Reich. 27 biographical sketches. Ullstein Verlag, Berlin 1997, pp. 460-475, here p. 469.
  74. ↑ Antony Beevor: The Second World War. From the English by Helmut Ettinger. Bertelsmann, Munich 2014, ISBN 978-3-570-10065-3 , pp. 206-209; also Richard J. Evans : Complete inability. Antony Beevor subjects almost all military leaders of World War II to severe criticism. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , September 30, 2014, p. 15.
  75. ^ Ralf Georg Reuth: Erwin Rommel. The Fuehrer's general. Piper, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-492-15222-8 , p. 92 f.
  76. ↑ On the propaganda figure Rommel see above all Ralf Georg Reuth: Erwin Rommel. The Fuehrer's general. Piper, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-492-15222-8 , pp. 74-109.
  77. ↑ Berthold Seewald: Desert Fox. Erwin Rommel, hero of the "clean Wehrmacht". In: The world. December 21, 2008, accessed November 17, 2009 .
  78. ^ Ralf Georg Reuth: Erwin Rommel. The Fuehrer's general. Piper, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-492-15222-8 , p. 136.
  79. ↑ www.rommel-kaserne.de ; bundeswehr.de: Generalfeldmarschall-Rommel-Kaserne opens its doors (June 16, 2007) ( Memento of June 16, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  80. ↑ Website of the student residence on Erwin-Rommel-Straße in Erlangen.
  81. ^ Veit Günzler: Myth Rommel: The monument on the second attempt. ( Memento from November 14, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) In: Südwest Presse , November 11, 2011.
  82. ↑ Sebastian Leber : General accounting . In: Der Tagesspiegel , November 13, 2011.
  83. ↑ www.hdgbw.de.
  84. ^ Philipp Maußhardt : Stramm am Grab. In: Die Zeit 43/1989 (October 20, 1989, accessed November 6, 2012).
  85. ↑ The desert fox and its deadly minefields
  86. ^ The author and publisher did not publish the book in 1937 under Erwin Rommel but under Colonel Rommel .
  87. ↑ See review in Francia. 24, 1997, pp. 271-274 (French).
  88. ↑ Rainer Blasius: On the wrong track. In: FAZ , November 19, 2002, p. 7. (review).
  89. ↑ Beate Wild: Documentary about Nazi General Rommel. The legend of the caring general . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , May 22, 2007.
  90. ↑ Video Rommel: Myth and Truth  in the ZDFmediathek , accessed on January 26, 2014.
  91. ↑ ARD film "Rommel" celebrates its premiere. Retrieved from the SWR media library on October 26, 2012.
  92. ↑ The Rommel family criticized the script in autumn 2011. See Rommel family outraged by "Wüstenfuchs" script. In: Spiegel Online , September 17, 2011.
personal data
SURNAME Rommel, Erwin
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rommel, Erwin Johannes Eugen
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Field Marshal General and Commander of the German Africa Corps
DATE OF BIRTH November 15, 1891
PLACE OF BIRTH Heidenheim an der Brenz
DATE OF DEATH October 14, 1944
Place of death Herrlingen