Erwin Rommel

Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel ( listen ) (15 November 1891 – 14 October 1944) (known as the "Desert Fox", Wüstenfuchs, listen ), was perhaps the most famous German Field Marshal of World War II.

He was a highly decorated officer in World War I, awarded the Pour le Mérite for his exploits on the Italian front. In World War II he further distinguished himself as the commander of the "Ghost Division" during the 1940 invasion of France. However, it was his masterful leadership of German and Italian forces in the North African campaign that established the legend of the Desert Fox. He is generally considered to have been the most skilled commander of desert warfare in the war. He later commanded the German forces opposing the Allied cross-channel invasion in Normandy.

Rommel is considered to have been a chivalrous and humane military officer, in contrast with many other figures of Nazi Germany. His famous Afrikakorps was not accused of any war crimes. Indeed, soldiers captured during his Africa campaign were reported to have been largely treated humanely. Furthermore, orders to kill captured Jewish soldiers and civilians out of hand in all theatres of his command were defiantly ignored.

He was suspected of involvement in the failed July 20 Plot of 1944 to kill Adolf Hitler. Because of his great prestige, he was allowed to commit suicide.

Early life and career

Rommel was born in Heidenheim, Germany, approximately 45 kilometres (28 mi) from Ulm, in the Kingdom of Württemberg (then part of the German Empire). He was baptised on 17 November 1891. He was the second of four children of a Protestant headmaster of the secondary school at Aalen—Prof. Erwin Rommel the elder (1860–1913) and Helene von Luz, a daughter of a prominent local dignitary—who had two other sons, Karl and Gerhard, and a daughter, Helene. Later, recalling his childhood, Rommel wrote that "my early years passed very happily."

At the age of 14, Rommel and a friend built a full-scale glider that was able to fly short distances. Young Erwin considered becoming an engineer and would throughout his life display extraordinary technical aptitude; however, because of his father, young Rommel joined the local 124th Württemberg Infantry Regiment as an officer cadet in 1910 and, shortly after, was sent to the Officer Cadet School in Danzig. He graduated on 15 November 1911 and was commissioned as a lieutenant in January 1912.

While at Cadet School, early in 1911, Erwin Rommel met his future wife, 17-year-old Lucia Maria Mollin (commonly called Lucie) (b. June 6, 1894 in Danzig; d. September 26, 1971 in Stuttgart). They married on November 27, 1916, in Danzig, and on December 24, 1928 had a son, Manfred, who would later become the mayor of Stuttgart. After having met Lucie, some historians suspect that Rommel also had an affair with Walburga Stemmer in 1913, and that relationship produced a daughter named Gertrud.

World War I

During World War I, Rommel fought in France, as well as in Romania (see: Romanian Campaign) and Italy (see: Italian Campaign), initially as a member of the 6th Württemberg Infantry Regiment, and through most of the war in the Württemberg Mountain Battalion of the élite Alpenkorps. While serving with that unit, he gained a reputation for making quick tactical decisions and taking advantage of enemy confusion. He was wounded three times and awarded the Iron Cross; First and Second Class. Rommel also received Prussia's highest medal, the Pour le Mérite, after fighting in the mountains of west Slovenia – Battles of the Isonzo – Soca front. The award came as a result of the Battle of Longarone, and the capture of Mount Matajur, Slovenia, and its defenders, numbering 150 Italian officers, 9,000 men, and 81 pieces of artillery. His battalion used chemical warfare gas during the battles of the Isonzo and also played a key role in the victory of the Central Powers over the Italian Army at the Battle of Caporetto. Interestingly, Rommel for a time served in the same infantry regiment as Friedrich Paulus. While fighting at Isonzo, Rommel was taken prisoner by the Italians. He escaped his captors, and, with the help of fluency in the Italian language and other skills, he was back behind the German lines within two weeks. Later, when the German and Italian armies were allied during the Second World War, Rommel tempered his initial disdain of Italian soldiers when he realised that their lack of success in battle was principally due to poor leadership and equipment, which when overcome, easily made them equal to German forces.

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