Rommel, the rise and fall of

How do people who discuss Rommel's involvement in the plot to kill Hitler always know exactly what Rommel thought and what he wanted? Do they have secret access to his unwritten memoirs or something? :lol:

 

Read books,some documents,...How do people know anything about the WW2??

 

It is easier to know simple documented facts than undocumented thoughts of the subjective minds involved in this war. It is highly unlikely that anyone could ever figure out exactly what someone else was thinking at a specific moment unless that person told him, and as we all know Rommel didn't live to tell us what he was thinking on July 20th 1944.

 

we only know that he was a patriot so that would way that he would fight for his country to the end, even when he knew that the war couldn't be won

 

Rommel was a genious (or so my grandfather says who faught at Al Alimein). Hitler was just to parinoid to be a long lasting leader so i guess the quote applys to him"If im going down, im taking someone with me" and who better than his best general.

 

Commando Supremo is less complimentary about him, Len Deighton's Blitzkreig portrays Rommel in a less than glowing light too. I don't think Hitler thought he was "going down" in June 1944, I'm not too familiar with Rommel as a whole but I don't believe that Hitler explicitly ordered his death.

Hitler tended to think in grander scales, his orders for the destruction of German infrastructure with his demise show clearly what he thought once he did realise he was "going down". It wasn't a case of taking someone with him, he fully intended to take the whole of Germany and every living German with him.

 

As did General der Panzertruppen Geyr von Schweppenburg, after the war, when asked to describe how the different German commanders in France thought about defending the coast. Rommel was a good leader of men, but definitely no strategical genius.

 

indeed Von Schweppenburg said that Rommel wasn't a strategical genius, but Rommel was an genius only he wasn't a nazi and von Schweppenburg was a fanitical nazi and a admirer of Hitler. von Schweppenburg just pointed at Rommel as an escape goat. (zondebok in englisch?)

also further down this post there was said that rommel didn't had an eye for logistics, well in book i read rommel did knew his transport lines afrika where in close danger because of the royal navy but all the things he tried to do where overruled by Hitler. ore weren't possible.

Rommel was a thinker he had much respect for the allied generals and maybe was trying to surrender in normandie, some of his staff officers did say he had plans to surrender the rest of the germen 7th army and some of the panserdivisions there.

Rommel wasn't ordered death bye Hitler, Rommel was an national hero and loved by the germen civilians, so Hitler didn't ordered him death but gave him a choice: kill yourself ore i will kill your wife and son. he chose to kill himself.

well this was a nice first post

(sorry for my English)

 

Welcome to the forum, ujis. "Zondebok" translates to "scapegoat" or "patsy" in English.

I do not think Von Schweppenburg's criticism of Rommel was a political matter, seeing as he made a very reasonable argument for it. I have the text he wrote on the comparative strategies of Rommel and Von Rundstedt regarding the defence of France; it's a very logical and plausible piece of thinking, certainly not inspired by loathing for a non-nazi.

 

Rommel was a tactical genius, who had his fair share of luck. He sometimes chose or forgot to use the tactical genius at his disposal however. (eg the Easter battles).
He was a great motivator of men, and an inspirational leader.

A strategist he was not. Some would even argue that he was ever so slightly out of his depth as a Corps commander, never mind anything larger. (But there were worse in the Heer, much worse).

Certainly his reputation amongst friend & foe during the war was massive.

And the fact that 60+ years later, threads like this exist, are testimony to his.... (fill in the adjectives of your choice!).



Ricky. Your precis of Rommels involvement/non involvement in the July 20th plot is one of the best I have seen.

If the need ever arises, may I copy & quote it?

 

well actually....

I built a time machine learned German and went back to July 19th with a mind reader......

 

Shame you came back

 

I agree with the first sentance (whether or not I agree with your opinion! ), but not the second. You English looks very good to me (I am English). Don't apologise for being good at writing in a language that is not your native one.

Oh, and welcome to the forum ujis!

 

*Flattered*

Yes, of course.

Naughty naughty! I think we should applaud Revere for his ingenious method of solving the problem.

 

Ricky.

Without winks & grins is naughty.

With winks & grins is just my warped sense of humour. I'm sure revere will get used to it. After all, you lot have!

 

I know, but the winks & grins disappeared when I quoted.

the was supposed to show my comment was not serious

 

I know.
I just wanted to clarify it for others.

 

I think that david has summed it up nicely. An Army major I used to know and talk history with when I was in the US Navy once said to me that Rommel's performance in the desert was brilliant, but that his performance in Normandy was definitely not. And I have to wonder just how Rommel expected to destroy the invasion on the beaches given the total Allied supremacy both at sea and in the air? Naval gunfire would disrupt any German counterattack attempt on the actual beachheads, while providing the troops with the artillery support they needed.

 

I think Rommel actually had an inkling of what was to come if the Allies got ashore. I think this is why he was so comitted to stopping the invasion on the beaches. Which was also why he wanted the panzer reserve spread out behind th elikley invasion areas and not concentrated as per German doctrine.

 

Of course, by June of 1944, Germany was fast running out of good options in making any military decisions. It can be said that the disagreement between Rommel and von Rundstedt over how to defend against the coming invasion was a moot point.