German military, a Nazi field Marshall in charge of the Africa Corps during the North African campaign in WW II. Rommel was nicknamed “The Desert Fox” because of his successful daring surprise attacks. Favored by Hitler, he was admired as a cunning, elusive foe by the Allied forces but was unpopular with his own officers and men. Rommel established his military skills in WW I and was decorated with the Iron Cross in 1917. A staunch supporter of Hitler in the early years of the WW II, Rommel grew disillusioned with Hitler’s leadership abilities in early 1943. Like other German officers, he grew weary and hoped Hitler would be removed from his post of commander-in-chief. On 7/20/1944, an assassin’s bomb missed its mark, and many German military officers were implicated in the plot to murder the fuehrer. Rommel denied association with the conspirators but Nazi officials demanded that the field marshal to go to trial or commit suicide and be given a hero’s burial. Rommel chose to die with military honors, keeping his military pension for his wife and young son.
Rommel grew up in Heidenheim, Germany. He studied at Tubingen and joined the German army in 1910 at 19. He received his commission in 1912. After his WW I service, he became a Company Commander in Stuttgart. In 1929, he was appointed into a teaching post at the War Academy in Dresden. He was soon promoted to lieutenant colonel in the German army. In 1935, Rommel received his post at the War Academy in Potsdam. He wrote his textbook on military tactics, published in 1937. In 1938, he became commander of the War Academy in Weiner Neustadt. During the invasion of France in 1940, Rommel led the German 7th Panzer division, achieving major war victories. He was stationed on the North African front in Libya in February 1941. His success earned him his rank of Field Marshall. In 1942, he pressed close to Alexandria, Egypt but the British forces put up fierce resistance. In October and November 1942, the British offensive overwhelmed German forces at El Alamein. Rommel was recalled to Berlin before the Africa Corps suffered its final defeat.
He enraged Hitler with his protest of SS brutalities in France. On 7/17/1944, Rommel, as commander of the German forces from the Netherlands in the Loire, was critically wounded in his staff car. The car was hit by Allied dive bombers and Rommel was taken to the military hospital with severe multiple skull fractures and eye injuries. On 10/07/1944, Rommel was ordered to return to Berlin under suspicion of his alleged role in the failed attempt on Hitler’s life. He declined the order and remained at his home in Herrlingen, Germany. On 10/14/1944, the head of the Army Personnel department, General Burgdorf arrived with his aides to give Rommel a final proposition from Berlin. He drove off in a military car with Burgdorf and his aides to a remote stretch of the Blaubeuren road. He was given a quick-acting cyanide capsule. At 1:25 PM on 10/14/1944, Rommel’s body arrived at the hospital in Ulm, Germany. The German news announced his death as a result of “a hemorrhage, a brain-storm in the car.” On 10/18/1944, the high principled man with a decisive personality was given a hero’s funeral at the Ulm town hall.
Rommel met and married Lucie Mollin, an attractive, dark-haired woman in 1916. The couple had a deep emotional dependence on one another, and they wrote letters to each other daily. He adored his wife and his favorite line was, “Whatever you say, Lucie!” The couple produced a son, Manfred Rommel, on Christmas 1929 in Stuttgart, Germany. Manfred was 16-years old and wearing an air force uniform when his father informed him and his mother about his decision to end his life than be judged by Hitler’s court. Manfred Rommel later became the mayor of Stuttgart, Germany.
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