Assaulting this position in classic blitzkrieg fashion on May 26, Rommel shattered the British positions and sent them in headlong retreat back to Egypt. For this, he was promoted to field marshal. With his supply lines dangerously long and desperate to take Egypt, he attempted an offensive at Alam Halfa in late August but was halted.
Forced on the defensive, Rommel's supply situation continued to deteriorate and his command was shattered during the Second Battle of El Alamein two months later.
Though he bloodied the US II Corps at Kasserine Pass in February , the situation continued to worsen and he finally turned over command and departed Africa for health reasons on March 9. Tasked with defending the beaches from the inevitable Allied landings, he worked diligently to improve the Atlantic Wall. Though initially believing that Normandy would be the target, he came to agree with most German leaders that the assault would be at Calais.
Away on leave when the invasion began on June 6, , he raced back to Normandy and coordinated German defensive efforts around Caen. Remaining in the area, he was badly wounded on July 17 when his staff car was strafed by Allied aircraft.
Early in , several of Rommel's friends approached him regarding a plot to depose Hitler. Agreeing to aid them in February, he wished to see Hitler brought to trial rather than assassinated.
In the wake of the failed attempt to kill Hitler on July 20, Rommel's name was betrayed to the Gestapo. Due to Rommel's popularity, Hitler wished to avoid the scandal of revealing his involvement. As a result, Rommel was given the option of committing suicide and his family receiving protection or going before the People's Court and his family persecuted. Electing for the former, he took a cyanide pill on October Rommel's death was originally reported to the German people as a heart attack and he was given a full state funeral.
Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Use precise geolocation data. Select personalised content. Create a personalised content profile. Measure ad performance. Select basic ads. Create a personalised ads profile. Select personalised ads. In early , Rommel was entrusted with the French Channel coast's defense against a possible Allied invasion. Around this same time, Rommel began to express doubt about both Germany's reasons for participating in the war and Hitler's capability of peace-making, and the field marshal was told by a group of friends that he should lead the nation once Hitler was overthrown.
Rommel dismissed the suggestion, unaware at the time that the men had been planning to assassinate the German leader. On D-Day—June 6, —, Allied troops landed in Normandy, and invading forces eventually reached 1 million. After the Allied invasion and the resulting push across France, Rommel knew that Germany would lose the war and discussed surrendering with other officers.
After the July Plot—an assassination attempt against Hitler that occurred on July 20, —Rommel's contact with the conspirators was revealed, implicating him in the plot to overthrow Hitler. Rommel was then offered the option of taking his own life to avoid a public trial and protect his family. On October 14, , German officers took Rommel from his home to a remote location. There he took his own life by biting into a cyanide capsule.
He was 52 years old. Rommel was given a full military burial. We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us! He never smoked, drank only rarely, and was frugal.
By , Bernard Montgomery had been given command of the Allied Eighth Army, and they were making great strides in containing the Axis advances and were beginning to force their withdrawal. To maintain a chance of victory in Africa, Rommel recommended a shortening of the front from miles to miles, and that the troops might be better used by removing them to Italy to defend against an invasion of southern Europe. He personally appealed to Hitler and the high command, but his recommendations were rebuffed.
Official military portrait of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. This photograph was taken about Bundesarchiv, Bild ——— There are various explanations as to why Rommel did not remain in command of his troops to the end. Brigadier Desmond Young, who fought with the British in the African campaign, and wrote one of the first biographies of Rommel, describes that Rommel had flown to Germany again to ask Hitler to allow him to save the remaining troops in Africa.
His request was refused, as was his request to return to return to Africa. Midway through the month, the Allies had gained substantial ground into the heart of France. Rommel and von Rundstedt requested all reserves to be sent to France and a retreat for regrouping, but Hitler dismissed the request.
Throughout the turbulent 6 months that Rommel spent in France, his mindset began to change. He was duty-bound to partake in Goebbels's fake Atlantic Wall propaganda professing German superiority over the enemy. He knew that if the truth were known, the German people would doubt their leaders and chaos would arise. Honesty and transparency were more important to Rommel than public perception. Rommel's desire to save Germany from devastation was powerful.
He wrote strongly worded letters to Hitler and met him in person to express his dissent. Rather, this awareness developed in [Rommel] a resiliency of mind and heart which prepared him for independent action. You must lend your name to the movement. At some point in February , Rommel agreed to join the conspirators and attempt to rescue Germany. He expected no sympathy or any kindred emotion, but he relied on the calculated understanding of the great powers. Three days prior to the assassination attempt, Rommel was badly wounded in an air attack.
The journey was one of Rommel's routine inspections of the front line. By January , Hitler had forbidden Rommel from traveling via aircraft, as several high-ranking officers had been killed in air crashes.
Captain Lang sat behind Rommel with Major Neuhaus behind the driver. Sergeant Holke sat in the middle, looking out for aircraft. Sergeant Daniel drove through Falaise, St. Pierre-sur-Dives, and toward Livarot.
However, 8 Allied dive-bombers stalked the Livarot area, making it impossible to pass. As the car reentered the main road, 2 miles north of Vimoutiers, Sergeant Holke noticed enemy fighter aircraft diving toward the car.
Captain Lang had jumped out of the rear door as soon as the attack began. Major Neuhaus suffered a pelvis fracture from shell fragments that hit the holster of his revolver, and Sergeant Holke was not injured. Photograph left reported by several sources to be of the wreckage of Rommel's staff car following the strafing.
However, when the original paper is examined right , it is clear from the photo caption and the other text that the wreckage is of Dietrich's car. The confusion may have arisen due to Field Marshal Rommel being pictured in the image at the top of the same page, alongside Dietrich.
Public domain. A number of theories have been published about who flew the plane that led to Rommel's injury. Fox's flying log for the day describes flying from an Allied air base at Beny-sur-mer in Normandy and strafing an unknown German staff car.
Rommel remained unconscious as he bled from his left eye, mouth, a deep gash in his left temporal region, and several superficial cuts. There, he was examined by the first medical provider that was to examine him, pharmacist Marcel Lescene. At the Bernay hospital, skull radiographs were obtained, and the staff awaited the arrival of neurosurgical consultant Professor A. It is debated whether he arrived from Paris the same night or the next morning. He noted a complete left oculomotor nerve palsy, but described no major motor deficit and no hematoma neither subdural nor extradural , and concluded that the skull fracture was not depressed.
Esch also observed that Rommel responded to strong sensory stimuli and did not recommend any surgical intervention. In the first days of Rommel's recovery, the cerebrospinal fluid leak stopped, and there was no evidence of meningitis or posttraumatic convulsions. Germain, outside of Paris. The car had to drive slowly and deliberately to navigate the bombed roads and bridges, making the mile journey last more than 4 hours.
Rommel believed that Hitler purposefully tried to conceal the facts of the accident so that he could blame Rommel for the failing military circumstances in France. Photograph of Rommel taken by German war correspondent Baron H. Von Esebeck was later the author of a Rommel biography. My father, his left eye covered with a black bandage, sat in an arm chair beside a low coffee table. The left half of his face had been crushed by the weight of the blow he had received.
He raised himself shakily to his feet and we exchanged greetings. But it will all get better. No man can be alive with wounds like that.
Rommel would move on October 20, a date he would never keep. Rommel denied both of these accusations. I have come to say goodbye. They have the poison. They say it will take only three seconds to act. If he took the poison, he was promised a state funeral with full honors and was assured that his family would not be harmed. If he opted for trial, conviction and execution would follow, and he expected his family to be persecuted.
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