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diversdream [2006-09-23 08:34:03 +0000 UTC]

DAK - A short History

Afrika Korps

The German Afrika Korps
(German: Deutsches Afrikakorps, DAK was the corps-level headquarters controlling the German Panzer divisions in Libya and Egypt during the North African Campaign of World War II.
Since there was little turnover in the units attached to the corps, the term is commonly used to refer to the headquarters plus its attached combat units.

Organization

The Afrika Korps was formed, on February 19, 1941, after the German Armed Forces High Command (OKW) had decided to send an expeditionary force to Libya to support the Italian army, which had been routed by an UK Australian led counteroffensive, Operation Compass.
The German expeditionary force, commanded by Erwin Rommel, at first consisted only of the 5th Panzer Regiment and various other small units.

These elements were organized into the 5th Light Division when they arrived in Africa in February.
In the spring the 5th Light Division was joined by the 15th Panzer Division, though it did not arrive until after Rommel had made a counter-offensive and re-taken most of Cyrenaica and gone back over to the defensive.
At this time the Afrika Korps consisted of the two divisions plus various smaller supporting units, and was officially subordinated to the Italian chain of command in Africa
(though Rommel had conducted his offensive without any authorization).

On October 1, 1941, the German 5th Light Division was redesignated as the 21st Panzer Division, still attached to the Afrika Korps.

During the summer of 1941 OKW invested more command structure in Africa by creating a new headquarters called
Panzer Group Africa (Panzergruppe Afrika).

On August 15 Panzer Group Africa was activated with Rommel in command, and command of the Afrika Korps was turned over to Ludwig Crüwell.
The Panzer Group controlled the Afrika Korps plus some additional German units that were sent to Africa, as well as two corps of Italian units.

(A German "group" was approximately the equivalent of an army in other militaries, and in fact Panzer Group Africa was redesignated as Panzer Army Africa (Panzerarmee Afrika) on January 30, 1942.)

After the defeat at El Alamein and the Allied invasion in Oran, Algeria
Operation Torch, OKW once more upgraded its presence in Africa by creating the XC Army Corps in Tunisia on November 19 1942, and then creating a new 5th Panzer Army headquarters there as well on December 8, under the command of Col.-Gen. Hans-Jürgen von Arnim.

On February 23, 1943 Panzer Army Africa,
(now called the German-Italian Panzer Army,) was redesignated as the
Italian 1st Army and put under the command of an Italian general, while Rommel was placed in command of a new
Army Group Africa (Heeresgruppe Afrika) created to control both the Italian 1st Army and the 5th Panzer Army.
The remnants of the Afrika Korps and other surviving units of the
1st Italian Army retreated into Tunisia.
Command of the Army Group was turned over to von Arnim in March.

On May 13 remnants of the Afrika Korps along with all other remaining Axis forces in North Africa surrendered.

Terminological notes

Strictly speaking the term Afrika Korps refers only to the corps headquarters and its attached units, though it is commonly used by amateur writers, the news media and veteran Allied soldiers, as a name for all the German units in North Africa before the retreat to Tunisia.
The most notable of those other units were the
Afrika zbV ("special purpose") Division, which was created as an
infantry division and slowly upgraded to a fully motorized division, and then redesignated as the 90th Light Afrika Division; the 164th Light Afrika Division, also an infantry division; and the Ramcke parachute brigade
(named after its commander).
There were also eight Italian divisions under Rommel's command in
Panzer Army Afrika, including two armored divisions with very inferior equipment, two motorized divisions, three infantry divisions, and one
Folgore parachute division.
The army was supported by a number of smaller units from both the German and Italian armed forces.

The designation "Light" (German: Leichte) did not refer to a standardized table of organization and equipment (TOE) for the various German divisions that bore that designation.
For instance, the 5th Light Division had an organization very similar to the 21st Panzer Division, whereas the 164th Light Afrika Division was at first a partially motorized infantry division and never had any tanks at all.
Various German divisions in Africa occasionally reorganized or re-equipped without a change of name, or conversely were redesignated with a new name without any substantial reorganization.

Historical postscript

The Axis forces in Africa surrendered on May 12, 1943.

However, three of the German divisions that had fought in the Western Desert were reconstituted in Europe.
The 15th Panzer Division was reconstituted as the
15th Panzergrenadier Division, the 90th Light Division was reconstituted as the 90th Panzergrenadier Division, and the
21st Panzer Division was reconstituted under its own name

Afrika Korps Marching Songs

Heiß über Afrikas Boden die Sonne glüht.
Unsere Panzermotoren singen ihr Lied!
Deutsche Panzer im Sonnenbrand,
Stehen zur Kampf gegen England
Es rasseln die Ketten, es dröhnt der Motor,
Panzer rollen in Afrika vor.

Translation:

Hot over African ground, the sun is glowing.
Our panzer engines sing their song!
German panzers in the blazing sun,
As they stand in battle against England.
The tracks rattle, the engine roars,
Panzers roll in Africa.

2nd Song:
"Unser Rommel" ("Our Rommel"):

Mit uns im Kampf und im Siege vereint,
marschieren Italiens Scharen.
Bis einst die Sonne des Friedens uns scheint,
und wieder gen Deutschland wir fahren.
Doch wenn mich die feindliche Kugel fand,
so lasset mich ruhen im Wüstensand,
und rühret noch einmal die Trommel,
Vorwärts, vorwärts, vorwärts mit unserem Rommel.
Vorwärts mit unserem Rommel.

Translation:

Together with us in battle and victory,
the Italians are marching with us.
Till soon the sun of peace will shine for us,
and we will return to Germany.
If an enemy shot hits me,
let me rest in the desert sand,
and play the drum again.
Forwards, forwards with our Rommel,
Forwards with our Rommel.

References

Cooper, Matthew (1990).
The German Army 1933-1945. Scarborough House. Chelsea, MI, USA.
ISBN 0-8128-8519-8.

von Mellenthin, Major General F. W. [1956] (1971).
Panzer Battles: A Study of the Employment of Armor in the Second World War, First Ballantine Books Edition, New York: Ballantine Books.
ISBN 0-345-24440-0.

Hans von Lucks memoirs
Panzer Commander: The Memoirs of Colonel Hans von Luck include chapters from his time in North Africa under Rommel

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diversdream [2006-09-23 08:19:07 +0000 UTC]

Panzer Mark III (Pick Tank)

Panzer III History in Brief

The Panzerkampfwagen III (PzKpfw III), more commonly referred to as the Panzer III, was a tank developed in the 1930s by Germany and used extensively in World War II.
It was designed to fight other AFVs, serving alongside the infantry-support Pzkpfw IV.
It soon became obsolete in this role, and for most purposes was supplanted by up-gunned Panzer IVs, though some would continue to be used for infantry support until late in the war.

Panzerkampfwagen III

General characteristics

Crew 5
(commander, gunner, loader, driver and radio operator)

Length
5.52 m

Width
2.9 m

Height
2.5 m

Weight
22 tonnes

Armour and armament

Armour
70 mm

Main armament
1×50 mm gun

Secondary armament
2×7.92 mm MG

Mobility

Power plant
12-cylinder Maybach petrol 265 hp (197 kW)

Suspension
torsion bar

Road speed
40 km/h

Power/weight
12 hp/tonne

Range 155 km

Development History

On January 11, 1934, following specifications laid down by Heinz Guderian, the Army Weapons Department drew up plans for a medium tank with a maximum weight of 24,000 kg and a top speed of 35 km/h.
It was intended as the main tank of the German Panzer divisions, capable of engaging and destroying opposing tank forces.

Daimler-Benz, Krupp, MAN, and Rheinmetall all produced prototypes.

Testing of the prototypes took place in 1936 and 1937, leading to the Daimler-Benz design being chosen for production.
The first Panzer III A came off the assembly line in May of 1937, and a total of ten, two of which were unarmed, were produced in 1937.
Mass production of the tank, then in model III F, began in 1939.

Between 1937 and 1940, attempts were made to standardize parts between Krupp's Panzer IV and Daimler-Benz's Panzer III.

Much of the early development work on the Panzer III was a quest for a suitable suspension.
Several variaties of leaf-spring suspensions were tried on ausf A through D before the torsion-bar suspension of the ausf E was standardized.
The Panzer III, along with the Soviet KV heavy tank, was one of the first tanks to use this suspension design.

The Panzer III was intended as the main battle tank of the German forces.

However, it proved to be inferior to the T-34 tank of the Soviet Union and was replaced by an upgunned version of the Panzer IV, which could carry a high-velocity 75 mm gun.

In 1942, the ausf N model of the Panzer III was created with an
L/24 75 mm gun, but this was a low-velocity gun designed for anti-infantry and close-support work.

Armor

The Panzer III A through C had 15 mm of slightly sloped homogenous steel armor on all sides, with 10 mm on the top and 5 mm on the bottom.
This was quickly determined to be insufficient, and was upgraded to 30 mm in the D, E, F, and G models, with the H model having a second 30 mm layer of face-hardened steel applied to the front and rear hull.
The J model had a solid 50 mm plate on the front and rear, while the late J, L, M, models had an additional layer of 20 mm of armor on the front hull.
This additional frontal armor meant the Panzer III during 1941 and 1942 was impervious to most British and Russian anti-tank guns at all but close ranges when shot at from the front.
The sides were still vulnerable to many enemy weapons including anti-tank rifles.

The unusually heavy rear armor of the Panzer III was a weight penalty that was not commensurate with its combat value.
Although several tanks of the early war period had heavy rear armor, in general the design trend during the war was to thin the side and rear armor as much as possible, concentrating heavy armor in the frontal quadrant.
For example, the Panther tank had very heavy frontal armor but thin side and rear armor.

Armament

The Panzer III was intended to fight other tanks and a high-velocity 5cm gun was initially called for.
But the infantry were being equipped with the 3.7 cm anti-tank gun, and it was felt that in the interest of standardisation the tanks should carry the same.
As a compromise, the turret ring was made large enough to accommodate a 50 mm gun should a future upgrade be required.
This single decision would later assure the Panzer III a much prolonged life in the German army.

The early models (Ausf A to Ausf E, and a few Ausf F) were equipped with a short barrelled 37 mm gun which proved somewhat satisfactory during the campaigns of 1939 and 1940 but later models (Ausf F to Ausf M) were upgraded with the heavier 50 mm KwK38 L/42 and 50 mm KwK39 L/60 guns in response to increasingly better armed and armoured opponents.

By 1942, the Panzer III had become obsolete as a main battle tank and the decision was made to continue production as a support vehicle.
The Ausf N model mounted a low-velocity 75 mm KwK37 L/24 gun

- the same gun used by the early models of the Panzer IV.

This tank was used for infantry support as a replacement for the StuG III assault gun, which was by then mainly used as tank destroyer.

All early models up to and including the Ausf F had two 7.92 mm
machine guns mounted coaxially with the main gun, and a 7.92 mm
machine gun in the hull.
Models from the ausf G and later had a single coaxial MG and the hull MG.

Mobility

The Panzer III models A through C were powered by a
230 hp, 12-cylinder Maybach HL 108 TR engine, giving a top speed of
32 km/h (20 mph) and a range of 150 km (95 mi).
All later models were powered by the
320 hp, 12-cylinder Maybach HL 120 TRM engine.
Top speed varied among models, depending on the transmission, armor, and gun, but was around 40 km/h (25 mph).
The range was generally around 150 km (95 mi).

Combat Usage

The Panzer III was used in the campaigns against Poland, France, the Soviet Union and in North Africa.
Some were still in use in Normandy and Arnhem in 1944.

In the Polish and French campaigns, the Panzer III formed a small part of the German armored forces.
Only a few hundred ausf A through F were available in these campaigns, most armed with the 37 mm gun.
They were the best medium tank available to the Germans and outclassed most of their opponents such as the Polish 7TP, French R-35 and H-35 light tanks, and Somua S-35 cavalry tanks.

By the time of the German invasion of the Soviet Union
(Operation Barbarossa), the Panzer III was numerically the most important German tank.
By this time the majority of the available tanks
(including re-armed ausf E and F, plus new ausf G and H models)
had the L/42 50 mm gun.

The tanks used in North Africa also had the 50 mm L/42.

The Panzer III was outclassed by the Soviet T-34 and KV tanks, although German tactical skill, crew training, and the good ergonomics of the Panzer III all contributed to a rough 6:1 favorable kill ratio for German tanks of all types in 1941.

With the appearance of the T-34, rearming the Panzer III with a more powerful L/60 50 mm gun was prioritized.
The ausf J and L versions had this longer gun, thicker armor, and some simplified features.
These versions were available throughout 1942 and into 1943.

In addition, to counter Soviet antitank rifles, in 1943 the ausf M version began the use of spaced armor skirts ("schurzen") around the turret and on the hull sides.
By then, however, the Panzer III was beginning to be relegated to secondary roles, and it was replaced as the main German medium tank by the
Panzer IV and Panther.
The final version, ausf N, mounted a short 75 mm howitzer for use in Infantry support.

The Panzer III was a good, but not outstanding, tank in terms of armor, armament and mobility.
However, it was well-designed in that it had a three-man turret crew
(gunner, loader and commander), leaving the commander free to concentrate on commanding the tank and maintaining situational awareness. Although other medium tanks of the time also had this feature, most tanks of the late 1930s had fewer than three men in the turret crew.
These other tanks, which may look impressive on paper, lacked this key element of "fightability".

The French Somua S-35 was a classic example of a tank that appeared to be the equal of the Panzer III on paper, with a good gun and strong armor, but with its one-man turret crew it was hopelessly outclassed by the Panzer III.

The Panzer III chassis was the basis for the Sturmgeschutz III assault gun, probably the most important German self-propelled gun of the war.

Variants

Panzer III Ausf A,B,C,D -
pre-production models in 1937-1938.
75 produced.

Panzer III Ausf E, F -
Production models 1939-1940.
Armed with 37 mm (later 50 mm) guns.
531 produced.

Panzer III Ausf G -
More armour on gun mantlet.
Armed with 50 mm L/42 gun.
600 produced in 1940-1941.

Panzer III Ausf H -
Minor modifications.
Bolt-on armor added to front hull (30 mm + 30 mm plates).
308 produced in 1940-1941.

Panzer III Ausf J -
The hull was lengthened.
Front armor modified again (50 mm single plate).
482 produced in 1941

Panzer III Ausf J/1 -
longer/more effective 50 mm L/60 gun.
1067 produced in late 1941 to mid 1942.

Panzer III Ausf L -
Uparmored to 50 mm + 20 mm plates.
653 produced in 1942.

Panzer III Ausf M -
Minor modifications such as deep-wading exhaust and schurzen;
250 produced in 1942-1943.

Panzer III Ausf N -
Armed with a 75 mm L/24 gun.
700 re-equipped J/L/M models in 1942-1943.

Designs based on chassis

Tauchpanzer III -
Some tanks were converted to "diving tanks" for Operation Sealion.

Panzerbefehlswagen III -
Command tank.
Heavier armor, dummy gun, and long-range radios.

Artillerie-Panzerbeobachtungswagen III -
Forward artillery observer tank.
262 produced.

Flammpanzer III Ausf M/Panzer III (F1) -
Flamethrower tank.
100 converted from existing Panzer III M.

Bergepanzer III -
In 1944 some Panzer IIIs were converted to armoured recovery vehicles.

Sturmgeschütz III -
Assault gun with 75 mm StuK.

The Soviet SU-76i self-propelled gun was based on captured
German Pz Kpfw III and StuG III chassis.
About 1,200 of these vehicles were converted for Red Army service by adding an enclosed superstructure and ZiS-5 76.2 mm gun.

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diversdream [2006-09-23 08:00:18 +0000 UTC]

Erwin Rommel - a short Bio

Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel

(November 15, 1891 – October 14, 1944) was one of the most distinguished German Field Marshals of World War II.
He was the commander of the Deutsches Afrika Korps and also became known by the nickname The Desert Fox for the skillful military campaigns he waged on behalf of the German Army in North Africa.
He was later put in command of the German forces following the Allied invasion at Normandy in the final effort to defend the German homeland.

Rommel is often remembered not only for his remarkable military prowess, but also for his chivalry towards his adversaries

- being one of the German commanders who disobeyed the
'commando order' to exacute all special frorces rather then have them as POWs.

He is also noted for possibly having taken part in a plot to assassinate Hitler, for which he was forced to commit suicide before the war's end.

Early life and career

Rommel was born in Heidenheim, Germany, approximately 45 kilometres from Ulm, in the state of Württemberg.
He was baptised on November 17, 1891.
He was the second son of a Protestant headmaster of the secondary school at Aalen, Erwin Rommel the elder and Helene von Luz, a daughter of a prominent local dignitary.
The couple also had three more children, two 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 fourteen, Rommel and a friend built a full-scale glider that was able to fly, although not very far.
Young Erwin considered becoming an engineer; however, on his father's insistence, he 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.

While at Cadet School, early in 1911, Rommel met his future wife,
Lucie Maria Mollin.
He graduated in November 1911 and was commissioned as a Lieutenant January 1912.
Rommel and Lucie married in 1916, and in 1928, they had a son, Manfred, who would later become the mayor of Stuttgart.
Scholars Bierman and Smith argue that, during this time, Rommel also had an affair with Walburga Stemmer in 1913 and that relationship produced a daughter named Gertrud but this is still unconfirmed 100% at this date.

World War I

During World War I, Rommel fought in France, as well as in Romania and Italy as part of the elite 'Alpen' Korps.
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

- an honor traditionally reserved for generals only -

after fighting in the mountains of west Slovenia – Battle 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, 7,000 men and 81 artillery guns.
His battalion also played a key role in the decisive 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, both of whom were to preside over catastrophic defeats for the Third Reich in their own markedly different ways.


Inter-war years

After the war, Rommel held battalion commands and was an instructor at the Dresden Infantry School from 1929 to 1933 and the Potsdam War Academy from 1935 to 1938.
Rommel's war diaries, Infanterie greift an (Infantry Attacks), published in 1937, became a highly regarded military textbook, and attracted the attention of Adolf Hitler, who placed him in charge of the training of the
Hitler Jugend that same year, all the while retaining his place at Potsdam. Rommel was awarded in his class highest war ribbons for excellent performance.

In 1937, it was rumoured that Rommel travelled to the United States to study the tactics of Confederate generals such as the brilliant strategist Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson and Nathan Bedford Forrest.
In the town of Clifton, Tennessee, there is a log book at the Russ Hotel with his and several other German signatures, though this has never been verified. Rommel applied his knowledge of past military leaders in his North Africa campaign.

In 1938, Rommel, now a colonel, was appointed commandant of the
War Academy at Wiener Neustadt.
Here he started his follow up to Infantry Attacks, Panzer greift an
(Tank Attacks sometimes translated as The Tank In Attack).
Rommel was removed after a short time however, to take command of
Adolf Hitler's personal protection battalion (FührerBegleitbataillon), assigned to protect him in the special railway train (Führersonderzug) used during his visits to occupied Czechoslovakia and Memel.

World War II

Poland 1939

Rommel continued as FührerBegleitbataillon commander during the
Polish campaign, often moving up close to the front in the Führersonderzug, and seeing much of Hitler.
After the Polish defeat, Rommel returned to Berlin to organise the Führer's victory parade, taking part himself as a member of Hitler's entourage.

France 1940

On 6 February 1940, only three months before the invasion, Rommel was given command of the 7th Panzer Division, later nicknamed
Gespenster-Division
(the "Ghost Division", due to the speed and surprise it was consistently able to achieve, to the point that even the German High Command lost track of where it was), for Fall Gelb ("Case Yellow"), the invasion of France and the Low Countries.
Remarkably, this was Rommel's first command of a Panzer unit.
He showed considerable skill in this operation, repulsing a counter-attack by the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) at Arras.
7th Panzer was one of the first German units to reach the English Channel (on 10 June) and captured the vital port of Cherbourg on 19 June.
As a reward, Rommel was promoted and appointed commander of the
5th Light Division (later reorganized and redesignated as the 21st Panzer) and of the 15th Panzer Division, which were sent to Libya in early 1941 to aid the hapless and demoralized Italian troops, forming the Deutsches Afrika Korps.
It was in Africa where Rommel achieved his greatest fame as a commander.

Africa 1941-43

His campaign in Africa earned Rommel the nickname "The Desert Fox".

He spent most of 1941 building up his forces, the Italian component of which had suffered a string of defeats at the hands of British Commonwealth forces under Major General Richard O'Connor.
An offensive pushed the Allied forces out of Libya, but stalled a relatively short way into Egypt, and the important port of Tobruk, although surrounded, was still held by Allied forces ( mostly Australian) under the Australian
General Leslie Morshead.
The Allied Commander-in-Chief, General Sir Archibald Wavell made two unsuccessful attempts to relieve Tobruk
(Operation Brevity and Operation Battleaxe).

Following the costly failure of Battleaxe, Wavell was relieved by
Commander-in-Chief India, Genera Sirl Claude Auchinleck.
Auchinleck launched a major offensive to relieve Tobruk (Operation Crusader) which eventually succeeded.
During the confusion caused by the Crusader operation, Rommel and his staff found themselves behind Allied lines several times.
On one occasion, he visited a New Zealand Army field hospital, which was
still under Allied control.

"[Rommel] inquired if anything was needed, promised the British(NZ and Aust in realiaty) medical supplies and drove off unhindered."

(General Fritz Bayerlein DAK, The Rommel Papers, chapter 8.)

Crusader was a defeat for Rommel.

After several weeks of fighting, Rommel ordered the withdrawal of all his forces from the area around Tobruk (December 7, 1941) towards El Agheila. The Allies followed, attempting to cut off the retreating troops as they had done in 1940, but Rommel's counter-attack on January 20, 1942 mauled the Allied forces.
The Afrika Korps retook Benghazi and the Allies pulled back to the Tobruk area and commenced building defensive positions.

On May 24, 1942 Rommel's army attacked.

In a classic blitzkrieg, he outflanked the Allies at Gazala, surrounded and reduced the strongpoint at Bir Hakeim and forced the Allies to quickly retreat, in the so-called "Gazala Gallop", to avoid being completely cut off.
Tobruk, isolated and alone, was now all that stood between the Afrika Korps and Egypt.
On 21 June 1942, after a swift, coordinated and fierce combined arms assault, the city surrendered along with its 33,000 defenders.

Only at the fall of Singapore, earlier that year, had more British /Commonwealth troops captured as POW's.

Hitler made Rommel a field marshal in gratitude of defeating the 'Fortress of Tobruk'.

Within weeks, the Allies were pushed back far into Egypt.

Rommel's 21st Panzer Division was eventually stopped at the small railway town of El Alamein, just sixty miles from Alexandria.

With Allied forces from Malta interdicting his supplies at sea, and the enormous distances supplies had to travel to reach his forward troops, Rommel could not hold the El Alamein position forever.
Still, it took a large set piece battle, the Second Battle of El Alamein, to dislodge his forces.

In September, he took sick leave in Italy and Germany, but immediately returned when news of the battle reached him.
After the defeat at El Alamein, Rommel's forces managed to escape by using all the Italian transports.
Despite urgings from Hitler and Mussolini, Rommel's forces did not again stand and fight until they had entered Tunisia.
Even then, their first battle was not against the British Eighth Army, but against the U.S. II Corps.
Rommel inflicted a sharp defeat on the American forces at the
Battle of Kasserine Pass.

Turning once again to face the British Commonwealth forces in the old
French border defences of the Mareth Line, Rommel could only delay the inevitable.
At the end of January 1943, the Italian General Giovanni Messe was appointed as the new commander of Rommel’s Panzer Army Africa, which was now re-named 1st Italo-German Panzer Army
(in recognition of the fact that it consisted of one German and three Italian corps).
Though Messe was to replace Rommel, he diplomatically deferred to the German, and the two co-existed in what was theoretically the same command until March 9th, when Rommel finally departed Africa.
Rommel's departure was kept secret on Hitler's explicit orders, so that the morale of the Axis troops could be maintained and respectful fear by their enemies retained.
The last Rommel offensive in North Africa occurred on March 6 1943, when he attacked Montgomery's 8th Army at the Battle of Medenine with three panzer divisions (10th, 15th and 21st).
Decoded Ultra intercepts allowed Montgomery to deploy large numbers of anti-tank guns in the path of the offensive.
After losing 52 Panzers, Rommel was forced to call off the assault.
On 9 March he handed over command of Armeegruppe Afrika to
Field Marshal Arnim and left Africa, because of health reasons,
(he was exhausted and very ill and run down). He was destined never to return.

On May 13, 1943, after the collapse of the 5th German Army, the fall of Tunis and the surrounding of the 1st Italian Army, still holding the line at Enfidaville, Giovanni Messe formally surrendered the remnants of Army Group Afrika to the Allies.
On May 12th, one day before the surrender, Messe was promoted to the rank of field marshal.

Some historians contrast Rommel's withdrawal back to Tunisia against
Hitler's wishes with Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus's obedience of orders to have the German 6th Army stand its ground at the Battle of Stalingrad, which resulted in its annihilation for no real gain.

Some sources state that during this period, there was a failed Allied attempt to capture Rommel from his headquarters, 250 miles behind enemy lines.

France 1943-1944

Back in Germany, Rommel was for some time virtually "unemployed".

On 23 July 1943 he moved to Greece as commander of Army Group E, to defend the greek coast against a possible allied landing that never happened, only to return to Germany two days later, upon the overthrow of Mussolini. On 17 August 1943, Rommel moved his headquarters from Munich to
Lake Garda, as commander of a new Army Group B, created to defend the north of Italy.
After Hitler gave Field Marshsal Albert ('Smiling Albert') Kesselring (Luftwaffe) sole Italian command, on 21 November, Rommel moved Army Group B to Normandy, France, with responsibility for defending the French coast against the long anticipated Allied invasion.
Dismayed by the situation he found, the slow building pace, and fearing he had just months before an invasion, Rommel reinvigorated the whole fortification effort along the Atlantic coast('Festung Europa').
Under his direction, work was significantly sped up, millions of mines laid, and thousands of tank traps and obstacles set up on beaches and throughout the countryside.

After his battles in Africa, Rommel concluded that any offensive movement would be nearly impossible due to overwhelming Allied air superiority.
He argued that the tank forces should be dispersed in small units and kept in heavily fortified positions as close to the front as possible, so they would not have to move far and en masse when the invasion started.

He wanted the invasion stopped right on the beaches.

However his commander, Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, felt that there was no way to stop the invasion near the beaches due to the equally overwhelming firepower of the Royal Navy.
He felt the tanks should be formed into large units well inland near Paris, where they could allow the Allies to extend into France and then cut off the Allied troops.
When asked to pick a plan, Hitler vacillated and placed them in the middle, far enough to be useless to Rommel, not far enough to watch the fight for
von Rundstedt.

During D-Day, several tank units, notably the 12th SS Panzer Division, were close enough to the beaches to create serious havoc.
Hitler refused however to release the panzer reserves as he believed the Normandy landings were a diversion.
Hitler and the German High Command (OKW) expected the main assault in the Pas de Calais area, thanks to the success of a secret Allied deception campaign (Operation Fortitude).
Facing only small-scale German attacks, the Allies quickly secured a beachhead.

The plot against Hitler

On July 17, 1944, Rommel's staff car was strafed by an RCAF Typhoon piloted by Charley Fox; he was hospitalized with major head injuries.

(However, Rommel always maintained that the aircraft had been American).

In the meantime, after the failed July 20 Plot against Adolf Hitler a major crackdown was conducted throughout the Wehrmacht.
As the investigation proceeded, numerous connections started appearing that tied Rommel to the conspiracy, many of his closest aides being deeply involved.
At the same time, local Nazi party officials reported on Rommel's extensive and scornful criticism of Nazi leadership during the time he was hospitalized.

Martin Bormann was certain of Rommel's involvement, Dr Goebbels was not.

The true extent of Rommel's knowledge of or involvement with the plot is still unclear.

After the war, however, his wife maintained that Rommel had been against the plot.
It has been stated that Rommel wanted to avoid giving future generations of Germans the perception that the war was lost because of backstabbing, the infamous Dolchstoßlegende, as was commonly believed by some Germans of World War I.
Instead, he favored a coup where Hitler would be taken alive and made to stand trial before the public.

Recent evidence seems to indicate that Rommel was aware of the
July 20 plot and the intentions of Claus von Stauffenberg, but avoided participating, not merely because of the chance of repeating the
'November Criminals' fable.
He was all too aware of the crudity and poorly organised nature of the plot, and the slim chance of the Western Allies accepting a separate peace.

He thus took an objective and realistic attitude towards the planned coup, though for all his forbearance and cautious nature, he still fell afoul of Hitler's growing paranoia and petty hatred towards the Prussian officer caste.
It was even reported that, shortly after Rommel regained consciousness following his accident, he confided to his son

"Stauffenberg botched his plans, but a front line officer would have finished Hitler off."

Because of Rommel's popularity with the German people, Hitler gave him an option to commit suicide with cyanide or face a humiliating sham trial before Roland Freisler's "People's Court" and the murder of his family and staff. Rommel ended his own life on October 14, 1944, and was buried with full military honours.
(People in Germany were told he had died of his earlier wounds)

After the war, his diary was published as The Rommel Papers.

He is the only member of the Third Reich establishment to have a museum dedicated to him.

His grave can be found in Herrlingen, a short distance west of Ulm.

Battles

Battle of Caporetto (1917)

Battle of Arras (1940)

Siege of Tobruk (1941)

Battle of Gazala (1942)

Battle of Bir Hakeim (1942)

First Battle of El Alamein (1942)

Battle of Alam Halfa (1942)

Second Battle of El Alamein (1942)

Battle of the Kasserine Pass (1943)

Battle of Normandy (1944)

Popular perception

Rommel was in his lifetime extraordinarily popular, not only with the German people, but also with his adversaries.
His chivalry and tactical prowess earned him the respect of many of them, particularly the British.
Claude Auchinleck, Winston Churchill, George S. Patton, and Bernard Montgomery are all on record as having positive things to say about the "Desert Fox" as both a general and a man; Montgomery even named a dog after him.
Rommel, for his part, was complimentary towards and respectful of his foes.

Hitler considered Rommel one of his favorite generals and kept him in Africa largely for propaganda purposes, believing he could win easy victories when he might not be able to in Russia.
After the war, when his involvement (or alleged involvement) in the plot to kill Hitler became known, his stature was enhanced greatly among the former Allied nations.
Rommel was often cited by his former opponents as a general who, though a loyal German, was willing to stand up to the evil that was Hitler
(however accurate or inaccurate this depiction may be).

The release of the film The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel (1951) helped enhance his reputation, and today he is one of the most widely known and well-regarded leaders in the German army.

In fiction

He has been portrayed by:

Erich von Stroheim in the 1943 film Five Graves to Cairo

James Mason in both the 1951 The Desert Fox and the 1953 The Desert Rats

Werner Hinz in 1962's The Longest Day

Karl Michael Vogler in the 1970 Patton, starring George C. Scott

Wolfgang Priess in the 1971 Raid on Rommel

Hardy Kruger in the 1988 television miniseries War and Remembrance

Michael York in the 1990 TV-movie Night of the Fox

In Philip K. Dick's alternative history novel The Man in the High Castle,
Rommel is the Nazi-appointed president of the United States of America in the early 1960s.

In Douglas Niles's and Michael Dobson's alternative history novel
Fox on the Rhine (ISBN 0-8125-7466-4), Hitler is killed by the bomb plot of July 20, 1944.
This leads to Rommel's survival, and a different quick offensive strike.
This is repelled and the book ends with his surrender to the Americans and British, in the belief that the Germans would be better off with the western powers than with the Soviets.
Fox on the Rhine was followed by a sequel,
Fox at the Front (ISBN 0-641-67696-4).

In Donna Barr's novel Bread and Swans, the historical Rommel shares his concerns and career with a fictitious younger brother, Pfirsich, also known as The Desert Peach.
Both Rommels also appear as focal characters of Barr's long-running comic strip series about "The Peach".

During the 1980's, there was a popular arcade tank-based game called Rommel's Revenge which found its way to the home computer market.

Quotations about Rommel

"We have a very daring and skillful opponent against us, and, may I say across the havoc of war, a great General."

The British Parliament considered a censure vote against Winston Churchill following the surrender of Tobruk.
The vote failed, but in the course of the debate, Churchill said the above.

"He also deserves our respect, because, although a loyal German soldier, he came to hate Hitler and all his works, and took part in the conspiracy to rescue Germany by displacing the maniac and tyrant.
For this, he paid the forfeit of his life.
In the sombre wars of modern democracy, there is little place for chivalry."

Churchill again, on hearing of Rommel's death

"Anybody who came under the spell of his personality turned into a real soldier.
He seemed to know what the enemy were like and how they would react."

Theodor Werner was an officer who, during World War I,
served under Rommel.

"Rommel, you magnificent bastard!
I read your book!"

Attributed to General George S. Patton in North Africa
(referring to "Infantry Attacks")

Rommel Quotes

"Sweat saves blood, blood saves lives, and brains saves both."

"Mortal danger is an effective antidote for fixed ideas."

"The best form of welfare for the troops is first-rate training."

"Don't fight a battle if you don't gain anything by winning."

"In a man-to-man fight, the winner is he who has one more round in his magazine."

"Courage which goes against military expediency is stupidity, or,
if it is insisted upon by a commander, irresponsibility."

"In the absence of orders, find something and kill it."

Referring to Italians:
"Good troops, bad officers.
But remember that without them we wouldn't have civilization."

"Training errors are recorded on paper.
Tactical errors are etched in stone."

"It is not a Commonwealth division, it is an Australian Division.
Why, give me two Australian Divisions and I will conquer the world for you!"

References

The Battle of Alamein: Turning Point, World War II,
by Bierman and Smith (2002). ISBN 0-670-03040-6

Rommel's Greatest Victory,
by Samuel W. Mitcham, Samuel Mitcham. ISBN 0-89141-730-3

Meeting the Fox: The Allied Invasion of Africa, from Operation Torch to Kasserine Pass to Victory in Tunisia,
by Orr Kelly. ISBN 0-471-41429-8

Inside the Afrika Korps: The Crusader Battles, 1941-1942.
ISBN 1-85367-322-6

Alamein, by Jon Latimer. ISBN 0-674-01016-7

Tank Combat in North Africa:
The Opening Rounds : Operations Sonnenblume, Brevity, Skorpion and Battleaxe February 1941-June 1941 (Schiffer Military History),
by Thomas L. Jentz. ISBN 0-7643-0226-4

Rommel's North Africa Campaign: September 1940 - November 1942,
by Jack Greene. ISBN 1-58097-018-4

Tobruk 1941: Rommel's Opening Move (Campaign, 80), by
Jon Latimer. ISBN 1-84176-092-7

21st Panzer Division:
Rommel's Africa Korps Spearhead (Spearhead Series),
by Chris Ellis. ISBN 0-7110-2853-2

Afrikakorps, 1941-1943: The Libya Egypt Campaign,
by Francois De Lannoy. ISBN 2-84048-152-9

With Rommel's Army in Libya,
by Almasy, Gabriel Francis Horchler, Janos Kubassek. ISBN 0-7596-1608-6

Generalfeldmarschall Rommel:
opperbevelhebber van Heeresgruppe B bij de voorbereiding van de verdediging van West-Europa, 5 November 1943 tot 6 juni 1944, by
Hans Sakkers (1993). ISBN 90-800900-2-6
[text/photobook in Dutch about Rommel at the Atlantic Wall 1943/44]

Knight's Cross:
A Life of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, by
David Fraser. ISBN 0-06-092597-3

Rommel The Desert Fox,
by Desmond Young, Foreword by Sir Claude Auchinleck.

The Armies of Rommel,
by George Forty, (Arms and Armour Press, London 1997)
ISBN 1-85409-379-7

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senor-freebie [2006-01-09 23:49:07 +0000 UTC]

Nice work. Do you work for Storm Region? Are they are in Hungary?

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jax0n [2005-08-23 09:45:11 +0000 UTC]

That's a Panzer III isn't it? ..not a Tiger.

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