The DesertFox: Articles - The Desert Fox |
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The Desert Fox © 1999 The DesertFox
Rommel, Erwin |
born November 15, 1891, Heidenheim
an der Brentz, Württemberg |
in full ERWIN JOHANNES EUGEN ROMMEL, byname THE DESERT FOX, German DER WÜSTENFUCHS, German field marshal, best known for his spectacular victories as commander of the Afrika Korps in World War II. |
Early life and career.
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Commander of Afrika
Korps. Rommel had difficulties
not only with his Italian allies but with his own supreme command
as well. North Africa was, in Hitler's view, only a sideshow. Nonetheless,
despite the increasing difficulties of supply and Rommel's request
to withdraw his exhausted troops, in the summer of 1942, Hitler
ordered an attack on Cairo and the Suez Canal. Rommel and his German-Italian
army were stopped by the British at El-Alamein (al-'Alamayn, Egypt)
60 miles (96 km) from Alexandria. At that time Rommel won astounding
popularity in the Arab world, where he was regarded as a "liberator"
from British rule. At home, the propaganda ministry portrayed him
as the invincible "people's marshal" (Volksmarschall).
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Conspiracy
against Hitler. |
Bibliography After World War II his widow and
one of his former chiefs of staff published his personal papers
and notes: Lucie-Maria Rommel and Fritz Bayerlein, Krieg ohne Hass
(1950; The Rommel Papers, 1953). Ronald Lewin, Rommel As Military
Commander (1968), is an important study; Desmond Young, Rommel (1950), is
of great value as the first biography by a British author; Charles Douglas-Home, Rommel (1973),
is a well-illustrated narrative of Rommel's military career. Friedrich Ruge, Rommel und die Invasion:
Erinnerungen (1959; Rommel in Normandy: Reminiscences, 1979); Hans Speidel, Invasion 1944: Ein
Beitrag zu Rommels und des Reiches Schicksal (1949; Invasion 1944:
Rommel and the Normandy Campaign, 1950; British title, We Defended
Normandy, 1951); and Siegfried Westphal, Heer in Fesseln: Aus den Papieren des Stabschefs von Rommel, Kesselring und Rundstedt (1952), are of great value as memoirs. |
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Last update: 13-12-99
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