What I want to discuss with you this time is that people's birth environment is important, or is their own efforts important? It is undeniable that the birth environment is very important for a person's achievements, but can people who are not born well be able to rely on the efforts of the day after tomorrow to turn their lives around?
In the Second World War, if the most well-known British army was Marshal Montgomery, the German side had no doubt about it was Field Marshal Erwin Rommel.
Rommel's rise in the German army is a legend, first of all, he is not from the nobility, the senior german generals at that time were almost all Prussian aristocrats, such as Manstein, who had a decisive influence on the conquest of France, was an orthodox Prussian nobleman, Guderian, who had a german lightning tactic, was from a military family, and Rommel's father was only a mathematics teacher in a middle school, although his father had served in the artillery, but only a short period of military service, and his family's relationship with the military only stopped there. When he was a child, Rommel was called a little white bear by his family because of his weak health, and if anyone said at this time that he would be one of the most important generals in the German army in the future, I am afraid that no one would believe it. Originally determined to become an aircraft engineer, Rommel became a junior officer candidate of the 124th Infantry Company of the Imperial Army by chance. This is where the Counterattack Saga begins!
Rommel, who had completed his studies at the Royal Officers School of Danzig in the Kingdom of Prussia, participated in the First World War with the rank of lieutenant, and his first real battle was in the village of Pory on the German-French border, where he and three of his men entered the village to conduct reconnaissance and found more than twenty French soldiers. In order to maintain the surprise attack, Rommel decided not to gather other subordinates, and immediately launched an attack with four troops, and came to the fore.
In the next series of battles, Rommel had a good record. However, the good times did not last long, and when Rommel fought in Varene, because of the lack of ammunition, he had to put on a bayonet and engage in hand-to-hand combat with three French soldiers, and then he was wounded by a bullet in the left thigh and was taken to the field hospital for treatment. As a result of this campaign, Rommel was promoted to captain of the Army. He was also awarded an Iron Cross of the Order of the Second Class.
After his recovery, Rommel moved to the Mountain Battalion, where he was recognized for his heroic performance in the capture of Matager and Langluny, who awarded Rommel the highest medal of honor in the Prussian and German Imperial armies.
But because he was born into an ordinary teacher's family, in the environment where the German army prevailed at that time, Rommel was not reused, and the post-war position was only a company commander, but Rommel was not discouraged, he began to serve as a tactical instructor at the Dresden Infantry School, he taught with his own practical experience, quite popular, and the military textbooks he compiled became another turning point in his life. On January 30, 1933, by Adolf Hitler. Hitler's Nazi Party held power in Germany, where prices were soaring and unemployment was soaring, and Rommel, who had never cared about politics, welcomed Hitler's series of policies and ideology of military expansion.
Fast forward to 1937, the year Hitler made a key assessment of Rommel, who compiled and published the book Infantry Attack, based on his combat experience in World War I, combined with easy-to-understand articles and hand-drawn tactical maps of the field. The book is objective and detailed, especially the discussion of the use of tactics on the battlefield, which can be called a classic of military theory, so once this book was published, it caused a huge sensation, and Rommel also attracted Hitler's attention because of the book "Infantry Attack".
Hitler, who had fought in World War I as a soldier, fell in love with Infantry Attack and even made Rommel the head of the Führer's Guard in September 1938 to protect himself. Hitler's relationship with Rommel confirmed his military prowess, and Rommel naturally became a staunch supporter of Hitler.
During the invasion of France, Rommel, an infantryman, asked to serve as an armored division opposed by the Minister of Personnel of the Army, and finally Hitler forcibly intervened to make him the commander of the newly formed Seventh Panzer Division. The Manstein Plan proposed by Erich von Manstein as a plan to invade France, Rommel's role was to act as a forward through the Ardennes Forest, the main task was to prevent the main allied forces in the north from counterattacking southward, so that the "Kleist Panzer Corps" could advance towards the English Channel.
After receiving the code name "Dortmund" of the "Yellow Plan" operation, the German army launched the "Western Blitzkrieg", which was not the main force of the Seventh Panzer Division, because of the very fast advance speed, the Allies exclaimed that they did not know when to break through the defensive line, and many people were more afraid to call the "ghost division" to Rommel's troops.
However, in the biggest miracle of World War II, the Allied evacuation of Dunkirk, Rommel also made an unshirkable mistake, because he proposed that the British army in Arras was not the 5 divisions and 100 tanks in the report, and the actual number of British troops was more than 2 times that of the report, so that the commander-in-chief of Army Group A, Lundstedt, reported to Hitler very cautiously, which was indeed a big impact on the Allies' ability to successfully evacuate 300,000 British and French troops to Dover.
After the southward advance of the Meuse River, the fighting along the English Channel, the attack on Cherbourg and the final French surrender, Cherbourg continued to train for landing warfare on the British mainland in the summer of 1940, he was promoted to lieutenant general on New Year's Day the following year and became a well-known star in Germany for the military propaganda film Victory on the Western Front.
In February, Rommel finally set foot on the land of what would become famous in North Africa, and he was appointed commander of the African Army by Hitler, and until May 1943, he would fight harshly against the Allies in the harsh desert battlefields of North Africa.
Challenges to Rommel in the North African theater included the scorching heat during the day and the harsh cold at night, which was extremely difficult for Europeans to adapt to; Then there was a sandstorm that was unpredictable and could paralyze the army's communications equipment; In terms of actual combat, because there is no concealment in the desert terrain, as long as it is discovered by the enemy, it will enter a fierce state of engagement. The infantry is completely useless here, and can only rely on the range of the tanks to determine the victory or defeat; The most critical thing was the supply of fuel and water, and the German army was one hundred and eighteen thousand miles away from the Allies, which made Rommel have to make up for his weakness with tactics. Fortunately, Rommel's tactical prowess was at the top, while the Allied attack tactics were messy and often made mistakes.
Why did Hitler send Rommel to North Africa? In today's terms, Italy's ally was so wasteful and so dragging that Hitler had to send troops to aid, and Hitler once said: "Although North Africa can be abandoned militarily, it will have a major impact on Italy's fighting spirit." The British could force them to negotiate peace by showing their pistols or bombing in the air, and that was really bad for us. ”
Rommel, who had just arrived on 12 February, faced with the fact that the tanks had not yet arrived, used the Fox car to confuse the British army. After a skirmish between the two armies on the 24th, the British chose to retreat, and Rommel intuitively believed that the British army facing it was too fragile. In fact, Rommel's instincts were astonishing, when Churchill transferred the elite British troops from North Africa to the Greek battlefield, the British general was replaced by Lieutenant General Philip Nimes, who was not familiar with desert warfare, and finally the commander in charge of the North African front misjudged that the German army would not be assembled until May at the earliest, which would make Rommel judge that the British army was weak.
Because of the weak judgment of the British army, although there was no order to attack, Rommel led his troops to surprise Argera with a "reconnaissance operation without attack", and it was not surprising that the British army retreated to the Mersha Pass 50 kilometers away with little resistance, and Rommel, who continued to advance, took 80 kilometers east of the Mersha Pass on April 1. Such unauthorized action angered his superiors who did not give him the order to attack and ordered him to cease, and despite the fact that Rommel had lied that "this is an order of the Fuehrer to fully acknowledge my unauthorized action", Rommel wrote what he had in mind in a letter to his wife: "The superiors in Tripoli, Rome and Berlin at this time must be astonished, but I insist on attacking in defiance of all orders, for this opportunity is really to be seized, and I believe that my actions will be approved in the future." ”
Rommel's disobedience proved correct, and as a result of the unexpected advance, Rommel captured several British generals, and even the commander of the Egyptian garrison and the British lieutenant general Philip, two enemy command centers, were captured by Rommel on April 6, and the British army was suddenly thrown into chaos. Encouraged by this, Rommel, the army in three ways to surround the Allied supply stronghold, known as the "heart of Cyrenaica", Metchory, from the 7th Rommel began to encircle, the British 2nd Panzer Division from the division commander below the two thousand soldiers were captured, in addition to capturing a large number of British weapons, weight, Rommel in the next 10 days to beat Down Wavel, Machini almost recaptured, the British army on the way to set up the road sign "Waver Road" was also replaced by German soldiers "Rommel Road".
Later, Rommel smashed Churchill's "Tomahawk Project" and "Crusader Campaign" one after another, and finally ushered in his highlight moment in the North African theater, the Battle of Gachara. Rommel, who had intended to lead the main force of the African Panzer Corps: the German African Army, the Italian 20th Mechanized Army, and the German 90th Light Mechanized Division, intended to make a detour to attack the Allies, but was unexpectedly met with fierce resistance by the Free French 1st Brigade defending Bir Haqheim, when the African German army found itself trapped in the Cauldron position between Bill Hakeem and Tobruk.
Faced with this disadvantage, Rommel took several steps to break through the predicament: first launched an attack on the British 150th Infantry Brigade to the west to break through the encirclement, with the aim of opening up the supply channel. The Allies then fought back unorganized, leading the main force south to drive the Free French out of Bill Hakeem. This situation led the British to retreat eastward to the Al Alamine Line, in an attempt to repeat the nine-month battle of Tobruk, but this time the situation was very different, and the Allied commander Auchinleck finally decided that defeat was inevitable and let the 8th Army retreat. Seven days later, on 21 June, thirty-five thousand Allied troops surrendered, another major Axis victory since the fall of Singapore by the Japanese, for which Churchill was held accountable by the House of Commons, and Rommel ushered in the highest point of his life: the youngest in German history, or one of the few field marshals who did not enter the staff school.
As long as they are war heroes, they usually have the ability to grasp the fighter in an instant, and even if they are fleeting, they also have the idea of resisting and seizing this opportunity. In fact, this is the same in life, if only according to the convention, life is unlikely to have any big development, only by grasping that little possibility, can your life bloom unprecedented. Although Rommel's life could not go smoothly to the end, in every moment of his life, it released a brilliant light, even if he was not familiar with the armored class, even if he had never been to the desert terrain of North Africa, but so what? He still relied on his own efforts to overcome many mountains that could never be crossed!
Rommel's life is admirable, and his life is also interpreted - the commoner wants to turn over, it is not so simple. It's not easy, but there's still a chance, as long as you want!
Finally, I recommend Rommel's "Infantry Attack" to everyone, I saw from "Infantry Attack" is a fanatical line of fire commander, proficient in roundabout envelopment, precise control of the time difference between fire suppression and infantry charge, and always leave the reserve force behind the handsome figure. At the same time, he is also an extremely lucky person, did not die under the stray bullet, so he can leave the name of "Desert Fox" to future generations, friends who like military and history do not miss, the following is the genuine link, self-take ↓↓↓
Infantry Attack Rommel ¥36.8 Purchase