In the early days of world war II, he was a dark horse killed by the German army in the air, in the Battle of France, he led the Seventh Armored Division, which defeated France, the first military power in Europe, and was defeated; in the North African Campaign, he strategized and attacked the west, leading the weak German-Italian coalition army, soaring, killing the famous generals of the British Empire one after another, and collapsing into the army; on the eve of the fall of the Nazis, because he was involved in a coup conspiracy, he was ordered by the Fuehrer to commit suicide, but he broke the national funeral and completed the end of history with the glorious image of a generation of famous generals After the end of World War II, in the historical background of the Federal Republic of Germany's efforts to eliminate the nazi remnants, he was re-dressed and packaged by the Allied countries, becoming a national hero of Germany's anti-Nazis, and winning an unprecedented posthumous reputation; then who was he? Why is his life so legendary, causing him to become famous in Europe before his death, and what is the code that became famous in the world after his death?
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="137" > talented teenager who joined the military</h1>
Throughout World War II, famous generals will emerge and the stars will shine. If you had to choose one of the most legendary generals, I think many would have chosen Nazi Germany's general Erwin Rommel. As one of the three famous generals of the Nazi Reich, Rommel became an idol worshipped by the entire German people at that time, leaving a strong mark in the history of world military warfare. To understand a person, I think we should first start from the person's life. Born in 1891, Rommel was a native of Haydenm, Württemberg, The German Empire, and his father and grandfather worked in education for two generations and became the headmaster of secondary schools. That is to say, Rommel should have come from an intellectual, middle-class family. However, the young Rommel had no interest in the teaching profession, but was fascinated by machinery, and his dream was to become an engineer. At the age of 15, he built a self-made cassette glider, which caused a sensation in the local area and became a famous teenager. Father Rommel Sr. from the perspective of a teacher, examine the behavior of his son, he felt that the second son Rommel was suitable for the soldier, so, under the recommendation of his father, Rommel, who had been thin and did not like sports since childhood, entered the ranks of the army, and it was the father's brain-opening choice that successfully opened the starting point of General Rommel's brilliant life.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="113" > heroic and courageous, emerging</h1>
In 1914, World War I broke out, and Rommel entered the battle as a second lieutenant officer. On the Western Front, undaunted by the enemy, he led 3 soldiers to resolutely and bravely open fire on 24 French troops, and with the assistance of reinforcements, eliminated this French force and won a second-class Iron Cross for his merits. In the Battle of Mount Cook and Hill 1114 on the Italian Front, he led a company of soldiers to cooperate with the Shurna Company and successfully captured 40 Italian officers and 1500 soldiers. In a battle in the Carpathians on the Eastern Front, Rommel overcame his hunger and labor, moved continuously for 50 hours, and won a brilliant victory of capturing more than 5,000 enemy prisoners. Throughout World War I, Rommel was wounded twice and received the Blue Marks Medal, the highest German military merit. Therefore, other generals generals generally have only one Iron Cross at the neckline, while Rommel has an additional Blue Marks Medal of Merit in addition to an Iron Cross.
In November 1918, the German Empire was defeated and the German Army was heavily dismantled, but Captain Rommel remained with his former military exploits and outstanding command skills. In order to meet the needs of the new situation, the Weimar Republic began to vigorously train grass-roots officers, so Rommel left the combat company and went to the military academy to work as an instructor. He served at the Dresden Infantry Academy, the Potsdam Military Academy, and in 1938 after the German-Austrian merger, he became president of the Malidhea Military Academy in New Vienna.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="114" > the Nazis came to power</h1>
Of course, Rommel really developed and entered the fast lane of his life and career because he met a key figure who influenced his life's fate - Adolf Hitler.
From the 1920s onwards, Hitler was in full swing with the Nazi movement. By the end of January 1933, not only had the Nazi Party become the head of the Reichstag, but Hitler himself had done his best to get his wish and get the chancellorship. Hitler was an extremely rare war maniac in human history, and as soon as he came to power, he put the formation of the army at the top of his mind. On the one hand, this was done to cater to the Junker military aristocracy in the hope of gaining their support; on the other hand, of course, it was based on personal ambition to lay a military foundation for future wars. With this hand, many excellent officers of the First World War began to gather under his command, such as marshal Manstein, marshal Dönitz, marshal Bork, marshal Londerstedt, marshal Brauchitsch, marshal Loeb, and so on.
Rommel first met Hitler in 1934 at the site of the Gosla Hunter Camp, where Rommel, as the battalion commander, accompanied Hitler on a parade of troops and took a group photo with Hitler. In September 1936, Rommel was transferred to the Fuehrer's House as Commander of Hitler's Fuehrer's Guard, the equivalent of a personal bodyguard captain. In the post of Commander of the Guard, two things happened that made Hitler greatly appreciate and favor the reserved Rommel. The first was that Rommel obeyed the Führer's orders and set up roadblocks to prevent a group of high-ranking Nazi officials from following Hitler in a car to accompany him; the second was that in 1937, Rommel published his personal military book "Infantry Attack" through his own combat experience in World War I, coupled with his thoughts in the teaching process for many years. Because from these two small things, Hitler saw that Rommel was not only a conscientious, talented, and well-qualified soldier, but also a rare general with a command talent.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="115" > stand out for their outstanding achievements</h1>
After all, Rommel was a brilliant master of the art of war, and naturally he was uneasy about only doing security work in the rear. He felt that he could gallop across the battlefield of gunfire and smoke, and his wish was enough. So in early 1940, he officially reported to Hitler, applied to the front line troops, and commanded an armored division. Despite the strenuous opposition of the then Commander-in-Chief of the Army, Brauchitsch, with the face of the Fuehrer, Rommel got his wish and became the commander of the Seventh Light Panzer Division. In the 6-week Battle of France that followed, Rommel's rapid maneuvering, invincible, and courageous and tenacious fighting style left a deep impression on both German and French belligerents. After the battle, after taking stock of the battle results, the Seventh Armored Division achieved the glorious result of capturing more than 97,000 French troops at the cost of more than 2,000 casualties. This move truly created a miracle of war and successfully conquered the entire German Army, the Seventh Panzer Division, with its incredible speed of attack, was called the "Devil's Division" by the British and French armies, and Rommel himself gradually became a rising and brilliant star. Shortly after the Christmas bell rang in 1940, Rommel was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="116" > attempted to dominate and failed</h1>
The stereotype of North Africa should be a place with yellow sand, a dry climate, and a harsh and barren environment. Anyway, in the text description, how desolate how to come. Objectively speaking, North Africa was even a secondary battlefield with a very low strategic position throughout the period of the Second World War, and therefore had little impact on the course of the entire world war.
But The leader of the Italian fascist Party, Mussolini, is not a man who is willing to be lonely, he has always had a small goal, of course, not to earn him a hundred million, his goal is even greater, he wants to restore the former glory of the ancient Roman Empire. To this end, the prime minister of lao Mo, the whole armament war, and finally in 1935, sent 500,000 troops, a huge force, pounced on the backward equipment, lack of guns and ammunition in the East African power - Abyssinia, intending to wash away the shame of the Italian army in the Battle of Adua 39 years ago, which should be regarded as the place where the dream of old Mo rose, a year of "arduous" fighting, the Italian army occupied the whole territory of Abyssinia (Ethiopia), Mussolini was finally Mickey Mouse lifted the curtains, showing a small hand.
At this time, Mussolini was a little drifting, and he was blinded by the victory, and suddenly fell into the confidence of the mystery, he felt that with his invincible Italian army, it was a matter of minutes to establish a great empire around the three continents of the Mediterranean.
Of course, just possessing Abyssinia naturally cannot satisfy the ambitious old Mo. By 1940, Mussolini felt that the opportunity to expand the territory had arrived, and by judging the situation, he believed that the Italian Army should take advantage of britain's quagmire in the European war and no time to take advantage of north Africa, send troops from Libya, directly occupy Egypt, and seize the British colonies in the Middle East and the Suez Canal.
The Suez Canal was the lifeblood of Britain, and the loss of Egypt and the Suez Canal threatened to collapse rapidly. Churchill was in a real hurry. He urgently ordered the Egyptian garrison in London to prepare for battle. Fortunately, the British general Wavell led the "Nile" group army, which was very powerful, although there were only 66,000 people, but it beat hundreds of thousands of Italian troops who looked very fierce, in fact, very good, and beat them all over the ground to find teeth and hold their heads. Mussolini smells this gas! If the situation in North Africa is allowed to deteriorate, it is not excluded that the Italian army, which is defeated like water, may be driven out of the Mediterranean.
Mussolini finally knew how many pounds the Italian army had, and dared to rely on such a living treasure army, usually to be equipped with money and spaghetti scrambled, as soon as the war was fought, it was instigated, hoping that this gang of soldiers and bears would realize the dream of rebuilding the Great Roman Empire, or wash and sleep.
At this time, the generals on the front line of the Italian army also finally understood that the previous victory was not because they were very capable of fighting, but because the opponent was too weak. Today is different from the past, and the British army that I am facing now is no better than the Army of Abyssinia (Ethiopia), which is a well-equipped and well-trained mighty division, and if it continues to fight like this, it is estimated that all the votes will be exhausted. There was no way, the commander of the Italian Army, Marshal Balbo, had to twist and turn, send a message to Rome, asking for reinforcements.
Mussolini was furious! The 300,000 troops could not defeat the 70,000 British troops. Stunned was the officer who captured 5 acres of land, the soldier of 200 acres. The Italian army, which is now in front of its peers in the world, has become a complete joke. It is useless to be angry, the battle still has to continue to fight, if you throw your hands away, it is estimated that these ancestors can take the initiative to enter the British prisoner of war camp and enjoy the happy time of food and clothing and no need to fight.
It is said that it is very honorable to be the leader of the country, it is estimated that Mussolini at this time will not think so, a year ago at the end of the Battle of France, the old Mo ben wanted to take advantage of the fire, salvage a vote, sent 22 fully loaded Italian army divisions to seize the French territory, the result was 6 broken French army divisions counterattacked to Italy mainland; the Greek battle, the original bragging that the Italian army just went to Athens Square for a walk, the result was hit by the heroic and warlike Athenian army to Albania; two humiliating military operations, thanks to Hitler to break the siege, Otherwise Mussolini did not know how to end, who let the Italian army fight so romantic. As the saying goes: good things can be two or two. To be honest, Lao Mo really didn't have the face to go to Berlin this time to meet the moustache Fuehrer Hitler, but his army was really not angry, what could he do. At this point, I had to give up my old face and ask the German big brother again to help.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="117" > was ordered to turn the tide</h1>
Hitler was now planning to attack the Soviet Union and had no interest in this kind of bird-free land in North Africa, but the North African Italian army was in danger of being completely annihilated at this moment, and if he stood by and insisted on not reaching out to help, it was estimated that in less than a year, Mussolini and his government would completely stop cooking. For the sake of strategic alliances, Hitler immediately decided to send reinforcements to North Africa. However, as the old saying goes, those who want to govern the army must first choose the general, and if the general is not determined first, everything else is nonsense. After a collective discussion among the German General Staff, two candidates, Manstein and Rommel, were finally recommended to the Mousse Führer. To say that the General Staff is really insightful, the three famous generals of Nazi Germany recommended both at once.
Hitler, after briefly weighing it up, finally locked in the candidate as Rommel. Rommel is worthy of a generation of famous generals, sure enough, just arrived in North Africa, only with the vanguard of the troops, an armored regiment of troops, he dared to take the initiative to attack the British army. This risk-taking style of play, which is not afraid of heaven, makes the ally Italian generals tremble with fear. Through a series of dazzling battles, in just 2 months, Rommel expelled the unstoppable British army from all of Cyrenaica. He fulfilled his promise to the Fuehrer before his departure. In the subsequent battles of Benghazi, Such as Kazara and Tobruk, Rommel was even more brilliant, and his German-Italian African Panzer Corps was invincible, defeating Wavell, Cunningham, Richie, Auchinleck and other British generals. In just over a year, Rommel's rank went from lieutenant general when he first arrived in North Africa to general, general, and even marshal of the army. Rommel's reputation as the "Fox of the Desert" was even more impressive, and at this point, Rommel reached the peak of his military career.
In order to defeat Rommel, a strong opponent, Churchill was determined to change the general, this time he chose a British general who could compete with the "Desert Fox" - Montgomery. At the beginning of his term of office, Montgomery fought a small victory to boost the morale of the eighth army, which had long been weakened by the eighth army, and then he did a lot of deceptive camouflage to confuse the German-Italian army. On October 23, 1942, Montgomery led the British army, which was overwhelmingly superior in numbers, armaments and logistics, and launched the "Battle of El Alamein". Since Marshal Rommel was recuperating far away in Europe and was not on the front line when the Battle of El Alamein broke out, the German-Italian coalition forces, which had lost effective command, were suddenly in disarray. In the face of the overwhelming British offensive, the Eighth Army was like a torrent of steel like a sea of mountains, and at this moment, the German-Italian coalition army, which was lonely, lacking in equipment and difficult to supply, was simply unable to resist, and soon lost, and the German-Italian African Army could no longer be proud.
Today is no better than in the past, and feng shui takes turns. The British army that pursued all the way was strong and strong, and the morale was high, and the German and Italian coalition forces only had the ability to fight back, and they had no ability to fight back.
Flying back to the front line, Rommel was calm and calm, and relying on his superb command ability, the defeated German-Italian coalition army repeatedly successfully threw off the British army and turned the crisis into safety. The leak of the house coincided with the overnight rain, and the leaky boat encountered the wind. In November 1942, the United States, Britain, and France allies carried out "Operation Torch", landing in French Algeria and Morocco, so that the German-Italian coalition in North Africa was attacked on its backs. Rao was like this, and the german and Italian high-level officials still had illusions, and ordered the front-line troops in North Africa to hold on to resistance and not to retreat a step. In March 1943, a disappointed Rommel finally embarked on a journey back to China, leaving the Battlefield of North Africa, which lifted him into the sky and threw him to the bottom.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="118" > disasters fall from heaven, life and death</h1>
Back in Germany, Rommel was awarded the Order of the Knight of the Order of the Ten Medals of Diamond, Double Sword, Silver and Oak Leaf by Führer Hitler in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the battlefields of North Africa over the past two years. In January 1944, Rommel officially assumed command of Army Group B on the Western Front. On June 6, Britain, the United States, France and other Allied forces began to implement "Operation Overlord", landing in Normandy. In the same situation as the "Battle of El Alamein" in North Africa, Marshal Rommel, the spoiled wife, was not in the front line because he gave Lucy a birthday celebration. On July 17, Rommel was seriously wounded when he was attacked by A.S. warplanes. Rommel, who was seriously injured and hospitalized, could not have dreamed that the "7.20 incident" that occurred three days later would make him ruined.
On July 20, 1944, at the "Wolf's Den", the wartime headquarters on the Eastern Front, Stauffenberg, a young anti-Nazi officer, used a time bomb to assassinate Hitler, resulting in the Fuehrer's life and only minor injuries. Afterwards, Hitler, who was still palpitating, was furious and immediately instructed the head of the secret service, Himmler, to investigate the matter thoroughly. The Gestapo was overwhelmed and soon arrested more than 7,000 people (many of whom were wrongfully framed by Himmler), nearly 5,000 of whom were executed. There were more than 60 people involved in the case at the level of general alone, including Marshal Kruger committing suicide, Marshal Witzleben hanging, and General Hopner executing. And that's not all, according to the testimony, Rommel was also involved.
One of the core elements of the conspiracy, Lieutenant General Spedal, the former chief of staff of Army Group B, was interrogated, and Rommel was also a member of the secret group. Spendale was Rommel's chief of staff, and during his tenure, he lobbied Rommel many times to participate in the anti-Hitler secret organization, but Rommel did not say anything at the time, but the upright Rommel did not report this talented subordinate, and after Spendhart was arrested, he also took the initiative to write to Hitler to defend Speider. In Hitler's view, this is a rebuttal of Spedal's confession, and you Rommel, even if not formally joined, at least did not know. The so-called loyalty is not absolute, that is, absolute disloyalty. Since you Rommel are unkind, blame me for Hitler's injustice.
At this time, Hitler, although angry, was eager to get rid of Rommel, but he was not confused. After all, Rommel was a new officer he fancied and plucked up, and over the years, under the drumming of the Nazi propaganda machine, Rommel was famous, and he had long been praised by the media and became a national hero of the whole of Germany. At this time, if he is guilty of treason, he will be tried. Not only could the populace not accept it, but Hitler himself would lose face. Hitler's personal final verdict – Rommel must die!
November 14, 1944, the last day of Rommel's life. Two uninvited guests were welcomed at Rommel's Hehrlingen residence— Lieutenant General Burgdorff, the Chief of Personnel of the Army, and Messer, chief of the guards. When they met, the two still respected Rommel. Among them, Burgdorff, a colleague of Rommel's when he was an instructor at the military academy, said to Rommel's wife, Lucy, that I wanted to talk to the marshal alone. After Lucy left, Burgdorf said:
According to the investigation, you have been charged with murder of the Fuehrer, treason, and now you have two choices - (1) as a traitor and traitor, to be tried by the people's court; (2) to end your life, the state will hold a state funeral, the family will not be implicated, and you can enjoy the benefits of the marshal's pension.
Rommel asked: Does the Fuehrer know all this? Burgdorf said we are here on the orders of the Fuehrer. Now, there is no need to say anything. Rommel took his wife to the bedroom, briefed himself on the situation, and gave her the keys to the house. Finally he put on the uniform of a marshal of the North African Army and held the marshal's staff. In a tearful farewell to his wife and son, Rommel followed Burgdorf Messer and the two of them, leaving his villa and getting into the long-awaited car. After 15 minutes, the car stopped at a boulevard, Messer and the driver got out of the car, and under Burgdorf's surveillance, Rommel took the potassium cyanide capsules prepared in advance. 30 minutes later, Lucy received a call from the hospital at home saying that Marshal Rommel had died of his serious injuries. In this way, a generation of legendary German legendary Rommel finally exchanged his own death for the safety of his wife and children, and fulfilled his promise to "guard his wife's life" before marriage.
The next day, in an indescribable shock, the German public learned on the radio that Marshal Rommel had died of ineffective medical treatment. On 18 October, Hitler gave Rommel a state funeral as promised. The solemn funeral was presided over by the old Field Marshal of Germany, Lundstedt, who said in his eulogy: "Your (Rommel's) heart belongs to the Fuehrer." Accompanied by a group of high-ranking government officials, Hitler pretended to attend Rommel's funeral and said insincere greetings to Lucy on the spot, such as taking care of her body and mourning.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="119" > the mystery of ascension, and there are other mysteries</h1>
Looking back at Rommel's life, there is such a problem that we must know. The reason why Rommel was able to prosper during the Nazi Party's rule in Germany was that he was prosperous and soared. On the one hand, of course, it is because Rommel himself is talented, well-commanded, and a rare military genius. He was not only able to write books and lectures, write far-reaching military masterpieces that met the requirements of the times, but also possessed an extraordinary command talent of anticipating the change of the enemy and being invincible. On the other hand, we should also be aware that his development was mainly due to Hitler's extraordinary appreciation of him and his tireless promotion.
Before the Nazis came to power, Rommel served as captain and company commander for 14 years, and since following Hitler, he had only been promoted from major general to marshal in only 5 years. The mystery is that for a long time, the military elite of the Nazi Empire was monopolized by the Junker aristocracy. Of the 19 field marshals of the Third Reich, 13 were from junker aristocracy. Hitler, on the other hand, established a dictatorship, and if he wanted to firmly seize power and control the country, he had to find ways to weaken the influence of the entire Junker aristocratic officer class on the country. To this end, he had to promote and reuse some civilian cadet officers who were both intelligent and courageous, and use them to balance the powerful Junker aristocracy. Rommel, on the other hand, met both the conditions for the promotion of officers and hitler's own political needs.
Therefore, from the perspective of personal destiny, Rommel is both a lucky person of the times and a tragic figure in history. To this day, the world's evaluation of him is still mixed and controversial. But at that time, Rommel not only enjoyed high prestige among the German people and was regarded as a war hero, but also in the eyes of his opponents, he was also a legendary genius general, British Prime Minister Churchill said in a speech:
Although we fought each other on the battlefield, if we judge him beyond the catastrophe of war, let me say that he is a great general who is brave and good at war.
Patton, a famous four-star general in the United States, was familiar with all of Rommel's military works, and admired Rommel's extraordinary command genius, and even expressed deep regret that he did not have the opportunity to compete with him on the battlefield.
From another point of view, Rommel actively turned to Hitler, hoping to gain Hitler's appreciation and promotion, which is equivalent to the fact that in fact, his personal fate was deeply bound to the evil Nazi regime, and in the dark, he was doomed to an irreversible tragic fate, and later history also proved this.
After the war, due to various historical reasons and political needs, Rommel's personal deeds were tampered with and used by Western politicians with ulterior motives, and then through careful packaging and hype, he became a national hero who actively participated in anti-Hitler and anti-Nazi activities for the country and the people, which made many people after World War II almost forget the essence of his Nazi general and "World War II arsonist". At this point, please take a careful look at this legendary general who has mixed reviews and criticisms, combining military genius and Nazi essence. With this article, I would like to commemorate the 76th anniversary of China's victory in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the victory of the world's anti-fascism, and secondly, may the specter of war dissipate from now on and world peace forever reside on earth (end).
After reading, don't forget to follow, like, favorite, share and retweet support authors. Follow the account: History exploration, wonderful content continues to update.