WWII Buffs Only - Rommel

[PanzerIV]

I'm reading a book about called The Battle of El Alamein (BF:1942 players should certainly be familiar with that name - lol) and it's an excellent account of the North Africa theater which is often overlooked.

It's no wonder Rommel had earned high regard in his time even by Churchill who proclaimed Rommel as "a very daring and skilful opponent...and, may I say across the havoc of war, a great general." The guy had incredible intuition, was a tactical genius and strictly adhered to the Geneva Convention and treated prisoners well. He seemed destined for greatness and was never harmed although he led his forces into battle personally.

Even though he was "playing for the wrong side" and was a devout Nazi his Afrika Korps was untouched by the horrific acts associated with Europe and Russia thanks to the SS not having touched foot there. Had Hitler not seen Africa as a side show and Russia as the main act I see him marching to the oil fields of the Middle East and the scope of the war having been even greater.

Too bad he was forced to die at his own hand. I imagine his post war works would have been very interesting reads.

Discuss.....

 

[imported_DocHolliday]

Originally posted by: PanzerIV
I'm reading a book about called The Battle of El Alamein (BF:1942 players should certainly be familiar with that name - lol) and it's an excellent account of the North Africa theater which is often overlooked.

It's no wonder Rommel had earned high regard in his time even by Churchill who proclaimed Rommel as "a very daring and skilful opponent...and, may I say across the havoc of war, a great general." The guy had incredible intuition, was a tactical genius and strictly adhered to the Geneva Convention and treated prisoners well. He seemed destined for greatness and was never harmed although he led his forces into battle personally.

Even though he was "playing for the wrong side" and was a devout Nazi his Afrika Korps was untouched by the horrific acts associated with Europe and Russia thanks to the SS not having touched foot there. Had Hitler not seen Africa as a side show and Russia as the main act I see him marching to the oil fields of the Middle East and the scope of the war having been even greater.

Too bad he was forced to die at his own hand. I imagine his post war works would have been very interesting reads.

Discuss.....

maybe i'm making this up... but wasn't he part of an assassination attempt on hitler and was executed because of it?

 

[PanzerIV]

Originally posted by: DocHolliday

Originally posted by: PanzerIV
I'm reading a book about called The Battle of El Alamein (BF:1942 players should certainly be familiar with that name - lol) and it's an excellent account of the North Africa theater which is often overlooked.

It's no wonder Rommel had earned high regard in his time even by Churchill who proclaimed Rommel as "a very daring and skilful opponent...and, may I say across the havoc of war, a great general." The guy had incredible intuition, was a tactical genius and strictly adhered to the Geneva Convention and treated prisoners well. He seemed destined for greatness and was never harmed although he led his forces into battle personally.

Even though he was "playing for the wrong side" and was a devout Nazi his Afrika Korps was untouched by the horrific acts associated with Europe and Russia thanks to the SS not having touched foot there. Had Hitler not seen Africa as a side show and Russia as the main act I see him marching to the oil fields of the Middle East and the scope of the war having been even greater.

Too bad he was forced to die at his own hand. I imagine his post war works would have been very interesting reads.

Discuss.....

maybe i'm making this up... but wasn't he part of an assassination attempt on hitler and was executed because of it?

He was not actually a part of the plot only sympathetic to it. However, even though he was once Hitler's favorite Field Marshall he was given a choice of taking his own life or essentially having it done for him.

 

[So]

Originally posted by: DocHolliday

Originally posted by: PanzerIV
I'm reading a book about called The Battle of El Alamein (BF:1942 players should certainly be familiar with that name - lol) and it's an excellent account of the North Africa theater which is often overlooked.

It's no wonder Rommel had earned high regard in his time even by Churchill who proclaimed Rommel as "a very daring and skilful opponent...and, may I say across the havoc of war, a great general." The guy had incredible intuition, was a tactical genius and strictly adhered to the Geneva Convention and treated prisoners well. He seemed destined for greatness and was never harmed although he led his forces into battle personally.

Even though he was "playing for the wrong side" and was a devout Nazi his Afrika Korps was untouched by the horrific acts associated with Europe and Russia thanks to the SS not having touched foot there. Had Hitler not seen Africa as a side show and Russia as the main act I see him marching to the oil fields of the Middle East and the scope of the war having been even greater.

Too bad he was forced to die at his own hand. I imagine his post war works would have been very interesting reads.

Discuss.....

maybe i'm making this up... but wasn't he part of an assassination attempt on hitler and was executed because of it?

He committed suicide, but it had to do with one of the plots agains hitler (he wasn't directly involved, but was implicated)

 

[GasX]

Originally posted by: DocHolliday
maybe i'm making this up... but wasn't he part of an assassination attempt on hitler and was executed because of it?

He was tied to it, but was not directly involved.

The scariest thing about him (to me anyway) is what he did not get to do. If he was not visiting Germany on D-Day and if the brass had released the Panzer divisions promptly he would have had an excellent opportunity to drive the Allies back into the sea...

 

[Poulsonator]

My first user name here...Rommel. My grandfather was captured in N. Africa by the Desert Fox himself, and was a POW for almost 3 years in Berlin. His stories about that time were insane.

Have you read Trail of the Fox? I highly recommend it as it's the best book on Rommel that I've ever read. He's a fascinating figure in WWII history, and was a brilliant soldier.

Of couse, the "gamer" in me would have loved to been able to read about Patton and Rommel going head-to-head, but it was never meant to be. I guess we can replicate that with our modern games now, though.

 

[iwantanewcomputer]

he was great at alamain, but failed to a) convince Hitler and other german leaders the importance of africa, especially when so little extra troops could have made such a big difference. b) defend normandy...I know tough to do, but the germans had tons of opportunities to F up the invasion, they just didn't see them until too late

 

[cain]

yep, he was a bad ass, too bad he was on the wrong side of the war.

 

[GasX]

Originally posted by: iwantanewcomputer
he was great at alamain, but failed to a) convince Hitler and other german leaders the importance of africa, especially when so little extra troops could have made such a big difference. b) defend normandy...I know tough to do, but the germans had tons of opportunities to F up the invasion, they just didn't see them until too late

He was not at fault for the failure to defend Fortress Europe.

 

[PanzerIV]

Originally posted by: Mwilding

Originally posted by: DocHolliday
maybe i'm making this up... but wasn't he part of an assassination attempt on hitler and was executed because of it?

He was tied to it, but was not directly involved.

The scariest thing about him (to me anyway) is what he did not get to do. If he was not visiting Germany on D-Day and if the brass had released the Panzer divisions promptly he would have had an excellent opportunity to drive the Allies back into the sea...

Very true. There are so many small "could haves" in the war it's incredible it ended when it did. So many more lives could have been lost as the war could have dragged on were it not for good fortune rearing its head.

 

[cain]

the allies were very lucky

 

[BlueWeasel]

Originally posted by: Mwilding

Originally posted by: DocHolliday
maybe i'm making this up... but wasn't he part of an assassination attempt on hitler and was executed because of it?

He was tied to it, but was not directly involved.

The scariest thing about him (to me anyway) is what he did not get to do. If he was not visiting Germany on D-Day and if the brass had released the Panzer divisions promptly he would have had an excellent opportunity to drive the Allies back into the sea...

Yup, it still amazes me the Panzer divisions basically just sat there (inland) during the beach invasions, and they couldn't do anything because Hilter hadn't woken up yet.

If Hilter had stepped back and given more control to Rommel, we would probably have had a much harder time with the Atlantic Wall

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: Mwilding

Originally posted by: iwantanewcomputer
he was great at alamain, but failed to a) convince Hitler and other german leaders the importance of africa, especially when so little extra troops could have made such a big difference. b) defend normandy...I know tough to do, but the germans had tons of opportunities to F up the invasion, they just didn't see them until too late

He was not at fault for the failure to defend Fortress Europe.

Yep. Hitler held Rommel hold back because he thought the attack at Normandy was a feint for the true invasion at another port. Allied couter-intelligence caused Hitler to believe this.

By the time they had realized that Normandy was the true invasion, it was too late.

 

[Passions]

gimme some links to buy these rommel books.

 

[PanzerIV]

Originally posted by: iwantanewcomputer
he was great at alamain, but failed to a) convince Hitler and other german leaders the importance of africa, especially when so little extra troops could have made such a big difference. b) defend normandy...I know tough to do, but the germans had tons of opportunities to F up the invasion, they just didn't see them until too late

Very wrong on two accounts. First, Hitler was obsessed with Russia. Thanks to his diverting massive resources to fighting them Operation Sea Lion (invasion of Great Britian) was cancelled and allowed England to channel desperately needed troops and supplies to other theaters since they no longer had the potential invasion looming. Neither Rommel nor anyone else had a snowball's chance in Hell of changing Hitler's mind. Hilter abandoned the Afrika Korps to wither on the vine and only at the last minute decided to approve a plan for the Afrika Korp's escape when it was too late.

Secondly, after his service in Africa Rommel IS THE ONE who saw a pitiful defense put up on the Atlantic coast and made the Atlantic Wall what it was and what we're using to seeing in books.

 

[joecool]

yes, indeed, wwII has always fascinated me and on the german side rommel is one of the more impressive figures. truly a great military strategist. lucky for us hitler didn't give him more reign in defending the beaches, and sad for us that he played for the wrong side. i love the scenes in patton when he (patton) is talking about the desert fox.

 

[PanzerIV]

Originally posted by: Poulsonator
My first user name here...Rommel. My grandfather was captured in N. Africa by the Desert Fox himself, and was a POW for almost 3 years in Berlin. His stories about that time were insane.

Have you read Trail of the Fox? I highly recommend it as it's the best book on Rommel that I've ever read. He's a fascinating figure in WWII history, and was a brilliant soldier.

Of couse, the "gamer" in me would have loved to been able to read about Patton and Rommel going head-to-head, but it was never meant to be. I guess we can replicate that with our modern games now, though.

Man, what I would have given to sit down with him and have some talks. There are hardly any of those guys left anymore.

I haven't read that book you mentioned by I will keep a lookout for it or browse Amazon.

 

[Poulsonator]

Well, good luck finding Trail of the Fox. I found it years ago in a used book store; it's long been out of print. HOWEVER, check this out:

ROMMEL

Looks like you can download it for free. I don't know about you, but I couldn't read the whole book on my PC. Maybe someone can...

I should still have the book at home. If someone's interested, I could send it out to you for free on the conditions that A) it gets read, and B) when you're done, it gets sent to someone else who wants to read it.

Sound good?

 

[PanzerIV]

Originally posted by: Poulsonator
Well, good luck finding Trail of the Fox. I found it years ago in a used book store; it's long been out of print. HOWEVER, check this out:

ROMMEL

Looks like you can download it for free. I don't know about you, but I couldn't read the whole book on my PC. Maybe someone can...

I should still have the book at home. If someone's interested, I could send it out to you for free on the conditions that A) it gets read, and B) when you're done, it gets sent to someone else who wants to read it.

Sound good?

Thanks for the link. I will check it out later but as you said it's hard to read a book on the computer.

Poulsonator you should check out The Battle of Alamein by John Bierman and Colin Smith. Excellent read!!

 

[Poulsonator]

PanzerIV, PM me your mailing addy and I'll see if I can find that book and send it to you. You'll love it.

I'll check out your book as well.

 

[Phoenix86]

Originally posted by: PanzerIVHe seemed destined for greatness and was never harmed although he led his forces into battle personally.

Didn't Patton also lead his forces personally?

 

[PanzerIV]

Originally posted by: Phoenix86

Originally posted by: PanzerIVHe seemed destined for greatness and was never harmed although he led his forces into battle personally.

Didn't Patton also lead his forces personally?

Yes, I am in no way saying Patton was not one of the greats but this was about Rommel since that is whom I am reading about. Patton also had the invincible aura that nothing during his military career could hurt him and then ironically he dies in a car crash. Two greats who died in non military accidents.

 

[Iron Woode]

Rommel was a tactical genius and should be held in high esteem. Allied or Axis, he was about the best there was in Germany's military.

OTOH, Hitler stands as one of the most influential leaders of any country in the world, ever. No one has ever rallied his people the way Hitler did, good or bad. No one tops Hitler when it comes to public speaking.

 

[PanzerIV]

Originally posted by: Iron Woode
Rommel was a tactical genius and should be held in high esteem. Allied or Axis, he was about the best there was in Germany's military.

The German military was full of extremely skilled innovators and tacticians that is why they achieved such great success even in spite of Hitler's meddling. Two that come to mind are Heinz Guderian, who developed the Blitzkrieg style of warfare, and Kurt Student who pioneered parachute warfare. It was Student who planned the capture of the fortress Eben-Emael in Belgium and the Create invasion.

 

[Phoenix86]

Originally posted by: PanzerIV

Originally posted by: Phoenix86

Originally posted by: PanzerIVHe seemed destined for greatness and was never harmed although he led his forces into battle personally.

Didn't Patton also lead his forces personally?

Yes, I am in no way saying Patton was not one of the greats but this was about Rommel since that is whom I am reading about. Patton also had the invincible aura that nothing during his military career could hurt him and then ironically he dies in a car crash. Two greats who died in non military accidents.

I'm thinking on the lines of how great the battle would have been had these two every met tank to tank. I'm not trying to make a comparison...

Good stuff. :beer: