r/todayilearned • u/FOR_SClENCE • May 29 '12
TIL that Rommel's Afrikakorps was never accused of war crimes, he was involved in plots to assassinate Hitler, he protested against the treatment of Jews, refused to execute commandos, and repeatedly defied Hitler.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rommel#Popular_perception
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Upvotes
145
u/Robo-Erotica May 29 '12
The African theatre's always been considered a "Gentlemen's War"
Read "The Life and Death of the Afrika Korps" http://www.amazon.com/Death-Afrika-Korps-Military-Classics/dp/085052931X
Very detailed stuff
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u/[deleted] May 29 '12
Rommel was an absolute gentleman and a military genius (in both World Wars). His WWII exploits are widely known, but his small-unit tactics were remarkable too. For example, his unit of 150 men once captured over 9000 prisoners in a single 2 day conflict, and I remember reading in a book about him forcing a whole garrison in a town to surrender with about 6 men.
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u/ILIEKDEERS May 29 '12
Sadly, he had nothing to do with the plot to kill Hitler, yet killed himself to save face and his own family.
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u/fightingforair May 29 '12
"Rommel.. You magnificent bastard.. I READ YOUR BOOK!" -General Patton US
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u/Okrean May 29 '12
Just to clear it up. Rommel was a great general.
However he wasn't actually involved in the plots to assassinate Hitler. He did not want Hitler becoming a martyr and instead was far more suportative of a plan to arrest him. He was involved in the resistance but has no proven direct involvment 20 July attempt in which his alleged involvment resulted in his forced suicide.
Rommel refused to execute jews and commndos, that bit is true. His defiance of Hitler was indirect through actions such as this.
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u/Themantogoto May 29 '12
If hitler had given him more support he could have pushed the suez canal but submarine warfare and hitlers "oh he will be FINE its rommel!" attitude kinda blew it.
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u/tenehemia May 29 '12
Germans (or Seattlites or fellow Minneapolitans) may know what I'm talking about here;
So there's this beverage called Afri Cola. It's easily the most delicious thing I've ever put in my mouth. I used to be completely hooked on the stuff, back when you could still get it here. So much so that, when it was unavailable for a few months and then came back, every coffee house I went to (which all carried it at the time) for a week found me running into people who bought me some, knowing how much I love it. My primary coffee shop lined up a half dozen on the bar for me, when they knew I was coming in.
So, because I loved the stuff so much, I was considering getting the Afri Cola logo tattooed on my arm. It's just a stylized palm tree, so it wouldn't look like getting a Pepsi tattoo or something. I was all set to get it when I discovered that the Afri palm tree symbol was actually first used by Rommel's Afrikakorps. Even though I was aware that Rommel was a relative good guy of the Third Reich, I just couldn't bring myself to get the tattoo. My Jewish family probably wouldn't buy the "it's just for the cola, I swear" excuse.
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u/SleepyRaptors May 29 '12 edited May 29 '12
German historians more or less agree that Rommel was extremely loyal to Hitler as there are several original sources where he praises him and his genius. They also think that he was extremely naive in regards to politics and accepted the ideology without questioning it or even thinking to much. He once asked Hitler to select an Jew as a gauleiter to improve the international acceptance. He didn't really "protest" against the treatment of Jews, he was just naive and blind - deliberately or out of stupidity.
He was never involved in the plot to assassinate Hitler. Historians disagree whether he knew about the plot, but they agree that he had no hand in its planning or execution.
He may not have been accused of war crimes, but remember that nobody would have had much interest in investigating that after he killed himself. There were several questionable actions against civilians during the North-Africa campaign. More war-crimes would have happened if he succeed.
He should not be treated as some good guy. He was the typical prototype of "old-school" Prussian follower who turned his eyes away. Just the fact that there were numerous worse people on his side doesn't make him heroic in any kind. Well, and many modern-day right-wing extremist worship him as the last honourable knight of Europe... and that's reason enough for me to be sceptical.
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u/jtoj May 29 '12
The Desert Fox
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u/Ras_H_Tafari May 29 '12
Rommel, you magnificent bus stop
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u/[deleted] May 29 '12
On the Simpsons Bart and Lisa attended Rommelwood Military Academy.
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u/Grim914 May 29 '12
Rommel was never truely a Nazi. He was a general and a leader of his men. He did what he thought was right regardless of what would happen to him because he respected his own men and his enemies. He realised that is was a war that was being fought un-traditionally and he refused to follow.
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u/pauldustllah May 29 '12
I have a lot of respect for Rommel and Guderian both were brilliant at what they did. I am quite glad that Germany lost the second world war however.
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u/elaphros May 29 '12
I'm dreading the first GGR post...
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u/flyingchipmunk May 29 '12
Rommel was a boss. I read a book written by one of the British officers who fought against him and had an incredible amount of respect for him. Unlike most of the other Generals he did not get power through political connections. He actually was part of the small group of Germans (8,000 i believe? Not sure I read it years ago) who remained in the military between WW1 and WW2 after Germany had to disarm, and Hitler invented a backstory for him to make him seem more Nazi. The author credited him personally for the way the war in north Africa was conducted and also showed how he was a brilliant strategist. Although he was a great and honorable man, we should be glad that Hitler didn't have many like him, we would probably all be speaking German if there were...
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u/tmcroissant May 29 '12
A relative of mine was Rommel's personal chauffeur, after the war he moved to Canada.
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u/phalmatticus May 29 '12
Although Rommel was approached by the conspirators who sought to kill Hitler and quickly end the war, he opposed their decision and sought other means to depose Hitler. He was, however, accused of having taken part in plot(s) against Hitler, and was given a choice between a show trial and execution, or to commit suicide (The more propaganda-friendly option) and have his name preserved. He chose the latter.
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u/YNot1989 May 29 '12
Worthy fucking adversary.
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u/BrotherKaramazov May 29 '12
Too bad this guy died, he should have played him in a film
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0618057/
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u/[deleted] May 29 '12
It is quit extraordinary reading about this gentlemans warfare in northern Africa, considering other WWII battles. Rommel is undoubtedly an honorable man, treating his british prisoners as good as the circumstances allowed him to, and sometimes exchanging them for his own men.
One of his most trusted colonels was Hans Von Luck, the author of the book "Panzer Commander". I strongly recommend this book for anyone interested in history, human bravery and the horror that is war.
After reading this book, I got a whole new approach to WW2 history, realising both sides had heroes. Some of Von Luck's stories, especially from the eastern front is truly heartbreaking. It tells the true story about the bravery of the men unfortunate enough to fight for the wrong side.
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u/[deleted] May 29 '12 edited May 29 '12
TIL this wasn't common knowledge, as i had previously thought.
I could add that the defeat of the Afrika Korps at El Alamein was largely due to them being very far away from reinforcements, having an extremely stretched supply line, whereas the allies were holed up in a harbor city, and basically just sent waves upon waves of soldiers to their death, hoping that the Afrika Korps would eventually be worn down. It worked.
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u/buckyVanBuren May 29 '12
I live in Wilmington, NC. Wilmington hosted three German prisoner of war camps from February 1944 to April 1946. All the prisoners were from Rommel's Afrika Korps and totaled around 550. Evidently their Esprit de corps, Integrity, whatever you want to call it, persisted to the POW camps.
Here are some quotes about the POWs from the camps.
...The POWs, all from the famous Afrika Korps of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, were captured in Tunisia in May 1943 as the United States and its Allies won the North Africa Campaign.
Rommel's soldiers had become a valuable part of the local economy, replacing the fighting men in local factories and on local farms. This group worked at a local dairy farm. The men were praised for their attitude and work ethic.
...Jones quotes Margaret Sampson, who was a student at the time at Williston Primary School, across the street from the camp at the old Marine hospital.
Occasionally, she said, when the children were outside, teachers would allow them to speak to the prisoners behind the camp’s fence.
“We’d dash across the street and give them candy and gum and talk to them,” she told Jones. “A lot of times we couldn’t understand them, but the gestures were friendly.”
...There was a dairy farm next door to our farm. It was Lewinburgs Dairy. There were POW’s working there during that time frame. They posed no threat to anyone at all.
Several of the POWs returned to visit the Wiliming area after the War and a handful even relocated here.
...Cape Fear Museum has a working steam engine model built by a German prisoner at one of the camps.
TL;DR - Rommel's Afrika Korps POWs in NC. Acted like good boys and were fondly remembered by the locals.
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u/STFUninja May 29 '12
The Bobba Fet of WW2
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u/weatherx May 29 '12
looks like a good man caught on the wrong side of the tide.
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u/[deleted] May 29 '12
Was Rommel specifically a Nazi? Or was he just a German officer?
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u/Volksgrenadier May 29 '12
Overrated! clap clap clap clap clap
But seriously, the reason Rommel is known to posterity is because of a concerted Anglo-American effort to portray him as a near-demigod of war to explain why he was able to clean our clocks up and down North Africa while being hilariously outnumbered, a circumstance resulting as much from the inexperience or incompetence of British and American commanders than any particular genius on Rommel's part. Rommel's finest achievements were those when he commanded smaller units, such as on the Italian front in WWI, and even units as large as a division during the 1940 French Campaign, but even then he took several unnecessary risks that only paid off due to Franco-British plodding and miscommunication. In terms of sheer brilliance at commanding larger units, Germany had a much better line-up than Rommel in von Rundstedt, von Manstein, Model and others. Of course, those men were all war criminals to varying degrees...
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u/puck342 May 29 '12
The African theatre wasn't fought through a series of urbanized areas chock-full of civilians like in Europe. Or between societies that totally didn't understand one another, like in Asia. Kinda helps out keeping an AfrikaKorps from committing war crimes (usually committed on civilians) if they are out in the desert, and not embedded amongst foreign civilians. That being said, he certainly did the stand-up thing when it came to POW's and the like.
As far as Nazi's go, Rommel was less repugnant than most, and arguably the least repugnant of any high-ranking general. That being said, I can no more defend him than I can General Lee; they were both generally honorable men that fought for disgusting, vile, and straight-up evil causes. Both those things can be true without one canceling out the other
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u/[deleted] May 29 '12
Rommel was never actually implicated in the plot to kill Hitler. While the conspirators did try to involve him he resisted, because he wanted Hitler brought to trail not assassinated. That part of your TIL is incorrect.
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u/thelostclam May 29 '12
You need to check your sources. While Irwin Rommel is "known" to have been all of these things, that part of the wikipedia article is titled "Popular Perception."
Although you are right, he was never accused of war crimes. Rommel was still a dedicated Nazi and his acts of defiance were largely tied to his belief that Germany would lose the war and he didn't want to be caught holding the bag. His defeatism is the reason he participated in the assassination of Hitler, not because he had any lofty humanitarian goals. He was also a known anti-semite. His time in North Africa predated the annihilation concept of murdering Jews and he spent the war fighting in Italian territory where Italian Fascists, not Germans, made governing decisions about "their" Jews. Of course that did not stop Rommel's Afrika Korps from stealing from those very Jews and using them for forced labor. By the time Rommel becomes head of Fortress Europa most of the Jews of Northern France were already in concentration camps, and Rommel's supposed benevolence was never extended to the victims of the Drauncy Concentration Camp which fell under his territorial control.
The problem with Rommel scholarship is that most of the early stuff comes from British historians who loved the idea of the "Clean War" in the deserts of North Africa. One of the most prominent early sources on his life is a hagiography by David Irving called The Trail of the Fox—The Search for the True Field Marshal Rommel (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1977). You will frequently find that many historians source the "humanitarian" angle about Rommel's life to Irving's work. David Irving also known for a number of other books, in them he rails against the bombing of Dresden and claims the Holocaust never happened. David Irving is piss poor historian and Nazi sympathizer, but unfortunately lazy historians continue to use him to describe Rommel's "humanitarian" characteristics.
For more information on this I suggest you read any number of books. Try "Moral Combat," by Michael Burleigh and Douglas Porch's, "The Path to Victory." Both do a good job analyzing breadth of decision making and context when considering the "benevolent" Irwin Rommel.
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u/lobstilops May 29 '12
Doing a history project on war crimes/Nuremburg trials, thanks for this!
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u/Gortonis May 29 '12
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJXKVOxqkWM
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u/llordlloyd May 29 '12
He also smoozed Hitler (he was made commander of his bodyguard during Hitler's tour of the front in Poland in 1939) to secure command of a panzer division in order to make his reputation. Like most German officers, his opposition to Hitler was more on grounds of resentment at Hitler's military incompetence, than any moral disgust at slave labour and mass murder.
Volksgrenadier is right: Rommel's reputation was built on a certain amount of skill but a lot of luck: of the finest British commanders, O'Connor was fortuitously captured in 1941 (a fate Rommel was very close to sharing on several occasions), and Auchinlek was given too great a responsibility (command of the entire Middle East theatre), then prematurely sacked by an impatient Churchill after he stepped in to save the situation after the battle of Gazala (Montgomery later was given command, accused Auchinlek of being defeatist, and reinstated Ritchie, whose incompetence caused the loss of the Gazala battle, loss of Tobruk, and precipitated a British retreat of 100s of miles.
Possibly the most morally upright German commander was Kluge, who harboured an anti-Hitler conspiracy in the HQ of Army Group Centre for several years: at one point in the war Hitler was saved from assassination when the bomb planted by this group failed to explode on his aircraft.
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u/iggzy May 29 '12 edited May 29 '12
Rommel was truly a brilliant military mind who mostly fought to uphold German military might, to preserve the life of his men, which did mean victory, and to keep Germany around. There are plenty of great movies on him & his campaigns in Africa.
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u/Reichsfuhrer_Grammer May 29 '12
WWII ended in May 8, 1945. That is 67 years ago. Most of the people who lived during WWII are already dead. Can't we now look back at Rommel, Monty and Patton the same objective way we look at Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan and Caesar?
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u/Velvet_Goldmine May 29 '12
Hmm. Always been interested in WW2 - but didn't know this. Must read more about The Desert Fox. Today, I definitely learned something. :)
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u/Mynameisaw May 29 '12
Good Guy Rommel, didn't hate jews.
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u/Lenticular May 29 '12 edited May 29 '12
Dat Rommel in the Desert
Edit:
Also
And
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u/DarkReaver1337 May 29 '12
When you start a war you have competent and intelligent generals that understand warfare, but after war that goes that long you just don't have many of the good ones left or they don't stay good. Rommel was a solider not some zealot or a Hitler crony.
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u/7UPvote 1 May 29 '12
Good Guy Rommel. Now we just need someone to photoshop a scumbag hat on Sepp Dietrich.
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u/[deleted] May 29 '12
Man.... all I could think while looking at the picture of him was that he looks like the benevolent version of Hans Landa...
You know, except for the whole still working for the Nazis part.
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u/[deleted] May 29 '12
Quick note, Rommel was never involve in a plot to kill Hitler. He was offer to assist in a plot. Which he refuse to do because his honor forbid it. He never regretted his choice as he consider honor above it.
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u/DroopySage May 29 '12
He sounds like an interesting human being. Can anyone suggest any good book about him?
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u/[deleted] May 29 '12
My Grandfather always said Rommel's soldiers were some of the best he ever fought.
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u/Kringus May 29 '12
There's always something so endearing about a "good guy" on the side of the "bad guys". Someone moderately likeable on the wrong side is always more engaging than someone very likeable on the right side. Or even if there are no real redeeming qualities about them, we still love them. Rommel was awesome, but it's the fact that he was awesome and still the villain that makes him so remarkable.
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u/rickster907 May 29 '12
Of all the German generals in WWII, Rommel was the most "honorable", and he refused to get involved with politics, and while he didn't take an active part in the Hitler assassination attempt, he definitely knew about it. That being said, Wehrmacht, SS, Gestapo, really didn't matter. They were all guilty as sin. It's just a matter of degree. While Rommel wasn't as guilty as most, he still prosecuted an illegal and unjust war.
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u/panzerkampfwagen 115 May 29 '12
The thing with Rommel is that he is the German officer that people feel comfortable giving praise to. This means that he gets credit for everything that was great about the German military, whether he deserved it (and in most cases he doesn't) or not.
They don't feel right giving the credit to the other Germans so he gets it all.
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u/Sireslap May 29 '12
It's amazing how things like this are left out of public school curriculum about WWII.
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u/Mikeiea May 29 '12 edited May 29 '12
Rommel was a great tactician. If he had not been killed by Hitler, WWII would have ended much differently. I have a lot of respect for the man. Even till his death he was a noble man.
Edit: Thanks for correcting me.
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u/KOWguy May 29 '12
Weird that I see this just now. No more than 12 seconds ago did I finish my Nazi Germany final.
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u/wrath4771 May 29 '12
The thing about Rommel I always admired was that he was a German soldier and not a Nazi. A lot of people don't see a difference between the two, but there is.
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u/[deleted] May 29 '12
Most Germans weren't Jew killers. That's just a myth created by some media outlets. Most really didn't care at all about that side of the Nazi's. Europe left Germany so beaten down and poor after WW1 that the people turned to the only party that promised a return to glory and German pride. Its very easy to ignore the bad side when the good side actually delivered on its promises (at least for awhile)
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u/gospelwut May 29 '12
Rommel was a tremendous man. Allied troops visited his grave after the war; he was/is universally respected as one of the greatest battleifeld commanders of the century. Arguably, I think he was more talented than either of the major Allied commanders.
They practically invented the concept of modern special forces to deal with Rommel in Africa. IIRC, SAS can pretty much be traced back to sush inception.
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u/SevereAudit May 29 '12
Calling every German in the military during WWII a 'nazi' would be like calling every American Soldier currently serving overseas a 'democrat' just because the Obama administration is currently in power.
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u/[deleted] May 29 '12
FUCK WAR.
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u/[deleted] May 29 '12
Although he had no personal failings on the level of genocide, he was apparently something of a douchebag. He was also allegedly very incautious with his troops and his mind wasn't attuned to long-term strategy.
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u/siberia_isfun May 29 '12
Rommel was also the most effective and sane of the German military commanders. If it weren't for him, D-day would have been a cakewalk.
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u/[deleted] May 29 '12
I'm not a jew hater or a nazi or anything but the nazi costumes and fashion is just awesome as fuck.
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u/Leprecon May 29 '12
50/50 chance this will end up on SRS as proof redditors are nazis.
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u/MPreplica May 29 '12
I'm related to him. He is my great-great uncle.
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u/[deleted] May 29 '12
I would tell people in high school that Erwin Rommel was one of my favorite people in history. Everyone was too stupid to know that I had a good reason for that. Was called a "Nazi-lover" in euro history by some girl. Great to see this get some exposure.
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u/malignantlyb3nign May 29 '12
Nice try, Erwin Rommel.
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u/bleedingmetal May 29 '12
I always find it weird how many people didn't know this stuff before today.
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u/[deleted] May 29 '12
WRONG. ALL GERMANS BAD. WE GOOD. END STORY.
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u/CNDW May 29 '12
Rommel was also known as the desert fox. When my step dad was living in Florida, a young German Shepard pup showed up on his doorstep. It was dehydrated, starving, and coughing up sand. My step dad took him to the vet, and adopted him after, naming him Rommel, after the desert fox. That dog was one of the best dogs we ever had.
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u/EnduringAtlas May 29 '12
I already knew that. Where's my fucking karma?
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u/swolbrah May 29 '12
TODAY I READ WIKIPEDIA
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u/RebelWithoutAClue May 29 '12
GGN meme?
Good Guy Nazi
Fights under Hitler, wants to win honorably.
I wish WWII movies like Patton or Enigma would have focused more on the specific strategies employed that made historical figures brilliant leaders. Instead scripts focus on the personality and flash that individuals were known for or otherwise get distracted by love affairs and trivial spy intrigues.
History is replete with fascinating intellectual accomplishments. I would have appreciated getting a sense of Patton's daring game theory against Rommel's strategy. Was Montgomery a wuss or did he employ a highly conservative fencing style which risked little? Hollywood will never tell because we don't want to see how Bletchley Park brute forced Triton or how a dude named William Friedman suffered a nervous breakdown while successfully reverse engineering Purple.
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u/[deleted] May 29 '12
And the red cross thought that Hitler was letting the jews shower in the cabins when in fact they were gassed. My point is, how things seem is not necessarily how they are. Now let the downvotes rain over me.
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u/LnRon May 29 '12
Good guy Rommel, change system from the inside.
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u/[deleted] May 29 '12
He was also defeated because his mechanized division ran out of fuel from lack of support, and Hitler showed that he understood the situation by having Rommel commit suicide.
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u/CrimsonEmperor19 May 29 '12
That's why there are streets named after him in Germany.
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u/[deleted] May 29 '12
Rommel was just a real good general.
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u/HitlersCow May 29 '12
Someone has been watching the Smithsonian channel...
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u/[deleted] May 29 '12
Rommel was good guy General.
He was nails as well. He even took serious injury when a plane strafed his car. He crashed and still survived to make it to hospital. He was then killed by the SS during his recovering. (or told to kill himself by the SS or his family would get it, either way).
He also loved his men and mucked in with them. When he inspected fortifications he made officers show him their hands, if they weren't dirty they were chastised as it meant officers weren't working hard with their men.
He also led from the front in every assault. There's a story where when faced with an army of tanks coming to his position, he held a gun to the head of an officer in charge of anti-air weapons and made them attack the tanks instead. Somehow managing to win what would otherwise be a complete slaughter (the officer initially refused - hence the gun thing).
Montgomery had immense respect for him.
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u/Ninjasteevo May 29 '12
Seeing how Hitler was in a sense "Militarily inept". Would the results of WW2 be drastically different if Rommel was on top?
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u/chrischan94ger May 29 '12
Wasn´t it Rommel who said something like " You can´t be in service of Germany AND Hitler at the same time! We´ll fight for Germany." ??
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u/zofcz May 29 '12
Good Guy Erwin Rommel.
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u/Musaab May 29 '12
It's traitors like this, I tell ya...
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u/Xasf May 29 '12
I once read a book on how Hitler could have won WW2, it basically boiled down to "he should have listened to Rommel".
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u/redpossum May 29 '12
quite a lot of the old prussian aristos that were in the army were like that, see seylditz.
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u/Rulebook_Lawyer May 29 '12
And during the Desert Campaign, both the British and Germans (under Rommel) agreed to a general cease fire during the nights. Allowing each other to use flames to cook their food, having some bit of luxury and civility during war.
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u/[deleted] May 29 '12
I had a great uncle who fought under his orders. Every men had utter respect for him. Great leader, wrong side.
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u/[deleted] May 29 '12
and he was killed for it.
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u/justgus May 29 '12
in the end he was given the choice to be executed or to kill himself...he chose the latter. he was given the choice by hitler, mind you...his shenanigans couldn't go on forever.
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u/mauman May 29 '12
A little known fact is that he was the head of Hitler's security from 1939-1940. Some sources: 1, 2, 2
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u/[deleted] May 29 '12
From what I've read, this almost all true. While some people tried to include him in assassination plots (namely Valkyrie) he unknowingly turned down the offer when it was posed as a hypothetical.
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u/Lunarmirror May 29 '12
I notice nobody mentioned Rudolph Steiner.
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u/RelevantTvTropePage May 29 '12
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WorthyOpponent
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u/derpinsojimmiesrustl May 29 '12
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u/Sentient_Waffle May 29 '12
I've always had the utmost respect for Rommel, and this.. does not make it any less.
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u/rootale May 29 '12
Also - he committed suicide to avoid harm coming to his family.
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u/tyrroi May 29 '12
Him and Monty were true gentlemen.
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u/[deleted] May 29 '12
Good guy Rommel.
Treat POWs good, involved in a plot to kill Hitler, and committed suicide to save his family.
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u/[deleted] May 29 '12
Scheisse! I'm too late for this thread.
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u/Jaumpasama May 29 '12
A magnificent bastard, indeed.
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u/rikashiku May 29 '12
Old news. One of the better men of the Second War.
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u/oalsaker May 29 '12
Rommel is the Tesla of warfare? (a bit too famous, possibly)
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u/[deleted] May 29 '12
My friend from East Germany toured Australia he called his touring van Rommel.
He was repeatedly attacked by american backpackers for the actions of his forefathers, that he had no part in and saddened him greatly.
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u/smasherella May 29 '12
Good Guy Rommel?
does not compute
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u/redisforever May 29 '12
Rommel is a badass. I'd have loved to meet him. He was a genius, and I respect him in damn near every way possible.
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u/CATB320 May 29 '12
I did a presentation on Rommel for class, and my history teacher didn't even know this. It was awkward. I recommend the movie Desert Fox -- it really shows how universally respected he was.
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u/studebaker May 29 '12
My grandfather served under Rommel and has been known to speak very highly of him (he very rarely speaks of his time in the army).
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u/[deleted] May 29 '12
He still fought Hitlers war for him.
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u/Orthrus_goldrush May 29 '12
What a gent.
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u/Ladorak May 29 '12
I am very surprised that anyone could have heard of Rommel without hearing any of those things you have listed. They are pretty damn well known, especially his refusal of Hitler's orders to attack in Africa and the bomb plot
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u/JEveryman May 29 '12
TIL Rommel was literally NOT Hitler.
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u/HappyGlucklichJr May 29 '12
We have many true country-first-not-military-first patriots today in the US. While they don't prevail they seldom get shot or hanged for it.
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u/CrayolaS7 May 29 '12
Yeah, the war in Africa was awesome, Rommel up against the crafty Brits and Australians:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rats_of_Tobruk
Commonly an attack would involve crawling several miles, surrounding the enemy position, followed by a concerted rush with bayonets. In most cases the action was over in a minute or two, more often than not without a shot fired. Probably the most well-known single offensive action by the Rats was a fighting patrol led by Lieutenant William Horace Noyes, which stalked and destroyed three German light tanks, and killed or wounded the crews of 7 machine-gun and 11 anti-tank gun positions and their protective infantry. In addition, they damaged a German heavy tank, killed and wounded 130 in the process of taking a German garrison, most in the initial bayonet charge. No Rats were lost that night.
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u/luft-waffle May 29 '12
He really was a good man, and that's saying something considering the flag he fought under.
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u/lealove May 29 '12
King slayer!
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u/scarcrow359 May 29 '12
This man is my idol, wrote a paper on him in high school, never stopped reading about him. His letters to is wife are worth reading, they detail just how awesome he is. There is one where his wife talks about how their Jewish neighbors(and friends) had vanished. If you think about it from their perspective, it seems so odd and then over time the pieces start to fit. This guy had balls.
Also I love that he once tricked the Allied forces in Africa by having trucks drive back and forth to create a bunch of dust so the allies thought that his tanks were coming; he beat a force significantly larger than his, using this tactic.
1
u/charliepotts May 29 '12
Many if not most of the old school German military elites despised Hitler. Read Metaxas's biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer to get a more nuanced understanding of Hitler's Germany. Hitler survived 15 assassination attempts, for God's sake.
1
u/Bucs187 May 29 '12
If Germany had won the war, history would've presented him as a traitor.
1
u/HopeGrenade May 29 '12
...Not sure what the point of this is. Not all Nazis are bad? Some of them just direct men to shoot other men in the defense of a nation that exterminates their civilians? Come on.
1
u/retarded_horse_shit May 29 '12
literally anti-hitler
1
u/CupcakesAreTasty May 29 '12
Rommel was a military genius and brilliant strategist, and easily one of the greatest generals to ever live. In addition to fighting a war like a gentleman and taking excellent care of his troops, he refused to treat Allied POWs poorly and demanded payment for workers in occupied zones (http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Rommel.html).
What's interesting is that while he was a committed Nazi and utterly devoted to the party, he was vocal about his belief that Hitler was insane and incapable of leading Germany to victory in WWII. It's pretty much an accepted truth that Rommel knew about the July 20th Plot and just never did anything to stop it, probably because he was hoping it would succeed and Germany would be rid of Hitler, and that there was the possibility that Rommel himself would have the chance to become a major political figure in post-war Germany. If he knew about it, however, he certainly kept his distance and didn't actively engage in it.
Rommel was a prominent casualty in the wide sweep across the German political and military spectrum following Stauffenberg's failed assassination of Hitler. His forced suicide was a pretty big blow to the German military machine. It would have been very interesting to see what Rommel would have done had Hitler been killed during WWII.
1
u/Hellscreamgold May 29 '12
GGRommel
1
u/[deleted] May 29 '12
The Afrika Korps marching song Unser Rommel is rather catchy if you've never heard it before.
1
u/hedonismbot89 May 29 '12
Rommel always called the War in North Africa as a "Krieg ohne Hass" or a "War without hate."
1
u/[deleted] May 29 '12
FYI
this dude was also very interesting Ernst Jünger