What Rommel needed in Africa. Desert Fox. Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. Recognition and memory

The biography of Erwin Rommel is a story of constant career growth. He was a high-ranking officer during the First World War and even received the Pour le Merite for his exploits on the Italian front. Erwin Rommel's books are widely known, the most popular of which, The Infantry Charge, was written in 1937.

During World War II, he distinguished himself as commander of the 7th Armored Division during the 1940 invasion of France. Rommel's work as commander of German and Italian forces in the North African Campaign confirmed his reputation as one of the most capable tank commanders and earned him the nickname der Wüstenfuchs, "The Desert Fox" (of which the officer was very proud).

Sweat will save blood, blood will save lives, and the mind will save both.

Among his opponents he earned a strong reputation as a noble knight, and the North African Campaign was often called "the war without hatred." He later commanded German forces against the Allies during their invasion of Normandy in June 1944.

Erwin Eugen Johannes Rommel supported the Nazis and Adolf Hitler, although his disapproval of anti-Semitism, allegiance to National Socialism and involvement in the Holocaust remain controversial.

In 1944, Rommel was involved in the July 20 plot, which allegedly aimed to assassinate Hitler. Thanks to his status as a national hero, Erwin Rommel had some immunity before the top of the Reich. However, he was given the choice between committing suicide in exchange for assurances that his reputation would remain intact and his family would not be persecuted after his death, or being ignominiously executed as a national traitor. He chose the first option and committed suicide by consuming a cyanide tablet. Rommel was buried with full honors, and the official cause of his death was given as Allied fire on his official car in Normandy.

Rommel became a living legend during his lifetime. His figure resurfaced periodically in both Allied and Nazi propaganda and in post-war popular culture, with many authors viewing him as an apolitical, brilliant commander and victim of the Third Reich, although this assessment is disputed by other authors.

Rommel's reputation for "honest war" was used to promote reconciliation between former enemies: the United Kingdom and the United States on the one hand, and the new Federal Republic of Germany on the other. Some of Rommel's former subordinates, particularly his chief of staff Hans Spiedel, played key roles in German rearmament and NATO integration in the post-war era. The largest military base of the German army is named in his honor - Field Marshal Rommel Barax, Augustdorf.

Biography of Erwin Rommel

Rommel was born on November 15, 1891 in Southern Germany, in Heidenheim, 45 kilometers from Ulm, in the kingdom of Württemberg within the German Empire. He was the third of five children of Erwin Rommel Sr. (1860-1913), a teacher and school administrator, and his wife Helene von Lutz, whose father, Karl von Lutz, headed the local government board. Like the young man, Rommel's father was an artillery lieutenant. Rommel had one older sister, an art teacher, who was his favorite, and a brother named Manfred, who died in infancy. He also had two younger brothers, one of whom became a successful dentist and the other an opera singer.

At age 18, Rommel joined the local 124th Württemberg Infantry Regiment as a fanrich (ensign), and in 1910 he entered the officer cadet school in Danzig. He graduated in November 1911 and was appointed lieutenant in January 1912. He was sent to Ulm in March 1914 to the 46th Field Artillery Regiment of the XIII (Royal Württemberg) Corps as a battery commander. He returned to the 124th when the war began. At the cadet school, Rommel met his future wife, 17-year-old Lucia (Lucy) Maria Mollin (1894-1971), a charming girl of Polish-Italian origin.

Great War

During World War I, Rommel fought in France and in the Romanian and Italian campaigns. He successfully used the tactic of penetrating enemy lines with heavy fire combined with rapid maneuvers, and also quickly advanced towards the enemy flanks to get behind enemy lines.

He received his first combat experience on August 22, 1914, as a platoon commander near Verdun. Rommel and three of his men opened fire on the exposed French garrison without calling in the rest of his platoon. The armies continued to fight in open battles throughout September. The trench trench warfare that characterized the First World War was still ahead.

For his actions in September 1914 and January 1915, Rommel was awarded the Iron Cross, Second Class. The future field marshal was promoted to Oberleutnant (first lieutenant) and was transferred to the newly created Royal Württemberg Mountain Battalion in September 1915, taking up the position of company commander. In November 1916, Erwin and Lucia got married in Danzig.

Offensive in Italy

In August 1917, his unit took part in the Battle of Mount Kosna, a heavily fortified objective on the Hungarian-Romanian border. They took her after two weeks of difficult fighting. The Mountain Battalion was then sent to the front of the Isonzo, a mountainous area in Italy.

The offensive, known as the Battle of Caporetto, began on October 24, 1917. Rommel's battalion, consisting of three rifle brigades and a machine gun mount, attempted to occupy enemy positions on three mountains: Kolovrat, Matazhur and Stol. Two and a half days later, from 25 to 27 October, Rommel and his 150 men captured 81 guns and 9,000 men (including 150 officers), losing only six men.

Rommel achieved this remarkable success by taking advantage of the terrain to outflank the Italian forces, attack from unexpected directions, and take the initiative. The Italian forces, taken by surprise and believing their lines had collapsed, surrendered after a brief firefight. In this battle, Rommel employed the then revolutionary tactic of infiltration, a new form of maneuver warfare just adopted by first the German and then foreign armies, and described by some as “Blitzkrieg without the tanks.”

Leading the way in the capture of Longarone on 9 November, Rommel again decided to attack with far fewer forces than the enemy had. Finding themselves surrounded by an entire German division, the 1st Italian Infantry Division, 10,000 strong, surrendered to Rommel. For this, as for his actions at Matajour, he received the Order of Pour-le-Merite.

In January 1918, the future field marshal was promoted to Hauptmann (captain) and assigned to Army Corps XLIV, in which he served for the remainder of the war. But, as we know, it was still lost.

And the thunder struck: Erwin Rommel, World War II and military glory

The quiet peaceful life of the Rommel couple, which lasted just over 20 years, was disrupted by the threat of a new war. On 23 August 1939, he was appointed major general and commander of the guard battalion tasked with guarding Hitler and his headquarters during the invasion of Poland, which began on 1 September. Hitler took a personal interest in the campaign, often traveling close to the front on the headquarters train.

Erwin Rommel attended Hitler's daily briefings and accompanied him everywhere, taking every opportunity to observe the use of tanks and other motorized units. On September 26, Rommel returned to Berlin to establish a new headquarters for his unit. On October 5, he left for Warsaw to organize the German victory parade. He described devastated Warsaw in a letter to his wife, concluding: “For two days there was no water, no power, no gas, no food. They created numerous barricades that blocked civilian traffic, and subjected people to bombings from which people could not escape. The mayor estimated the number of dead and wounded at 40,000. The residents probably breathed a sigh of relief when we arrived and rescued them.”

After the campaign in Poland, Rommel began advising the command of one of the German tank divisions, of which there were only ten at the time. Rommel's successes in World War I were based on surprise and maneuver, two elements for which the new tank and mechanized combat units were ideally suited.

The Making of a General

Rommel was promoted to the rank of general by Hitler personally. He received the command he sought, despite the fact that his request had previously been rejected by the Wehrmacht command, which offered him command of a mountain unit. According to Caddick-Adams, he was supported by Hitler, the influential 14th Army commander Wilhelm List and probably Guderian. For this reason, Rommel gained a reputation as one of Hitler's favored commanders. However, his later outstanding successes in France forced his former enemies to forgive him for his obsessive self-promotion and political intrigue.

The 7th Panzer Division was reorganized into a tank unit consisting of 218 tanks in three battalions with two rifle regiments, a motorcycle battalion, an engineer battalion and an anti-tank battalion. Taking command on February 10, 1940, Rommel quickly introduced his unit to the rapid maneuvers they would need in the upcoming North African Campaign of 1941-1943.

French campaign

The invasion of France and the Low Countries began on May 10, 1940, with the bombing of Rotterdam. By the third day, Rommel and the advance troops of his division, along with a detachment of the 5th Panzer Division under the command of Colonel Hermann Werner, reached the Meuse River, where they found that the bridges had already been destroyed (Guderian and Reinhardt reached the river the same day). Rommel was active in the forward areas, directing efforts to overcome the crossing. They were initially unsuccessful due to overwhelming fire from the French on the other side of the river. Rommel assembled tank and infantry units to provide a counterattack and set fire to nearby houses to create a smoke screen.

By May 16, Rommel reached Avesnes and violated all command orders, launching an attack on Kato. The French II Army Corps was routed that night, and Rommel's forces captured 10,000 prisoners on 17 May, losing no more than 36 men. He was surprised to learn that only the vanguard followed him in this attack. The high command and Hitler were extremely nervous about his disappearance, although they awarded him the Knight's Cross.

The successes of Rommel and Guderian, and the new possibilities offered by tank weapons, were greeted with enthusiasm by several generals, while most of the General Staff were somewhat disoriented. Erwin Rommel's quotes from that time are said to greatly amuse the British, but make the French bloody angry.

Germans on the “dark continent”

The theater of war soon moved from Europe to Africa. On 6 February 1941, Rommel was appointed commander of the newly created German Afrika Korps, consisting of the 5th Infantry (later renamed the 21st Panzer) and the 15th Panzer Division. On February 12, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general and arrived in Tripoli (at that time -

The corps was sent to Libya for Operation Sonnenblum to support Italian troops who had been badly battered by British Commonwealth forces during Operation Compass. It was during this campaign that the British nicknamed Erwin Rommel the “Desert Fox.” Allied forces in Africa were commanded by General Archibald Wavell.

During the first Axis offensive, Rommel and his troops were technically subordinate to Italian commander-in-chief Italo Gariboldi. Disagreeing with orders from Wehrmacht high command to take up a defensive position along the front line in Sirte, Rommel resorted to subterfuge and insubordination to give battle to the British. The General Staff tried to stop him, but Hitler encouraged Rommel to advance deeper into the British lines. This incident is considered an example of the conflict that existed between Hitler and the army leadership after the invasion of Poland. He decided to launch a limited offensive on 24 March with the 5th Light Division supported by two Italian units. The British did not expect this blow, because their data indicated that Rommel had received orders to remain in a defensive position at least until May. The Afrika Korps waited and prepared.

Meanwhile, the British western desert force was weakened by the transfer in mid-February of three divisions that were supposed to help the Allies defend Greece. They retreated to Mers el Brega and began building defensive structures. Rommel continued to attack these positions, preventing the British from building up their fortifications. After a day of fierce fighting, on March 31, the Germans captured Mers el Brega. Dividing his forces into three groups, Rommel resumed his offensive on 3 April. Benghazi fell that night as the British left the city. Gariboldi, who had ordered Rommel to remain at Mersa el Brega, was furious. Rommel was equally firm in his response, telling the hot-tempered Italian: “We must not lose a unique opportunity to slip through because of some trifle.” At this moment a message arrived from the general reminding Rommel that he should stop at Mersa el Brega. Knowing that Gariboldi did not speak German, Rommel told him that the General Staff had in fact given him free rein. The Italian retreated because he could not resist the will of the German General Staff.

On 4 April, German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel informed his supply officers that he was running low on fuel for his tanks, which could result in a delay of up to four days. The problem was ultimately Rommel's fault, as he did not inform supply officers of his intentions and no fuel reserves were built up.

Rommel ordered the 5th Light Division to unload all its trucks and return to El Aheila to collect fuel and ammunition. Fuel supply was problematic throughout the campaign as gasoline was not available locally. It was shipped from Europe by tanker and then shipped overland to where it was needed. Food and fresh water were also in short supply, and it was difficult to move tanks and other equipment off road through the sand. Despite these problems, Cyrenaica was captured by 8 April, with the exception of the port city of Tobruk, which was surrounded by ground forces on the eleventh.

American intervention

Having reached Tunisia, Rommel launched an attack against the US II Corps. He inflicted a surprise defeat on American forces at Kasserine Pass in February, and this battle was his last victory of the war and his first against the United States Army.

Rommel immediately led Army Group B against the British forces, occupying the Mareth Line (the old French defense on the Libyan border). While Rommel was in Kasserine at the end of January 1943, Italian General Giovanni Messe was appointed commander of the African Panzer Army, renamed the Italo-German Panzer Army in recognition of the fact that it consisted of one German and three Italian corps. Although Messe replaced "Desert Fox" Erwin Rommel, he behaved very diplomatically with him and tried to work as a team.

Rommel's final offensive in North Africa came on 6 March 1943, when he attacked the Eighth Army at the Battle of Meden. After that, he was sent to the Western Front in order to defend his native Germany from the Anglo-American invasion. Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps was widely celebrated in Germany, and its tokens are still found in great abundance in Libya.

Mysterious death

The official story of Rommel's death was a heart attack and/or cerebral embolism, resulting from a skull fracture he allegedly suffered when his jeep was shot at. To further strengthen the people's faith in this story, Hitler designated an official day of mourning in memory of Rommel. As previously promised, Rommel's funeral was carried out with state honors. The fact that his state funeral was held in Ulm and not in Berlin, according to his son, was agreed upon by the field marshal himself during his lifetime. Rommel requested that his dead body not be decorated with any political paraphernalia, but the Nazis ensured that his coffin was decorated with a swastika. Hitler sent Field Marshal von Rundstedt to the funeral (on his own behalf), who did not know that Rommel was killed on Hitler's orders. His body was cremated. While the Germans were mourning Erwin Rommen, World War II ended in complete defeat for them.

The truth about Rommel's death became known to the Allies when intelligence officer Charles Marshall interviewed Rommel's widow, Lucia, and through a letter from his son Manfred in April 1945. The real cause of death of Erwin Rommel is suicide.

Rommel's grave is located in Herrlingen, near Ulm. For decades after the war, on the anniversary of his death, veterans of the African campaign, including former enemies, gathered there to honor the commander.

Recognition and memory

Erwin Rommel is highly regarded by many authors as a great leader and commander. Historian and journalist Basil Liddell Hart concludes that he was a strong leader, idolized by his troops and respected by his opponents, and deserves to be named one of the "great captains of history."

Owen Connelly agreed, writing that "there is no better example of military leadership that can be found than Erwin Rommel", citing Mellenthin's account of the inexplicable rapport that existed between Rommel and his troops. Hitler, however, at one time noted that “unfortunately, the field marshal is a very great leader, full of enthusiasm in times of success, but an absolute pessimist when faced with the slightest problems.”

Rommel received both acclaim and criticism for his activities during the French campaign. Many, such as General Georg Stamme, formerly commander of the 7th Panzer Division, were impressed by the speed and success of Rommel's actions. Others were reticent or critical: Commanding Officer Kluge argued that Rommel's decisions were impulsive and that he was demanding too much trust from the General Staff while falsifying data or not recognizing the contributions of other units, especially the Luftwaffe. Some noted that Rommel's division suffered the highest casualties of the campaign.

Erwin Rommel's family continues to honor their great ancestor from generation to generation.

Rommel in Africa

The front in North Africa, in Libya, was formed with the entry of Italy into the war on the side of Germany. In Libya, Marshal Graziani commanded a 200,000-strong contingent. His twelve divisions were based at Tripoli, the closest point to Sicily. His determined opponent, General Wavell, commanded 63 thousand of his troops from Alexandria, the main base of the British fleet in the Mediterranean. The British were helped by the air force in Malta. The Italians were worried about the French troops stationed in Tunisia and the French fleet in Toulon. But on June 24, 1940, Petain signed the terms for ending the war with Mussolini, and with the French neutralized, the Italians had a significant chance. Six Italian battleships became the most formidable naval force in the Mediterranean (the British had five), and the Italian army was 4 times larger than the British contingent.

But military fate is changeable. The aircraft carrier Illustrious managed to seriously damage four Italian battleships in the Bay of Taranto on November 11, 1940. The Italian offensive against Egypt faltered in September 1940 due to the attackers' stretched communications, and the Italians retreated to their Libyan borders. The British captured 130 thousand Italians, thus equalizing the chances of the two sides. Hitler sent two German divisions led by General Rommel to help Mussolini's African troops, and the British withdrew part of their troops in light of the outbreak of Germany's war against Greece. On March 24, 1941, Rommel began operations in the desert, returning the Italians to their previous positions. Churchill replaced Wavel with General Auchinleck on July 5, 1941.

On November 18, 1941, Auchinleck marched with 700 tanks against 400 German-Italian tanks and defeated them at Tobruk, pushing the Germans back to El Agheila - the place from which Rommel began his advance. The British lost 440 tanks, the Germans and Italians - 340. A stalemate ensued. The scales turned in the German direction with the surrender of Tobruk, besieged by the Germans - a heavy blow to the prestige of the British. On August 15, 1942, Churchill removed Auchinleck and appointed General Alexander in his place. Under his command, the British 8th Army began to be commanded by General Montgomery, who had a reputation as a commander who was ruthless and concerned only with the effectiveness of his attacks. Supplies from the Americans and the appearance of Sherman tanks among the allied forces - the first capable of fighting on equal terms with the German Mark 4 - created the conditions for an allied offensive in the desert. By September 2, Rommel had lost 50 of his tanks to British minefields, and Montgomery began preparing eleven divisions for the offensive, four of which were tank divisions (1,030 tanks) plus 900 guns and 530 aircraft. On the German-Italian side they were opposed by ten divisions of Rommel (only four German and only two tank divisions), supported by 500 guns and 350 aircraft.

Sent to a German hospital, Rommel received a call from Hitler, suggesting that he postpone his treatment and return to Africa. The Battle of El Alamein took place here.

Its meaning was that Montgomery decided to abandon the practice of lonely lightning strikes - you cannot beat the Germans in their own craft. Montgomery decided to build a more complex structure that would have room to exhaust the Germans' striking forces, to ultimately exhaust their offensive forces. In the Battle of El Alamein, the English general tried to bring down his artillery fire on Rommel’s tanks and best soldiers. At the Battle of El Alamein, Montgomery left Rommel a kind of “escape path” along which the German Afrika Korps would inevitably have to pass; Here British artillery and aircraft were waiting for him. And so it happened. Retreating, Rommel reached Benghazi on November 20, and Tripoli on January 23, 1943, losing 40 thousand soldiers from his hundred thousand strong corps. He only has 80 tanks left.

And in the rear of Rommel, on the North African coast, on November 8, 1942, the landing of the Western Allies, Americans and British, began. Now the United States could make significant use of the power of the 90 divisions deployed in the country. The Americans managed to negotiate with Petain’s North African commander-in-chief, Admiral Darlan, about the transfer of Vichy troops to the allied side, and after three days of fighting, which cost the lives of several thousand, the American vanguard began to gain a foothold in Casablanca and other North African cities. Petain condemned Darlan's actions, his Prime Minister Laval visited Hitler, but this did not save Vichy France from occupation, nor Petain from house arrest (in September 1944 he was transferred to the Reich). But Hitler, sensing the importance of what had happened, starting on November 16, 1942, began sending the 5th Panzer Army to Tunisia (where French troops obeyed Petain’s order to assist the Germans). Having gained a foothold in the Atlas Mountains, they began an operation to contain the Western Allies in North Africa.

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One of the most famous Wehrmacht generals, Erwin Rommel, is known primarily for his actions in North Africa. His popularity in the army and general affection in Germany began with Libya and the Afrika Korps, which he commanded from February 1940. Rommel's comrades gave him the nickname "Desert Fox", the Allied generals feared him, and Churchill respected him for his leadership talent. But did Rommel really lead the African campaign as brilliantly as is commonly said?

From El Agheila to Tobruk: a forced march of 1000 miles

At the beginning of 1941, the situation in the North African theater of operations stabilized. The weakness and low morale of the Italian troops were compensated by the decision of the allies to reduce their forces in Libya and intensify military operations on the other side of the Mediterranean Sea - in Greece. At the end of February, 100,000 experienced and well-armed soldiers were sent there from North Africa. The poorly trained 2nd Armored Division and the recently arrived 9th Australian Division remained in Libya, while the 6th Infantry Division and the Polish Carpathian Brigade were formed in Egypt.

Erwin Rommel
Source: http://www.dodaj.rs/f/3a/t3/1grCoJc7/ko-je-ovaj-baja.jpg

The fighting in North Africa had practically ceased, and the Allied command did not expect enemy activity in this theater in the near future. However, while British soldiers were being transported from Africa to Greece, the redeployment of the Afrika Korps under the command of Erwin Rommel began to help the defeated and demoralized Italian troops in Libya.

At the end of March, after waiting for the main forces of the 5th Light Division to concentrate in Tripolitania, with the support of Italian infantry units, Rommel unexpectedly attacked the British at El Agheila. Meeting virtually no resistance, on the shoulders of scattered Allied formations, Rommel's corps moved forward so quickly that the orders of his immediate superior, the commander of the Italian troops in Libya, Italo Gariboldi, were always late. Having occupied Benghazi without a fight and captured up to 3,000 enemy soldiers and 6 generals in the city of Derna, led by the military governor of Cyrenaica, Philip Nimes, on April 10, Rommel’s units approached Tobruk.

This two-week push by Rommel from El Ageila to Tobruk shocked and discouraged the Allied command and their troops in Libya. For about a thousand miles, parts of the Afrika Korps marched at such speed that the advanced German motorized groups could not keep up with the retreating forces and constantly lost contact with them. Rommel's test attack with small forces, the task of which was to stabilize the front and prevent the complete defeat of the Italian units, turned into a panicked retreat of the Allies. The German general received the honorary nickname “Desert Fox” without fighting a single major battle in Libya. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill called him a “great commander,” and the commander-in-chief of the forces of the Middle East, General Claude Auchinleck, wrote: “There is a real danger that our friend Rommel will become a sorcerer and a scarecrow for our soldiers ... Even if he were a superman, it would be extremely it is not desirable for our soldiers to believe in his supernatural power... it seems important not to mention Rommel’s name when we talk about the enemy in Libya... from a psychological point of view, this is a matter of the highest importance.

Undoubtedly, Erwin Rommel was a talented commander, and the operation he carried out in early April 1941 deserves flattering epithets. The German general was extremely active, he personally led small units into the attack, and in his plane he managed to fly around the columns marching in the desert and give orders to the lieutenants on the front line. In two weeks, he became a “father to soldiers” for the troops in Libya, and even the previously demoralized Italian divisions under his command showed discipline and fortitude. The speed and maneuver of Rommel's troops during this operation are admirable, but it should be noted that before Tobruk the troops of the Afrika Korps did not encounter adequate resistance and did not participate in serious battles. Studying the clashes in Libya, which took place from the end of May to April 10, one gets the feeling that the Allied troops and their generals were completely unprepared for military action and simply gave Rommel the territory up to Tobruk. However, near Tabruk, everything changed and during the siege of the city, the “Desert Fox” was unable to show his talent as a commander.

Rommel's first failures. On the approaches to Tobruk

Control of Tobruk was of utmost importance for both warring parties. It was the only major port on 1.5 thousand kilometers of the Libyan coast from Tunisia to Egypt. In the difficult desert conditions, possession of Tobruk actually meant possession of Libya. After capturing the city, nothing would stop Rommel from victoriously entering Alexandria, Cairo and closing the most important sea route - the Suez Canal - to Allied ships.

Infantry of the 5th Light Division near Tobruk
Source: http://maxpark.com/static/u/photo/633809663/740_284958.jpeg

Rommel was inspired by the successes of recent days and thought it would be easy to take Tobruk right away. But the exhausted troops of the Afrika Korps on the approaches to the city got bogged down in clashes with the barriers of the 9th Australian Division and were no longer moving forward as quickly as the Desert Fox wanted. Rommel, dissatisfied with the actions of the commander of the 5th Light Division, Lieutenant General Streich, instructed the recently arrived commander of the 15th Armored Division, Major General Heinrich von Prittwitz und Gaffon, to take the city (the 15th Division itself was only being transferred to Libya by sea at that time) . But Prittwitz also failed to speed up the movement to Tobruk. When Rommel, in the presence of senior officers, gave the major general a dressing down, he jumped into the staff car and drove to the front line, where he was killed during artillery shelling. The commander of the 200th Regiment, Colonel Gerhard von Schwerin, later recalled: “...I informed him [Rommel] that the general whom he had just sent to raise the front was already dead. For the first time I saw that Rommel was confused. He turned pale, turned on his heel and walked out without saying a word.”

On April 11, the Desert Fox finally captured Tobruk. With the forces of the Italian Brescia infantry division, Rommel planned to launch a diversionary attack from the west, and entrusted the task of taking the city to the tanks of his 5th division, which was supposed to attack from the east, from the road to Cairo. Considering the Tobruk garrison weak and demoralized, Rommel was worried that he had to waste time redeploying units and preparing for the assault, but was now confident of victory.

With the most capable troops from Libya sent to the defense of Greece, Tobruk was defended by the poorly trained, unfired 9th Australian Infantry Division under the command of recently promoted colonel to brigadier Leslie Morshid. Morshid was ordered to hold out for two months, and despite the poor preparation of his 9th Division units, he was determined. The city contained a large amount of military equipment, food, and ammunition that should not have fallen into the hands of the Germans. And most importantly, every soldier understood that the surrender of the city could lead to the collapse of the entire North African front and the loss of Suez. Morshid left two brigades in Tobruk, and two more occupied the fortified area that the Italians built a year before the start of the war and from where they were driven out by the Allies during Operation Compass.

The Tobruk fortification consisted of a 48-kilometer defense line with communications trenches, built on high ground. 170 well-camouflaged bunkers blended into the landscape were covered by one and a half meter concrete walls, minefields, barbed wire and anti-tank ditches.

In addition to reliable fortifications, the defenders of Tobruk had another serious advantage over Rommel’s troops. The Afrika Korps was supplied through the port of Tripoli, a thousand kilometers away, and the garrison had military warehouses nearby, designed for all Libyan allied troops, in addition, Morshid could receive supplies from Alexandria by sea. The German air force in this part of the Mediterranean was weak, and its bomber force was not strong enough either to destroy Allied convoys or to destabilize the port of Tobruk.

First assault on Tobruk. Victim of the 8th Battalion

On April 11, the assault on Tobruk began. At the forefront of the attack was the 8th motorized machine gun battalion of Oberstleutnant Ponat. Following the armor of twenty tanks of the 5th Regiment, the infantry approached the Tobruk defense line, but just before the trenches the tanks ran into anti-tank ditches and turned back. The defenseless 8th Battalion was subjected to hurricane artillery fire and began to quickly dig in. At this point, Rommel stopped the attack, and left Ponata’s soldier overnight in the shelters they dug.

German tank crews near Tabruk
Source: http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/3300/valiant-17.d7/0_24106_2ddb0710_XL.jpg

The next day, sappers were sent to the anti-tank ditches, but a strong sandstorm broke out, and, suffering losses from Australian fire, the sappers retreated. In the evening another tank breakthrough attempt was made. Again Oberst Olbricht's 5th Panzer Regiment tried to maneuver along the line of the fortified area and "grope" to find gaps in the enemy's defenses, but suffered heavy losses and was forced to retreat. The commander of the 5th Division, General Streich, wanted to dissuade Rommel from further attacks, he insisted on intelligence gathering and careful planning. The Desert Fox did not hear his subordinate and left Ponat's battalion for another night in the trenches under the furious artillery fire of Tobruk's cannons.

By the evening of 13 April, Rommel ordered the 8th Battalion to once again attack the Australian positions. The Italian artillery carried out preliminary artillery preparation and made gaps in the barbed wire barriers. Ponat's soldiers completed the task, passed the Australian defense line and gained a foothold, but it began to get dark and Rommel, fearing ambushes, did not dare to send tanks to break through.

At dawn, Olbricht's regiment moved into the gap, but it turned out that the German infantry, waiting for reinforcements, had passed behind the Australian trench line, leaving it to the second wave of the offensive, and at night Morschied's soldiers returned to their trenches without a fight. The tanks of the 5th Regiment were met with heavy fire and Olbricht hastily retreated. Ponat's battalion was surrounded.

On the evening of the next day, scattered groups of infantry still managed to fight their way back. Only 116 people returned from the battalion; the remaining five hundred, together with the commander, did not survive these four days of constant assault. Half of the 5th Regiment's tanks were destroyed and the other half damaged. It was a complete failure - all German generals thought so, but not Rommel.

Rommel inspecting the fortifications of Tobruk
Source: http://zargosl.free.fr/images/rommel-photo.jpg

He ordered the 5th Division to attack the fortifications of Tobruk again, but the generals' patience ran out, and in response the Desert Fox received outright disobedience to his orders. Streich was supported by Olbricht and the commander of the 200th Regiment Schwerin. They refused to attack blindly, without reconnaissance, and reproached their commander for being ready to sacrifice excellent soldiers instead of spending time preparing for the assault.

As a result of his rash and hasty actions near Tobruk, Rommel found a strong and consolidated opposition in the person of the senior officers of the Afrika Korps. The furious debate ended in nothing for the Desert Fox; he was never able to force the generals to accept his will and continue the attack on Tobruk. Rommel blamed Streich and Olbricht for the death of Ponat's battalion, accusing them of disobeying orders and incompetent leadership of the troops.

Information about the failure of the assault on the city and the sabotage of Rommel’s orders by the generals quickly reached Berlin. The Chief of the General Staff of the Ground Forces, Franz Halder, reflected these events in his diary: “I have a feeling that there is complete confusion there. Officer reports coming from the theater of war, as well as private letters, indicate that Rommel is completely unsuited to the task assigned to him. He rushes all day long between troops scattered over a vast distance... wastes his strength on trifles.” To “cool down this distraught soldier,” Halder sent his deputy, Major General Friedrich von Paulus, to Africa.

Second assault on Tobruk. Rommel's mad tenacity

By the end of April, the Afrika Korps received reinforcements. The 15th Panzer Division arrived at the scene of hostilities, the commander of which, after the death of Prittwitz near Tobruk, was appointed Major General Hans-Karl von Esebeck. In addition, the Italians finally found a plan for the fortifications of Tobruk, which they themselves built shortly before the war.

German signalmen in a field camp near Tobruk
Source: http://ns.abunda.ru/107489-afrikanskij-korpus-118-foto.html

It was decided to begin the second assault not from the road to Cairo, but from the plain in the southwest. The attackers were divided into two groups. The first, which consisted of elements of the 5th Division, was commanded by Major General Kirschheim, a senior officer of the General Staff, who was on an inspection tour in Libya. The second group, under von Esebeck, included the newly arrived 15th Division.

After intensive artillery preparation on the evening of April 30, the attack on the city began. German troops rushed to Hill 209. By the next morning, the Australian forward pillboxes were taken, but the attackers were stopped by the well-camouflaged fortifications of the second line of defense. German units began to suffer heavy losses, and by the evening a sandstorm broke out. Seeing the pointlessness of further advance in this sector, Paulus proposed stopping the assault, but Rommel insisted on continuing the attack.

For several days Rommel kept his troops under constant artillery fire. The dagger fire from the pillboxes alternated with furious counterattacks from Morshid's division. Despite the Desert Fox's tenacity and heavy losses, the German troops could not advance any further. Von Esebeck wrote about these days: “The summer heat hit the positions with all its brutal force. At heights, mirages of lakes with clear water were observed. Millions of flies made life unbearable. Artillery shelling, attacks by assault groups, tank raids, machine-gun fire and bombs from aircraft - all this followed one after another, there was not a moment’s respite.”

The Afrika Korps found itself in a difficult situation also because ammunition and food were running out. The corps was supplied from Tripoli, a port a thousand miles distant. The British ruled the sea, but even those convoys that managed to avoid meeting with Allied ships could not provide Rommel with everything he needed. The maximum throughput of the port of Tripoli was 45 thousand tons per month, and the Germans and Italians required 116 thousand tons.

The soldiers began to be given the food that was still available in military warehouses, mostly canned food. Rommel's men suffered from scurvy and stomach infections. “After three days of illness, I was so weak that I fainted three times in one day... all of us African warriors, both soldiers and officers, could not wait for the end of this company. And we told ourselves: “Never set foot in Africa again,” the commander of the 115th Infantry Regiment, Maximilian von Herff, later recalled.

Following military failures and illnesses, the morale of the troops began to decline. No one from the private to Paulus understood the stubbornness of Rommel, who continues the assault on Tobruk, despite the obvious lack of prospects and serious losses. From von Herff's report to the General Staff: “None of us here can understand these furious attacks on Tobruk; although the strength and size of the fortress garrison are well known, each newly arrived battalion rushes into another attack and, naturally, achieves no result... in all these impulsive commands given to the Afrika Korps, we simply cannot find any meaning or reason.”

To change the position of the troops in Libya, Paulus urgently flew to Berlin and on May 11 had a long conversation with Halder. After this meeting, the Chief of the General Staff wrote in his diary: “A very bad situation has developed there... This guy [Rommel] has absolutely no sense of proportion... He is not suitable for this task.”

What Paulus reported to his boss is unknown, but upon returning home from the General Staff, he spoke in extremely harsh terms about “this stupid, short-sighted Swabian who creates his image at the expense of correspondents, photographers and cameramen of all stripes.”

Non-prophetic "A Midsummer Night's Dream"

After the failure of the second assault on Tobruk, there was a long pause. Rommel moved on to lay siege to the city. The allies were also exhausted, bleeding and could not begin active operations. But the generals of the opposing sides used the time allotted to them in different ways.

Column of Germans in the desert

The next publication in a series of materials devoted to the history of World War 2 will introduce readers to the biography of German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, one of the few German military leaders who retained their own honor and dignity during that bloody war.

“We have before us a very experienced and brave enemy and, I must admit, despite this devastating war, a great commander.”

Winston Churchill on Erwin Rommel

Rommel Erwin (German: Erwin Eugen Johannes Rommel)
Field Marshal of the Wehrmacht.
Born: November 15, 1891 in Heidenheim, near Ulm.
Died: October 14, 1944.

He began his military service in 1910 as a cadet. Soon he became a career officer and devoted his whole life to this. During the First World War he served as a lieutenant in the Alpine battalion on the mountain border with Italy and Romania.

In 1915, he was awarded the Iron Cross, 1st class, for military services; in 1917, he again distinguished himself in the Battle of Caporetto, where a limited number of units under his command completely defeated the Italians, who had a large numerical advantage.

After the end of the war, he continued to serve in the Reichswehr, serving as commander of an infantry regiment, and then taught at a military school in Dresden. His first meeting with the Reich Chancellor of the Third Reich, Adolf Hitler, took place in 1935. Having read Rommel’s book “The Infantry Advances,” which by that time had been recognized as a valuable military work, he appointed him commander of a personal guard battalion.

During World War II, Rommel became the most popular German commander, whose skill and professionalism was highly regarded even by his opponents.

In 1940, he was appointed commander of the 7th Panzer Division on the Western Front, which participated in the implementation of the victorious Gelb plan during the war with France.

On February 6, 1941, Hitler appointed Rommel commander of the newly created German Afrika Korps (Deutsche Afrika Korps), tasking him with improving the position of Italian troops in North Africa, which were virtually defeated by British colonial forces.

The actions of the Afrika Korps in the most difficult conditions were phenomenal and forever written in golden letters in the annals of the Wehrmacht and the history of military affairs.

Almost all military historians agree that if Rommel had received the additional three motorized divisions that he demanded from Hitler, he would have defeated the British colonial troops, reached Cairo and the Suez Canal and could have cut off the flow of allied aid going to the Soviet Union through the Persian Gulf. and Iran. However, this did not happen due to the Wehrmacht leadership being preoccupied with the main offensive actions on the Eastern Front and underestimating the importance of the African theater of operations.

In early February 1941, the huge Italian colonial army under the command of General Rodolfo Graziano was cut off in Cyrenaica by British motorized units and capitulated at Bedafomme. The Italian units remaining in Tripolitania were so shocked by what happened that they were unable to defend the remaining North African colonies.

It was at this point, in February 1941, that advance elements of the German Afrika Korps landed in Tripoli, causing confusion at Allied headquarters. The main forces of the Afrika Korps were supposed to arrive in Tripoli only in a month.

Without waiting for the arrival of these forces, Rommel immediately threw into battle all the available, rather modest in number, units in the hope of distracting the British from the complete destruction of the Italian army.

This tentative counter-offensive was so successful that in less than two weeks Rommel had shifted the balance of power in his favor. A few days later, the Afrika Korps captured a number of strategically important cities, and then rushed into the interior of Egypt, to the Nile. In those days, the British were retreating at such a speed that the German advanced motorized units did not have time to pursue them, and there was no talk of organized resistance.

Only towards the end of 1941, when the offensive capabilities of the Afrika Korps were exhausted, did British troops manage to gain a foothold in Benghazi.

For these successes, in January 1942, Rommel was awarded the rank of army general.

In December 1941, taking advantage of the weakness of supplies and the fatigue of parts of the Afrika Korps, the British 8th Army, which had an advantage in manpower - 4 times, in tanks and artillery - 3 times (756 tanks and self-propelled guns + a third in reserve - against 174 German and 146 Italian), launched a well-planned offensive, forcing the Afrika Korps, after stubborn resistance, to leave Cyrenaica and retreat to their original positions, to the borders of Tripolitania. However, Rommel managed to avoid the trap prepared for him and prevent his units from being surrounded, while retaining most of his military equipment. Churchill, speaking in the House of Commons at the height of the offensive, was forced to admit this, saying with annoyance: “We have before us a very experienced and brave enemy and, I must admit, despite this devastating war, a great commander.”

At the beginning of 1942, Italian transports, despite the active actions of British aviation, were able to deliver from 50 to 100 (according to various sources) tanks to exhausted troops by sea, which turned out to be sufficient for a new crushing offensive of the Afrika Korps. On March 27, 1942, Rommel inflicts such a sudden and powerful blow on the British that it forces them to roll back to the Egyptian border. A month later, his troops captured Tobruk, a key point of British defense considered impregnable, capturing 33,000 of its defenders, nicknamed the “Tobruk rats” for their courage and resistance while surrounded. The day after this, perhaps the most outstanding success of the Wehrmacht in Africa, Rommel was awarded the rank of Field Marshal.

At the end of the next month, July 1942, units of the Afrika Korps were already near El Alamein, just a hundred kilometers from Alexandria and the Nile Delta.

The most incredible thing is that the Desert Fox made this amazing throw, having only 280 German and 230 Italian tanks and self-propelled guns against almost 1000 fighting vehicles from the British! In two weeks of rapid advance, the Afrika Korps pushed the British 8th Army back to its original positions in the Nile Delta region. For the British troops, this was one of the most dramatic moments of the entire war.

However, due to an acute shortage of fuel and lack of reinforcements in manpower and materiel, the German-Italian offensive gradually stopped. The best illustration of this situation is the fact that the Afrika Korps continued to advance with only 26 serviceable tanks, while only one of the retreating British divisions had more than a hundred!

Until the end of October 1942, a precarious balance had been established in North Africa: the German-Italian forces did not have fuel for their motorized units, and the British were gaining strength through fresh colonial divisions and the latest military equipment arriving from the United States. The German Afrika Korps did not receive reinforcements throughout 1942 and consisted of two poorly equipped divisions, including 2 tank and 3 infantry battalions, hastily reinforced by several artillery and sapper units.

Therefore, by the end of the year, the British troops had the following numerical superiority: double - in tanks and artillery; fourfold - in aviation, not counting reserves of fuel, ammunition, and food.

The situation was made worse by the fact that Rommel developed an acute form of amoebic dysentery, and he was forced to fly to Germany for hospitalization. Therefore, when the British began their massive offensive, the field marshal had to urgently return to Africa without finishing his treatment, but he arrived after the Battle of El Alamein was lost. In less than two weeks, the Afrika Korps was driven back a thousand kilometers to Tunisia.

Meanwhile, on November 8, American troops landed in Morocco and Algeria, which effectively meant that the Italo-German forces were falling into a trap. Rommel still managed to carry out another attack on the superior American forces in the Kasserine Pass area and inflict serious damage on them, but this did not change anything...

Having accumulated strength over the course of six months and achieved a 6-fold superiority in artillery, tanks and aviation, the American group, with the support of the British 8th Army, threw back the Italian-German forces to the very tip of Cape Bon Peninsula, cutting them off from the mainland.

After two months of fighting, the Afrika Korps, blocked from land and sea, laid down their arms.

Field Marshal Rommel was recalled from Tunisia on March 9, 1943 and was appointed commander of Army Group B in Northern Italy. He was given the task of preventing the capitulation of Italian troops and repelling the offensive of the Allied troops in southern Europe, which he successfully completed, delaying the Anglo-American troops in Italy until mid-1944.

In January 1944, as the Allies prepared to land in Europe, Rommel was appointed commander of Army Group in Northern France. Thanks to his energetic actions, resourcefulness and extraordinary tactical thinking, the Atlantic Wall was turned into a serious fortification. However, due to strategic disagreements with the commander of the entire military group in France, Field Marshal Rundstedt, a unified plan for the defense of the western border of the Reich was not developed, which led to the ineffectiveness and inconsistency of the actions of German troops during the Allied landing in Normandy on June 6, 1944.

Due to the severe wound Rommel received on July 17 when a British fighter fired at his headquarters vehicle, the field marshal was unable to continue his command and was sent home to Ulm for treatment.

By this time, Rommel was already completely disappointed in Hitler’s military leadership, which was far from reality, and twice, on June 17 and 29 of the same year, meeting with him, together with Rundstedt, he unsuccessfully tried to convince the Fuhrer to end the war, at that moment, while significant forces still remained Wehrmacht.

Because of this, a straightforward and decisive military officer supported the idea of an officer’s anti-Hitler conspiracy, having learned about it from Field Marshal Rundstedt, who stated: “You are young and popular among the people. This is what you need to do.” However, Rommel opposed plans to physically eliminate Hitler, believing that such an action would make him a martyr. He believed that it would be more expedient to bring the Fuhrer to trial, exposing all his crimes to the nation. The field marshal never played an active role in the July Plot, although some conspirators wanted him to lead Germany after Hitler was eliminated.

After the failure of the coup attempt, one of its participants, dying from torture, in agony named Rommel, which predetermined the future fate of the great commander. On October 14, Hitler sent two officers to the field marshal, who had not recovered from his wound, giving him a choice in honor of past merits - to commit suicide and remain a hero of the nation or to appear before the People's Tribunal, which actually meant an automatic sentence as a state traitor. “In fifteen minutes I will die,” this courageous man said to his wife and took poison.

The Fuhrer kept his promise, and the field marshal was buried as a national hero of the Third Reich with full military honors. October 18, 1944, the day of his funeral, was declared a day of national mourning.

Rommel was disliked by the Wehrmacht generals, but he was exalted and glorified by his enemies - the British, whom he pretty much beat up in Africa. Prime Minister Winston Churchill admired him in the House of Commons: “We have before us a very experienced and brave opponent and, I must confess... a great commander.”

Erwin Rommel among the officers of the Afrika Korps
(Source: http://www.bz-berlin.de)

General Claude Auchinleck, who directly opposed Rommel, even called him a “friend,” issuing a strange order in the summer of 1941: “There is a real danger that our friend Rommel will become a sorcerer or a scarecrow for our soldiers... He is by no means a superman, although he is very energetic and has abilities... It would be extremely undesirable for our soldiers to believe in his supernatural power. For this, it seems important not to mention Rommel’s name when we talk about the enemy in Libya...” Just the great and terrible Goodwin, whom it is better not to remember in vain! But was he so great and terrible? How did Rommel charm the British?

Erwin Eugen Johannes Rommel (1891–1944) was born into a quiet family of a provincial teacher, whose other children became dentists, opera singers, and art teachers. He alone was drawn to exploits. He graduated from military school, which he admitted he was bored with. And then - the First World War! An officer of the Alpine battalion, he sits on his “horse”: deep, rapid night reconnaissance, turning into reconnaissance in force. An order from above is not a decree for him, but a reason to turn around. For a mountain rifleman, the big bosses are far below, and the conditions are too difficult to carry out the order as it is. Bravery, ingenuity and dexterity - this cannot be taken away from Rommel. His “harvest of war” was the highest awards and a diary guide to infantry attacks (“humanitarian genes” also came in handy!), the text of which became very popular and much later, with the advent of the Nazis, opened the way for him to the Fuhrer: he was a bookworm. Rommel even manages to serve as commandant of Hitler's field headquarters.

The Second World War begins, and the “infantryman” Rommel suddenly asks the Fuhrer: can I command the tanks? The meaning of the Fuhrer’s answer: my 7th Panzer Division is “rusting”, take care of it. To the surprise of his enemies, Rommel, through meticulous fine-tuning of equipment, endless maneuvers and close communication with tank crews, makes it exemplary in a couple of months. Adventurism, acumen and the ability to quickly delve into a topic are another explosive mixture in his personality. So, in his youth he learned to fly a little, and then in Africa he circled in the sky, scouting enemy positions...

During the invasion of France, the 7th TD received the nickname “Ghost Division”: not only the high command, but the division headquarters itself does not always know where the commander and his tankers are running. He gave the division the “habits” of a platoon of rangers: he broke through with lightning speed and on a whim, smashed French positions from the rear, and took cities along the way... The Fuhrer’s favorite, he got away with everything. It was he who called the war in France a “pleasure ride,” and this says a lot: Rommel’s tactics since the First World War were perfectly suited for a war with a much weaker enemy.

He began to use the same “free, huntsman” tactics against the British in Africa, where at the beginning of 1941 he was sent to save his Italian allies (and it was with them that he “trained” at the beginning of his career). Rommel’s Afrika Korps was opposed by the “Desert Rats” - the 7th British Tank Division (wow, the namesake of the “Ghost Division”!), which until recently was very weak both in terms of equipment and experience. Rommel soon received the nickname “Desert Fox” for his military tricks. Alas, the metaphors are significant: the “rats of the desert” chased the “mice” of the Italians, and then the foxes came and drove the rats from Libya to Egypt. And so it was until there were too many “rats” and they learned to resist the foxes. The British, fearing for their colonies, began to increase their fighting strength, and Rommel’s corps melted away, without receiving reinforcements - everything was eaten up by the Eastern Front.

At first, the blitzkrieg tactics were successful. Rommel's capture of Tobruk is indicative. Then the British relaxed, having a 3-fold advantage in tanks (900 versus 333 for Rommel), a 5-fold advantage in airplanes, and knowing about the Germans’ lack of fuel. Rommel, having struck spontaneously and suddenly, almost defeated the entire 8th Army and actually drove it to the “historical point” - El Alamein, sometimes, as he himself admitted, marveling at his successes.

The two battles for El Alamein (in the summer and autumn of 1942) in the West are equated to the most important battles of World War II - Stalingrad, Kursk and also Guam. At El Alamein, the British changed command and increased their overwhelming superiority: 4:1 in manpower, 5:1 in tanks and artillery, 3:1 in anti-tank guns and 4:1 in aircraft. They had about 700 tanks against the two and a half hundred of Rommel’s “left” vehicles. But we must pay tribute - he held out longer than both his own and others expected. Then there was sunset, including when Rommel commanded Army Group B during the Allied invasion of Normandy. There he also held up well, but the criticism of his command was significant.

So why was Rommel so praised by the British? We must not forget that until 1944, they really only seriously stood face to face with the enemy in Africa (the battle and defeat of the British at Narvik in 1940 was not on a large scale)... To exalt the enemy there meant to exalt one’s successes against the backdrop of events on the Eastern Front . Secondly, this is the case when whites fought with whites in completely foreign territories, both in ethnicity and climate, hostile to both territories. I remember an old conversation with a special forces soldier who fought under a secret treaty in Zambia back in the early 80s. There, in the jungle, our people fought with South African mercenaries: Germans, French... So, too, in the black environment, everyone respected each other very much.

Finally, Rommel's personal charisma was truly unique to the Wehrmacht. His soldiers adored the commander because he was always with them in all troubles, and for his tactical, sometimes almost childish tricks, in which the soldier had something to come up with his own. And the prisoners of war respected him for his nobility and humanism: he cut off his rations to feed the prisoners, and talked to many of them personally... and released them. Another factor in demoralizing the enemy: treating prisoners too softly!

The bottom line is that it is worth recognizing that, in fact, Erwin Rommel was a brilliant field commander, excellent at fighting “alone” and on the outskirts of a large “mainland” front. Perhaps the most accurate description of Rommel as a commander was given by Luftwaffe Field Marshal Albert Kesselring: “He was the leader of the Blitzkrieg troops, but only at the army level. He couldn’t go beyond this level... At one time he was an enthusiast, at another he fell into depression.”

Rommel won when the enemy, even if he had superiority in numbers, was inferior in terms of command: as soon as the “old wolf” of the war, General Bernard Montgomery, arrived at El Alamein, Rommel’s successes immediately came to naught. The tactics of Field Marshal Rommel were in many ways reminiscent of the tactics of Marshal Pavel Rybalko, but if they are compared in detail, it immediately becomes clear who can really be called a “great commander.” No wonder “well-wishers” in the Wehrmacht command gloated at Rommel: if only he could go straight to the Eastern Front!

Sources of information: Lutz Koch. Erwin Rommel. - Phoenix. - Moscow. – 1999.

David Irving. The Trail of the Fox. – E. P. Dutton – Boston. – 1977.

Wikipedia.org materials