Saturday, October 13, 2007
The American way of war
At least, according to Erwin Rommel.
2 Comments:
By 
GreenmanTim, at
Sun Oct 14, 07:50:00 AM:
One often reads that Erwin Rommel studied the tactics of Stonewall Jackson. Nazis and Rebels: Knock yourself out, History Channel!
By 
, at
Sun Oct 14, 09:14:00 AM:
Rommel was NOT a Nazi. He loathed the Nazi party. He was a line officer in WWI, and moved up in the ranks between the wars on the merit of hard work and competence.
He was also not a product of the German General Staff method, so the elitist "vons", the landed aristocracy, also disliked him, although he was extremely competent.
From the beginnng of the war in Poland to the defeat of the Afrika Corps, he was in Germany itself for only a handful of months. His return after the betrayal and defeat of his beloved Afrika Corp caused him to begin to question his loyalty to Hitler's Germany, and he also became more aware of the concentration camps, of which he was not, as were many other German Field officers, very aware.
After the strategic fiasco of D-Day (for the Germans) he participated in the July assasination plot of Hitler. For this, he was shot in December of 1944 (Rommel sucumbs to his wartime illnesses was the cover story). He told his son Mannfred, as the Gestapo came to take him away, that he was being taken out to be shot. Afterward, the Nazis left his family alone, that was the bargain.
So yeah, make of him what you will.
-David
