My Essay

Some you guys may not like it because: it is baout Rommel and you may think he is over hyped, odd facts, and horribly written (I am a pretty bad writer actually horrible writer lol. ) Here it is!

World War II was the bloodiest war in all of Europe; Nazi Germany turned Poland into ruins, Czechoslovakia into a killing ground, and blitzed across all of Europe. Among the many generals of the Axis party, Erwin Rommel stands out. Rommel has been adored by historians and the Allies generals. However, he has been despised by his subordinates and the higher authority. His Afrikan Campaign was the prime and downfall of his glory, but his legacy was revived by historians throughout the ages. When Operation Overlord commenced that was when everything came crystal clear for him: nobody liked him and the Allies would win the war. Rommel’s swiftness and mindedness earned him respect and the name “The Desert Fox” while being valued by his corps.
Rommel was born in Heidenheim, Germany in the 15th of November, 1891. He had wanted to become an engineer, however his father disapproved of it and his father enlisted him in the: Wuerttemberg Gebrigs-Bataillon (Wuerttemberg Mountain Battalion). The Wuerttemberg were not as strong as the Italian and French counterparts, for mountain warfare, yet they were sufficient enough to get the job done. Rommel wouldn't being joining them until his wound in France 1914 which earned him the Iron Cross, First Class. After the war Rommel was offered a position of general staff during the interwar years, however he declined because he would have rathered severed his men on the field. That way of thinking would stay with him until his death in World War II. So the higher command moved him into schools to become an instructor: in the school Dresden Infantry School this is where he would write his most notable book Infanterie Greift An (Infantry Attack) based on his lectures. The book Infantry Attacks caught the eye of Hitler and helped him secure a bright future which would later help him get him what he wanted a tank division called the Afrika Korps. Rommel's relation with Hitler was unbreakable, like a diamond. Even when Hitler discovered Rommel helped the plot to kill him he still loved him and respected him and gave him a heroes funeral. Many of his men loved him, because of his boldness, understandment his men, and his charisma. Rommel is one of those people who will take risks or not to take risks; in World War I Rommel had dug in with his platoon of fifty men and had no support from the left and right flank and was all alone with his men; Rommel urged his high command to send food, ammunition, and men. Later Rommel found out that French soldiers were retreating, and he had to choose to either give then some casualties which could deplete their ammunition, but more would come. However, attacking them would also mean that they would have no line of communication with the bulk of the German army. In the end Rommel decided to take the chance and open fire, however moments later he was told that the front lines could not send them ammunition. Due to the reason that the they were digging in and they had no time to send help of any sort. So Rommel had to think of something quick: either stay and surrender or disorganize the French force with rapid fire then retreat. He choose to retreat and hope to come back with at least with most of his men, luckily he came with all of his men and only five severely wounded. Rommel also knew what his men were thinking; when they were surrounded he knew that his men already knew that they were in a sticky situation so there was no need to tell them to fight as hard as they could.
The African Campaign is the glory of his days; he was appointed to Africa because the Italian army was breaking against the superior enemy technology and experience. When Rommel arrived he recovered all the lost land, but Rommel was losing supplies at the same time: due to Malta. Rommel was pacing around thinking what should he do; then suddenly when all other supply convoys failed one broke through and gave the ammunition he needed more than ever. Thanks to Hitler finally pulling out the U-Boats out of the Atlantic and getting the Luftwaffe to attack Malta. They were able to kill: three battleships, two cruisers, and several destroyers and submarines. Rommel had swept across Africa in forty six days recovering the lost land, however that still doesn't mean the Axis has control of Malta. That means they can still raid convoys, but were just stalled for a bit. So Rommel was receiving absolutely no ammunition, men, and food; he was eventually pushed back to Egypt. Finally, Hitler decided to attack Malta so the British would have nowhere to dock their ships and would stop raiding Rommel's supply route. When Rommel found out he decided to attack El Alamein thinking that the British Royal Air Force and Royal Navy would not give them air and sea support. Suddenly Hitler decided not to attack Malta, because he thought the German Luftwaffe would be able to keep the RAF and Royal Navy busy. Rommel had no idea that Hitler called it off, so he attacked. When Rommel had to withdraw Hitler told him not to and to stay and fight until death, however Rommel valued his men so much that he defied his best friend's order. In the end Rommel lost: El Alamein the true turning point for the African Campaign. There was absolutely no way for Rommel to get a comeback and that was the end for Rommel's halcyon days.
After the failed attempt of taking control of Africa Hitler told Rommel to help the coastal defense of France. Rommel was put in charge for the coastal defense: stretching across Denmark to the Bay of Biscay. When Rommel arrived he was horrified how bad the fortifications were: there was no preparations. Which meant that the Whermact were not in place for an attack if the amphibious assault took place; the reason why many soldiers were not there is because most of them were on vacation. The forts were also focused all around the Pas de Calais; they focused around the Pas de Calais because it looked like the most reasonable port to attack. Due to the many cover on the beach and short travel distance to the fortifications. However, Rommel saw it differently: he saw that the Allies would drop paratroopers, capture Carentan to link up the two American forces, then he also saw the huge problem of the enemy air force, and they would attack Juno, Sword, Gold, Omaha, and Utah. He predicted every move that the Allies would make. Rommel tried to solve many of these problems: he knew that the paratroopers would try to knock out their communications so he fortified his communication posts, he knew that they would attack Carentan so he tried to get the Hitler Youth there to defend, but Hitler refused, he needed the tanks up on the beaches to stop the Allies dead in their tracks, and as for the air force he could not do anything to counter them. The Luftwaffe could not help counter the Royal Air Force, because the Battle of Britain completely decimated them. Rommel was one of those commanders that had a minor point of view; his view was so small because many people were jealous of him so they dismissed him. Not even his best friend listened to him: Hilter; instead they had different approach. Guderian and Rundstedt said that they would rather have the Panzers wait until the Allies broke through the beaches and established a beach head command, then once they moved out they would counter attack. But the problem was that the Panzers would be way too far to catch up to the Allies. What many people ignore or do not know is that Rommel's subordinates and higher command completely ignored him. In the end even before Normandy Rommel knew that Germany had lost the war, and Hitler was bringing Germany to ruins. He also realized that he did not have that many friends his only friends were Guderian and Hitler: yet his relations with Hitler would deteriorate.
Rommel died October 14, 1944 from a cyanide pill; attempting to kill Hitler. Rommel a true patriot of Germany, yet not a Nazi. He had many traits that made his Corps love him: charisma, valor, courage, and intellect. Though he failed at Africa and Normandy it was not entirely his fault, and rightfully deserves to be said one of the greatest commanders of World War II.


What do you guys think of it? It is alright if you say "I ****en hate it" lol

 

Not a bad effort. Whats the Essay for? Try to incorporate more paragraphs! : ) A new idea, a new paragraph. Couple of "spots":

"World War II was the bloodiest war in all of Europe" - In human History.

"Rommel is one of those people who will take risks or not to take risks" - Yeah im a bit like that too... : ) A man for all seasons.

"El Alamein the true turning point for the African Campaign" - Ask an Australian and he will tell you Tobruk.

"the Battle of Britain completely decimated them." - (pet hate) Decimated means reduced by one tenth...we did better than that!

The style and tone is a little conversational, try to formalise your language when writing these peices.

 

Thank you so much you guys!

 

An 'Additional" meaning due to its continual incorrect useage.

 

Well 10% is pretty drastic IMO but the term is also being misused (again IMO) to mean significantly greater than 10% losses. If a unit took 30% casualties for instance I'd rather see it stated that "they were decimated three times over" as opposed to "they were virtually decimated" as is common. However I'm also pretty sure my opinion isn't likely to change much ....

 

It is for my Social Studies class.

 

Gotta admit, as much of a fan of Rommel's as I am, I was turned off by the massive single-paragraph format. If you're going to call something an "essay", and only use one paragraph, then I'm pretty likely to not read it, since that combo simply screams "poorly written/researched/thought-out". Now, this may just be due to a glitchy copy/paste from Word or OpenOffice (seen it happen before) that wasn't caught before clicking Submit, but you really should take the time to craft your essay to actually resemble an essay. You did the research, you thought out the topic, now take some pride in it and present it in a way that will win your teacher/professor over to your side. Rommel himself would have had you shipped to the Eastern Front for turning in a paper like this! LOL

Time-lines...you start out summarizing Rommel's career, which is good...start general. Then (in a new paragraph) detail his history and let us know WHY you think he's such a great guy. Don't skip back and forth between WW2, WW1, and the interim years. Go chronological. It flows better that way.

That being said, "everything came crystal clear for him: nobody liked him and the Allies would win the war"....methinks you need to read up a bit more about Rommel (and please....block Wikipedia in your browser. Don't ever use that site for "research". Just sayin'.). His troops generally loved him (he lived with them at the front, ate their food, shared their trenches, and fought/led from the front, not pushing from a plush mansion at the rear, plus he produced results and looked out for his troops' welfare), his enemies respected him (Churchill and Patton spoke highly of him, respected him as a commander and tactician, and mourned his death), and I think only his allies feared him (he didn't have much good to say about the Italians, and the feeling was reciprocated). What really got me was the very next sentence you stated "Rommel’s swiftness and mindedness earned him respect and the name “The Desert Fox” while being valued by his corps." (emphasis mine) So which is it? Did everyone hate him, or did his troops love him? This sentence combo makes him sound like a whiny indecisive teenager who thinks his parents hate him, when in actuality that's about as far from reality as it can get.

You also mention that Rommel went straight from Africa to the Atlantic Wall: not true. He went to Italy for a while to "advise" the Italians, whom Hitler (rightly) suspected of being close to switching sides. On the Atlantic Wall, Rommel wasn't omniscient and predicted every move the Allies made down to the exact landing zones. He simply looked at several maps, and made plans according to what he would do were he in Eisenhower's position. He wasn't sure where the attack would come, but guessed the Normandy region, but there were several other alternative sites that could possibly be the target, so he began fortifying all up and down the coast. If he had only fortified the Normandy beaches, our guys would not have made it off the beaches. His troops were also not almost all on vacation. No army in the world sends a good portion of its troops on vacation all at once, especially in a time of war. Most of his available troops were made up of older men or young kids ("Oost Battalions", I think they were called), divisions pulled out of the line elsewhere for rest/rebuilding, conscripts were used for construction (unreliability, sabotage, etc), he was short on supplies most of the time...given another three or four months, and adequate supplies, and Overlord would likely have failed (but that's just conjecture on my part).

Finally....Rommel had talked with some of the conspirators in the July 20th plot, and agreed that if anything happened to the Furher, he would take over control of Germany's armed forces. He was NOT a part of the plot to kill Hitler. He was a patriot in the truest sense of the word. He served Germany, not Hitler. If Pope John Paul II had been elected (no offense to Catholics, just throwing out a very improbable name there), Rommel would have gone pounding across N. Africa with a palm tree and crucifix painted on the sides of his tanks. His name was mentioned (screamed?) by someone during a Gestapo question/answer session after the plot failed, and I think his name also appeared on a list detailing the change of political/military command structure, so he was tied to the plot. But he wasn't an active plotter, and was still a "friend" of Hitler's, and so was given the gentleman's alternative to disappearing into the basements of the local SS headquarters.

Its not a bad paper, but needs a little tender loving care, some polishing, and maybe a bit more research (depending on what grade you're in...generally speaking, the farther along in your education you are, the more depth they're going to expect).

 

PattonRommel might want to just cut and paste this! I went the lazy route, good onya for taking the time Rabid. Some excellent advice...(you sound like an ex-teacher).

 

Thank you so much for the feedback. I made a few corrections of my sentences, broke up the paragraphs, and added some details like you said. Also, I don't use Wikipedia lol. But, other thank that you were right on everything else. Again awsome feedback Also, what is your reaction when people say he is overrated? I think people judge him way too harshly, because he knows how to use infantry really well and he adapted to tank tactics rather quickly and became one of the best. I also see that most people judge him just because he acted like his troops like you said "was in trenches..." etc. and his logistical skills.

 

Heh. Ex-teacher? Nope, crowds give me the creeps, and getting up in front of one to speak pretty much kicks the "flight" part of "fight-or-flight" into overdrive. Its just like anything else, though...like the guy or hate the guy, facts are facts and there are plenty of sources out there, there's no need to go around spreading misinformation. Heh. I feel kinda guilty when I say this, since for some reason I graduated HS (waaaaaaaay back in the day) with a firm impression that The Desert Fox was a raving, snarling Nazi and Montgomery was the genius who kicked his butt. Product of a bad educational system, or product of a deranged braincell, I dunno. I'm just glad I got around to reading more about WW2, because my opinions on several subjects changed.

People will always judge. That's just the way we're wired. Especially when we can judge from the safety of 70 years' worth of hindsight. The man was a genius, and like I said, a patriot. Had the roles been reversed and Germany won, we would be looking at Patton as a misguided genius (okay, bad example...he really was. LOL). Everyone has their own opinion on every subject under the sun, and every one will be unique with different insights on different argument points. Mostly, in this case, people judge him by the uniform he wore and the Party he took orders from, without actually getting to know the guy.

 

Just a few comments about Rommel.....he was a fine general by any measure....he was on the wrong side of history, trying to use tactics they had proven to be successful with. The Blitz Kreig was not always resource friendly as gasoline was used to a high degree, as did his flanking maneuvers, but this shortage of resources is how the Allies won in many instances as their production and shipping were given early thought and protection with their campaigns. Hitler made decisions based on building his own stature and ego and that is one reason he did not listen to Rommel but also Rommel was frequently denied the resources he needed by Hitlers diversion of them for his own opinion of how things should be used. Any of Hitler's generals could have a done a better job tactically than Hitler......but often that is not how a dictator does things so Germany was to suffer the consequences of having followed this mad man so loyally to a sure destruction. You could easily say greed and malice won out with Hitler over the other choice which was to build strength and proceed cautiously in war. For me I find a lesson in that it is the people at the bottom of society that need to take up the causes that keep a government honest as ultimately the people will pay the consequences if they do not keep a eye on how the country behaves at the top. Perhaps we as Americans and maybe some of our allies have a realization of this fact of life for governments. Certainly the Blitz Kreig Tactic was effective but you could say Hitler's choice to fight on several fronts destroyed the ability of the German economy to support the Blitz so to speak so the needed goods were always too short in supply to feed the Blitz Krieg. The German generals knew how but the leader had too many greedy desires destroying Germany in the process of getting what he wanted in glory and stature. I think it is good that you have chosen to study Rommel and how his fine skills could not succeed in this epic war.

 

..well you could have done some reading. David Irving's 'Trail of the Fox' is available for free pdf download from the author's own site. You could worse than read the intro and the conclusion

Free Download: David Irving: The Trailof the Fox (Rommel biography)

 

Rommel was written on at this site under best/worst general of ww2. Thanks for breaking up into paragraphs, I didn't bother to read the big block of words.

 

I will say that with a little polishing you've got a great essay there. I didn't pay so much attention to the facts as the way it was written and it wasn't bad. I once wrote 50,000 words without a single paragraph break and going through the re-write was a nightmare.