Rommel, the rise and fall of

on the front cover of the may issue of Armchair General is a picture of the desert fox and a story inside called the rise and fall of
rommel why Hitler killed his favorite general

 

becouse hes a fool !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

yeah , I'm inclined to go with Td's anwser

 

Because he was too popular among the German people to be fired for failing to defend Normandy.

 

He was killed becuase his staff were indicted in the assasination attempt and it was known that Rommel had no heart to prolong the fight and wanted peace. He knew Germany had lost years ago.

FNG

 

In his book Bodyguard of Lies, Anthony Cave Brown writes, " As the casualties continued to mount in Normandy and the needed replacements did not arrive, Rommel took another step down the road to treason. Without the 15th Army, he had little hope of inflicting such heavy losses on Neptune that the Allies would be forced to seek terms, and he realized that unless he acted now he would have nothing left either to save or bargain with in any negotiation with the Grand Alliance. Accordingly, he invited Hitler to the Chateau de la Roche Guyon for a conference, determined, if the Fuehrer rejected his proposals, particularly concerning the use of the 15 th Army, to have him arrested by troops who were loyal only to Rommel. Hitler accepted his invitation but elected to meet at W2, an underground command post near Soissons; he was far too wily to meet Rommel at the Chateau."

This shows that Hitler already distrusted Rommel before the assasination attempt on July 20.

The Schwarze Kapelle had picked Rommel as a replacement for Hitler, because of his prestige, and this doomed Rommel after the assasination failed .

 

Brown doesn't seem overly professional in using the word "Neptune" to cover the Allied forces in Normandy. Neptune was the codeword used for the landings only; after D-Day the operation in progress was Overlord.

 

This might also be due to the reputation Rommel had in the UK which the other German generals didn't have.

The conspirators may have thought the allies would negotiate peace with Rommel not realising that the allies were never going to negotiate.

FNG

 

Rommel himself had plans to send officiers of his staff accross front lines, after the death of Hitler, to negotiate a ceacefire with the Allies. He mistakenly believed his "friend" Montgomery had the authority to make such decisions.

 

dam straight( yes the first word is spelt worng

 

I've got a few things to say:
1-Rommel was NOT a fool, he just chose to stand up against Hitler. He was a tactical GENIUS. He nearly crushed the British 8th Army TWICE! And when the Allies landed in his back door, it took them about eight months to capture Tunisia.
2-Hitler wanted Rommel dead because a) he stood up against Hitler, b) he tried to evacuate Tunisia, directly disobeying Hitler's orders, c) he tried to use the tanks that Hitler had assigned to reserve against the Allied beachhead in Normandy, d) he took part in planning the plot to kill Hitler.

 

Rommel was not a fool, but he did have a blind spot when it came to logistics. It has often been said that he would be relatively unkown if he had been on the Eastern Front rather than in the desert.

Hitler wanted Rommel dead because Hitler thought that Rommel was in on the plot to kill him. I have yet to see any actual proof of this!

 

Erm, when it was said "he was a fool" I always assume they were talking about the one testicled raving homicidal nutter in charge rather than the tactically brilliant field marshall.

FNG

 

The campaign in North Africa was a see-saw before Rommel arrived; it went up and down the length of the African North Coast three times if I'm not mistaken. This was simply its nature. Since outflanking the enemy was impossible, retreat was the obvious choice when the enemy got the upper hand.

If Hitler wanted Rommel dead for disobeying him and wanting to abandon Tunesia, why did he give him command of one of the most important stretches of front line of Fortress Europe right after these events? Why did he virtually give Rommel the responsibility to fight off the pending invasion? Where, by the way, Rommel's ideas about the defence near the coast were at least partially enforced by OKH?

 

ooh, you mean goering
during the Bavarian coup of the nazi's (witch failed, off course) the police started to fire at the nazi's and they hitted Herman Goering right between his legs (ouch, bet he sang very high when it happend )

as far as i know, hitler had all his balls , not that it is a fact that interested me much

 

Doesn't the memoirs of the few members of the German Ressistance who survived provide enough proof that Rommel was in the plot to kill Hitler?

 

allthough his rol was way smaller then they claim. Rommel sure wanted hitler out of the way but he wanted him locked up in a prison
the role of rommel was to become the new leader of the army once hitler was killed or to become the new leader of germany. at least at a high position so that negotiation with the allies was possible

 

:roll: Here we go again.

Firstly, memoires are always a suspect source, as they write history the way the author wants it to be known. I think it was Churchill who said "History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it".

If the person you are writing about died 60-odd years ago then that is fantastic, as he cannot then complain.

Why would they implicate Rommel in their memoires if he was not involved?
Any number of reasons.

The cynical: Because tapping into such a controversial issue makes good publicity and sells more books

The wishful thinker: Because that is how they wanted it to have happened

The Rose-tinted glasses: Because they want Rommel's memory to be one of a man who risked all to bring down an oppressive regime and stop a world war

(list continues)

Basically, we will never really know. Ain't history frustrating sometimes!

Essentially, the conclusion I have arrived at is this:

The conspirators saw Rommel as a good figurehead to use after killing Hitler - he had no real Nazi background*, and was something of a national hero.

They may even have asked him if he was willing to do that. Whatever he replied (yes or no) he did not seem to actively get involved in the plot, but nor did he denounce the plotters to the authorities (if he know about them).

*Yes he did command Hitler's bodyguard unit at one point. anybody know why?

In the 1920s/30s Rommel wrote a book on infantry tactics. Hitler read this book, and became quite a fan of Rommel. Hence he wanted him to command his bodyguard.
Rommel may have had to join the Nazi Party thanks to this role - but that does not positively indicate that he definately was a Nazi, or even that e believed any of the ideology.

 

if he believed in the nazi ideology then he would have executed that captured jewish brigade in the desert war

 

Sorry for my bad English but i would just like to say this:Rommel knew that Hitler is about to be murdered.Although it didn't happen,he wanted something else:to bring Hitler to trial.Not to kill him.So he was involved in plot in some way...Hitler ordered to kill all men who are involved in plot to be murdered.There were no exeptions.As allways..