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Tell your German colleagues that I wipe my arse with it! There were plenty of other acts of mini rebellion during the war. A doctor stationed in Oulu, who was less — or, some might argue, more — principled than Skurnik, refused to operate on Germans and was transferred to another sector. Such behaviour in another part of Europe would have meant their certain death. Nevertheless, after the war, as the horrors of the Holocaust revealed themselves, a discomfort about their special treatment spread, both among the Finnish Jews themselves and the wider Jewish community.
At a meeting of war veterans in Tel Aviv in , the Finns were almost thrown out as traitors. Had it not occurred to them, they were asked, that, by helping Hitler, they had prolonged his time in power and thus ensured more Jews went to the gas chambers than would otherwise have been the case? That discomfort is still detectable today. But the Finnish Jews were on an impossible mission. Whatever they did there would always be one inescapable difference between them and their Finnish compatriots: What were they supposed to do?
That is the question nobody can answer. Finland and the Holocaust by Hannu Rautkallio is available from amazon. In Pictures - the story of love and romance: Compiled by Martin Chilton. Accessibility links Skip to article Skip to navigation. Friday 14 December The Jews who fought for Hitler: We had a common enemy' They fought alongside them, healed them, and often befriended them. But how do Finland's Jews feel today about their uneasy - and little mentioned - alliance with the Nazis? Leo Skurnik, a Jewish medical officer second row, second from right , was awarded an Iron Cross.
Leo Skurnik, left, and Salomon Klass There were plenty of other acts of mini rebellion during the war. Top 12 classical mythology films. Books In Pictures - the story of love and romance: Film 50 great quotes about acting. Following his success in Battleaxe, Rommel returned his attention to the capture of Tobruk. He made preparations for a new offensive, to be launched between 15 and 20 November. Auchinleck had tanks and double the number of Axis aircraft.
Auchinleck launched Operation Crusader , a major offensive to relieve Tobruk, on 18 November Noting that the British armour was separated into three groups incapable of mutual support, he concentrated his Panzers so as to gain local superiority. The airfield at Sidi Rezegh was retaken by 21st Panzer on 22 November.
In four days of fighting, the Eighth Army lost tanks and Rommel only Wanting to exploit the British halt and their apparent disorganisation, on 24 November Rommel counterattacked near the Egyptian border in an operation that became known as the "dash to the wire". While Rommel drove into Egypt, the remaining Commonwealth forces east of Tobruk threatened the weak Axis lines there. On 27 November the British attack on Tobruk linked up with the defenders, and Rommel, having suffered losses that could not easily be replaced, had to concentrate on regrouping the divisions that had attacked into Egypt.
By 7 December Rommel fell back to a defensive line at Gazala, just west of Tobruk, all the while under heavy attack from the Desert Air Force. The Bardia garrison surrendered on 2 January and Halfaya on 17 January On 5 January the Afrika Korps received 55 tanks and new supplies and Rommel started planning a counterattack. On 21 January, Rommel launched the attack. The Axis forces retook Benghazi on 29 January and Timimi on 3 February, with the Allies pulling back to a defensive line just before the Tobruk area south of the coastal town of Gazala.
Rommel placed a thin screen of mobile forces before them, and held the main force of the Panzerarmee well back near Antela and Mersa Brega. Following Kesselring's successes in creating local air superiority around the British naval and air bases at Malta in April , an increased flow of supplies reached the Axis forces in Africa. He knew the British were planning offensive operations as well, and he hoped to pre-empt them.
While out on reconnaissance on 6 April, he was severely bruised in the abdomen when his vehicle was the target of artillery fire. Unlike the British, the Axis forces had no armoured reserve; all operable equipment was put into immediate service. In addition, Italian tanks were in service, but these were also under-gunned and poorly armoured. Early in the afternoon of 26 May , Rommel attacked first and the Battle of Gazala commenced. Italian infantry supplemented with small numbers of armoured forces assaulted the centre of the Gazala fortifications. To give the impression that this was the main assault, spare aircraft engines mounted on trucks were used to create huge clouds of dust.
Ritchie was not convinced by this display, and left the 4th and 22nd Armoured Brigades in position at the south end of the Commonwealth position. The Grant tanks proved to be impossible to knock out except at close range. Renewing the attack on the morning of 28 May, Rommel concentrated on encircling and destroying separate units of the British armour.
Repeated British counterattacks threatened to cut off and destroy the Afrika Korps.
Running low on fuel, Rommel assumed a defensive posture, forming "the Cauldron". He made use of the extensive British minefields to shield his western flank. Meanwhile, Italian infantry cleared a path through the mines to provide supplies. On 30 May Rommel resumed the offensive, attacking westwards to link with elements of Italian X Corps, which had cleared a path through the Allied minefields to establish a supply line. On 15 June Axis forces reached the coast, cutting off the escape for the Commonwealth forces still occupying the Gazala positions.
With this task completed, Rommel struck for Tobruk while the enemy was still confused and disorganised. The assault on Tobruk began at dawn on 20 June, and Klopper surrendered at dawn the following day. On 22 June, Hitler promoted Rommel to Generalfeldmarschall for this victory. Following his success at Gazala and Tobruk, Rommel wanted to seize the moment and not allow 8th Army a chance to regroup.
However, Hitler viewed the North African campaign primarily as a way to assist his Italian allies, not as an objective in and of itself. He would not consider sending Rommel the reinforcements and supplies he needed to take and hold Egypt, as this would have required diverting men and supplies from his primary focus: Rommel's success at Tobruk worked against him, as Hitler no longer felt it was necessary to proceed with Operation Herkules , the proposed attack on Malta.
He pressed an attack on the heavily fortified town of Mersa Matruh , which Auchinleck had designated as the fall-back position, surrounding it on 28 June. The four divisions of X Corps were caught in the encirclement, and were ordered by Auchinleck to attempt a breakout. The 29th Indian Infantry Brigade was nearly destroyed, losing 6, troops and 40 tanks. In addition to stockpiles of fuel and other supplies, the British abandoned hundreds of tanks and trucks.
Those that were functional were put into service by the Panzerarmee. Rommel continued his pursuit of the Eighth Army, which had fallen back to heavily prepared defensive positions at El Alamein. This region is a natural choke point, where the Qattara Depression creates a relatively short line to defend that could not be outflanked to the south because of the steep escarpment.
Rommel had around available tanks. The Allies were able to achieve local air superiority, with heavy bombers attacking the 15th and 21st Panzers, who had also been delayed by a sandstorm. The 90th Light Division veered off course and were pinned down by South African artillery fire. Rommel continued to attempt to advance for two more days, but repeated sorties by the Desert Air Force meant he could make no progress.
The ridge was captured by the 26th Australian Brigade on 16 July. Rommel realised that the tide was turning. Bernard Montgomery was made the new commander of Eighth Army that same day. The Eighth Army had initially been assigned to General William Gott , but he was killed when his plane was shot down on 7 August. The Battle of Alam el Halfa was launched on 30 August. The terrain left Rommel with no choice but to follow a similar tactic as he had at previous battles: It took much longer than anticipated to get through the minefields in the southern sector, and the tanks got bogged down in unexpected patches of quicksand Montgomery had arranged for Rommel to acquire a falsified map of the terrain.
By 2 September, Rommel realized the battle was unwinnable, and decided to withdraw. Montgomery had made preparations to cut the Germans off in their retreat, but in the afternoon of 2 September he visited Corps commander Brian Horrocks and gave orders to allow the Germans to retire.
This was to preserve his own strength intact for the main battle which was to come. Montgomery called off further action to preserve his strength and allow for further desert training for his forces. The British losses, except tank losses of 68, were much less, further adding to the numerical inferiority of Panzer Army Afrika.
An Aerial View of the Global Conflict. When Rommel lost faith in the final victory and Hitler's leadership, Hitler and Goebbels tried to find an alternative in Manstein to remedy the fighting will and "political direction" of other generals but did not succeed. Though Messe replaced Rommel, he diplomatically deferred to him, and the two coexisted in what was theoretically the same command. I will tell you just one thing: The Path to Victory: By , the SS had purchased 75 percent of the mineral water producers in Germany and were intending to acquire a monopoly. How the Nazis Ruled Europe.
The Desert Air Force inflicted the highest proportions of damage on Rommel's forces. He now realized the war in Africa could not be won. Improved decoding by British intelligence see Ultra meant that the Allies had advance knowledge of virtually every Mediterranean convoy, and only 30 per cent of shipments were getting through. Stumme, in command in Rommel's absence, died of an apparent heart attack while examining the front on 24 October, and Rommel was ordered to return from his medical leave, arriving on the 25th.
By the end of 25 October, 15th Panzers, the defenders in this sector, had only 31 serviceable tanks remaining of their initial force of On the 28th, Montgomery shifted his focus to the coast, ordering his 1st and 10th Armoured Divisions to attempt to swing around and cut off Rommel's line of retreat.
Meanwhile, Rommel concentrated his attack on the Allied salient at Kidney Ridge, inflicting heavy losses. However, Rommel had only operational tanks remaining, and Montgomery had , many of them Shermans. Montgomery, seeing his armoured brigades losing tanks at an alarming rate, stopped major attacks until the early hours of 2 November, when he opened Operation Supercharge, with a massive artillery barrage.
Rommel, who believed that the lives of his soldiers should never be squandered needlessly, was stunned. He later said the decision to delay was what he most regretted from his time in Africa. As Rommel attempted to withdraw his forces before the British could cut off his retreat, he fought a series of delaying actions.
Heavy rains slowed movements and grounded the Desert Air Force, which aided the withdrawal. Those parts of Panzerarmee Africa that were motorized slipped away from El Alamein, but were under pressure from the pursuing Eighth Army. A series of short delaying actions was fought over the coastal highway, but no line could be held for any length of time, as Rommel lacked the armour and fuel to defend his open southern flank. Rommel defended his decision, pointing out that if he tried to assume a defensive position the Allies would destroy his forces and take the airfields anyway; the retreat saved the lives of his remaining men and shortened his supply lines.
By now, Rommel's remaining forces fought in reduced strength combat groups, whereas the Allied forces had great numerical superiority and control of the air. Upon his arrival in Tunisia , Rommel noted with some bitterness the reinforcements, including the 10th Panzer Division, arriving in Tunisia following the Allied invasion of Morocco. Having reached Tunisia, Rommel launched an attack against the U. II Corps which was threatening to cut his lines of supply north to Tunis. Rommel inflicted a sharp defeat on the American forces at the Kasserine Pass in February, his last battlefield victory of the war, and his first engagement against the United States Army.
Rommel immediately turned back against the British forces, occupying the Mareth Line old French defences on the Libyan border. Though Messe replaced Rommel, he diplomatically deferred to him, and the two coexisted in what was theoretically the same command. On 23 February Armeegruppe Afrika was created with Rommel in command.
Alerted by Ultra intercepts, Montgomery deployed large numbers of anti-tank guns in the path of the offensive. After losing 52 tanks, Rommel called off the assault. Rommel never returned to Africa. He arrived in Greece on 25 July but was recalled to Berlin the same date due to the overthrow of Mussolini. Rommel was to be posted to Italy as commander of the newly formed Army Group B. When Italy announced armistice with the Allies on 8 September, his forces took part in Operation Achse , disarming the Italian forces.
Hitler met with Rommel and Kesselring to discuss future operations in Italy on 30 September Rommel insisted on a defensive line north of Rome, while Kesselring was more optimistic and advocated holding a line south of Rome. Hitler preferred Kesselring's appreciation and therefore revoked his prior decision for a subsequent subordination of Kesselring's forces to Rommel's army group. On 19 October Hitler decided that Kesselring would be the overall commander of the forces in Italy, sidelining Rommel. Rommel had wrongly predicted that the collapse of the German line in Italy would be fast.
On 21 November Hitler gave Kesselring overall command of the Italian theater, moving Rommel and Army Group B to Normandy in France with responsibility for defending the French coast against the long anticipated Allied invasion. There was broad disagreement in the German High Command as to how best to meet the expected allied invasion of Northern France.
The Commander-in-Chief West, Gerd von Rundstedt, believed there was no way to stop the invasion near the beaches due to the firepower possessed by the Allied navies, as had been experienced at Salerno. The allies could be allowed to extend themselves deep into France where a battle for control would be fought, allowing the Germans to envelop the allied forces in a pincer movement, cutting off their avenue of retreat.
He feared the piecemeal commitment of their armoured forces would cause them to become caught in a battle of attrition which they could not hope to win. The notion of holding the armour inland to use as a mobile reserve force from which they could mount a powerful counterattack applied the classic use of armoured formations as seen in France These tactics were still effective on the Eastern Front, where control of the air was important but did not dominate the action.
Rommel's own experiences at the end of the North African campaign revealed to him that the Germans would not be allowed to preserve their armour from air attack for this type of massed assault. Though there had been some defensive positions established and gun emplacements made, the Atlantic Wall was a token defensive line.
Rundstedt had confided to Rommel that it was for propaganda purposes only.
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Upon arriving in Northern France Rommel was dismayed by the lack of completed works. According to Ruge , Rommel was in a staff position and could not issue orders, but he took every effort to explain his plan to commanders down to the platoon level, who took up his words eagerly, but "more or less open" opposition from the above slowed down the process. He had millions of mines laid and thousands of tank traps and obstacles set up on the beaches and throughout the countryside, including in fields suitable for glider aircraft landings, the so-called Rommel's asparagus.
The quality of some of the troops manning them was poor and many bunkers lacked sufficient stocks of ammunition. Rundstedt expected the Allies to invade in the Pas-de-Calais because it was the shortest crossing point from Britain, its port facilities were essential to supplying a large invasion force, and the distance from Calais to Germany was relatively short. Hitler vacillated between the two strategies. Rommel moved those armoured formations under his command as far forward as possible, ordering General Erich Marcks , commanding the 84th Corps defending the Normandy section, to move his reserves into the frontline.
Although Rommel was the dominating personality in Normandy with Rundstedt willing to delegate most of the responsibilities to him the central reserve was Rundstedt's idea but he did not oppose to some form of coastal defense, and gradually came under the influence of Rommel's thinking , Rommel's strategy of an armor-supported coastal defense line was opposed by some officers, most notably Leo Geyr von Schweppenburg , who was supported by Guderian. The Allies staged elaborate deceptions for D-Day see Operation Fortitude , giving the impression that the landings would be at Calais.
Although Hitler himself expected a Normandy invasion for a while, Rommel and most Army commanders in France believed there would be two invasions, with the main invasion coming at the Pas-de-Calais. Rommel drove defensive preparations all along the coast of Northern France, particularly concentrating fortification building in the River Somme estuary. By D-Day on 6 June nearly all the German staff officers, including Hitler's staff, believed that Pas-de-Calais was going to be the main invasion site, and continued to believe so even after the landings in Normandy had occurred.
The 5 June storm in the channel seemed to make a landing very unlikely, and a number of the senior officers were away from their units for training exercises and various other efforts. On 4 June the chief meteorologist of the 3 Air Fleet reported that weather in the channel was so poor there could be no landing attempted for two weeks. On 5 June Rommel left France and on 6 June he was at home celebrating his wife's birthday. Meanwhile, earlier in the day, Rundstedt had requested the reserves be transferred to his command.
Later in the day, Rundstedt received authorisation to move additional units in preparation for a counterattack, which Rundstedt decided to launch on 7 June. Upon arrival, Rommel concurred with the plan. By nightfall, Rundstedt, Rommel and Speidel continued to believe that the Normandy landing might have been a diversionary attack, as the Allied deception measures still pointed towards Calais. The 7 June counterattack did not take place as the 12th SS did not arrive on time due to the Allied air bombardments.
Facing relatively small-scale German counterattacks, the Allies secured five beachheads by nightfall of 6 June, landing , troops. Rommel believed that if his armies pulled out of range of Allied naval fire, it would give them a chance to regroup and re-engage them later with a better chance of success. While he managed to convince Rundstedt, they still needed to win over Hitler. At a meeting with Hitler in Margival on 17 June, Rommel warned Hitler about the inevitable collapse in the German defences, but was rebuffed and told to focus on military operations.
By mid-July the German position was crumbling. Rommel was thrown from the car, suffering injuries to the left side of his face from glass shards and three fractures to his skull. The role that Rommel played in the military's resistance against Hitler or the 20 July plot is difficult to ascertain, as people most directly involved did not survive and limited documentation on the conspirators' plans and preparations exists.
According to Hartmann, by the end of May, in another meeting at Hartmann's quarters in Mareil-Marly, Rommel showed "decisive determination" and clear approval of the inner circle's plan. The conspirators felt they needed the support of a field marshal on active duty. Erwin von Witzleben , who would have become commander-in-chief of the Wehrmacht had the plot succeeded, was a field marshal, but had been inactive since The conspirators gave instructions to Speidel to bring Rommel into their circle. On 16 May, they informed Allen Dulles , through whom they hoped to negotiate with the Western Allies, that Rommel could not be counted on for support.
At least initially, Rommel opposed assassinating Hitler. After the war, his widow—among others—maintained that Rommel believed an assassination attempt would spark civil war in Germany and Austria, and Hitler would have become a martyr for a lasting cause. The arrest plan would have been highly improbable, as Hitler's security was extremely tight. Rommel would have known this, having commanded Hitler's army protection detail in Westphal said that Rommel did not want anymore senseless sacrifices. On 15 July, Rommel wrote a letter to Hitler giving him a "last chance" to end the hostilities with the Western Allies, urging Hitler to "draw the proper conclusions without delay.
Hart, reliable details of the conversations are now lost, although they certainly met. On 17 July Rommel was incapacitated by an Allied air attack, which many authors describe as a fateful event that drastically altered the outcome of the bomb plot. After the failed bomb attack of 20 July, many conspirators were arrested and the dragnet expanded to thousands. Rommel's case was turned over to the "Court of Military Honour"—a drumhead court-martial convened to decide the fate of officers involved in the conspiracy. Keitel and Guderian then made the decision that favoured Speidel's case and at the same time shifted the blame to Rommel.
However, Hitler knew that having Rommel branded and executed as a traitor would severely damage morale on the home front. Burgdorf informed him of the charges and offered him three options: In the former case, his family would have suffered even before the all-but-certain conviction and execution, and his staff would have been arrested and executed as well. In the latter case, the government would claim that he died a hero and bury him with full military honours, and his family would receive full pension payments.
Burgdorf had brought a cyanide capsule. Rommel denied involvement in the plot, declared his love for Hitler and that he would gladly serve his "Fatherland" again. Before the two officers came, Rommel had told his family and friends that he would not reach Berlin alive, considering the fact he appeared before a court "would be the end of Hitler", too.
After stopping, Doose and Maisel walked away from the car, leaving Rommel with Burgdorf. Five minutes later Burgdorf gestured to the two men to return to the car, and Doose noticed that Rommel was slumped over, having taken the cyanide. He died before being taken to the Wagner-Schule field hospital. Ten minutes later, the group telephoned Rommel's wife to inform her of his death. The official story of Rommel's death, as reported to the public, stated that Rommel had died of either a heart attack or a cerebral embolism —a complication of the skull fractures he had suffered in the earlier strafing of his staff car.
As previously promised, Rommel was given a state funeral. The fact that his state funeral was held in Ulm instead of Berlin had, according to his son, been stipulated by Rommel. Rommel's grave is located in Herrlingen, a short distance west of Ulm. For decades after the war on the anniversary of his death, veterans of the Africa campaign, including former opponents, would gather at his tomb in Herrlingen. Rommel's experiences on the Italian front in the First World War which gained successes against opponents shaped Rommel's subsequent style as a military commander.
Rommel was a successful tactician in a rapidly developing mobile battle. He learned that taking initiative and not allowing the enemy forces to regroup led to victory. Some authors, like Porch, comment that Rommel's enemies were often less organized, second-rate, or depleted, and his tactics were less effective against adequately led, trained and supplied opponents, and proved insufficient in the latter years of the war.
Rommel is praised by numerous authors as a great leader of men. Rommel received both praise and criticism for his leadership during the French campaign. Many, such as General Georg Stumme , who had previously commanded 7th Panzer Division, were impressed with the speed and success of Rommel's drive.
Kluge, the commanding officer, argued that Rommel's decisions were impulsive and that he claimed too much credit, by falsifying diagrams or not acknowledging contributions of other units, especially the Luftwaffe. Some pointed out that Rommel's division took the highest casualties in the campaign. Taking his opponents by surprise and creating uncertainty in their minds were key elements in Rommel's approach to offensive warfare: When the British mounted a commando raid deep behind German lines in an effort to kill Rommel and his staff on the eve of their Crusader offensive, Rommel was indignant that the British expected to find his headquarters miles behind his front.
Mellenthin lists Rommel's counterattack during Operation Crusader as one such instance. Rommel spoke German with a pronounced southern German or Swabian accent. He was not a part of the Prussian aristocracy that dominated the German high command, and as such was looked upon somewhat suspiciously by the Wehrmacht 's traditional power structure. Rommel was direct, unbending, tough in his manners, to superiors and subordinates alike, disobedient even to Hitler whenever he saw fit, although he was gentle and diplomatic to the lower ranks German and Italian alike and POWs.
Although he was nominally subordinate to the Italians, he enjoyed a certain degree of autonomy from them; since he was directing their troops in battle as well as his own, this was bound to cause hostility among Italian commanders. Conversely, as the Italian command had control over the supplies of the forces in Africa, they resupplied Italian units preferentially, which was a source of resentment for Rommel and his staff. While certainly much less proficient than Rommel in their leadership, aggressiveness, tactical outlook and mobile warfare skills, [] Italian commanders were competent in logistics, strategy and artillery doctrine: As such, the Italian commanders were repeatedly at odds with Rommel over concerns with issues of supply.
This effort resulted only in partial success, with Kesselring's own relationship with the Italians being unsteady and Kesselring claiming Rommel ignored him as easily as he ignored the Italians. Very different, however, was the perception of Rommel by Italian common soldiers and NCOs, who, like the German field troops, had the deepest trust and respect for him. Incidentally, Palestine Jews associated Rommel with Romulus as well, based on Ohr Hachaim 's year-old commentary on the account of Jacob wrestling with the angel []. Rommel himself held a much more generous view about the Italian soldier [] than about their leadership towards whom his disdain, deeply rooted in militarism, was not atypical, although unlike Kesselring, he was incapable of concealing it [] Unlike many of his superiors and subordinates who held racist views, he was usually "kindly disposed" to the Italians in general.
Some authors like Sadkovich blame Rommel for abandoning his Italian units, refusing cooperation, rarely acknowledging their achievements and other erroneous behaviours towards his Italian allies, [] while others point out that the Italians under Rommel, in comparison with many of their compatriots in other areas, were better led, supplied and trained, and fought well as a result, with a ratio of wounded and killed Italians similar to that of the Germans.
Many authors describe Rommel as having a reputation of being a chivalrous, humane, and professional officer, and that he earned the respect of both his own troops and his enemies. Remy opines that an order in which Rommel who was actually protesting against Hitler's directives called for no "sentimental scruples" against "Badoglio-dependent bandits in uniforms of the once brothers-in-arms" should not be taken out of context.
The same had most likely been done in North Africa, [] however this is disputed by historian Szymon Datner who wrote that Rommel might have been simply trying to conceal atrocities of Nazi Germany from the Allies. Evans has stated that German soldiers in Tunisia raped Jewish women, and the success of Rommel's forces in capturing or securing Allied, Italian and Vichy French territory in North Africa led to many Jews in these areas being killed by other German institutions as part of the Holocaust. However, in view of the Axis' deteriorating situation in Africa, they returned to Germany in September.
Rauff's documents show that his foremost concern was helping the Wehrmacht to win, and he came up with the idea of forced labour camps in the process. The Haaret also remarks that Rommel's influence probably softened the Nazi authorities' attitude to the Jews and the civilian population in North Africa. Rommel had described the conduct of the desert war as "War without Hate" in his papers. Historian Martin Kitchen states that the reputation of the Afrika Korps was preserved due to circumstances: Rommel asked to be allowed to punish the division.
Although they got basic wages, the workers complained because it was too little and there was no heavy equipment. Rick Atkinson criticizes Rommel for gaining a looted stamp collection a bribe from Sepp Dietrich and a villa taken from the Jews. Curiously, a recent research by Norman Ohler claims that Rommel's behaviours were heavily influenced by Pervitin which he reportedly took in heavy doses, to such an extent that Ohler referred to him as "the Crystal Fox" "Kristallfuchs" [] [] playing off the nickname "the Desert Fox" a nickname famously given to him by the British, as reported by other sources [] [].
At the beginning, although Hitler and Goebbels took particular notice of Rommel, the Nazi elites had no intent to create one major war symbol partly out of fear that he would offset Hitler [] [] , generating huge propaganda campaigns for not only Rommel but also Gerd von Rundstedt , Walther von Brauchitsch , Eduard Dietl , Sepp Dietrich the latter two were party members and also strongly supported by Hitler , etc. Rommel's victories in France were featured in the German press and in the February film Victory in the West, in which Rommel personally helped direct a segment reenacting the crossing of the Somme River.
In North Africa, Rommel received help in cultivating his image from Alfred Ingemar Berndt , a senior official at the Reich Propaganda Ministry who had volunteered for military service. He directed Rommel's photo shoots and filed radio dispatches describing the battles. In the spring of , Rommel's name began to appear in the British media.
Toward the end of the year, the Reich propaganda machine also used Rommel's successes in Africa as a diversion from the Wehrmacht's challenging situation in the Soviet Union with the stall of Operation Barbarossa. The attention of the Western and especially the British press thrilled Goebbels, who wrote in his diary in early The Field Marshal was the German commander most frequently covered in the German media, and the only one to be given a press conference, which took place in October He became a symbol that was used to reinforce the German public's faith in an ultimate Axis victory.
In the wake of the successful British offensive in November and other military reverses, the Propaganda Ministry directed the media to emphasize Rommel's invincibility. The charade was maintained until the spring of , even as the German situation in Africa became increasingly precarious.
To ensure that the inevitable defeat in Africa would not be associated with Rommel's name, Goebbels had the Supreme High Command announce in May that Rommel was on a two-month leave for health reasons. After the radio program ran in May , Rommel sent Berndt a case of cigars as a sign of his gratitude.
But the two pages in which he makes these points are contradicted by everything he says in the other pages. Hitler rescued Germany from ruin but went mad during the war. This involves massive exaggeration based on spurious interpretations of the evidence. His tremors were the result of Parkinsonism, as many writers have concluded. Topics History books Book of the day.
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