DEUTSCHES AFRIKA KORPS
 
 

The Best Men
 

1

Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel

15 November 1891 - 14 October 1944


Rommel's Goggles
The goggles were captured British equipment.  The goggles are inexpensive and thus easily replaced, so that a soldier could get another set at any time needed.  They are made of soft flexible clear plastic with a shoelace to tie them behind the head.  There is a small strip of felt where they fit against the forehead.  They do not shield against the sun, but only against sand and windblown particles.  The Field Marshall would have used the type with an elastic band instead of a shoelace, so that he could quickly pull them down to cover his eyes when needed.
Some years ago a large stock of these goggles in new condition was found in a warehouse.  This particular one is beginning to show yellow on the left side, which is a sign of aging
Thanks to Stephen for this relevant information. Anybody interested in getting a hold of these goggles can write to me and would be more than happy to put him in touch with Stephan.

-Born at Heidenheim Wurttenmberg.

-19 July 1910 joined 124th Wurttemberg infantry Regiment as cadet. 

-March 1911 to cadet school.

-January 1912 Commissioned Lieutenant to 124th Regiment.

-21 August 1914- September 1914 in action at Bleid, in the Meuse valley, on the Verdun front. Platoon Commander.

-June1919- 1921: Internal security duties Germany.

-1924 Commands machine-gun company.

-Septemberb1929 – September 1933 Instructor, Infantry School, Dresden.

-April 1932 Promoted Major.

-1 October1933-14 October 1935Commands 3rd Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, Goslar. Promoted Lieutenant Colonel. 

-September 1934: Rommel meets Hitler for first time.

-15 October 1935 9November 1938: Instructor, Infantry School, Potsdam.

-Summer 1936: Attached to Fuhror's military escort for party rally, Nuremberg. 

-February 1937- 1938: Nominated War Ministry Liaison Officer to Hitler youth organization.

-October 1938: Rommel nominated to command Hitler's field headquarters for occupation of Sudetenland.

-15 February 1940- 14 February: Commands 7th Panzer Division. 

-13 May 1940 7th Panzer Division cross Meuse. 

-16 May 1940: 7th Panzer Division advance through Maginot Line extension.

-21 May 1940: Advance to Arras. Defeat British counterattack. 

-16 May1940: Rommel awarded Knight's Cross.

-3 June 19407th panzer Division cross Somme canal.

-January 1941: Rommel promoted Generalleutnent. 

-7 February 1941: Tenth Italian Army surrenders to British at Beda Fumm in Libya.

-6 February 1941 Rommel appointed Commander German troops in Libya.

-12 February 1941: Rommel [lands at Tripoli air port (Mussolini Castle].

-[31st] March – April 1941 first Cyrenaica offensive, first attack on Tobruk.

-15 May 1941: British attack on Egyptian frontier. Operation Battleaxe.

-16 June 1941: German counterattack in frontier area.

-22 June 1941: German invasion of Russia [USSR] .Operation Barbarossa.

-15 August 1941: German forces constituted as Panzer Gruppe Afrika.

-September 1941; German raid on Egyptian area. Operation sommernacht srraum  [ Midsummer Night's Dream  ]. 

-18 November 1941 : British offensive into Libya . Operation Crusader. Pommel's withdrawal through Cyrenaica.

-[Night of 18th November 1941: Major (later Lieut. Colonel) Geoffrey Keys attacking a rear German H.Q in Beda (Sidi Rafaa) to kill the Desert Fox]. 

-21- 29 January 1942: Second Cyrenaica offensive.

-22 January 1942: Panzer Gruppe Afrika becomes Panzerarmee Afrika.

-30 January 1942: Rommel promoted Generaloberst.

-[26 ] May 1942-[21]June 1942: German Gazala offensive. 

-21 June 1942: Tobruk taken. Rommel promoted Field Marshal.

-21 June 1942- 1 July 1942: Advance into Egypt. 

-1-26 July 1942: First battles on Alamein line.

-30 August 1942 – 2 September 1942: Battle OF Alam Halfa. 

-19 September 1942: Stumme assumes temporary Command of PanzerarmeeAfrik, Rommel to Germany on sick leave.

-23October 1942: Battle of Alamein begins.

-25 October: Rommel recalled to Africa. Stumme found dead.

-3 November1942: Rommel receives Hitler order to stand existing position at Alamein.

-4 November 1942: Rommel orders withdrawal of Panzerarmee.

-8 November1942: British and American forces land in French North Africa. Operation Torch.

-10 November 1942: German forces begin reinforcement of Tunisia.

-22 January 1943: Evacuation of Tripoli by Panzerarmee.

-26 January 1943: Panzerarmee headquarters established in Tunisia. 

-4 February1943: British victory parade in Tripoli.

-14 February 1943: German – Italian operation in Southern Tunisia.

-19-21 February 1943: Battle of Kasserine Pass.

-23 February1943: Rommel appointed Commander- in – Chief, Army Group Africa. 

-6 March 1943: Battle of Mdenine. Operation Capri. 

-9 March 1943: Rommel leaves Africa [for ever].

-[13 May 1943: The surrender of all axes armies in Tunisia].

-15 July 1943: Rommel appointed Commander-in- Chief Army Group B.

-30 November 1943 Rommel stars extended inspection of western coastal defences.

-6 June 1944: Anglo- American invasion of France.

-29 June 1944: Rommel's last conference with Hitler at Berchtesgaden.

-16 July 1944: Rommel signs 'ultimatum ' report on seriousness of situation in the west.

-17 July 1944: Rommel wounded in air attack near Vimoutiers. In hospital or at home on sick leave until October.

-20 July 1944: Attempt on Hitler's life at Rastenburg in East Prussia. 

-7 October 1944: Rommel ordered to report to Berlin. 14 October 1944: Generals Burgdorf and Maisel visit Rommel at home.

At Herrlingen. Pommel's  death. 

-18 October 1944: state funeral at Ulm. (David Fraser .Knight Cross . A life of Field  Marshal Erwin Rommel. Harper Collins Publishers. 1993).


 
“The end of the road now lay ahead – Enfidaville , where some 25 miles south of the Cap Bon peninsula the switchback mass of mountains and valleys that constitutes the bulk of Tunisia falls down to within gunshot of the sea , and between the coast and the mountains , a narrow plain land forms a passage northward from Enfidaville to Hammamet . In the high ground that looms over the little town and the surrounding flats giving a prefect observation, Messe by mid-april redisposed his Army – 90 Light occupying , as it would do to the last , the corner of the hills between the town and sea.
This is a moment when to continue to refer to the Afrika Korps ceases to meaningful. Once ' Fortress Tunisia ' was occupied transference of units from south to north, to meet sudden emergencies within the contracting perimeter, became unavoidable and were indeed declared by Von Arnim to be a matter of policy . As 8th Army closed up on Enfidaville Montgomery strove ruthlessly, until restrained by Alexander, to steal a march to Tunis, and many New Zealanders, Indians and British troops died to no purpose under the fire of DAK and its Italian allies….".
"15 panzers also departed, on what proved to be its death –ride. At the beginning of May all the armour and much of the artillery in Messe's army was transferred northward – a move as natural as Alexander's shift of the 8th Army divisions .And thus it was that when the final all – out drive on Tunisoccurred on 6 may, the oldest of the Afrika Korps, formations was at its heart. The report of Army Group Africa tells its own story: Between the Medjerda and the Medjez- st Cipren road the enemy has achieved the decisive breakthrough to Tunis.

This sector was heroically defended by 15th panzer Division…but these troops could not survive an assault mounted by numerically far superior infantry and armoured formation with massive  artillery support, and accompanied by air attacks of an intensity not hitherto experienced. The bulk of 15th panzer Division must be deemed to have been destroyed. 

Though Tunis was entered on 7th it took some days to complete the surrender of about 150,000 Germans whom Hitler had ordered to hold out to the last man and the last round. Twice, on the 10th and 11th, Freyberg asked Von Sponeck to capitulate with his old opponent of 90 Light. How many memories must have been in Freiberg's mind! But von Sponeck merely ignored the suggestion. It was not until midday on 13th that Messe (who had been promoted Marshal of Italy on the previous day) made general surrender of all under his command. It happened that the author's observation post was on the low ground between the sea and the positions occupied by 90 Light. He saw the white flags go up: first in small clusters, turning into larger groups as platoons merged with companies. White every where, as if butterflies were dancing over the hills. It had been a long haul from Alamein, and exhilaration predominated .But there was a sense of compassion, too: this had been a good enemy. And Rommel had been wrong when, in the previous October, he despaired about the possibility of wining further distinction. The last phase in the life of the Afrika Korps had been entirely worthy of its astonishing debut. When all was over its famous sing, the palm tree, could have been fittingly by a wreath of laurels. (The Life and Death of the Afrika Korps By Ronald Lewin. A corgi book. Pages 247-248 ) 

 

2






“The impact that Rommel made on the world with the sword will be deepened by his power with the pen. No commander in history has written an account of his campaigns to match the vividness and value of Rommel’s – which ,for the most part ,has now been retrieved from its various hiding places and put together in this volume..

No other commander has provided such a graphic picture of his operations and method of command. No one else has no strikingly conveyed in writing the dynamism of Blitzkrieg and the pace of Panzer forces .The sense of fast movement and quick decision is electrifyingly communicated in many of the passages – Rommel carries the reader along with him in his command vehicle “ .( The Rommel papersp .vii . Edited by B. H. Liddel hart .Translated by   Paul Findlay. New York Harcourt, Brace and Company. Copy right, 1953).
 
 

The desert fox

The master of desert warfare



When I study Rommel's history and I have met many of his an old enemies, the veterans: British,Australians, and from other nations, when they visited the war theater, around Tobruk: Sidi Rezeg, Bir Hakeim and Ain Algazala. They respect the Desert Fox as a Knight and a master of the desert. He respect for his prisoners. He was different from the American Army and the British Army. They left bloody hands in  Vietnam , Iraq and Afghanistan .