| I tend to agree with Monty Somalia. Rommel was a good commander but you're buying into the idealist and romantic image of the man rather than his actual abilities and war achievements. He never commanded anything larger than a corps-sized formation (a smallish one at that) and seemed to regard logistics as an afterthought rather than an integral part of warfare. He did well in Africa but the likes of Guderian, Hoth, Hoppner, Schweppenburg, Balck, Hausser would have done equally well and perhaps even better.
I believe that Rundstedt did indeed say that about Rommel, as they were in disagreement over where to place German armoured forces in the West in anticipation of the D-Day landings. Rundstedt agreed with Guderian that the German panzer reserves should be placed inland near Paris so that they could counter-attack and envelop Allied armoured thrusts. Rommel disagreed and wanted them placed near the coast which negated their mobility and thus their main strengths. As Rommel was officially in charge of these forces Hitler took Rommel's advice. Interestingly though, some say part of Rommel's real reasoning was to have some army divisions in positions that suited him because he was involved in the July bomb plot. Certainly the 21st panzer division seemed to fall into this category.
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"An Emperor is subject to no-one but God and justice."
Frederick 1, Barbarossa
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