Rommel was so good Hitler wante him dead

Originally Posted by airmanpatroler

Rommel was so good Hitler wante him dead

Originally Posted by rpgincoming

I am just confused as to how Rommel was unable to capture Tobruk when he had the chance. He allowed a much smaller British force to get the best of him. any insights?

He also faced Australians at Tobruk. They were well supplied from the sea (but ships faced plenty of fire) and had excellent defensive methods.

Have you heard of the Rats of Tobruk?

Rommel was so good Hitler wante him dead


Hitler wanted rommel dead because he was implicated in a plot to kill hitler! I cant remember if this was true as i think there were 2 occasions 1 where rommel said def no, another where he was caught up in the plot!
-I may be wrong, please correct me if i am!
Rommel commited suicide because of this and germany lost its greatest commander who could of caused the allies far more problems then actually occured!

I don't want to keep going over the Desert campaign but even though he was a great General he did outrun his supply line frequently.

He was outgunned and outnumbered in North Africa and so had to make up the difference with dash and daring. Hitler kept him on a shoestring.

I think he would have made a great strategist if given the chance to carry out all his ideas.

If he had more time and materials/equipment to implement his plans for the "Atlantic Wall" before D-Day we would have been in big trouble.

eg More Panzer Divisions would have been at the beaches on D-Day. Of course, he was still kept guessing by the Allies on where and when the attack was going to happen.

He basically lost in africa because he couldnt get the supplies, the british by stopping malta from falling ensured his supply routes ran out!
I do agree he was a great strategist and from what ive read he was just a soldier not a nazi! He did not deserve to be forced to commit suicide!

He could of made the final push towards germany so much more difficult!

Originally Posted by skywalker

Rommel was so good Hitler wante him dead


Hitler wanted rommel dead because he was implicated in a plot to kill hitler! I cant remember if this was true as i think there were 2 occasions 1 where rommel said def no, another where he was caught up in the plot!
-I may be wrong, please correct me if i am!
Rommel commited suicide because of this and germany lost its greatest commander who could of caused the allies far more problems then actually occured!

Yes. He was forced into suicide because of his implication in the plotting to kill Hitler. There are many books on the subject. Read "The Devils Virtuosos" by David Downing

see you Skywalker

Yes...Rommel was given the choice of suicide, and the nation was told of his dying of his wounds received when his staff car was strafed. Hitler did not want the nation to know he was involved with the plot to kill him, out of fear that the people would object to his trial and definite execution, as his popularity with the german people matched hitlers own popularity.

In a way, I'm sort of glad that hitler gave him this option: It allowed his family to retain their lands and honor, and it prevented one of germanys greatest heros from being hung on a piano wire noose from a meathook, as with most of the rest of the conspirators.

requiem.

Rommel was more a great tactician than a great strategist. What I mean is that Rommel could do the best manoeuvering his forces, but failed to think of them as part of a greater worldwide strategy.
Some other things which prevented him to win on Africa were:
1) Something called in my country as "dying of success". Rommel was so successful beating British that OKW overstimated his capacity at battlefield, and thought that "once a miracleman, always a miracleman", so they used to dismiss his requests of reinforcements (not to mention that Germany were overstretched on Russian front and thought always of the African one as a secondary theater)
2) The refusal of Rommel to stop and hold his ground while Italy/Germany made the combined amphibious assault against Malta (where most of Allied attacks against Axis supply fleet came from). He convinced Hitler (who was not happy with that kind of combined assault after the great losses of Crete) not to carry on the operation, but to use the soldiers and supplies as reinforcements on desert. That's why the Airborne Italian Division "Folgore" ended as a regular infantry division on The Alamein.

About the death of Rommel, Hitler made him choose between the suicide (publicly explained as a result of injuries sustained in France) or the public humiliation and dishonour of a fake process in front of the "People's Court" with the charge of treason (also it implied the expropriation, imprisonment on concentration camps and even execution of most of the relatives of the guilty people). He chose to suicide.

thanks for clearing that up! If he had been hung, or exectuted i guess we would probably not know of him as well as we do today!