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Was Rommel great commaner?

• Message 1.Β 

  Posted by faran1 (U2570961) on Thursday, 24th November 2005

  I have been wondering if Rommel was great commander even that he lost in north africa

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• Message 2

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  Posted by KCLUndergrad (U2561619) on Thursday, 24th November 2005

  Rommell was a fantastic commander. He repeatedly beat far superior (numerically, anyway) British forces in the desert and the very mention of his name filled Tommies with fear of facing him and awe of his achievements.
  
  El Alamein was won by a vast British force against a much smaller, understrength German force. The RN did a great job of preventing many reinforcements coming from Europe for Rommell, and in any case Hitler was trying to prosecute a war against Russia and saw N. Africa as a side show.
  
  He was less comfortable as a defensive commander in France, but his defences were formidable and he correctly predicted that the way to prevent an invasion was to crush it on the beaches. At Omaha his plans showed this, and had Hitler released the Panzers the story of 6 June 1944 could have been very different. Perhaps it would have been different had Rommell been there, too!

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  Posted by faran1 (U2570961) on Thursday, 24th November 2005

  You are right.
  But if the panzers had reached Omaha the whole invasion could finished as a disaster of the whole war.
  
  there was also an intelegence work all the time and they cnfused the germans.The germans posisioned the 15th army in clais and the 7th army in normandy.The 7th army wasn't big such as the 15th army but was still a formidible army.
  
  But for all the sucsess of the invasion the critical part was Omaha beach.Because at that time the british took there objectives and start move twards the countryside.
  
  And where was Rommel?
  Rommel was in Paris to celebrate the 50th birthday of his wife.
  
  But also the fact that the luftwaffe couldn't suppurot the germans on the defence was also critical don't you think?

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• Message 4

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  Posted by Dirk Marinus (U1648073) on Thursday, 24th November 2005

  <<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>
  
  No , he was not in Paris. He was at his own house in Germany.
  

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• Message 5

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  Posted by faran1 (U2570961) on Thursday, 24th November 2005

  Sorry my mistake.
  do you think that normandy could have turned to be a disassterous of the whole war

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  Posted by KCLUndergrad (U2561619) on Thursday, 24th November 2005

  Certainly could have done. Operation FORTITUDE (the Allied deception intelligence operation) was very effective, but the number of troops in and around Normandy was still impressive. Also, there were, I believe, two elite panzer formations in the the area which Allied intelligence missed (oops!). Had these been released to the field commander's control when he asked, I believe that D-Day would have been a failure, or at the very least a more near run thing.

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• Message 7

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  Posted by Mark (U1347077) on Friday, 25th November 2005

  Would an armoured counter-offensive on 6 June have been successful given Allied air superiority and naval bombardment? I know the weather was grim and Omaha was a close thing anyway so I presume it would?
  
  Just to be pedantic, had Overlord failed, it would have made no real difference in the east.
  
  Rommel - imo he was very good and also honorable but there's his 'failure' at Tobruk, El Alamein and not taking Malta when he had the chance. True, he had very limited resources and won some impressive victories against numerically superior GB forces but for the 'Great' accolade, I think he needed to do more!

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• Message 8

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  Posted by faran1 (U2570961) on Friday, 25th November 2005

  Did he try to take malta? Would an armoured counter-offensive on 6 June have been successful given Allied air superiority and naval bombardment? I know the weather was grim and Omaha was a close thing anyway so I presume it would?
  
  Just to be pedantic, had Overlord failed, it would have made no real difference in the east.
  
  Rommel - imo he was very good and also honorable but there's his 'failure' at Tobruk, El Alamein and not taking Malta when he had the chance. True, he had very limited resources and won some impressive victories against numerically superior GB forces but for the 'Great' accolade, I think he needed to do more!Β 

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• Message 9

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  Posted by Idamante (U1894562) on Friday, 25th November 2005

  I have been wondering if Rommel was great commander even that he lost in north africaΒ 
  
  He might have been a great commander, though my impression is that he could be reckless and erratic at times, losing control of the overall battle (then blame the Italians if anything went wrong!)
  
  Slightly off topic, but it's worth noting that he was also a fan of Hitler and, like the rest of them, turned a blind eye to the holocaust, ie don't believe the 1960s myth of Rommel the "good German" as portrayed by James Mason in the famous film

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