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Depiction of Rommel and the D-Day Landings

• Message 1. 

  Posted by Shearers Receeding Hairline (U2343735) on Tuesday, 3rd November 2009

  Watched a very interesting Docu-drama on the D-Day landings on Sunday. A good programme interspersed with colour/b&w contemporary film from both sides, narrative, interviews with vetereans of both sides as well as dramatised sequences including what the vets went through. It was shown on Freeview channel 12 'Yesterday' formerly known as UKTV History.
  
  The build up was very interesting, including the effect of the raid by an e-boat on a training exercise off the Devon coast.
  
  It also showed the Commando's reccy-ing the Normandy beaches, with one being captured. Not something I was aware of.
  
  The Commando who was captured, was taken to the Chateau where Rommel orchestrated the regions German activities.
  
  A fair bit was made of the intimate conversations between the commando and Rommel, as one soldier to another. It painted Rommel as a soldier through and through, a warrior who didn't wish to be caught up in the political game. On the whole, a very likeable fellow with very good insight (well apart from going for a jolly to see his wife shortly before the landings!)
  
  So annecdotally, what are the accounts of Rommel like? Was this a fair picture to present? His troops seemed to like him, his subordinates seemed to entrust him with potentially treasonable information.
  
  Any insight into Rommel and any little known bits and bobs about the whole build up and execution of the landings would be great to read.
  
  Things like the dummy paratrooper drops, the double agents tricking the Germans into believing false intelligence.
  
  The amount of good fortune the allies had; weather, position of the 21st Panzers, that most of the generals were absent.
  
  It was also interesting to hear about the beaches other than Omaha, et all, we tend to hear more about the American contribution. Seeing sword etc etc was great as was the planning behind how the floatilla deployed in and around Normandy.
  
  I hope there's enough here to spark a good old discussion about any aspects of this amazing sequence of events.
  
  Kind regards
  
  

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• Message 2

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  Posted by stalteriisok (U3212540) on Wednesday, 4th November 2009

  starting with my Britains (trade name) soldiers - Rommel has always been a big name in ww2 history with me
  
  there was actually a Rommel figure - who was well respected and a high grade swap
  
  my mother used to tell me about him - a gentleman who was a military genius who treated prisoners well
  
  it pans out that he was a low level general - the afrika korps was an army of 6 divisions involved in a low level theatre of war
  
  the russian front was 100 + divisions with manstein model rudendorff paulus heinrici etc - all generals with far greater responsibilty and manpower - but we know nothing about them
  
  rommel beats the lot by his sheer human touch
  
  st

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• Message 3

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  Posted by Shearers Receeding Hairline (U2343735) on Thursday, 5th November 2009

  So it's fairly apparant that the man was well liked and not lacking in ability. Yet it seems Hitler marginalised him to a degree through limiting resources?? Is this fair to suggest?

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• Message 4

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  Posted by baz (U14168465) on Thursday, 5th November 2009

  There was a film, The Desert Fox, made in the 1950s, which depicted Rommel quite sympathetically. It starred the great James Mason and I can't recall having seen many films about foreign military men being so highly regarded. Given it was made so soon after WW2, I think it shows Rommel was well respected by the allies.

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• Message 5

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  Posted by Thomas_B (U1667093) on Thursday, 5th November 2009

  stalteriisok,
  
  Rommel has been made to that figure as we all know him from histroy primary by the Nazis propaganda. Besides his character and leadership of his troops, on which I regard as being correct, he just lately recognised that with the War against the USSR, Hitler was on the way that this war couldn´t be won. But Rommel got this opinion just after the desert war was lost for the Germans. When D-Day Landings launched, Rommel has been already involved in the conpiracy of the Hitler Plot on July 20th 1944, and therefore he has been forced to either commit suicide or face trial with death sentence. For his family´s sake, he chosed the first and got an state funeral.
  
  It is no wonder that there isn´t that much known about the other Generals you´ve mentioned, because they haven´t been made such a populare figure as Rommel.
  

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• Message 6

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  Posted by Steelers708 (U1831340) on Thursday, 5th November 2009

  Stalteriisok,
  
  Those other Generals are unknown to the average person for the same reason that Cherkassy, Rhzev, Narva & Targul Frumos are unknown, they were on the Eastern Front and weren't the centre of attention to the British like the North African campaign was.
  
  The actual AfrikaKorps was 3 divisions, a force that would have been lost among the masses on the Eastern Front, but to the British they were the 3 most dangerous divisions in the world,
  
  And don't forget that when Rommel carried out his first offensive in 1941 he was actually disobeying the Fuhrer's direct orders. German troops were sent to Africa to act purely as a 'sperrverband', blocking force in English.

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• Message 7

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  Posted by Shearers Receeding Hairline (U2343735) on Friday, 6th November 2009

  So how come Rommel was posted to the Western front? Was it seen as a backwater and of little significance? Did Hitler think there was little chance of an invasion? Hitler did refuse request for more AA and ammunition. Did Hitler see the East as being more key to his expansion?
  
  For a chap who seemed to be a bit of a maverik, posting him to what would be a key location seems to defy logic. Or am I interpreting the Hitler Rommel relationship incorrectly?

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• Message 8

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  Posted by stalteriisok (U3212540) on Friday, 6th November 2009

  steelers shearers et al
  
  you are completely correct - the desert war was a huge campaign for us in the uk as it affected us and was the only place we could fight back - and in fact important because of the oil
  
  the eastern front was a battle far away that didnt involve us - and the real generals dealing with huge armies werent involved in our small wars
  
  rommel distinguished himself in the battle for france - but only as a divisional commander not as a strategic army commander
  
  therefore he was given command of a small insignificant army - away from the real war - in which he excelled
  
  but even after that he wasnt sent to the real war - why was that - the command of the western front was still a sideshow - 30 divisions at most
  
  st

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• Message 9

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  Posted by Mutatis_Mutandis (U8620894) on Friday, 6th November 2009

  Rommel was appointed to head Army Group B, which held the Atlantic coast, under the 'Oberbefehlshaber West' Gerd von Rundstedt.
  
  A factor in Rommel's appointment was no doubt that it strengthened public confidence. But it provoked controversy in the German command. Other German generals had some difficulties with their very outspoken colleague, noted his lack of staff experience, and in some cases seem to have regarded him as an upstart. Admittedly, men like Guderian or von Rundstedt were not themselves easy to get along with.
  
  Rommel did bring some good qualifications for the job. He had considerable experience in fighting the British and to some extent also in fighting the Americans, which the generals of the Eastern front did not have. There were substantial differences between the two fronts, for example in the crushing air superiority that the Anglo-American force could bring to the battle zone. This was the source of some of Rommel's disagreements with his colleagues: Rommel had concluded that the Allied air superiority doomed German forces to immobility and advocated a defense of the coast itself. But von Rundstedt and von Schweppenburg had observed that because of the equally overwhelming support offered by naval artillery, a battle on the beaches could not be won either, and wanted to fight further inland. Arguably, both sides were right, but the conclusion -- that there was no way to win this battle -- was one that could not be publicly admitted.
  
  Rommel was perhaps also less of a a maverick than he now appears to be. German officers were trained in a command doctrine that emphasized the responsibility of the man on the spot to make fast decisions. Rommel was -- as a former military instructor and author of textbooks -- in some ways rather typical of his generation. Rommel's famous tendency to ignore orders, for example, arguably didn't even come close to that Guderian -- who nevertheless became chief of staff.
  

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• Message 10

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  Posted by Shearers Receeding Hairline (U2343735) on Thursday, 12th November 2009

  Thank you for all your insights. It's interesting to note perhaps that the Germans felt the defence of the French coast was somewhat doomed?
  
  Does this help explain why Rommel struggled to get sufficient weapons and supplies??
  
  Or were they stretched too thinly over the eastern and western fronts?

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