The Death of Erwin Rommel: The Last Hours Of The Desert Fox

“At 12 o’clock two generals will come here to discuss my future”, my father said. “So today I will see what is planned for me, the People’s Court or a new command post in the East.” Would you accept such a job?, I asked him. He took my arm and replied: “My dear boy, our enemy in the East is so horrifying that any other matter goes to second place. If the enemy manages to conquer Europe, even temporarily, it would be the end of everything that makes life worth living. Of course I would go.”

Erwin Rommel was, for a time, Hitler’s favorite general. After his success in 1940, as the commander of a Panzer division, Rommel was appointed to the command of the German forces in Africa – Afrika Korps. Here, his tactical genius was recognized even by the enemy, and the ability to inspire his soldiers and make maximum use of limited resources convinced Hitler to promote him to the rank of Field Marshall.

In 1943, Hitler charged Rommel to coordinate the fortification of the “Atlantic Wall” along the French coast, the defensive line that the Germans wanted to use to repel the inevitable Allied invasion in Europe (which would take place in June 1944).

By the beginning of the war, Rommel was confident in Germany’s power. But at the start of 1943 his trust in Germany’s ability to win the initiated conflict began to crumble as days went by, and so did his faith in Hitler. Traveling in Germany, Rommel was outraged by the devastation caused by Allied air raids and the eroded public morale was not a good sign for him.

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