The German field marshal called the "Desert Fox" in North Africa who later held the Normandy coast
Rommel won the Pour le Mérite on the Italian Front in the First World War by taking Longarone, and led the 7th Panzer Division in the 1940 invasion of France. Given the Afrika Korps in 1941, he took Tobruk but was driven back by Montgomery at El Alamein in 1942. He commanded Army Group B in northern Italy in 1943 and again in 1944 on the Normandy coast, though on D-Day he was in Germany for his wife's birthday. Implicated in the 20 July plot to kill Hitler, he was forced on 14 October to choose suicide over trial and took cyanide. Never a Nazi Party member, he stayed loyal to Hitler almost to the end; the postwar image of a general who fought a clean war is criticised as the "Rommel myth".
Also known as: Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel
Activities and affiliations
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1910–1944
Germany state institutionsCommander of the Afrika Korps and Army Group BMain
Military command
Career Timeline
- 1917.11.09Takes Longarone on the Italian Front; Pour le Mérite
- 1937Publishes Infantry Attacks
- 1938.10Commander, Führer escort battalion
- 1940Commander, 7th Panzer Division, invasion of France
- 1941.02.06Commander, Afrika Korps
- 1942Takes Tobruk; defeated at El Alamein
- 1943.03.09Recalled from North Africa
- 1943.08.16Commander, Army Group B, northern Italy
- 1944.01Commander, Army Group B: Normandy coast
- 1944.07.17Gravely wounded in Allied air attack
- 1944.10.14Forced to suicide over the 20 July plot
Related historical events
- 1914–1918First World WarGerman company commander on the Italian FrontDuring the Caporetto offensive of 1917 he took Mount Matajur and Longarone and received the Pour le Mérite.
- 1940–1944The Fall of France and the Vichy RegimeCommander, 7th Panzer DivisionHe led the 7th Panzer Division in the 1940 invasion of France.
- 1940.06.10–1943.05.13The North African CampaignCommander of the Afrika Korps and Panzerarmee AfrikaWent beyond his defensive orders to attack in 1941 and won his greatest victory at Gazala, but was stopped at El Alamein; after Kasserine he returned to Germany in March 1943.
- 1941–1944The Second Front and the Normandy LandingsCommander, Army Group B · Atlantic WallHe led the German-Italian forces in North Africa and in 1944, as commander of Army Group B, held the Normandy coast, though he was in Germany on D-Day.
- 1943–1945The Italian Campaign and the Fall of MussoliniCommander, Army Group B in northern ItalyTaking over Army Group B in northern Italy in August 1943, he took part in Operation Achse, which disarmed the Italian army after the September armistice.