Man of promise
The German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel achieved a rare feat for any military commander - he became a legend in his own lifetime - and he remains the best known German general of World War Two in the English speaking world.
In fact, Rommel was acutely aware of the power of propaganda in developing his career and reputation. He assiduously courted the German government's media machine, the Ministry of Information and Propaganda run by Joseph Goebbels. Rommel's interest arose from the fact that his position in the German army was entirely dependent on Hitler's patronage. Since he had never been staff trained, the normal professional route to high command was not open to him.
'... Rommel was acutely aware of the power of propaganda ...'
His book Infantry Attacks, however, which detailed his extraordinary feats of bravery in World War One, caught Hitler's attention, and the Führer gave him the command of his bodyguard battalion during the Polish campaign of 1939.
Rommel was then given command of the new 7th Panzer Division for the invasion of France in 1940. The rapidity of this promotion was extraordinary, but so was the young commander's performance in the new, rapid form of warfare known as blitzkrieg.
He seemed an obvious choice, then, to command the small 'blocking force' sent by Hitler to Libya in February 1941 to shore up Germany's failing Italian ally, Benito Mussolini. And it was here, in North Africa, that his true talents as a bold and daring commander of fast-moving armoured formations were properly revealed.
Published: 2004-05-10
Bookmark with:
What are these?