In the ten weeks following the Allied landings at Normandy in June 1944 – known in history as the D-Day invasion – the war went badly for Germany. Allied planners had estimated it would take eight months to advance to the Franco-Belgian border. It had taken only three. And the fighting in Normandy had cost Germany 240,000 killed or wounded and more than 200,000 missing, the majority of whom were Allied prisoners.
The destruction that Hitler’s Third Reich was visiting upon its citizens and the atrocities that were being committed by German fanatics – like the SS – against the citizens of the invaded countries had turned many in the officer corps against their Führer. Despite the fact that these officers had taken an oath of “unconditional obedience” to Adolf Hitler, rather than allegiance to the nation and its constitution, a growing resistance movement was gaining influence among the highest ranks of Hitler’s General Staff and command structure. Only Hitler’s death would release them from their oath of allegiance to him and twelve attempts had been made on his life.
Erwin Rommel was Hitler's favorite general. He had begun to be noticed in 1940 when his exploits as a commander of a panzer division smashed through French defenses. From there Rommel was sent to command the Afrika Korps where he displayed uncanny tactical genius, an ability to inspire the loyalty of his troops, and the resourcefulness to fight effectively when outnumbered in men and matériel. Hitler promoted him to the rank of Field Marshall and in 1943 put him in command of fortifying the "Atlantic Wall" along the coast of France which was designed to repel the anticipated Normandy landings.
When he took his new command, Rommel was beginning to doubt that Germany could win the war, especially if Hitler continued to be in command of it. He was appalled to see the destruction caused by Allied bombing raids on German cities and the effect the war was having on the morale of private citizens. He learned of the existence of death camps, slave labor, the extermination of the Jews, and the other atrocities of the Nazi regime.
During this time Rommel also became aware of the growing German resistance movement, and some of its members contacted him to discuss plans for ousting Hitler and making peace with the west. Some high-ranking officers had even spoken to him about assassinating Hitler. Notable among them was General Karl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel, the military governor of France, who invited Rommel to Paris for secret talks aimed at recruiting Rommel into the plot.
Rommel agreed that Hitler had lost touch with reality in continuing the war and believed that the Fuehrer should be forced to concede the war or else be removed from power. But Rommel was morally opposed to assassination. He also believed assassination would spark civil war and make Hitler a martyr. At most he believed Hitler should be arrested and tried by a German court for his crimes – a tall order in a totalitarian state.
In their secret meeting, Rommel told Stülpnagel that he would give Hitler one last chance by sending a "blitz" telegram to him. He would outline the prospects of further war in the gravest terms and urge Hitler to immediately open the diplomatic front and reduce Germany's losses by ordering the Werhmacht to evacuate France and fall back to Germany’s borders. Rommel had little hope that his recommendations would be heeded thus a coup seemed inevitable.
On June 6, 1944 the Allies began landing at Normandy. Many of the senior German commanders were on leave, including Rommel who was in Germany to celebrate his wife’s birthday. With news of the invasion, Rommel rushed back to the front to counterattack. But Hitler refused to release needed armored divisions which were under his personal command and were stationed near the Pas-de-Calais, believing it, not Normandy, would be the main invasion target. Not even entreaties in person by Rommel and Field Marshal Gerd von Runstedt, the Commander-in-Chief-West, could persuade Hitler that Normandy was the main attack. Rommel's defensive nightmare came true as the Allied beachhead built up over the next six weeks.
On July 15, Rommel wrote his “blitz” telegram to Hitler, recommending that Germany should seriously consider ending the war on favorable terms while it was still possible. For reasons unknown, its delivery to Hitler was delayed, and two days after he wrote it, Rommel’s staff car was strafed by a British pilot, killing his driver and ejecting him into a ditch where he suffered a severe skull fracture. His injuries removed him from battle and sent him back to Germany for treatment. He would never return.
On July 20, while Rommel was recovering from his injuries, a failed attempt to assassinate Hitler was made when a bomb exploded in his secret Wolf's Lair (Wolfsschanze) field headquarters near Rastenburg, East Prussia. Two weeks later, Rommel’s blitz telegram was handed to Hitler. Rommel was unaware of the assassination attempt, but his brutally frank letter now took on a traitorous and defeatist tone, which it likely would not have had if it delivered as intended.
The Gestapo sifted through the debris of Wolfsschanze and identified the person who brought the bomb into the meeting room. Many co-conspirators were identified and arrested as the dragnet expanded to anyone even suspected of participating. General von Stülpnagel, was uncovered and recalled to Germany from Paris. Along the way he ordered his driver to stop and he waded into the Meuse River and shot himself in the head. Hoping that he would drown if his shot failed to kill him, he succeeded only in blowing out one eyeball. His driver rescued his unconscious body from the river and rushed him to a local hospital where his other eyeball had to be removed. During his recovery, he hallucinated and blurted out Rommel’s name, which was heard by his guards. Stülpnagel’s aide, Lt. Colonel Caesar von Hofacker, another conspirator, was arrested and severely tortured by the Gestapo, and only after holding out for so long that it won the admiration of his torturers, he said that Rommel was actively involved.
Carl Goerdeler was the main civilian leader of the plot. He would have been the Chancellor of the new government if the plot had succeeded. Goerdeler was arrested and without torture freely cooperated with the Gestapo in naming names, which made him the object of a considerable hatred from the other prisoners, who saw him as a spineless coward. His letters and other documents revealed that Rommel was a potential supporter and an acceptable military leader to be placed in a position of responsibility in the new government.
A "Court of Military Honor" – little more than a drumhead court-martial – was convened to decide the fate of officers involved in the conspiracy. The Court decided that Rommel should be expelled from the Army in disgrace and put on public trial. This would present a problem to Hitler who knew that accusing a popular military figure like Rommel of being a traitor to Germany could cause civilian unrest. Hitler decided, therefore, to give Rommel the choice to commit suicide or else face public trial, certain death, and an uncertain future for his wife and son.
Rommel was unaware that he had been uncovered and between July and October he remained inactive as he recovered from his head injuries. It would have been difficult, however, for him to be unaware of the officer corps purge going on and the execution of the inner circle of plotters.
In October 1944, while recuperating at home, Rommel received a phone call from Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, Hitler’s supreme staff officer, asking him to report in person to Hitler in Berlin to discuss his next posting. Rommel was suspicious. He might indeed be in line for a new command on the Eastern Front fighting the Russians, or he might be turned over to the Gestapo, as had happened to others, and never see his family again. He declined Keitel’s invitation, citing his injury recovery as an excuse. Keitel accepted that excuse and said he would send Generals Wilhelm Burgdorf and Ernst Maisel to Rommel's home with details of his next assignment. Rommel knew that Burgdorf was Hitler’s adjutant (assistant) and Maisel was a protocol officer, so it was plausible that the purpose of their visit was as Keitel had represented it.
Burgdorf and Maisel arrived at Rommel's home on October 14, 1944, and Rommel escorted them into his study. As the senior officer and Hitler’s representative, Burgdorf did most of the talking and Maisel acted as a witness. Rommel was given a letter written by Keitel at Hitler’s dictation. It revealed what Rommel had feared – that he had been implicated by other conspirators. A copy of their testimony was included and Rommel examined it. Keitel’s letter stated that if Rommel believed he was innocent, he should report to the Fuehrer; otherwise, he would be arrested and tried. He should consider the consequences of that.
On the other hand, Keitel’s letter continued, there was an alternative – suicide. Burgdorf had personal orders from Hitler to prevent Rommel from shooting himself in the head; he was to offer him poison, in order that the cause of death could be attributed to the brain damage he had suffered in the car accident. That would be the public story, and it would be an honorable way for him to die and preserve his national reputation.
Burgdorf told Maisel to leave the room, and he produced a cyanide capsule for Rommel, promising that it would kill him within three seconds, thus sparing him unnecessary suffering. Rommel was promised he would be given a state funeral with a hero’s military honors, and his wife would receive a Field Marshal’s pension for the rest of her days.
Having made up his mind, Rommel left his study and went upstairs to see his wife, Lucia, telling her his decision to take his own life. His son, Manfred, entered the room behind him. After the war, he described that his father was pale but otherwise calm. He and Manfred stepped out into the hall and Rommel told his son that he would be dead in a quarter of an hour. If he accepted this way, Rommel said, none of the usual steps would be taken against his family and his military staff would also be left alone.
With his field marshal's baton under his arm and his son Manfred and his orderly beside him, Rommel walked to Burgdorf’s car, shook hands with his son and orderly, and slipped into the back seat with Burgdorf and Maisel beside him. Rommel did not look back as the car pulled off.
The driver, Sergeant Doose, was told to drive out of the village and onto a side road; then he and Maisel were told to leave the car and Burgdorf remained behind. In about five minutes Maisel and Doose were waved back to the car. Doose said that he found Rommel slumped over in his seat and his cap had fallen off. Doose, while sobbing, replaced the fallen cap on Rommel's head. Ten minutes later Rommel's wife received a call to inform her that her husband was dead.
Rommel's body was driven to a nearby hospital for a doctor to certify a time of death. The doctor immediately realized that the cause of death was unnatural, and recommended an autopsy, which Burgdorf refused. The German government announced Rommel's death as caused by aneurysm in the brain.
To further strengthen the story, Hitler ordered an official day of mourning in commemoration of the death. Rommel was buried with full military honors as promised. Hitler even sent Field Marshal von Rundstedt as his representative to the funeral. Although Rommel had specified that no political paraphernalia were to be displayed on his corpse, the Nazis made sure he was fully festooned with swastikas.
In a personal correspondence with his wife dated October 24, 1944, Keitel kept up the ruse, saying "Rommel has died after all from the multiple skull injuries he received on a car journey, through a blood-clot." But later, in his memoirs which were written in 1945 from prison, Keitel would admit to knowing the real cause of Rommel's death. He first revealed that Rommel was forced to commit suicide when he testified about his death during the Nuremberg Trials.
Rommel fought aggressively to win the war for Germany. Yet he was one of the few, if not the only, officer in the German High Command who had not committed atrocities or allowed them against civilians during his war service. There is strong evidence that he was not anti-Semitic and in fact complained to Hitler that he was concerned by Allied carping on German anti-Semitism. "Why don't we put some Jews into prominent leadership positions and shut them up?" Rommel suggested. Hitler told Rommel to stick to military matters and, after the General left the room, Hitler told associates, "That fellow has absolutely no understanding of what we are trying to accomplish."
Allied POWs who were captured by Rommel’s troops were treated humanely. In North Africa, he ordered that food and water rations for his troops be reduced so they could be shared with POWs. On one occasion, Rommel refused the wish of white soldiers of the British Empire for separate POW camps for white and Negro soldiers. His answer was that they fought together in battle as comrades and so should share the same fate after the battle. Rommel also ignored the order to treat Free French troops as irregulars and partisans, i.e., to shoot them on the spot.
After the war, Winston Churchill said of Rommel:
He deserves our respect because, although a loyal German soldier, he came to hate Hitler and all his works, and took part in the conspiracy to rescue Germany by displacing the maniac and tyrant. For this, he paid the forfeit of his life. In the somber wars of modern democracy, chivalry finds no place ... I do not regret or retract the tribute I paid to Rommel, unfashionable though it was judged [when given in the House of Commons].
Field Marshall Erwin Rommel was forced to take his own life 67 years ago this week on October 14.
The destruction that Hitler’s Third Reich was visiting upon its citizens and the atrocities that were being committed by German fanatics – like the SS – against the citizens of the invaded countries had turned many in the officer corps against their Führer. Despite the fact that these officers had taken an oath of “unconditional obedience” to Adolf Hitler, rather than allegiance to the nation and its constitution, a growing resistance movement was gaining influence among the highest ranks of Hitler’s General Staff and command structure. Only Hitler’s death would release them from their oath of allegiance to him and twelve attempts had been made on his life.
Erwin Rommel was Hitler's favorite general. He had begun to be noticed in 1940 when his exploits as a commander of a panzer division smashed through French defenses. From there Rommel was sent to command the Afrika Korps where he displayed uncanny tactical genius, an ability to inspire the loyalty of his troops, and the resourcefulness to fight effectively when outnumbered in men and matériel. Hitler promoted him to the rank of Field Marshall and in 1943 put him in command of fortifying the "Atlantic Wall" along the coast of France which was designed to repel the anticipated Normandy landings.
When he took his new command, Rommel was beginning to doubt that Germany could win the war, especially if Hitler continued to be in command of it. He was appalled to see the destruction caused by Allied bombing raids on German cities and the effect the war was having on the morale of private citizens. He learned of the existence of death camps, slave labor, the extermination of the Jews, and the other atrocities of the Nazi regime.
During this time Rommel also became aware of the growing German resistance movement, and some of its members contacted him to discuss plans for ousting Hitler and making peace with the west. Some high-ranking officers had even spoken to him about assassinating Hitler. Notable among them was General Karl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel, the military governor of France, who invited Rommel to Paris for secret talks aimed at recruiting Rommel into the plot.
Rommel agreed that Hitler had lost touch with reality in continuing the war and believed that the Fuehrer should be forced to concede the war or else be removed from power. But Rommel was morally opposed to assassination. He also believed assassination would spark civil war and make Hitler a martyr. At most he believed Hitler should be arrested and tried by a German court for his crimes – a tall order in a totalitarian state.
In their secret meeting, Rommel told Stülpnagel that he would give Hitler one last chance by sending a "blitz" telegram to him. He would outline the prospects of further war in the gravest terms and urge Hitler to immediately open the diplomatic front and reduce Germany's losses by ordering the Werhmacht to evacuate France and fall back to Germany’s borders. Rommel had little hope that his recommendations would be heeded thus a coup seemed inevitable.
On June 6, 1944 the Allies began landing at Normandy. Many of the senior German commanders were on leave, including Rommel who was in Germany to celebrate his wife’s birthday. With news of the invasion, Rommel rushed back to the front to counterattack. But Hitler refused to release needed armored divisions which were under his personal command and were stationed near the Pas-de-Calais, believing it, not Normandy, would be the main invasion target. Not even entreaties in person by Rommel and Field Marshal Gerd von Runstedt, the Commander-in-Chief-West, could persuade Hitler that Normandy was the main attack. Rommel's defensive nightmare came true as the Allied beachhead built up over the next six weeks.
On July 15, Rommel wrote his “blitz” telegram to Hitler, recommending that Germany should seriously consider ending the war on favorable terms while it was still possible. For reasons unknown, its delivery to Hitler was delayed, and two days after he wrote it, Rommel’s staff car was strafed by a British pilot, killing his driver and ejecting him into a ditch where he suffered a severe skull fracture. His injuries removed him from battle and sent him back to Germany for treatment. He would never return.
On July 20, while Rommel was recovering from his injuries, a failed attempt to assassinate Hitler was made when a bomb exploded in his secret Wolf's Lair (Wolfsschanze) field headquarters near Rastenburg, East Prussia. Two weeks later, Rommel’s blitz telegram was handed to Hitler. Rommel was unaware of the assassination attempt, but his brutally frank letter now took on a traitorous and defeatist tone, which it likely would not have had if it delivered as intended.
The Gestapo sifted through the debris of Wolfsschanze and identified the person who brought the bomb into the meeting room. Many co-conspirators were identified and arrested as the dragnet expanded to anyone even suspected of participating. General von Stülpnagel, was uncovered and recalled to Germany from Paris. Along the way he ordered his driver to stop and he waded into the Meuse River and shot himself in the head. Hoping that he would drown if his shot failed to kill him, he succeeded only in blowing out one eyeball. His driver rescued his unconscious body from the river and rushed him to a local hospital where his other eyeball had to be removed. During his recovery, he hallucinated and blurted out Rommel’s name, which was heard by his guards. Stülpnagel’s aide, Lt. Colonel Caesar von Hofacker, another conspirator, was arrested and severely tortured by the Gestapo, and only after holding out for so long that it won the admiration of his torturers, he said that Rommel was actively involved.
Carl Goerdeler was the main civilian leader of the plot. He would have been the Chancellor of the new government if the plot had succeeded. Goerdeler was arrested and without torture freely cooperated with the Gestapo in naming names, which made him the object of a considerable hatred from the other prisoners, who saw him as a spineless coward. His letters and other documents revealed that Rommel was a potential supporter and an acceptable military leader to be placed in a position of responsibility in the new government.
A "Court of Military Honor" – little more than a drumhead court-martial – was convened to decide the fate of officers involved in the conspiracy. The Court decided that Rommel should be expelled from the Army in disgrace and put on public trial. This would present a problem to Hitler who knew that accusing a popular military figure like Rommel of being a traitor to Germany could cause civilian unrest. Hitler decided, therefore, to give Rommel the choice to commit suicide or else face public trial, certain death, and an uncertain future for his wife and son.
Rommel was unaware that he had been uncovered and between July and October he remained inactive as he recovered from his head injuries. It would have been difficult, however, for him to be unaware of the officer corps purge going on and the execution of the inner circle of plotters.
In October 1944, while recuperating at home, Rommel received a phone call from Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, Hitler’s supreme staff officer, asking him to report in person to Hitler in Berlin to discuss his next posting. Rommel was suspicious. He might indeed be in line for a new command on the Eastern Front fighting the Russians, or he might be turned over to the Gestapo, as had happened to others, and never see his family again. He declined Keitel’s invitation, citing his injury recovery as an excuse. Keitel accepted that excuse and said he would send Generals Wilhelm Burgdorf and Ernst Maisel to Rommel's home with details of his next assignment. Rommel knew that Burgdorf was Hitler’s adjutant (assistant) and Maisel was a protocol officer, so it was plausible that the purpose of their visit was as Keitel had represented it.
Burgdorf and Maisel arrived at Rommel's home on October 14, 1944, and Rommel escorted them into his study. As the senior officer and Hitler’s representative, Burgdorf did most of the talking and Maisel acted as a witness. Rommel was given a letter written by Keitel at Hitler’s dictation. It revealed what Rommel had feared – that he had been implicated by other conspirators. A copy of their testimony was included and Rommel examined it. Keitel’s letter stated that if Rommel believed he was innocent, he should report to the Fuehrer; otherwise, he would be arrested and tried. He should consider the consequences of that.
On the other hand, Keitel’s letter continued, there was an alternative – suicide. Burgdorf had personal orders from Hitler to prevent Rommel from shooting himself in the head; he was to offer him poison, in order that the cause of death could be attributed to the brain damage he had suffered in the car accident. That would be the public story, and it would be an honorable way for him to die and preserve his national reputation.
Burgdorf told Maisel to leave the room, and he produced a cyanide capsule for Rommel, promising that it would kill him within three seconds, thus sparing him unnecessary suffering. Rommel was promised he would be given a state funeral with a hero’s military honors, and his wife would receive a Field Marshal’s pension for the rest of her days.
Having made up his mind, Rommel left his study and went upstairs to see his wife, Lucia, telling her his decision to take his own life. His son, Manfred, entered the room behind him. After the war, he described that his father was pale but otherwise calm. He and Manfred stepped out into the hall and Rommel told his son that he would be dead in a quarter of an hour. If he accepted this way, Rommel said, none of the usual steps would be taken against his family and his military staff would also be left alone.
With his field marshal's baton under his arm and his son Manfred and his orderly beside him, Rommel walked to Burgdorf’s car, shook hands with his son and orderly, and slipped into the back seat with Burgdorf and Maisel beside him. Rommel did not look back as the car pulled off.
The driver, Sergeant Doose, was told to drive out of the village and onto a side road; then he and Maisel were told to leave the car and Burgdorf remained behind. In about five minutes Maisel and Doose were waved back to the car. Doose said that he found Rommel slumped over in his seat and his cap had fallen off. Doose, while sobbing, replaced the fallen cap on Rommel's head. Ten minutes later Rommel's wife received a call to inform her that her husband was dead.
Rommel's body was driven to a nearby hospital for a doctor to certify a time of death. The doctor immediately realized that the cause of death was unnatural, and recommended an autopsy, which Burgdorf refused. The German government announced Rommel's death as caused by aneurysm in the brain.
To further strengthen the story, Hitler ordered an official day of mourning in commemoration of the death. Rommel was buried with full military honors as promised. Hitler even sent Field Marshal von Rundstedt as his representative to the funeral. Although Rommel had specified that no political paraphernalia were to be displayed on his corpse, the Nazis made sure he was fully festooned with swastikas.
In a personal correspondence with his wife dated October 24, 1944, Keitel kept up the ruse, saying "Rommel has died after all from the multiple skull injuries he received on a car journey, through a blood-clot." But later, in his memoirs which were written in 1945 from prison, Keitel would admit to knowing the real cause of Rommel's death. He first revealed that Rommel was forced to commit suicide when he testified about his death during the Nuremberg Trials.
Rommel fought aggressively to win the war for Germany. Yet he was one of the few, if not the only, officer in the German High Command who had not committed atrocities or allowed them against civilians during his war service. There is strong evidence that he was not anti-Semitic and in fact complained to Hitler that he was concerned by Allied carping on German anti-Semitism. "Why don't we put some Jews into prominent leadership positions and shut them up?" Rommel suggested. Hitler told Rommel to stick to military matters and, after the General left the room, Hitler told associates, "That fellow has absolutely no understanding of what we are trying to accomplish."
Allied POWs who were captured by Rommel’s troops were treated humanely. In North Africa, he ordered that food and water rations for his troops be reduced so they could be shared with POWs. On one occasion, Rommel refused the wish of white soldiers of the British Empire for separate POW camps for white and Negro soldiers. His answer was that they fought together in battle as comrades and so should share the same fate after the battle. Rommel also ignored the order to treat Free French troops as irregulars and partisans, i.e., to shoot them on the spot.
After the war, Winston Churchill said of Rommel:
He deserves our respect because, although a loyal German soldier, he came to hate Hitler and all his works, and took part in the conspiracy to rescue Germany by displacing the maniac and tyrant. For this, he paid the forfeit of his life. In the somber wars of modern democracy, chivalry finds no place ... I do not regret or retract the tribute I paid to Rommel, unfashionable though it was judged [when given in the House of Commons].
Field Marshall Erwin Rommel was forced to take his own life 67 years ago this week on October 14.
Rommel was noticed way before 1940 as stated. His book 'Infantry Attacks' was published in 1937, which chronicled his battlefield victories in WWI. Hitler had been following Rommel's career for some time before WWII.
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