Erwin Rommel
Rommel With the 15th panzer Division.
Field Marshal Rommel is famous for his blitzkrieg tactics in France and the at Gazala, whilst commanding the Afrika Corps where his tactical awareness and his natural flair in mobile warfare, turned possible defeat into a stunning victory. He has been crowned as a tactical genius by history, and there is certainly no doubt as to his ability when his battles are analysed, but can it be said that he was particularly talented to the extent where it made his presence in Africa a decisive factor in the Axis powers favour. I believe he was, but it also worth mentioning that his presence did not effect the outcome of the Desert War because supplies and Hitler's interference reduced his ability to defeat the Allies in North Africa. There is no doubt in my mind that Rommel, if supplied more effectively and not had Hitler interfering, he would have defeated the Eighth Army well before Montgomery's arrival. Therefore Field Marshal Montgomery had the potential to directly effect the outcome of the North African Campaign in the Axis favour, but didn't because of other factors that restrained him.
Erwin Rommel was born on November 15, 1891 and joined the 124th Wurttemburg Infantry Regiment, and participated in the First World War (Also known as the 'Great War' or 'The War To End All Wars') as a Lieutenant. As a War College instructor after the war, Rommel began to forge links with the Nazi Party. By 1939 Rommel was a Brigadier General and was at Hitler's H.Q during the Polish Campaign, but in the spring of 1940 Rommel took command of the 7th panzer Division and gained much respect for his abilities in using Blitzkrieg.
When Rommel was required to command the Afrika Korps in
Northern Africa to aid the Italians who had been defeated by the
'Western Desert Force' (which later became the Eighth Army), the
Allies knew that holding onto Northern Africa had just become a
much harder objective to achieve. Rommel utilised the mobility of
his Panzer Divisions and the superiority
of his tanks and anti-tank guns to defeat the Allies on
several occasions. Rommel`s finest battle in North Africa is said
to have been Gazala in May 1942, where
his superb improvisational skills and mastery of mobile warfare,
struck an almost fatal blow to the Allies. All this time Rommel
suffered from appalling supply
problems that forced him to ration ammunition and fuel. Fuel was
the main problem in a conflict that was fought over hundreds of
miles of open desert and necessitated mobile warfare on a grand
scale.
After the battle of Alam Halfa in which Rommel was forced to
attack, because the Allies were soon to achieve numerical
superiority, the Afrika Korps days were numbered. His supply
situation grew increasingly worse and Hitler began to over-rule
his tactical decisions. Rommel, although severely lacking supplies and equipment, held out in
Tunisia and had the chance to defeat the Allies, but was denied
by the Italian High Command over-ruling his proposed attack. One
couldn't help feeling a little sorry for the man at this time. He
had shown himself a brilliant fighter in the desert; three times
he had escaped Montgomery's efforts to surround his panzer army;
he had been consistently starved of supplies and equipment.1
There is no denying that Rommel was a dynamic factor in the
North African Campaign and if it was not for the fact that he
received insufficient supplies, I believe he would have won the
Desert War.
1 F.W Winterbotham, The Ultra Secret page 101
More Information on Rommel
High Command Disputes And Interference
Concluding thoughts on the North African Campaign
