Probably most people interested in the subject at all are familiar with the general outlines of Field Marshall Erwin Rommel's exploits in North Africa and his ultimate fate. He was pretty good at his job. Like his opponent in Africa, Bernard Montgomery, Rommel was haunted by memories of the slaughter in the trenches during World War I. Both men were determined to save lives, but Montgomery adopted the tactic of aggregating superior force and advancing cautiously, while Rommel was given to dashing end runs that avoided frontal assaults.
This episode tell us about Rommel's early career, briefly, then skips to the Afrika Korps, and then Rommel's involvement with the plot to kill Hitler in the summer of 1944, which led to his death.
Apparently, Rommel never really knew about the plot. As James Mason, playing Rommel in the film, "The Desert Fox," keeps emphasizing, he was "a soldier not a politician." Often, statements like that merely provide an excuse for playing CYA but in Rommel's case it was true. When it became clear after the invasion of Normandy that Germany would lose the war, Rommel mused about signing a truce with the British and Americans so that they might team up with Germany and make war on the Soviet Union, a pipe dream if there ever was one. Later, he muttered about the possible elimination of Hitler in order to surrender to the Western Allies. When the plot against Hitler failed, Rommel's name came up during interrogation and he was forced to commit suicide by poison. He was given a state funeral as a national hero.
The guy was never much of an activist. But he really was a splendid tactician. What this documentary does is fill in some of the blanks surrounding the Afrika Korps and Rommel's death. There are some details that are not widely known. The tone of the narrative is respectful, as it probably should be for an honorable opponent who killed for a living but did it as a professional soldier and not a rabid ideologue.
This episode tell us about Rommel's early career, briefly, then skips to the Afrika Korps, and then Rommel's involvement with the plot to kill Hitler in the summer of 1944, which led to his death.
Apparently, Rommel never really knew about the plot. As James Mason, playing Rommel in the film, "The Desert Fox," keeps emphasizing, he was "a soldier not a politician." Often, statements like that merely provide an excuse for playing CYA but in Rommel's case it was true. When it became clear after the invasion of Normandy that Germany would lose the war, Rommel mused about signing a truce with the British and Americans so that they might team up with Germany and make war on the Soviet Union, a pipe dream if there ever was one. Later, he muttered about the possible elimination of Hitler in order to surrender to the Western Allies. When the plot against Hitler failed, Rommel's name came up during interrogation and he was forced to commit suicide by poison. He was given a state funeral as a national hero.
The guy was never much of an activist. But he really was a splendid tactician. What this documentary does is fill in some of the blanks surrounding the Afrika Korps and Rommel's death. There are some details that are not widely known. The tone of the narrative is respectful, as it probably should be for an honorable opponent who killed for a living but did it as a professional soldier and not a rabid ideologue.
