Would Rommel be a War Criminal?

[Blackheart]

No he was west's favourite buddy boy, even to this day he still is!
I'm sorry if that hurt any of you guys feelings, but I think Rommel is overrated and over respected because he was the only German Field marshal to be defeated by the west before '44. I think there were much better soldiers than him , Guderian, Von Manstein, Hoth , Von Kleist and Mallenthian were really good Panzer commanders and may be they would've done better than Rommel had any of them was in Africa instead of Rommel. I don't think he would've been tried by the west, and even the Russians didn't have anything against him (Sometimes I wonder whether they even knew about him!).
cheers
Black

[John W]

I'm sorry if that hurt any of you guys feelings, but I think Rommel is overrated and over respected because he was the only German Field marshal to be defeated by the west before '44.

I don't think any of your other 'fabled' commanders could have changed the situation in Afrika. He was the first FeldMarschall the Allies faced anyways. Are you saying that if it had been Manstein instead of Rommel, the Allies would have been more lenient towards him?

I think there were much better soldiers than him , Guderian, Von Manstein, Hoth , Von Kleist and Mallenthian were really good Panzer commanders and may be they would've done better than Rommel had any of them was in Africa instead of Rommel.

The key word there is "maybe"

I frankly found Rommel's performance amazing. For someone who was primarily an infantryman and not educated in Staff school, he did damned well. To grasp the power and usefullness of the tank and the balanced use of caution and boldness in the offense and his absolute cunning in defense speaks volumes about the man's ability.

I don't think he would've been tried by the west, and even the Russians didn't have anything against him (Sometimes I wonder whether they even knew about him!).

I don't think the Soviets even heard of him...

John

[Phil Nix]

Why didnt PanzerMeyer get same kind of respect from brittish in normandy 1944? Bad, evil nazi? No, one of the all time best division/regiment commanders, but he was also nazi.

Regards
Kasper

Meyer was heavily involved in the killing of Canadian P.O.W.s in Normandy and therefore he was charged as a war criminal. I do not suppose that most allied troops new who Meyer was.
Philmil

[Peter H]

An Australian desert veteran has been defending Rommel's reputation in regards an incident that happened in France in 1940.

First the incident,as described by David Irving:

One brave French lieutenant-colonel tried to defy Rommel--"He looked like a fanatical officer',recalled Rommel in his history."His eyes burned with hatred and impotent fury...I decided to take him with us.He had already gone on about fifty yards further east,but he was brought back to Rothenburg.Rothenburg ordered him up on to our command Panzer.But as the French officer curtly refused--three times,in fact--to come with us,there was nothing for it but to shoot him down."

The Trail of the Fox,page 58.

This incident was promoted as a war crime by a contributer to an Australian literary magazine here.

Here's the response from the veteran of Tobruk and Alamein:

...the argument that Rommel is a war criminal is based on the general's single act of shooting a fanatical hate-filled French colonel who refused three times to surrender and enter an Axis vehicle when commanded to do so...he says the shooting was a 'ruthless,brutual act.'Of course it was.War is a ruthless,brutual act.If you want to win,you can't afford to be too dainty or pussyfoot around.One is often forced to make quick and brutual decisions in any war...

Another consideration:

..when a chap's being taken prisoner,and he won't behave as a prisoner,then shooting is a legal option.

[WalterS]

The only charge I can think of that could even remotely be considered against Rommel would be if he used slave labor to construct the Atlantic Wall fortifications. As was pointed out previously, however, slave labor was run not by the military but by Sauckel and the Todt organization. Nevertheless, Speer was convicted of using the slave labor provided by Sauckel and I think Dönitz was charged with that also.

I do agree it would be a reach to charge Rommel with such an offense, but not totally out of the question.

[Beppo Schmidt]

Rommel was not involved in Italy's partisan war, though the orders he issued prescribing death for Italian soldiers taken in arms and Italian civilians sheltering escaped British prisoners do not suggest he would have behaved significantly differently from his Wehrmacht counterparts.

Patton and Rommel: Men of War in the Twentieth Century, by Dennis Showalter, pg. 334

Showalter doesn't name a source.

Personally, I have a hard time picturing Rommel committing war crimes, and honestly, given how respected he was by the Allies, I doubt anyone would have gone through with any charges in any event.

[Molobo]

Yep but how much the respect that Rommel gained was from his suicide and anti-nazi status which is linked to his suicide?

The assumption that Rommel was anti-nazi is false, he admired Hitler and was very close to him.

http://home.sandiego.edu/~jaredm/political.html

Ha was supportive of German aggression on Chechoslovakia, Poland and involved in forming Hitlerjugend as training stage for Wehrmacht.

[JamesL]

One incident noted in "Knight's Cross: A Life of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel" by David Fraser could be considered a war crime on Rommel's part.

In the drive across France Rommel came across a group of French POW's and their colonel. Rommel offered the French colonel a ride in his staff car. The French colonel refused to leave his men. Rommel insisted, the French colonel again refused. Rommel then ordered the French colonel shot on the spot for disobeying an order.

Rommel could have had the French colonel trussed up and place in his staff car by German MP's but ordered his execution instead.

I do not have a page number in Fraser's book and its down in the library. Maybe someone has a copy and could provide more details.

[Miha Grcar]

Hello,

this incident from France is a well known one, it is mentioned in almost every Rommel book I have read. This is how Rommel described that event in his diary:

17th May 1940

... Hundreds upon hundreds of French soldiers and their officers surrendered at our approach. Sometimes they had to be got out of vehicles driving alongside us.
Particulary angry at this sudden disturbance was a French Lieutenant-colonel, whose vehicle was caught in the jam, and whom we overtook. I asked him his rank and position. He gave the impression of being one of these very fanatical officer types. His eyes glowed with hatred and impotent fury. In consideration of the possibility that our column would get split up in the traffic, I decided it best to take him along with us. He was already 50m (55yd) to the east when he was brought back to the command tank of Colonel Rothenburg, who motioned him to climb up. The French officer bluntly refused to come along, and there was nothing for it but to shoot him after three times ordering him to get up. ...

Source: Rommel and his art of war by Field Marshal Erwin Rommel

best,
Miha / Nibelung

[Molobo]

Well would we expect Rommel to write something different in the diary ? His own confessions must be taken scepticaly.

[Erich Hartmann]

I'm sure that the allies would have charged him.
The whole aftermath of the war was to punish the loser, often unjust. The rules had changed!
So maybe they wouldn't had hanged him, but some years he would have got!

[Beppo Schmidt]

I have a very hard time believing Rommel would have been charged by the Allies. They respected him very highly.

[Molobo]

I have a very hard time believing Rommel would have been charged by the Allies. They respected him very highly.

I doubt that Allies such as Poles or Soviet Union valued any military officer of German Reich highly.Especially in the case of Rommel who was a close friend of Hitler and enthusiastically supported his war while they were winning :roll: I could imagine him being accused of violating the treaties Germany signed by rebuilding the German army, also the murder of French officer that was mentioned before. I don't know if Germany violated any treaties why attacking Poland without declaration of war, but that could be argued also if it happened.
Of course that would depend.Guderian after all wasn't charged despite his rather corrupt and viscious nature during the war.
The Nuremberg trial due to political reasons treated German military very lightly.

[Beppo Schmidt]

I doubt that Allies such as Poles or Soviet Union valued any military officer of German Reich highly.Especially in the case of Rommel who was a close friend of Hitler and enthusiastically supported his war while they were winning

I don't see what they would have to say about it, as Rommel never served in the Soviet Union and was only in Poland as an observer attached to Hitler's HQ during the invasion in September 1939.

[Molobo]

I don't see what they would have to say about it, as Rommel never served in the Soviet Union

http://home.sandiego.edu/~jaredm/political.html
Rebuilding army :

Rommel soon became involved with the Hitler youth, expressing that he was never happier than when working with children. His intention was as liaison between the Wehrmacht and the Hitler youth in order to prepare them to become soldiers someday.

was only in Poland as an observer attached to Hitler's HQ

Nope, he was part of the military force taking part in invasion.He wasn't an observer, he was responsible for his Fuhrer safety.He also knew about it before it begun.