“A Daring and Skillful Opponent”

“We have a very daring and skillful opponent against us. And may I say across the havoc of war, a great general.”

I don’t think he paid very many compliments to the enemies arrayed against him, so those words, spoken by Prime Minister Winston Churchill concerning Erwin Rommel, scream in effusive praise for the German General (and later Field Marshal).

When we discuss Germany’s participation in World War II, we often do so with this concept of harsh brutality in the back of our minds.  Ideas like “the Germans butchered millions of innocent people“.  And “Adolf Hitler laughed as he watched innocent people hang from meathooks until they died”.  Or “the dictator ordered his own country completely destroyed at the end of the war”.  And don’t get me wrong…all of those things are true.  There were special killings squads (called Einsatzgruppen) whose purposes were unbelievably evil.  There were millions of innocent people slaughtered at the hands of the German war machine.

But these things are emphatically not true of all German soldiers.  I think we have to realize that there were many who fought with chivalry and decency, many who treated prisoners with respect and even a little courtesy, and a great many who abhorred the atrocities of which they heard.

They include men like Captain Hans Langsdorff, who we discussed in connection with the Admiral Graf Spee.  And General Erwin Rommel must certainly be included.  It was on this day, February 12, 1941, that his Afrika Korps first landed in Libya’s capital of Tripoli.  I suppose I should call this force by its actual name, since “Deutsches Afrikakorps” is more correct, but regardless of title, this was one tough bunch of fighters.

They were sent to North Africa to assist Italian forces, which were being routed by the British.  And over the next two years, places like Tripoli, Casablanca, Bizerte, and even a little town called El Alamein would become synonymous with Rommel’s forces, where conflicting armies battled for control.

And through it all, Rommel and his tanks and his gunners would fight with bravery, tremendous skill, and (as I just mentioned) decency.  In fact, in all its engagements and all the corresponding killing and bloodshed, the Deutsches Afrikakorps was never once (to my limited knowledge) accused of commiting atrocities or war crimes.

Erwin Rommel’s war conduct trickled down to his men and influenced the way they handled themselves…conduct that stands in stark contrast to the actions of many others.  War is always ugly, but these “Knights in Chariots” fought with a relatively high degree of humanity.

Recommended Reading: Pendulum of War: The Three Battles of El Alamein – I’m working through 3 different books right now, but this one is the 4th on my list.  If you haven’t read it, let’s learn from it together.

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