Who is Gen Erwin Rommel?

Answer 1

Erwin Rommel (Nov 15 1891--Oct 14 1944 [age 52]) was a soldier with allegiance to Germany.

Highly decorated in WW1, he earned a Pour le Merite medal for his exploits on the Italian front.

It was his prestige in the Second World War, however, that earned him the nickname "The Desert Fox" ("Wustenfuchs"). He was a Nazi Generalfeldmarschall in North Africa, and assisted heavily with the invasion of France.

Late in the war, though, he was convicted of assisting in the plot to kill Hitler (Operation Valkyrie), and was sentenced to death. This is where things became complicated for Adolf Hitler.

Rommel was widely regarded as a war hero in Germany. Even Hitler thought highly of him. But after the attempted assassination, he wanted to be rid of Rommel. But instead of getting negative feedback from the German public for executing the General, he decided to trick them.

Rommel, so his family could keep his military pension and so they wouldn't be killed by the Nazis, took a cyanide capsule and died quietly on October 14, 1944.

Gallant till the end, Rommel was probably one of the few decent Nazis that existed in the Third Reich. He thought it was unfair that innocent Jews and German soldiers were being slaughtered because Hitler wouldn't agree to an armistice.

His grave is located in Herrlingen, Germany, about 2 miles West of Ulm.