Rommel’s splendid record as a general, husband and father and basic decency needs no certification by fringe groups, which always thrive on creating controversies where none exist, even if they have to resort to character assassination, or take the help of half truths to pass them off as plausible facts, because that is the only way they can grab your attention.

For instance, novelist David Baldacci sums up the business of half-truths very pointedly in The Whole Truth, about how notorious arms dealer Nicholas Creel won’t stop at anything to sell billions of dollars of lethal weapons and set the world on fire, even if that takes a million lives. He employs the sinister tools of ‘Perception Management’ to accomplish his nefarious ends without a finger being raised at him.

Those who are casting slurs on the field marshal as a ‘racist’s don’t seem to be familiar with basic facts. Do they know that Rommel put his foot down when some racist South African generals in the British Army insisted on segregating themselves from their enlisted men, just because they happened to be blacks, at the time of surrender. The Desert Fox firmly reminded them of the oath they had taken together to serve their country. So he would not permit them to stay in separate barracks.

Did Rommel’s detractors know that he tore up the Fuhrer’s order decreeing that all British commandos should be executed if captured alive? Similarly, Rommel trashed Mussolini’s message to exterminate Tunisian Muslim tribals for murdering Italian soldiers who had raped their women, because he had the wisdom to see it could ignite a rebellion in his own Afrika Korps’ backyard.

How many generals in the US or European armies or even politicians today would be as perceptive or as courageous.
Rommel had the guts to defy an absolute dictator like Hitler when circumstances demanded. He partook of the same Spartan rations that his men shared with the POWs, even to few ounces of water.

Had Rommel been alive today, he would have been the world’s greatest corporate honcho and administrator par excellence. I don’t think any military would ever come within hollering distance of Afrika Korps in terms of performance, prowess or sheer bravery. By the force of his character and personality, Rommel had forged his miniscule army into the finest fighting formation in the history of modern warfare.
Shudip

Regards,
Alex
CC