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Erwin Rommel, aka "The Desert Fox", was one of Adolf Hitler 's most able generals during WWII. He joined the German army in 1910 and won award s for bravery in WW I. He was in the 7th Tank Division at the outbreak of WW II and headed the push to the English Channel. Promoted to the rank of lieutenant general, Rommel led the German army in Africa (known as The Afrika Korps) in its mostly successful North African campaign. He drove the British in Libya back to to El Alamein. This led to his promotion to the rank of Field Marshal. Eventually outmaneuvered by British Gen. Bernard L. Montgomery , he returned to Germany, where he was given charge of the defense of northern France. Implicated in the July 1944 plot to assassinate Hitler, he chose suicide rather than execution.
His son Manfred Rommel became the mayor of Stuttgart, Germany.He had an older daughter, Gertrud (1913-2000), who was born to Walburga Stemmer as a result of an affair with Rommel. Gertrud kept in touch with Rommel and his legal family, but was introduced to her half brother as a family relative. It was only after her death that the letters of Walnurga and Rommel were found. Walburga committed suicide in 1928, upon Manfred Rommel 's birth to Lucie Rommel.The circumstances surrounding his forced suicide are still murky. Although it is almost certain that he was not involved in the July 20, 1944, assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler , he was known to be, if not inimical to, at the least not well-disposed toward the Nazi party ideology. It was said that he was targeted by the Gestapo and earned Hitler's vengeance mostly because one conspirator blurted out Rommel's name during a brutal interrogation session.He was given the option of suicide in deference to his high status and widespread popularity among the German people (prosecuting him in the kangaroo-court "Peoples' Court" could well have been a propaganda disaster for the regime), and he was given assurances that his family would not be harmed in any way if he took the suicide option.Although he fought for Germany during World War II, and most historians consider him the finest general the German army has ever had, he was known to have despised both Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party beliefs. He said on more than one occasion that his loyalties were to the German army and the German nation and not to any political leader, party or ideology. Those sentiments earned him the undying enmity of the Gestapo.Despite rumors to the contrary, he did not play an active part in the attempt on Adolf Hitler 's life. His "crime" was that he was informed of the plan and chose not to warn Hitler.Upon receiving the "Commando Order", which dictated that any captured paratroopers or Allied soldiers found operating behind the lines were to be shot, he contemptuously burned it.