WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.279 Welcome to another deep dive. Today we have a 00:00:03.279 --> 00:00:06.580 pretty massive stack of sources in front of us. 00:00:06.639 --> 00:00:08.660 We really do. And we are looking at one of the 00:00:08.660 --> 00:00:11.640 most complex, highly debated, and universally 00:00:11.640 --> 00:00:14.880 recognized military figures of the 20th century. 00:00:15.019 --> 00:00:16.879 Right. We're talking about Erwin Rommel. the 00:00:16.879 --> 00:00:19.160 German field marshal who became known around 00:00:19.160 --> 00:00:22.120 the world as the Desert Fox. Exactly. And whether 00:00:22.120 --> 00:00:25.079 you're a military history buff who has read countless 00:00:25.079 --> 00:00:28.140 books on World War II, or you just recognize 00:00:28.140 --> 00:00:31.280 the name from pop culture and movies, there's 00:00:31.280 --> 00:00:33.359 a whole lot of ground to cover here. Okay, let's 00:00:33.359 --> 00:00:35.899 unpack this. Because to really understand Rommel, 00:00:35.960 --> 00:00:38.320 we have to look past the legend. We do. We have 00:00:38.320 --> 00:00:40.259 a mountain of documentation here to sort through. 00:00:40.340 --> 00:00:43.140 I mean, we are looking at everything from military 00:00:43.140 --> 00:00:46.740 dispatches and personal diaries to... comprehensive 00:00:46.740 --> 00:00:49.619 post -war historical analyses and setting the 00:00:49.619 --> 00:00:52.159 tone right at the start is crucial for a topic 00:00:52.159 --> 00:00:55.079 like this our goal here is not to judge or to 00:00:55.079 --> 00:00:57.420 champion him right definitely not our job is 00:00:57.420 --> 00:00:59.539 simply to synthesize this massive historical 00:00:59.539 --> 00:01:02.259 record for you the mission for our deep dive 00:01:02.259 --> 00:01:05.599 today is to strip away decades of carefully constructed 00:01:05.599 --> 00:01:08.560 layers yeah getting down to the facts exactly 00:01:08.560 --> 00:01:11.379 we are going to dig into this historical record 00:01:11.379 --> 00:01:14.200 to examine the actual facts of rommel's life 00:01:14.200 --> 00:01:17.840 we will look closely at his undeniable tactical 00:01:17.840 --> 00:01:21.879 successes, his glaring strategic failures, and 00:01:21.879 --> 00:01:25.159 the intensely debated reality of his relationship 00:01:25.159 --> 00:01:27.819 with the Nazi regime. To understand not just 00:01:27.819 --> 00:01:30.540 what happened on the battlefield, but why this 00:01:30.540 --> 00:01:33.859 specific figure remains so intensely studied, 00:01:34.079 --> 00:01:37.140 heavily debated, and even mythologized by military 00:01:37.140 --> 00:01:39.909 academies and historians to this day. And to 00:01:39.909 --> 00:01:41.950 do that, we actually have to start at the beginning, 00:01:42.150 --> 00:01:45.049 long before he ever set foot in the deserts of 00:01:45.049 --> 00:01:46.689 North Africa. Right. We have to go all the way 00:01:46.689 --> 00:01:48.890 back to World War I. When he was just a young 00:01:48.890 --> 00:01:50.810 lieutenant. Yeah. And looking at the sources, 00:01:50.909 --> 00:01:53.489 his early military career is honestly where the 00:01:53.489 --> 00:01:56.530 seeds of his entire legend were planted. I was 00:01:56.530 --> 00:01:58.549 looking at the numbers from the Battle of Caporetto 00:01:58.549 --> 00:02:01.430 in October 1917 on the Italian front. Oh, yeah. 00:02:01.950 --> 00:02:04.049 Those numbers. Honestly, I thought it was a typo. 00:02:04.090 --> 00:02:06.510 A lot of people do. The math of the situation 00:02:06.510 --> 00:02:08.650 just doesn't seem to make sense. He was commanding 00:02:08.650 --> 00:02:12.310 a tiny detachment in this incredibly harsh mountainous 00:02:12.310 --> 00:02:15.909 region, but the outcome was staggering. It wasn't 00:02:15.909 --> 00:02:19.090 a typo. He had a detachment of roughly 150 men 00:02:19.090 --> 00:02:22.330 under his command. Just 150. Yeah. Over the course 00:02:22.330 --> 00:02:24.639 of a few days. Using the harsh terrain of the 00:02:24.639 --> 00:02:27.319 mountains to his advantage, that tiny unit of 00:02:27.319 --> 00:02:31.639 150 men managed to capture 9 ,000 Italian soldiers. 00:02:31.900 --> 00:02:35.500 Wow. They also captured 81 artillery guns. That 00:02:35.500 --> 00:02:38.759 is insane. And they achieved all of this while 00:02:38.759 --> 00:02:42.939 losing only six of their own men. Wait, 150 men 00:02:42.939 --> 00:02:47.569 captured 9 ,000? 9 ,000. How is that even physically 00:02:47.569 --> 00:02:50.449 possible without suffering a massive casualty 00:02:50.449 --> 00:02:52.689 rate? It sounds like an exaggeration from an 00:02:52.689 --> 00:02:54.669 action movie. What's fascinating here is the 00:02:54.669 --> 00:02:57.650 how behind those numbers. Rommel was essentially 00:02:57.650 --> 00:03:00.759 a pioneer of infiltration tactics. Right. When 00:03:00.759 --> 00:03:02.740 you read his accounts, he was doing blitzkrieg 00:03:02.740 --> 00:03:05.439 long before tanks and mechanized armor were the 00:03:05.439 --> 00:03:07.860 main instruments of war. So he wasn't just lining 00:03:07.860 --> 00:03:10.240 his men up and charging across a muddy field. 00:03:10.379 --> 00:03:12.780 Not at all. Instead of the static, grinding trench 00:03:12.780 --> 00:03:15.300 warfare we usually associate with World War I, 00:03:15.639 --> 00:03:18.719 Rommel capitalized on the terrain, on darkness, 00:03:18.900 --> 00:03:21.439 and on total surprise. Just catching them completely 00:03:21.439 --> 00:03:24.659 off guard. Exactly. He would attack from unexpected 00:03:24.659 --> 00:03:28.400 directions, deliberately maneuvering to get completely 00:03:28.400 --> 00:03:31.789 behind enemy lines. He realized that seizing 00:03:31.789 --> 00:03:33.909 the momentum and keeping the enemy confused and 00:03:33.909 --> 00:03:36.710 off balance was the ultimate key to victory. 00:03:36.729 --> 00:03:38.430 Because if they don't know where you are. Or 00:03:38.430 --> 00:03:41.610 how large your force is, panic sets in. He used 00:03:41.610 --> 00:03:44.330 psychology just as much as firepower, which allowed 00:03:44.330 --> 00:03:47.030 him to win even when he was massively outnumbered. 00:03:47.050 --> 00:03:49.370 And he carried that exact same mindset into the 00:03:49.370 --> 00:03:52.229 chaos of the interwar period. He did. Germany 00:03:52.229 --> 00:03:55.050 in the 1920s was a mess of violent uprisings 00:03:55.050 --> 00:03:57.710 and extreme political instability. A very dangerous 00:03:57.710 --> 00:04:00.370 time. But the sources note some incredible moments 00:04:00.370 --> 00:04:03.210 where Rommel achieved completely bloodless victories. 00:04:03.550 --> 00:04:06.689 He was sent to quell communist uprisings in cities 00:04:06.689 --> 00:04:10.650 like Lindau and Schwabisch -Gund. But he didn't 00:04:10.650 --> 00:04:13.370 storm the cities with guns blazing. He used negotiation 00:04:13.370 --> 00:04:16.350 and a sheer force of personality. Right. He managed 00:04:16.350 --> 00:04:19.550 to convince rebellious armed factions to stand 00:04:19.550 --> 00:04:22.329 down and return control to the government through 00:04:22.329 --> 00:04:25.129 diplomatic means. Which is a stark contrast to 00:04:25.129 --> 00:04:27.670 his reputation as a battlefield commander. It 00:04:27.670 --> 00:04:29.689 really is. And it shows you how he approached 00:04:29.689 --> 00:04:32.029 conflict. He wasn't just a brute force instrument. 00:04:32.750 --> 00:04:35.649 Yeah. When you are facing a chaotic situation, 00:04:36.089 --> 00:04:39.009 whether it's navigating a crisis or a massive 00:04:39.009 --> 00:04:42.170 unexpected challenge, Rommel's early career shows 00:04:42.170 --> 00:04:45.350 the profound power of taking the initiative. 00:04:45.569 --> 00:04:48.009 Finding that leverage. Exactly. He looked for 00:04:48.009 --> 00:04:51.370 leverage. He used momentum to resolve incredibly 00:04:51.370 --> 00:04:54.170 tense situations without firing a single shot. 00:04:54.370 --> 00:04:56.629 While that's true. We have to be careful not 00:04:56.629 --> 00:04:58.790 to paint him as a pacifist during this era. Oh, 00:04:58.790 --> 00:05:00.930 for sure. He was using psychological leverage 00:05:00.930 --> 00:05:03.370 because it was the most efficient tool at his 00:05:03.370 --> 00:05:06.529 disposal to achieve his objective, not necessarily 00:05:06.529 --> 00:05:08.750 out of a sense of mercy. He was highly pragmatic. 00:05:08.990 --> 00:05:11.069 He wanted results and he wanted them quickly. 00:05:11.480 --> 00:05:13.839 Which brings us perfectly into World War II and 00:05:13.839 --> 00:05:16.060 the campaigns that made him famous. We armored 00:05:16.060 --> 00:05:19.480 campaigns. Right. In 1940, Rommel lobbied for 00:05:19.480 --> 00:05:22.439 and got command of a tank division, the 7th Panzer 00:05:22.439 --> 00:05:24.220 Division, for the invasion of France. And he 00:05:24.220 --> 00:05:26.519 took those World War I infiltration tactics we 00:05:26.519 --> 00:05:28.699 just talked about and applied them directly to 00:05:28.699 --> 00:05:30.980 armored warfare. The sources describe how he 00:05:30.980 --> 00:05:33.600 moved so incredibly fast that the German high 00:05:33.600 --> 00:05:36.199 command repeatedly lost track of where he was. 00:05:36.480 --> 00:05:38.920 They had no idea. Both his superiors and the 00:05:38.920 --> 00:05:41.639 French enemy were completely in the dark, which 00:05:41.639 --> 00:05:44.199 earned his unit the nickname the Ghost Division. 00:05:44.560 --> 00:05:46.779 He fundamentally believed a commander had to 00:05:46.779 --> 00:05:50.160 be physically robust and lead by absolute example. 00:05:50.660 --> 00:05:53.259 He demanded physical contact with his troops. 00:05:53.439 --> 00:05:55.120 He wanted to be right there in the thick of it. 00:05:55.240 --> 00:05:58.439 Exactly. He wasn't a general who sat in a chateau 00:05:58.439 --> 00:06:01.959 20 miles behind the lines moving flags on a map. 00:06:02.250 --> 00:06:04.149 There is a detail in the sources that perfectly 00:06:04.149 --> 00:06:06.810 illustrates that. The river crossing. Yeah. During 00:06:06.810 --> 00:06:09.470 a river crossing in France, his combat engineers, 00:06:09.670 --> 00:06:13.129 the sappers, were under heavy enemy fire, struggling 00:06:13.129 --> 00:06:15.629 to lash pontoon bridges together so the tanks 00:06:15.629 --> 00:06:18.329 could cross. A highly dangerous situation. And 00:06:18.329 --> 00:06:20.509 Rommel didn't just yell orders from the bank. 00:06:20.709 --> 00:06:23.670 He literally jumped into the water himself, artillery 00:06:23.670 --> 00:06:26.550 splashing all around them, to physically help 00:06:26.550 --> 00:06:29.449 the engineers tie the pontoons together. Imagine 00:06:29.449 --> 00:06:31.910 the psychological impact of that on a young soldier. 00:06:32.250 --> 00:06:34.490 Seeing your commanding general in the freezing 00:06:34.490 --> 00:06:37.209 water beside you, doing the growling work of 00:06:37.209 --> 00:06:39.870 a combat engineer while under fire. It creates 00:06:39.870 --> 00:06:43.689 intense fanatical loyalty. It really does. And 00:06:43.689 --> 00:06:46.480 he took that same aggressive... forward -leading 00:06:46.480 --> 00:06:49.800 style to the North African campaign in 1941. 00:06:50.160 --> 00:06:52.259 Which is where the Desert Fox nickname was born. 00:06:52.399 --> 00:06:54.420 North Africa is really where the legend explodes. 00:06:54.740 --> 00:06:57.079 Yes. He was originally sent there with the Africa 00:06:57.079 --> 00:06:59.399 Corps, the German expeditionary force in Libya, 00:06:59.560 --> 00:07:03.040 to bail out struggling Italian forces. But he 00:07:03.040 --> 00:07:05.920 completely ignored orders to stay on the defensive. 00:07:06.279 --> 00:07:08.259 He immediately went on the attack. The sources 00:07:08.259 --> 00:07:11.509 highlight the capture of Tobruk. in 1942 as a 00:07:11.509 --> 00:07:14.529 massive victory, Tobruk was a vital deepwater 00:07:14.529 --> 00:07:17.389 port, essential for supply lines. And he captured 00:07:17.389 --> 00:07:20.050 it and took around 32 ,000 Commonwealth troops 00:07:20.050 --> 00:07:23.029 prisoner. 32 ,000. And again, he was leading 00:07:23.029 --> 00:07:25.009 from the front lines, often directing battles 00:07:25.009 --> 00:07:27.250 from his command vehicle right in the thick of 00:07:27.250 --> 00:07:29.430 the dust in the fighting. But the sources also 00:07:29.430 --> 00:07:31.410 make it clear that while he was a tactical genius, 00:07:31.750 --> 00:07:34.370 he was often a strategic and logistical nightmare. 00:07:34.879 --> 00:07:36.860 Right, because by leading from the front, he 00:07:36.860 --> 00:07:39.420 routinely lost sight of the broader operational 00:07:39.420 --> 00:07:41.899 picture. The friction within the axis command 00:07:41.899 --> 00:07:45.079 structure was severe. He constantly bypasses 00:07:45.079 --> 00:07:47.819 Italian superiors, whom he was technically subordinate 00:07:47.819 --> 00:07:50.759 to, viewing them as too slow and cautious. He 00:07:50.759 --> 00:07:53.439 also clashed constantly with Field Marshal Albert 00:07:53.439 --> 00:07:55.839 Kesselring, right? Oh, absolutely. Kesselring 00:07:55.839 --> 00:07:57.540 was trying to manage the entire Mediterranean 00:07:57.540 --> 00:08:00.399 theater, but Rommel was just a maverick doing 00:08:00.399 --> 00:08:04.000 his own thing. Exactly. Rommel repeatedly outran 00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:06.959 his own supply lines. He pushed his forces so 00:08:06.959 --> 00:08:10.300 far and so fast into Egypt, chasing the retreating 00:08:10.300 --> 00:08:12.300 British army, that his tanks quite literally 00:08:12.300 --> 00:08:14.579 ran out of fuel. fuel and his men ran out of 00:08:14.579 --> 00:08:16.879 supplies. He just didn't prioritize it. He viewed 00:08:16.879 --> 00:08:19.100 logistics as a secondary concern to momentum. 00:08:19.519 --> 00:08:22.699 In his mind, speed would solve everything. But 00:08:22.699 --> 00:08:25.220 in a harsh desert war where every drop of water 00:08:25.220 --> 00:08:27.160 and gallon of gas has to be shipped across the 00:08:27.160 --> 00:08:29.860 Mediterranean, that lack of logistical planning 00:08:29.860 --> 00:08:32.840 eventually proved fatal to his campaign. So what 00:08:32.840 --> 00:08:34.919 does this all mean? It's a classic leadership 00:08:34.919 --> 00:08:37.159 trap, isn't it? When you think about management 00:08:37.159 --> 00:08:40.139 styles, he's so hyper -focused on the tactical 00:08:40.139 --> 00:08:42.240 fight right in front of him, literally in the 00:08:42.240 --> 00:08:45.039 trench or the command car, that he goes completely 00:08:45.039 --> 00:08:48.000 blind to the operational reality. You see that 00:08:48.000 --> 00:08:49.860 in modern leadership all the time. Right. The 00:08:49.860 --> 00:08:53.019 visionary who can inspire a team to do impossible 00:08:53.019 --> 00:08:56.820 things, but who completely fails to manage the 00:08:56.820 --> 00:08:59.259 supply chain or communicate with strategic partners. 00:09:00.159 --> 00:09:02.860 Eventually, the initial success collapses under 00:09:02.860 --> 00:09:04.960 its own weight because the foundation isn't there. 00:09:05.139 --> 00:09:08.379 His brilliance at the tactical level mask deep 00:09:08.379 --> 00:09:11.279 flaws at the operational and strategic levels. 00:09:11.600 --> 00:09:14.279 And as his military successes piled up on the 00:09:14.279 --> 00:09:17.519 battlefield, so did the massive. propaganda surrounding 00:09:17.519 --> 00:09:19.919 him. Which brings us to one of the most heavily 00:09:19.919 --> 00:09:22.259 debated aspects of his legacy. Yes, it does. 00:09:22.440 --> 00:09:24.799 Here's where it gets really interesting. Because 00:09:24.799 --> 00:09:28.399 as his tactical successes pile up, we hit a massive 00:09:28.399 --> 00:09:30.759 contradiction in the sources. There's this post 00:09:30.759 --> 00:09:33.159 -war narrative of the war without hate. This 00:09:33.159 --> 00:09:36.580 idea of Rommel as the chivalrous clean fighter 00:09:36.580 --> 00:09:39.000 who kept his hands free of the Nazi regime's 00:09:39.000 --> 00:09:42.460 worst atrocities. Let's impartially look at exactly 00:09:42.460 --> 00:09:44.820 what the documents actually say about that, because 00:09:44.820 --> 00:09:47.580 the record presents a deeply complex and conflicting 00:09:47.580 --> 00:09:49.700 picture. Let's examine the evidence supporting 00:09:49.700 --> 00:09:52.309 that clean narrative first. The sources confirm 00:09:52.309 --> 00:09:55.409 that Rommel openly ignored Hitler's infamous 00:09:55.409 --> 00:09:58.389 commando order. Which was the directive to execute 00:09:58.389 --> 00:10:01.070 captured commandos. Exactly. It was Hitler's 00:10:01.070 --> 00:10:04.129 strict directive to immediately execute any captured 00:10:04.129 --> 00:10:06.610 Allied special forces or commandos, regardless 00:10:06.610 --> 00:10:09.190 of whether they were in uniform. Rommel ignored 00:10:09.190 --> 00:10:11.529 it and instead treated them as standard prisoners 00:10:11.529 --> 00:10:14.330 of war. We also see accounts in the sources from 00:10:14.330 --> 00:10:17.570 black South African POWs. They reported that 00:10:17.570 --> 00:10:19.950 Rommel explicitly ordered they be housed and 00:10:19.950 --> 00:10:22.389 fed equally alongside white prisoners, stating 00:10:22.389 --> 00:10:23.990 that brave soldiers should be treated alike. 00:10:24.309 --> 00:10:26.889 Furthermore, he is on record protesting the brutal 00:10:26.889 --> 00:10:29.990 massacre at Oradour -sur -Glane, which was the 00:10:29.990 --> 00:10:32.190 horrific slaughter of an entire French village 00:10:32.190 --> 00:10:36.110 by the SS. And this pattern of behavior? Ignoring 00:10:36.110 --> 00:10:38.149 execution orders and treating captives fairly. 00:10:38.669 --> 00:10:41.269 earned him widespread respect from his adversaries. 00:10:41.450 --> 00:10:43.789 Figures like Winston Churchill and George S. 00:10:43.809 --> 00:10:47.070 Patton publicly praised him as a worthy and honorable 00:10:47.070 --> 00:10:50.590 opponent. But the sources also document a dark 00:10:50.590 --> 00:10:53.149 reality that contradicts that chivalrous image. 00:10:53.409 --> 00:10:56.129 They do. During the invasion of France in 1940, 00:10:56.549 --> 00:10:59.929 Rommel's 7th Panzer Division operated in an area 00:10:59.929 --> 00:11:02.990 specifically near Rouen where unknown German 00:11:02.990 --> 00:11:06.470 units massacred around 100 black French colonial 00:11:06.470 --> 00:11:09.309 troops. Now, the sources note there isn't direct 00:11:09.309 --> 00:11:12.289 proof Rommel ordered this massacre. Right. But 00:11:12.289 --> 00:11:14.509 it happened within his area of advance under 00:11:14.509 --> 00:11:16.990 his wider command umbrella. And even more troubling 00:11:16.990 --> 00:11:30.820 is the document. Oh. Right. He don't want to 00:11:30.820 --> 00:11:32.659 deal with policing the occupied territories, 00:11:32.759 --> 00:11:35.059 so he handed it off. And that decision allowed 00:11:35.059 --> 00:11:37.200 for the establishment of forced labor and detention 00:11:37.200 --> 00:11:39.759 camps where thousands of North African Jews suffered 00:11:39.759 --> 00:11:43.059 and many died. Furthermore, the historical record 00:11:43.059 --> 00:11:45.860 shows that a specialized SS unit under a commander 00:11:45.860 --> 00:11:48.570 named Walter Rauch was prepared to be attached 00:11:48.570 --> 00:11:51.049 to Rommel's command. With a very specific mission. 00:11:51.350 --> 00:11:53.509 Their specific mission was to murder Jews in 00:11:53.509 --> 00:11:56.090 Egypt and Palestine if Rommel's advance across 00:11:56.090 --> 00:11:59.049 North Africa had succeeded. Wow. While Rommel 00:11:59.049 --> 00:12:02.009 was focused entirely on tank battles, his victories 00:12:02.009 --> 00:12:04.149 were actively paving the way for the regime's 00:12:04.149 --> 00:12:06.799 genocidal machinery. If we look at both sides 00:12:06.799 --> 00:12:09.419 of those sources, it is a staggering contradiction. 00:12:09.879 --> 00:12:12.820 You have a man who demands fair treatment for 00:12:12.820 --> 00:12:15.679 South African POWs, but whose military successes 00:12:15.679 --> 00:12:18.659 directly facilitate forced labor camps in his 00:12:18.659 --> 00:12:21.659 own rear areas. If we connect this to the bigger 00:12:21.659 --> 00:12:24.259 picture, we have to understand how Rommel's image 00:12:24.259 --> 00:12:26.620 was being manipulated back in Germany during 00:12:26.620 --> 00:12:29.419 all of this. By Joseph Goebbels. Exactly. The 00:12:29.419 --> 00:12:31.960 Nazi minister of propaganda specifically curated 00:12:31.960 --> 00:12:34.679 Rommel's public persona. Rommel was naturally 00:12:34.679 --> 00:12:37.379 charismatic, he was highly cooperative with propaganda 00:12:37.379 --> 00:12:40.179 photographers, and he clearly loved the spotlight. 00:12:40.440 --> 00:12:42.860 He essentially invited the cameras into his command 00:12:42.860 --> 00:12:46.480 vehicle. He did. Goebbels recognized this and 00:12:46.480 --> 00:12:49.259 actively elevated Rommel to the status of a popular 00:12:49.259 --> 00:12:51.779 national hero. They needed a distraction, didn't 00:12:51.779 --> 00:12:54.740 they? Presperately. The regime needed a distraction 00:12:54.740 --> 00:12:57.559 from the horrific military disasters happening 00:12:57.559 --> 00:13:00.240 on the Eastern Front. specifically the stalling 00:13:00.240 --> 00:13:02.960 of Operation Barbarossa, the disastrous German 00:13:02.960 --> 00:13:04.799 invasion of the Soviet Union. Where casualties 00:13:04.799 --> 00:13:07.179 were catastrophic. By keeping the German public 00:13:07.179 --> 00:13:10.019 focused on the dashing Desert Fox winning clean, 00:13:10.220 --> 00:13:13.159 relatively bloodless tank battles in the sand, 00:13:13.379 --> 00:13:15.840 the regime could effectively mask its massive 00:13:15.840 --> 00:13:18.600 failures elsewhere. Rommel was basically the 00:13:18.600 --> 00:13:20.879 poster board for the regime's military machine. 00:13:21.240 --> 00:13:24.419 But as the war turned against Germany, that relationship 00:13:24.419 --> 00:13:27.340 soured dramatically. It did. Which brings us 00:13:27.340 --> 00:13:30.740 to 1944. Rommel has been pushed out of Africa, 00:13:30.879 --> 00:13:33.620 the Allies are closing in, and Hitler assigns 00:13:33.620 --> 00:13:35.779 him to fortify the Atlantic Wall in France to 00:13:35.779 --> 00:13:38.200 prepare for the inevitable Allied invasion. He 00:13:38.200 --> 00:13:40.700 puts immense energy into this. He realizes that 00:13:40.700 --> 00:13:43.259 if the Allies establish a beachhead, the war 00:13:43.259 --> 00:13:46.879 is lost. So he builds these obstacles. Yes. Thousands 00:13:46.879 --> 00:13:49.480 of beach obstacles that became known as Rommel's 00:13:49.480 --> 00:13:52.299 asparagus. Wooden poles designed to tear the 00:13:52.299 --> 00:13:54.980 bottoms out of landing craft or destroy gliders. 00:13:55.480 --> 00:13:57.820 But in early June, German weather reports indicate 00:13:57.820 --> 00:14:00.620 the seas are simply too rough for an amphibious 00:14:00.620 --> 00:14:03.259 invasion. So believing an attack isn't imminent, 00:14:03.620 --> 00:14:07.159 Rommel actually leaves his post on June 5th to 00:14:07.159 --> 00:14:09.679 travel back to Germany for his wife Lucy's 50th 00:14:09.679 --> 00:14:12.159 birthday. And of course, the very next day is 00:14:12.159 --> 00:14:15.460 June 6th, D -Day. Rommel misses the most critical 00:14:15.460 --> 00:14:17.960 moment of the war in the West. He rushes back 00:14:17.960 --> 00:14:20.419 to the front, but the Allies secure their beachheads. 00:14:20.840 --> 00:14:23.700 As the situation in Normandy rapidly deteriorates 00:14:23.700 --> 00:14:26.240 over the next few weeks, Rommel becomes increasingly 00:14:26.240 --> 00:14:29.379 convinced the war is entirely lost, and he repeatedly 00:14:29.379 --> 00:14:32.659 urges Hitler to seek peace. Then on July 17th, 00:14:32.659 --> 00:14:35.139 his staff car is strafed by Allied fighter planes. 00:14:35.340 --> 00:14:37.559 The car crashes and Rommel is thrown from the 00:14:37.559 --> 00:14:39.899 vehicle, suffering severe skull fractures that 00:14:39.899 --> 00:14:42.059 force him out of command and into a long recovery. 00:14:42.340 --> 00:14:44.519 And the timing of this is wild. Yeah, because 00:14:44.519 --> 00:14:47.659 just three days later, on July 20th, a group 00:14:47.659 --> 00:14:50.179 of high -ranking German officers attempt to assassinate 00:14:50.179 --> 00:14:55.629 Rommel. The plot fails. Hitler survives, and 00:14:55.629 --> 00:14:58.990 the Gestapo cracks down violently. During the 00:14:58.990 --> 00:15:01.210 mass arrests and brutal interrogations that follow, 00:15:01.429 --> 00:15:03.570 some of the conspirators, including officers 00:15:03.570 --> 00:15:06.029 who had previously spoken with Rommel about ending 00:15:06.029 --> 00:15:09.129 the war, are severely tortured. And under torture, 00:15:09.370 --> 00:15:11.789 they implicate Rommel, claiming he knew about 00:15:11.789 --> 00:15:14.070 the bomb plot and supported the resistance against 00:15:14.070 --> 00:15:17.139 Hitler. It is still debated in the sources exactly 00:15:17.139 --> 00:15:19.720 how involved Rommel was with the assassination 00:15:19.720 --> 00:15:23.120 attempt itself. He likely favored arresting Hitler 00:15:23.120 --> 00:15:25.500 and putting him on trial rather than assassinating 00:15:25.500 --> 00:15:28.779 him. But he undeniably agreed that the war had 00:15:28.779 --> 00:15:31.960 to end. Yes. And regardless of his actual involvement, 00:15:32.080 --> 00:15:34.019 his name was now officially tied to the conspiracy, 00:15:34.259 --> 00:15:36.919 and Hitler had a massive problem on his hands. 00:15:36.960 --> 00:15:38.840 A really massive problem. He couldn't publicly 00:15:38.840 --> 00:15:41.340 try and execute his most famous beloved general 00:15:41.340 --> 00:15:43.919 for treason. No. The propaganda machine had worked 00:15:43.919 --> 00:15:46.440 too well. It would absolutely destroy whatever 00:15:46.440 --> 00:15:48.940 morale was left on the German home front to learn 00:15:48.940 --> 00:15:50.940 that the legendary Desert Fox had turned against 00:15:50.940 --> 00:15:53.620 the regime. So the regime comes up with a chilling 00:15:53.620 --> 00:15:56.279 solution. The sources describe the events of 00:15:56.279 --> 00:16:00.899 October 14th, 1944 in very vivid detail. Two 00:16:00.899 --> 00:16:02.960 generals from Hitler's headquarters, Wilhelm 00:16:02.960 --> 00:16:05.480 Bergdorf and Ernst Meisel, arrive at Rommel's 00:16:05.480 --> 00:16:08.019 home in Herlingen. They literally park outside 00:16:08.019 --> 00:16:11.019 his house. Two generals. And they hand him this 00:16:11.019 --> 00:16:13.919 impossible ultimatum. It's option A or option 00:16:13.919 --> 00:16:17.299 B. And neither ends with him surviving the day. 00:16:17.440 --> 00:16:20.299 They tell him option one, he can face the People's 00:16:20.299 --> 00:16:22.580 Court. The People's Court was a notorious Nazi 00:16:22.580 --> 00:16:24.639 tribunal that guaranteed a guilty verdict and 00:16:24.639 --> 00:16:28.220 a brutal, humiliating execution. But worse, if 00:16:28.220 --> 00:16:30.480 he chose the court, his family and his staff 00:16:30.480 --> 00:16:32.620 would be destroyed and executed as well. And 00:16:32.620 --> 00:16:34.879 option two, he can take a cyanide pill right 00:16:34.879 --> 00:16:37.220 then and there. If he chooses the pill, his family 00:16:37.220 --> 00:16:38.960 will be left alone, they will receive his military 00:16:38.960 --> 00:16:41.659 pensions, and he will be given a hero state funeral. 00:16:42.059 --> 00:16:44.620 Faced with that horrific reality, Rommel chose 00:16:44.620 --> 00:16:47.120 the pill to protect his wife and son. He explained 00:16:47.120 --> 00:16:49.740 the situation to his family. He put on his old 00:16:49.740 --> 00:16:52.200 Africa Corps jacket, the uniform from his days 00:16:52.200 --> 00:16:53.960 in the desert, picked up his field marshal's 00:16:53.960 --> 00:16:56.419 baton, and got into the car with the two generals 00:16:56.419 --> 00:16:58.799 and an SS driver. They drove a short distance 00:16:58.799 --> 00:17:02.039 out of the village, stopped the car, and Rommel 00:17:02.039 --> 00:17:04.470 consumed the cyanide capsule. And then the cover 00:17:04.470 --> 00:17:07.410 -up starts. The Nazi regime immediately launched 00:17:07.410 --> 00:17:09.930 a massive cover -up. They announced to the German 00:17:09.930 --> 00:17:12.970 public that the great Desert Fox had died of 00:17:12.970 --> 00:17:15.930 a heart attack or cerebral embolism, claiming 00:17:15.930 --> 00:17:18.109 it was a tragic complication from the severe 00:17:18.109 --> 00:17:21.029 head injuries he had sustained during the strafing 00:17:21.029 --> 00:17:23.890 attack back in July. They gave him a massive, 00:17:23.950 --> 00:17:27.190 highly publicized state funeral, keeping the 00:17:27.190 --> 00:17:29.309 truth hidden from the public until after the 00:17:29.309 --> 00:17:31.740 war ended. This raises an important question 00:17:31.740 --> 00:17:34.940 about how we remember historical figures. After 00:17:34.940 --> 00:17:37.700 the war ended, the Rommel myth really took hold, 00:17:37.779 --> 00:17:40.200 and it served very specific purposes for different 00:17:40.200 --> 00:17:42.299 nations. Right, it wasn't just Germany pushing 00:17:42.299 --> 00:17:44.640 the myth anymore. Precisely. For the British, 00:17:44.819 --> 00:17:47.839 building up Rommel's reputation as an unparalleled, 00:17:47.900 --> 00:17:50.920 almost magical military genius was a very convenient 00:17:50.920 --> 00:17:53.740 way to explain away their own embarrassing early 00:17:53.740 --> 00:17:56.480 defeats in North Africa. It is much easier for 00:17:56.480 --> 00:17:58.940 commanders to say they lost to a superhuman, 00:17:59.039 --> 00:18:02.140 flawless tactician than to admit their own strategic 00:18:02.140 --> 00:18:05.000 faults and lack of preparation. And for post 00:18:05.000 --> 00:18:07.519 -war West Germany, the needs were completely 00:18:07.519 --> 00:18:11.119 different, but equally political. As the Cold 00:18:11.119 --> 00:18:14.319 War began, there was a desperate need for a good 00:18:14.319 --> 00:18:17.220 apolitical German soldier. They needed a figurehead 00:18:17.220 --> 00:18:19.700 whose reputation was clean enough to allow the 00:18:19.700 --> 00:18:22.400 new West German military to be integrated into 00:18:22.400 --> 00:18:25.319 NATO alongside their former enemies. And Rommel, 00:18:25.420 --> 00:18:28.720 the man who supposedly fought a clean war, who 00:18:28.720 --> 00:18:31.339 was respected by the British, and who was forced 00:18:31.339 --> 00:18:34.579 to commit suicide by Hitler, fit that exact political 00:18:34.579 --> 00:18:36.640 requirement perfectly. When you look at all the 00:18:36.640 --> 00:18:38.619 sources we've gone through today, you see a man 00:18:38.619 --> 00:18:41.359 defined by extreme contradictions. Absolutely. 00:18:41.619 --> 00:18:44.140 He was a brilliant, highly aggressive tactician 00:18:44.140 --> 00:18:46.440 who could win battles against impossible odds, 00:18:46.579 --> 00:18:48.579 yet he frequently ignored the basic rules of 00:18:48.579 --> 00:18:50.799 strategy and logistics that actually win wars. 00:18:51.059 --> 00:18:53.359 He was a soldier who displayed genuine chivalry 00:18:53.359 --> 00:18:55.220 and respect for his enemies on the battlefield, 00:18:55.539 --> 00:18:58.700 yet his victories directly served and expanded 00:18:58.700 --> 00:19:01.799 the reach of a horrific genocidal regime. He 00:19:01.799 --> 00:19:03.539 was the ultimate hero of the Nazi propaganda 00:19:03.539 --> 00:19:06.900 machine, elevated to global fame by Joseph Goebbels, 00:19:06.980 --> 00:19:09.099 and in the end, he was quietly murdered by that 00:19:09.099 --> 00:19:11.720 exact same regime. It leaves you with a final, 00:19:11.819 --> 00:19:15.039 provocative thought to mull over. When you read 00:19:15.039 --> 00:19:17.720 about legendary figures in history, the people 00:19:17.720 --> 00:19:20.240 whose names are etched into stone and celebrated 00:19:20.240 --> 00:19:23.339 in movies, how much of their legend is actually 00:19:23.339 --> 00:19:25.900 the objective truth? And how much is a convenient 00:19:25.900 --> 00:19:29.150 narrative? Exactly. carefully constructed after 00:19:29.150 --> 00:19:31.670 the fact by the victors and the survivors, simply 00:19:31.670 --> 00:19:34.269 to serve their own modern political needs. That 00:19:34.269 --> 00:19:36.150 is definitely something to think about next time 00:19:36.150 --> 00:19:38.130 you read a history book or watch a documentary. 00:19:38.829 --> 00:19:41.109 Thank you so much for joining us on this deep 00:19:41.109 --> 00:19:43.349 dive into the sources surrounding the Desert 00:19:43.349 --> 00:19:45.970 Fox. Keep being curious, keep digging into the 00:19:45.970 --> 00:19:48.430 details, and always keep questioning the history 00:19:48.430 --> 00:19:51.210 you consume. We will catch you on the next one.