Erwin Rommel

The ORIGINAL Magnificent Bastard. Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel (b. 15 November 1891, d. 14 October 1944), nicknamed "The Desert Fox" by the British, was the commander of German forces in North Africa during World War II and held some of the most famous commands, including the 7th Panzer Division and the Afrika Korps.

When it was discovered he had been involved in the July 20 plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, he was offered a choice: go before the People's Court and risk the lives of his wife and son, or commit suicide and be buried with full honors. He chose the latter.

He appeared as the villain in Billy Wilder's 1942 film Five Graves to Cairo, where he was played by Erich von Stroheim. The 1951 film The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel, starring James Mason in the title role portrayed him sympathetically.

Erwin Rommel provides examples of the following tropes:

• Defensive Feint Trap: in general, his Panzers were outgunned by British tanks. Rommel's favored solution was to feign retreat when presented with an armored attack, leading the attackers right into the range of the waiting 88mm flak/AT guns. Eventually, Montgomery refused to fall for it, leading to the turnaround at El Alamein.
• Four-Star Badass: Quite, in fact he's just as deserving to be the poster-boy of the page as Patton.
  • Interestingly, despite the myth built between the two men, Rommel and Patton were never actually equals. Not only did they never face each other in battle, Rommel was always at least one step ahead of Patton in both rank and command.
• Historical Hero Upgrade/The Peter Principle: in skill, not sympathy. Despite his admitted brilliance at maneuver warfare, it's worth remembering that he lost the African Theatre due to mismanaging and overstretching his supply lines. Today, scholars generally recognize that Rommel was an excellent general up to the corps or army level, but not at the theatre level to which he was promoted.
  • As far as sympathy goes, Rommel is sometimes seen as the Token Good Teammate of Those Wacky Nazis, to the point that a West German destroyer was named in his honour... in the late 1960s, long after the fall of the Nazi regime. His Afrikakorps was never accused of war crimes, and he routinely ignored orders regarding the Jews under his command; in the words of Winston Churchill:

"He also deserves our respect, because, although a loyal German soldier, he came to hate Hitler and all his works, and took part in the conspiracy to rescue Germany by displacing the maniac and tyrant. For this, he paid the forfeit of his life. In the sombre wars of modern democracy, there is little place for chivalry."

• Made of Iron: Averted and played straight. Rommel was prone to infections, which lead to his frequent removal from the African front. However, he was one of a handful of Axis leaders directly targeted by the Allies for assassination (others including Reinhard Heydrich and Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto); naturally, Rommel survived.
• My Girl Back Home: One little known fact about him is that he made a special request of Radio Belgrade to sign off with Lili Marlene which is of course about a soldier's girl back home.
• Never Tell Me the Odds: In France, his 7th Panzer moved so rapidly that even Berlin lost track of him.
• Noble Demon
• Officer and a Gentleman: the Afrika Korps was well-known for treating its prisoners correctly, and Rommel disregarded all orders regarding the Jews under his command.
  • Doubles as a Pet the Dog.
• Punch Clock Villain: What many viewed him as.
• Sobriquet: As stated earlier, the Brits grudgingly gave him the nickname "The Desert Fox" for his mastery of desert warfare.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: Claude Auchinleck, Rommel's opposite number among the British for a time, once ended a dispatch to his men about the importance of not letting Rommel's legendary reputation grow too strong with the words "I am not jealous of Rommel." No one had suggested (until then) that he was.
• Technician Versus Performer: against Montgomery, Rommel played the role of the Performer, maneuvering his Panzer spearheads with great skill, and Montgomery was a natural Technician, carefully planning out his moves and paying close attention to details. Monty won; the Brits at El Alamein engaged in carefully-planned set-piece attacks to wear down and break the Afrika Korps, while Rommel's habit of operating on a logistical shoestring came around to bite him at last.
  • Well to be fair to Rommel, he was hopelessly outnumbered against Montgomery as well.
    • He was also at the end of his supply tether butting his head against inpenetrable fortifications. Auchinleck deserves a lot of credit for setting up Alamein. For that matter the British Admiral Cunningham for wrecking up the Italian supply lines deserves credit too. Then too so do Hitler and Mussolini. After all no one ordered Hitler to invade Russia or Mussolini to build an incompetent navy.
• Worthy Opponent: in the words of Winston Churchill:

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