Tag Archives: Rommel

This week in the War, 9–15 October 1944: Death of Erwin Rommel

Posted on October 12, 2016 by secondbysecond

This week in the war, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel died by suicide. The Gestapo believed that Rommel was complicit in the July Bomb Plot to assassinate Hitler. Postwar investigations suggest that this was likely true, although the evidence is not completely conclusive. … Continue reading →

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The week in the War, 17–23 July 1944: The July Bomb Plot

Posted on July 20, 2016 by secondbysecond

This week in the war, on 20 July 1944, a German officer named Claus von Stauffenberg carried a bomb from Berlin to the Wolf’s Lair (Wolfsschanze) headquarters in Rastenburg, East Prussia, with a view to putting paid to Hitler once … Continue reading →

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This week in the War, 5–11 June 1944: D-Day—Allied invasion force lands in Normandy

Posted on June 6, 2016 by secondbysecond

On 6 June 1944, Field Marshal Rommel, the commander of the German forces on the Channel Coast (Army Group B), was at his home in southern Germany. It was his wife’s birthday. He had planned to travel on to Berchtesgaden to … Continue reading →

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This week in the War, 6–12 December 1943: Rommel is to head ‘Fortress Europe’

Posted on December 7, 2015 by secondbysecond

This week in the war, on 12 December 1943, Hitler appointed Field Marshal Erwin Rommel head of Fortress Europe—charged with strengthening Hitler’s so-called Atlantic Wall with a view to repelling any future Allied invasions. The Atlantic Wall was a series … Continue reading →

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This week in the War, 19–25 October 1942: The Battle of El Alamein

Posted on October 19, 2014 by secondbysecond

For the Allies, there was little reason for optimism at start of 1942. By the end of the year, the situation had changed dramatically. The Americans had scored a massive naval victory at the Battle of Midway, the Russians had triumphed … Continue reading →

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This week in the War, 31 Aug–6 Sept 1942: The Battle of Alam Halfa

Posted on September 6, 2014 by secondbysecond

The Battle of Alam Halfa was fought in the Egyptian desert between 31 August and 6 September 1942. This was a defensive battle designed to blunt Erwin Rommel’s Afrika Korps offensive and to prepare the way for the British Eighth … Continue reading →

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This week in the War, 15–21 June 1942: The Fall of Tobruk

Posted on June 21, 2014 by secondbysecond

So far, 1942 had gone badly for the British, the most notable disaster being the fall of Singapore. But Churchill had resupplied the Eighth Army in North Africa and was hoping that Ritchie would achieve the kind of victory against … Continue reading →

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This week in the War, 17–23 November 1941: Get Rommel

Posted on November 21, 2013 by secondbysecond

This week in the war, at midnight on 17 November 1941, Lieutenant-Colonel Geoffrey Keyes of the British SAS was overpowering one of the German guards at the headquarters of Lieutenant-General Erwin Rommel in Libya, North Africa. Keyes was leader of … Continue reading →

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This week in the War, 31 March–6 April 1941: The Afrika Korps is on the move

Posted on April 3, 2013 by secondbysecond

On 31 March 1941, Erwin Rommel’s Italian and German forces attacked the British at Mersa El Brega. The Afrika Korps was on the move. In his book Knight’s Cross: A Life of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, David Fraser tells the … Continue reading →

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This week in the War, 10–16 February 1941: Erwin Rommel arrives in North Africa

Posted on February 11, 2013 by secondbysecond

This week in the war, 11 February 1941, the British War Cabinet made its fateful decision to send an expeditionary force to Greece, where a German invasion was expected by March. Thus O’Connor lost the resources and the window of … Continue reading →

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