Citation needed.However, Mr Proske claims to have found hitherto ignored historical evidence which casts serious doubt on the general's unblemished reputation and the widely accepted clam that he opposed the rabid anti-Semitism of the Nazis. "At the time when Rommel marched into Tripoli, more than a quarter of the city's population were Jews," he said. "There is evidence which shows that Rommel forbad his troops to buy anything from Jewish traders. Later on, he used the Jews as slave labourers. Some of them were even used as so-called 'mine dogs' who were ordered to walk over minefields ahead of his advancing troops."
Citation needed.
I was tried to post a link but my computer was engaging in an Act of Rebellion.Citation needed.
especially given the horror of what the SS were doing in Eastern Europe was a world away from Africa and France.
Africa, yes. France? Not so much.
Plenty of massacres carried out by the Germans in 1940, it's just that as the victims were overwhelmingly Black French troops they've been widely forgotten. So far as I'm aware only one instance was ever punished - Le Paradis - and only one single man executed for it, that only because the victims were British and because Albert Pooley was so obsessed with ensuring justice was done in the face of official disbelief that the Germans could act in such a way. Given that the normal estimate of victims is in the thousands, the whole thing was generally either ignored or brushed under the carpet.I was actually thinking about the 1940 to run up to D-Day time frame not after when the center was falling, as for the massacre, yes, he heard about it and saw the pictures and demanded the SS Das Reich division be punished in particular the Der Führer regiment that ordered the attack.
Plenty of massacres carried out by the Germans in 1940, it's just that as the victims were overwhelmingly Black French troops they've been widely forgotten. So far as I'm aware only one instance was ever punished - Le Paradis - and only one single man executed for it, that only because the victims were British and because Albert Pooley was so obsessed with ensuring justice was done in the face of official disbelief that the Germans could act in such a way. Given that the normal estimate of victims is in the thousands, the whole thing was generally either ignored or brushed under the carpet.
Scheck states that between 1,500 to 3,000 black French prisoners of war were massacred throughout the campaign, either during or after combat. Generally speaking, Tirailleurs Sénégalais were treated differently from other war prisoners by the victorious army. The existence of a well-implanted anti-black racism and stereotypes among the German soldiers frequently resulted in the black French troops being separated from other prisoners of war. Fear of coupes-coupes (a hand-to-hand weapon used by the Tirailleurs Sénégalais that German soldiers considered a treacherous weapon), latent desire for revenge because of German losses, or simple racism, resulted in random massacres of black French war prisoners by members of the Wehrmacht.
The author’s investigation of what caused the slaughters is also interesting. Scheck gives a precise account of those situational factors and links them well to ideological ones, stating that racist Nazi indoctrination and stereotypes must be fully integrated into the chaotic context of fighting in order to explain the massacres. He remarks that there were no clear governmental or military orders authorizing such criminal behavior toward specific groups of prisoners of war in 1940. In fact, many of those atrocities were committed by heavily indoctrinated elite Wehrmacht,or Nazi military units like the SS Totenkopf, or the Gross Deutschland. Those troops were already (or would be, along with others, later on) held responsible for racist behavior and excesses, as well as mass murders during May-June 1940.
Scheck avoids overall generalization on what happened to those prisoners by discussing the random character and inconsistency of the massacres. Readers quickly understand that not all black French war prisoners were executed, and that some German or French officers even managed to prevent such events from occurring. In fact, the treatment of imprisoned black French soldiers actually improved after the May-June 1940 campaign, especially in prisoner of war camps.
https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=24173
What were their singing voices like?Hm. Put it that way its pretty simple. He did have a lot of love for his family, so... yeah, I guess without his family, he won't defect. Could he have gotten them out too, though?
My thought is a direct defection would have been very unlikely. There may have been a indirect back hand defection. One of the ideas among the anti Hitler/nazi conspiritors was that the German army in the west could reach a armistice with Britain & the US, allowing a portion or perhaps all the German soldiers to withdraw from France & Belgium & move to east to fight the Bolshiviks. Rommel was connected in their minds with the negotiations and organization of the withdrawll. Assuming Hitler had been killed in July & the senior nazis replaced with the Army leaders Rommel in theory could have attempted this. It is unlikely Eisenhower or Roosevelt would have accepted such a plan but Rommel in desperation might have directed a withdrawl in the west anyway, in the hope the Allies would not press on into Germany & start negotiations.
There are a lot of ways this could have been a non starter but its better than the idea of Rommel actually deserting.
A German equivalent to De Gaul would in the very least be interesting. But it seems like if that were to happen it would have to be early in the war. Late war just seems like opportunism at best and a plot at worst.
I feel like it's not TOO improbable, perhaps, at least relatively, but that were probably all blinded by wishful thinking, given Rommel was such a kewl dude and all. I'm not a Rommel expert, but so far as I know he was brought up in the same staunch Prussian system everyone else was and subjected to German military culture for some considerable time. To that, you have the fact that he's already been fighting for the Germans, and won a considerable number of battles, it would be extremely difficult to mentally swallow switching sides in his position. Furthermore, are their enough Germans that aren't Jews or Socialists up for fighting Hitler? are their enough that can be recruited outside of Germany itself? Once the invasion of Germany starts this is less a problem as you can recruit on the way, but that late in the game I have to wonder if they'd even be able to properly organize and outfit anything before the Soviets are in Berlin.
‘Shoot Swabians’: Berlin berates its bourgeois invaders
Their dialect is famous for being unintelligible to most Germans. Stereotypically, they are hard workers, miserly, and fastidious doorstep polishers, and they have flooded the trendiest part of Berlin with yuppie residents since the fall of the city’s infamous Wall over two decades ago. The newcomers hail from a wealthy region in Germany’s south-west called Swabia. But their presence in the capital has now provoked a furious outburst from one of the country’s leading politicians, who has accused them of importing nauseating provincialism to metropolitan Berlin.
The broadside against Berlin’s Swabian community has been delivered by German parliamentary vice president, Wolfgang Thierse, a 69-year-old east-Berliner who has lived in the city’s now upmarket and Swabian-dominated Prenzlauer Berg district for over 40 years. Anti-Swabian campaigners have gone on the offensive, covering parts of Prenzlauer Berg – nicknamed “Schwabylon” - with “Shoot Swabians” and “Swabians Out” stickers. Doctored road signs even show workmen digging graves for Swabians.
Albert Einstein The world’s most famous theoretical physicist, below, was born in Ulm, in Württemberg, Germany, in 1879, and often referred to himself as “the valiant Swabian” in his youth. The phrase was a quote from the poem by Ludwig Uhland, which had the line: “But the valiant Swabian is not afraid.”
Erwin Rommel The Second World War Nazi Field Marshall, otherwise known as the Desert Fox, hailed from Swabia – as was evident from his surname Rommel, a common Swabian name.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...n-berates-its-bourgeois-invaders-8439039.html
Rommel, Leclerc fight with Foreign Legion
New York (N.A.N.A) - The sons of two bitter wartime enemies are today fighting side by side in Indo China. They are Erwin Rommel Jr., son of the late Field Marshal, and the young Count de Hauteclocque son of the late Free French General who distinguished himself under the name who distinguished himself under the name Leelere in the North African fight against the German "Desert Fox". Both sons are now members of the French Foreign Legion.
With Frenchman forbidden to join the Legion-Marked on the rolls as Belgian and Swiss, and Germans (quota maxium in the Legion is 50 per cent, but that has been far exceeded) listed as Austrian, Swiss, the Foreign Legion, colorful and brutal, continues to grow.
Young Rommel said his father said that if captured he should tell General George S. Patton that Marshal Rommel asked him to take his son into the U.S. Army.
"But, since you can't join the U.S. Army" De Lattre is reputed to have said, "would you join the Foreign Legion". Rommel hesitated and muttered something. "Perfect!" De Lattre said to have exclaimed. "I knew you would want to join the Legion! Congratulations!"
https://news.google.com/newspapers?...BAJ&pg=2954,2356559&dq=rommel+indochina&hl=en
‘Shoot Swabians’: Berlin berates its bourgeois invaders
Their dialect is famous for being unintelligible to most Germans. Stereotypically, they are hard workers, miserly, and fastidious doorstep polishers, and they have flooded the trendiest part of Berlin with yuppie residents since the fall of the city’s infamous Wall over two decades ago. The newcomers hail from a wealthy region in Germany’s south-west called Swabia. But their presence in the capital has now provoked a furious outburst from one of the country’s leading politicians, who has accused them of importing nauseating provincialism to metropolitan Berlin.
The broadside against Berlin’s Swabian community has been delivered by German parliamentary vice president, Wolfgang Thierse, a 69-year-old east-Berliner who has lived in the city’s now upmarket and Swabian-dominated Prenzlauer Berg district for over 40 years. Anti-Swabian campaigners have gone on the offensive, covering parts of Prenzlauer Berg – nicknamed “Schwabylon” - with “Shoot Swabians” and “Swabians Out” stickers. Doctored road signs even show workmen digging graves for Swabians.
Albert Einstein The world’s most famous theoretical physicist, below, was born in Ulm, in Württemberg, Germany, in 1879, and often referred to himself as “the valiant Swabian” in his youth. The phrase was a quote from the poem by Ludwig Uhland, which had the line: “But the valiant Swabian is not afraid.”
Erwin Rommel The Second World War Nazi Field Marshall, otherwise known as the Desert Fox, hailed from Swabia – as was evident from his surname Rommel, a common Swabian name.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...s-8439039.html