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Erwin Rommel was one of the most highly rated commanders of World War Two.

IMO this was mainly because the British needed to build up a superman figure to excuse their own incompetent failures in North Africa.

It appears that the German High Command didn't see Rommel as being all that great if you look at the facts and ignore the propaganda.

1 They sent him on a defensive mission to Libya away from the invasion of Greece or the real battle in the USSR.

2 After his failure in North Africa he was not used in Sicily, Italy or given a command on the vitally important Eastern Front.

3 When he was given a command it was to supervise the building of concrete pillboxes on the French coast!

4 Even when he was given a command in France there was also von

Runstedt.

So if the Germans didn't think that much of Rommel then who else could they have sent to North Africa and later to command their forces in Normandy. A general who would have:

a) Obeyed Orders and fought a defensive campaign in Tripolitania and stayed close to his supply base.

b) Not lead valuable German forces and what was left of Italy's best troops to destruction in Egypt when he knew (or should have known) that his country lacked the resources to support his gambling addiction to risks. Risks that could only pay off if his enemies continued to make the same mistakes year after year.

c) A general that had better ideas on defending Normandy than stationing his army on the beaches where it could be cut off by air attack and blown to pieces by Allied warships.

I know Rommel has a lot of fans but it looks like the German High Command weren't in that fan club.
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