Patton, Montgomery, Rommel
Masters of War
i
Introductions: Three Portraits
In December 1940 the lord mayor of Heidenheim, a small town fifty miles east of Stuttgart, sent a Christmas gift parcel to Wehrmacht troops born in the town and now serving abroad. It contained a fir branch as a token of the trees that decorated their homes, Magenbrot (locally made biscuits), cigars and a color postcard of Major General Erwin Rommel, Heidenheim’s most famous son.
Rommel was forty-nine years old and had commanded the 7th Panzer Division during the invasion of France. The spectacular success of his armored blitzkrieg made him the first divisional commander to reach the English Channel coast and his name was celebrated throughout Germany. Jealous voices in the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (High Command of the Armed Forces) already whispered that he was Hitler’s favorite general, but the troops applauded him and none more than those also born in Heidenheim. One soldier replied to the mayor:
"My greatest thanks for the Rommel card. This picture catches our general exactly as he is in real life. Hard and relentless on himself and his ...
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