 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(September 2017) |
Panzer greift an (known as Tank Attacks in English) is an unfinished book on armoured tactics and warfare by Erwin Rommel. It was to be the follow-up and companion work to his earlier and highly successful Infanterie greift an , which was published in 1937.
Panzer greift an exists only in the form of scattered manuscripts and notes, but due to the fame of its author, it has achieved legendary status as a work of military literature.[ citation needed ] It is believed Rommel started writing the text while commandant of the War Academy at Wiener Neustadt (Theresian Military Academy) in 1938,[ citation needed ] though he may have started earlier during his time as an instructor at the Potsdam War Academy (1935–37).[ citation needed ] His career as a military theorist and instructor, however, was preempted by his duties as a commander and soldier during World War II.
Following the end of the North African Campaign in 1943, he again started work on it, drawing upon his, by then, extensive experience and notes. But once more the war, along with ill health, interfered as he was put in charge of the entire Atlantic wall in 1944. After his staff car was strafed by an RCAF Spitfire fighter on 17 July that year, he again started on the work while recuperating from his injuries. However, he soon became implicated in the 20 July Plot against Adolf Hitler [ citation needed ] and was compelled to commit suicide on 14 October 1944.
Fearful of the loss of Rommel's personal papers, then mostly stored in Wiener Neustadt, his wife and son collected and hid them from both the SS and advancing allied troops. According to Manfred Rommel, "My father's death made my mother all the more anxious to save his papers, not only for personal reasons but so that, when history came to be written, the truth might be told." [1] In the chaos at the end of the war, some papers were lost or went missing, but most of them eventually ended up in the hands of the US Army.
Most of what was to be in the book can now be found in the 1953 book The Rommel Papers , which was developed from notes and diary entries by Rommel during the North African Campaign. The book was edited by the British journalist and historian B. H. Liddell Hart, with assistance of a former Wehrmacht general Fritz Bayerlein, who served on Rommel's staff in North Africa, and Rommel's widow and son. The volume contained an introduction and commentary by Liddell Hart. [2] [ failed verification ]
In the film Patton , a book with this title is on the nightstand when he is awakened by his aides who inform him that Rommel is about to attack his army. When the tank battle is over, Patton exclaims "Rommel, you magnificent bastard, I read your book!" This, of course, never could have occurred, as Rommel never completed his tank book; although Patton may very well have read Rommel's earlier book on infantry.
Blitzkrieg or bewegungskrieg is a word used to describe a combined arms surprise attack using a rapid, overwhelming force concentration that may consist of armored and motorized or mechanized infantry formations; together with artillery, air assault, and close air support; with intent to break through the opponent's lines of defense, dislocate the defenders, unbalance the enemies by making it difficult to respond to the continuously changing front, and defeat them in a decisive Vernichtungsschlacht: a battle of annihilation.
Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel was a German Generalfeldmarschall during World War II. Popularly known as the Desert Fox, he served in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany, as well as serving in the Reichswehr of the Weimar Republic, and the army of Imperial Germany. Rommel was injured multiple times in both world wars.
Heinz Wilhelm Guderian was a German general during World War II who, after the war, became a successful memoirist. An early pioneer and advocate of the "blitzkrieg" approach, he played a central role in the development of the panzer division concept. In 1936, he became the Inspector of Motorized Troops.
Infantry Attacks is a classic book on military tactics written by Erwin Rommel about his experiences in World War I. At the time of the book's writing in the mid-1930s, Rommel's rank was lieutenant colonel. Rommel had planned to write a successor called Panzer Greift An about tank warfare, and gathered much material during the North Africa Campaign. However, as a result of his perceived involvement in a failed assassination attempt of Adolf Hitler, he was forced to commit suicide before completing this work.
The Battle of Kasserine Pass took place from 18-24 February 1943 at Kasserine Pass, a 2-mile-wide (3.2 km) gap in the Grand Dorsal chain of the Atlas Mountains in west central Tunisia. It was a part of the Tunisian campaign of World War II.
Operation Battleaxe was a British Army offensive during the Second World War to raise the Siege of Tobruk and re-capture eastern Cyrenaica from German and Italian forces. It was the first time during the war that a significant German force fought on the defensive. The British lost over half of their tanks on the first day and only one of three attacks succeeded.
Operation Brevity was a limited offensive conducted in mid-May 1941, during the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. Conceived by the commander-in-chief of the British Middle East Command, General Archibald Wavell, Brevity was intended to be a rapid blow against weak Axis front-line forces in the Sollum–Capuzzo–Bardia area of the border between Egypt and Libya. Although the operation got off to a promising start, throwing the Axis high command into confusion, most of its early gains were lost to local counter-attacks, and with German reinforcements being rushed to the front the operation was called off after one day.
Major-General Sir Percy Cleghorn Stanley Hobart,, also known as "Hobo", was a British military engineer noted for his command of the 79th Armoured Division during the Second World War. He was responsible for many of the specialised armoured vehicles that took part in the invasion of Normandy and later actions.
The Battle of Alam el Halfa took place between 30 August and 5 September 1942 south of El Alamein during the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. Panzerarmee Afrika, attempted an envelopment of the British Eighth Army. In Unternehmen Brandung, the last big Axis offensive of the Western Desert Campaign, Rommel intended to defeat the Eighth Army before Allied reinforcements arrived.
Hans–Ulrich Freiherr von Luck und Witten, usually shortened to Hans von Luck, was a German officer in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II. Luck served with the 7th Panzer Division and 21st Panzer Division. Luck is author of the book Panzer Commander.
This is a timeline of the North African campaign.
Wilhelm Josef Ritter von Thoma was a German army officer who served in World War I, in the Spanish Civil War, and as a general in World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.
The Theresian Military Academy is a military academy in Austria, where the Austrian Armed Forces train their officers. Founded in 1751, the academy is located in the castle of Wiener Neustadt in Lower Austria.
The Battle of Mersa Matruh was fought from 26 to 29 June 1942, following the defeat of the Eighth Army at the Battle of Gazala and was part of the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. The battle was fought with the German–Italian Panzer Army Afrika (Panzerarmee Afrika. The Eighth Army comprised X Corps and XIII Corps.
This is the order of battle for Operation Brevity, a World War II battle between the British Commonwealth and the European Axis Powers of Germany and Italy in North Africa between May 15–16, 1941.
Sir Basil Henry Liddell Hart, commonly known throughout most of his career as Captain B. H. Liddell Hart, was a British soldier, military historian, and military theorist. He wrote a series of military histories that proved influential among strategists. Arguing that frontal assault was bound to fail at great cost in lives, as proven in World War I, he recommended the "indirect approach" and reliance on fast-moving armoured formations.
The Rommel myth, or the Rommel legend, is a phrase used by a number of historians for the common depictions of German Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel as an apolitical, brilliant commander and a victim of Nazi Germany due to his presumed participation in the 20 July plot against Adolf Hitler, which led to Rommel's forced suicide in 1944. According to these historians, who take a critical view of Rommel, such depictions are not accurate.
Rommel: The Desert Fox is a 1950 biography of German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel by Desmond Young. The book was the first biography of Rommel and enjoyed immense popularity, especially in Britain. The book led the Western Allies, particularly the British, to depict Rommel as the "good German" and "our friend Rommel", contributing to the formation of the Rommel myth.
Alfred-Ingemar Berndt was a German Nazi journalist, writer and close collaborator of Reich Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda Joseph Goebbels.
The Rommel Papers is the collected writings by the German World War II field marshal Erwin Rommel published in 1953.