Funny the way some Generals such as Rommel or Patton get great admiration for risk taking and tactics while the Generals responsible for strategy like Eisenhower are considered too dull for interest. The sad fact is that wars are like heavyweight boxing matches, whoever can endure most punishment over 15 rounds will be the winner.
It's more likely a case of Goebbels propaganda, Justinian.Originally Posted by Justinian
Goebbels used the military victories in the Africa campaign as propaganda. He had Rommel appear on movie clips, which were played throughout German movie theatres.
The fact of the matter is that anyone who joined the National Socialist Party was issued with a party membership number.
There is no evidence that Rommel joined the National Socialist Party or was ever issued a party membership number.
Rommel was a part of the German Conservative Revolutionary Current some of whom supported the NSADP but most of whom regarded it with the contempt it deserved however those who did initially snuggled up to Hitler when he came to power ultimately turned against him (and they included Carl Schmitt and Martin Heidigger both of whom refused "De-Nazification"). They were amazingly creative and brilliant people- Thomas Mann was a part of it and though over the 1920s as increasingly came to support the SDP distanced himself from but for all that remained very much of it and he was without doubt the greatest novelist of the 20 the century, and than of course we have Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Stefan George, Ernst Juenger the award winning novelist, brilliant scientist and most decorated German Soldier in World War I and the list goes on and on. Thankfully among my generation they are being brought back to attention.
Even if Rommel didn't have a party membership card he still worked towards the goals of the party by staying in the military and getting to a senior position in it during the rule of the Nazi regime.
I don't see there's much of an argument to be made on the basis that while he carried out the orders of the Nazi regime when it came to military matters, he never actually officially joined the Nazi party. He had a very close working relationship with Hitler, and for some time they were in a mutual-admiration relationship.
What difference does that make?
Rommel welcomed the rise of Hitler, and benefited from his relationship with Hitler.
Come on now - that's simply known as rats getting off a sinking ship.
While the ship was merrily sailing along the same rats were happy enough to be on board, so long as they personally benefited.
No it wasn't it at all- they were risking their lives. In the aftermath of the July Plot which failed because UK Intelligence ratted what they knew having been told by those involved told them to the Hitlerites Carl Schmitt lost his a lot of his close friends and lets remember that he defiantly refused "De-Nazification" throwing a career in the Post WWII on principle. The sad thing is that if it wasn't for the accursed victory of Billy the Pink at the Boyne these Isles could have had a cultural and intellectual tradition rivalling that of Germany before Hitler's pseudo-Reich.
British Lieutenant-General Sir Bernard Law Montgomery won
the Desert War in North Africa.
Goebbels wrote it in his personal diary, not in any publication towards the public. The statement can therefore be taken to reflect Goebbels' views.
Goebhels was fixated by Rommel, as long as Rommel kept winning. Hence the newsreels shown in German cinemas.
As soon as the North Africa campaign started to falter, Goebbels and the rest of the politicians dropped Rommel.
Goebbels wrote too in his diaries about fancying the unattainable girl up the road.
Rommel won't be the last military commander used by politicians for propaganda purposes.
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