For a time, Erwin Rommel was Hitler's favorite general. Gaining prominence in 1940 as a commander of a panzer division that smashed the French defenses (see "Blitzkrieg, 1940"), Rommel went on to command the Afrika Korps where his tactical genius, ability to inspire his troops and make the best of limited resources, prompted Hitler to elevate him to the rank of Field Marshall. In 1943, Hitler placed Rommel in command of
fortifying the "Atlantic Wall" along the coast of France - defenses intended to repel the inevitable invasion of Europe by the Allies.
By the beginning of 1943, Rommel's faith in Germany's ability to win the war was crumbling, as was his estimation of Hitler. Touring Germany, Rommel was appalled at the devastation of the Allied bombing raids and the erosion of the peoples' morale. He also learned for the first time of the death camps, slave labor, the extermination of the Jews and the other atrocities of the Nazi regime. Rommel became convinced that victory for Germany was a lost cause and that prolonging the war would lead only to his homeland's devastation. He came in contact with members of a growing conspiracy dedicated to ousting Hitler and establishing a separate peace with the western allies.
On July 17, 1944, British aircraft strafed Rommel's staff car, severely wounding the Field Marshall. He was taken to a hospital and then to his home in Germany to convalesce. Three days later, an assassin's bomb nearly killed Hitler during a strategy meeting at his headquarters in East Prussia. In the gory reprisals that followed, some suspects implicated Rommel in the plot. Although he may not have been aware of the attempt on Hitler's life, his "defeatist" attitude was enough to warrant Hitler's wrath. The problem for Hitler was how to eliminate Germany's most popular general without revealing to the German people that he had ordered his death. The solution was to force Rommel to commit suicide and announce that his death was due to his wounds.
Death of a German Hero
Rommel's son, Manfred, was 15 years old and served as part of an antiaircraft crew near his home. On October 14th, 1944 Manfred was given leave to return to his home where his father continued to convalesce. The family was aware that Rommel was under suspicion and that his chief of staff and his commanding officer had both been executed. Manfred's account begins as he enters his home and finds his father at breakfast:
"...I arrived at Herrlingen at 7:00 a.m. My father was at breakfast. A cup was quickly brought for me and we breakfasted together, afterwards taking a stroll in the garden.
'At twelve o'clock to-day two Generals are coming to discuss my future employment,' my father started the conversation. 'So today will decide what is planned for me; whether a People's Court or a new command in the East.'He took me by the arm, and replied: 'My dear boy, our enemy in the East is so terrible that every other consideration has to give way before it. If he succeeds in overrunning Europe, even only temporarily, it will be the end of everything which has made life appear worth living. Of course I would go.'
'Would you accept such a command,' I asked.
Shortly before twelve o'clock, my father went to his room on the first floor and changed from the brown civilian jacket which he usually wore over riding-breeches, to his Africa tunic, which was his favorite uniform on account of its open collar.
At about twelve o'clock a dark-green car with a Berlin number stopped in front of our garden gate. The only men in the house apart from my father, were Captain Aldinger [ Rommel's aide] , a badly wounded war-veteran corporal and myself. Two generals - Burgdorf, a powerful florid man, and Maisel, small and slender - alighted from the car and entered the house. They were respectful and courteous and asked my father's permission to speak to him alone. Aldinger and I left the room. 'So they are not going to arrest him,' I thought with relief, as I went upstairs to find myself a book.
A few minutes later I heard my father come upstairs and go into my mother's room. Anxious to know what was afoot, I got up and followed him. He was standing in the middle of the room, his face pale. 'Come outside with me,' he said in a tight voice. We went into my room. 'I have just had to tell your mother,' he began slowly, 'that I shall be dead in a quarter of an hour.'
Here are the 18 reports of police misconduct tracked in our National Police Misconduct News Feed for this Independence Day weekend of July 2 through July 4, 2011:
- Los Angeles County CA makes a tentative $500k settlement offer to the family of a teen who was fatally shot by a deputy in an incident where two different videos contradicted his version of events at two different points.  http://lat.ms/kX0h1o
- Moreno Valley CA & Riverside Co CA lose a wrongful arrest and excessive force lawsuit for $325k to a man claiming he was beaten into unconsciousness during a racial profiling traffic stop  http://bit.ly/izM19q
- 10-12 New York NY cops are accused of excessive force for allegedly beating a man & macing an entire family over what started as a littering citation  http://bit.ly/mrfA6m
- Chattanooga TN Housing Authority settles suit on unspecified terms to a woman claiming a cop slapped her for calling 911 on him when she witnessed a rough encounter between the officer and a teen.  http://bit.ly/iBDwlL
- Parker FL police are being sued by a man claiming a cop who shouldn’t have been hired after he was fired from his previous deputy job for lying to judge had falsely arrested him on three different occasions.  http://bit.ly/kKOAna
- A Miami Beach FL cop is accused of drinking on duty with another cop before he injured three people when he ran into a couple while joyriding on a departmental ATV with a female passenger. Recent reports citing interviews with witnesses indicate he begged people not to report him before he fled the scene without checking on the injured victims.  http://bit.ly/mzOsl6
- Memphis TN cop was arrested on aggravated assault charges for allegedly pointing gun at her husband’s face during a domestic dispute  http://bit.ly/jYkGoV
- Another Memphis TN cop was also arrested on aggravated assault charges for allegedly pulling her gun during an off duty road rage incident  http://bit.ly/m8Hqwl
- Greenwich Twp NJ cop sues that department claiming he was fired for investigating the possible cover up of a Pohatcong cop’s DUI accident  http://bit.ly/mIoiXt
- Monterey County CA sheriff is sued by an ex-deputy claiming retaliation & obstruction involving that sheriff’s son’s drug arrest  http://bit.ly/jKQBBW
- Oregon state trooper has harassment charges dismissed in a settlement agreement by paying $11,500 to victim  http://bit.ly/kOD4eb
- Boynton Beach FL cop arrested by feds on methamphetamine trafficking charges involving “large amount of drugs”  http://bit.ly/mDYiAD
- 3 San Diego CA sex crimes unit detectives accused of sexual harassment & retaliation against female cops  http://bit.ly/mBYAte
- New Orleans LA police cmdr reassigned while investigated over alleged unspecified racially inappropriate orders  http://bit.ly/leP7QI
- Austin TX cop was arrested for boating while intoxicated after his passenger allegedly broke into a home to make a sandwich when the homeowner called police to report it.  http://bit.ly/ihTP1I
- Philadelphia PA cop pleads guilty to drunk driving charge in a crash that crushed a trooper’s legs between 2 cars  http://cbsloc.al/mUhhxX
- South Carolina state trooper gets time served in a guilty plea to a driving while intoxicated charge  http://bit.ly/mLKXBH
- Los Angeles CA police department’s “conditional official reprimand” policy that replaces disciplinary actions with warnings is drawing criticism because officers aren’t being disciplined regularly even after their first free pass warning.  http://lat.ms/jbGDqV
That’s it for this weekend, stay free out there!