The Second World War is over, but historians are still studying it and coming up with new revelations. One fact that emerged after the war is the sad end of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel.  Who was Erwin Rommel? He was the most celebrated of the generals of the Wehrmacht. He was a favorite of Hitler  and had his ear. He was an infantry officer, yet was given command of a Panzer division by Hitler during the Battle of France in 1940. This was over the head of the OKW( German General Staff), which had opposed Rommel being given command  of a Panzer division.

Rommel led with aplomb and in 1941 Hitler made him the commander of all Axis forces in North Africa.  He led a brilliant campaign, but lack of resources forced him to retreat. Ultimately he flew back to Germany leaving 300,000  German troops of the Afrika Corps to surrender. This facet of Rommel has never been explained and even Desmond Young in his biography of Rommel has no explanation for it. This act of Rommel, in my view showed the negative side of his character.

On return to Germany, his close connection with Hitler again helped him and he was made commander of the German forces in France. His job was to secure the coastline against an Allied invasion. Rommel now understood that the Axis powers would lose the war one day and he began to distance himself from Hitler. He was certainly naive and failed to gauge where the Allied force would land. In fact when the allies landed in Normandy in June 1944, he was away in Berlin to celebrate his wife's birthday.

The Allied landing convinced Rommel that the war was lost and he wished that Hitler be removed. He however did not join any plot to remove Hitler. During this time a group of plotters from the army made plans to kill Hitler. One man named Colonel Stausberg was entrusted with the task of carrying a briefcase with a bomb and planting it close to Hitler in his war room. On 20 July 1944 Stausberg entered the war room at Rastenberg and left quickly after leaving the briefcase. The bomb exploded, but Hitler survived and only received some burns. Hitler was livid and wanted to know who the plotters were.

Earlier the plotters had sounded Rommel on his taking over as Chancellor after the death of Hitler. Rommel had given his assent, though he was not part of the conspiracy. The sleuths of the Gestapo( German secret police) soon unraveled the plot and the conspirators were arrested. On interrogation the name of Rommel cropped up.  Hitler was greatly disturbed that his most famous general had turned against him.

Hitler authorised two senior generals to proceed to the villa of Rommel. They were to carry cyanide capsule and meet Rommel. The generals  duly met Rommel in his study and made an offer to him. He could opt to take the cyanide capsule and commit suicide.  In return he would get a hero's funeral and the world will be told that he had died of wounds sustained in a allied bombing attack. His family would be safe and not touched. In case he refused he would be tried by a court for treason and his family carted away to a concentration camp. The generals gave him no time and said that he must decide "NOW".

Rommel decided to commit suicide and had a brief meeting with his wife and son and then drove in his car with his driver to a wood nearby. The driver left the car and returned after 10 minutes to see Rommel slumped on the back seat, with his Field marshal's baton by his side. Thus Hitler condemned Rommel to death. His funeral was duly held and a wreath from Hitler placed at his grave. It was a great sham of history.