During World War 2, on the western front, no general, not even General Patton or General Richard O' Connor used armour more boldly or more daringly then Field-Marshal Rommel. The very word 'Rommel' struck suck fear in the Western Allies that even before Rommel began his attack, the enemy was already demorilized. In my opinion, no general in history before or after have taken such big risks and have succeded by quickly exploiting his initial success than Rommel. His World War 2 fame actually started in France. Before and during the Polish campaign, Rommel was responsible for Hitler's safety. After the fall of Poland, Rommel asked Hitler for a fighting command. "What do you want?" asked Hitler. Rommel replied "Command of a Panzer Division." Hitler, who personally liked Rommel very much, gave him the 7th Panzer Division. Rommel took over the 7th Panzer Division at Godesberg, on the Rhine, on February 15th, 1940. 7th Panzer intensively trained for two months, with Rommel working out his own theories of tank tactics after absorbing important lessons of the Polish campaign. When the order came to advance into Belgium, the 7th Panzer was fighting fit and knew that their commander would move them with lightning speed without hesitating. On May 10th the frontier was crossed about thirty miles south of Liege. On May 13th, 7th Panzer was ordered to clear a passage of the Meuse. The Belgians had anti-tank guns in concrete positions and plenty of artillery. A bridge had to be built under intense heavy fire. Rommel came forward, and was up to his waist in water helping to shift baulks of timber. "I'll give you a hand, " he said to his men, and stayed with them until he was sure that the job was done. Imagine: a divisional commander right up there in the front with his men while bullets and shells are flying and dropping all around. Such was Rommel. Towards evening the French Army counter-attacked with tanks and infantry but all these attacks were beaten off by the Germans, and by nightfall 7th Panzer's firts tanks were across, with Rommel's tank leading. The next day, Rommel's tank ran into a sand quarry and came under heavy anti-tank fire. Rommel was hit in the face and his tank was put out of action. The French troops were advancing to capture him when Colonel Rothenburg, commanding 25th Panzer Regiment, who won the Knight's Cross during these operations, came up in his own tank and drove them off. Rothenburg later died while fighting in Russia. By May 15th, 7th Panzer Division was far ahead of the 5th Panzer Division on its right flank. During the night of May 15th, Rommel daringly captured a French battery when it was moving up to the positions into what its commander supposed was a supporting position. On the night of May 16th, the 7th Panzer broke through the extension of the Maginot line in the fortified zone west of Clairfay. At 11.00 P.M. the attack was launched. Rommel's panzers broke into and out of Avesnes leaving it still occupied by French troops, and firing on the move at batteries on both flanks. A French mechanised division, which was retreating westwards along the road was totally surprised by Rommel and was soon overrun. A German Artillery regiment followed the Panzers through Avesnes during the night and captured forty-eight tanks intact. Rommel, as fast as ever, launched his whole division in an attack towards the west, to reach the Sambre, establish and secure a bridgehead and keep it open. The attack began about 5:30 in the morning with 25th Panzer Regiment pushing towards Landrecies. The French infantry was shocked into surrender by the sudden appearance of the German Panzers. When Landrecies fell, large number of French troops were still in their barracks. The French garrison surrendered and a bridge over the Sambre was seized intact. 25th Panzer Regiment then moved on to Le Cateau where it was halted by Rommel, for the rest of the 7th Panzer Division was far behind. Rommel himself went back in an armoured car to bring it up. By May 17th, another bridge over the Sambre had been seized at Berlimont by the Germans. This now enabled 5th Panzer Division, which was still way behind, to come up and cross on the right. Rommel had pushed forward a narrow salient, thirty miles long and only two miles wide, with lightning speed. He had taken enormous risks for there were strong French forces on both flanks. Because of his daring, the 7th Panzer Division's total casualties were only 35 killed and 59 wounded, whereas it had taken over 10,000 prisoners in two days, and captured or destroyed 100 tanks, 30 armoured cars and 27 guns. 25th Panzer Regiment kept on moving at the same speed, and on May 20th, by-passing Cambrai, it crossed the Canal du Nord at Marcoing and took up position south of Arras. Many French troops, once again, were captured in their barracks. Most of the 7th Panzer was left behind and Rommel went back to bring it up. On the Arras-Cambrai road, at Vise-en-Artois, he ran into the enemy and lost two of his tanks. Rommel remained surrounded by the enemy for several hours. At Arras on May 21st, the British 1st Army Tanks Brigade attacked Rommel's 7th Panzer around Achicourt and Agny. They broke through his 42nd Anti-Tank Battalion positions only to be stopped by German Artillery and the deadly 88mm. guns. The 25th Panzer Regiment which by now had reached the high ground south of the Scarpe at Acq, was ordered by Rommel to turn and attack the British tanks in the rear. In the following tank battle, the British Army lost seven tanks and six Anti-Tank guns whereas the 25th Panzer Regiment lost nine tanks. Rommel, had another narrow escape, for an officer was killed beside him while the two were holding and looking at the same map. That day the 7th Panzer lost 250 men killed, while destroying 43 British tanks. Next came, the big battles in and around St. Valery, where Rommel broke through General Fortune's British 51st Division defense perimeter and forced him to surrender. Twelve thousand prisoners were taken at St.Valery of whom eight thousand were British and four thousand were French. These also included commanders of 9th French Army Corps and British Major-General Fortune. Also 58 tanks, 56 guns, 17 A.A guns, and 22 A.T guns, 368 machine-guns, 3,550 rifles and 1,133 trucks were captured. 7th Panzer's divisional artillery claimed an armoured cruiser of the Royal Navy sunk, an unusual victim for a panzer division. On June 17th, Petain asked for an armistice, three days after the Germans entered Paris. On 19th June, the French unconditionally surrendered. The war in the west was over. From May 10th to June 19th, 1940, Rommel's 7th Panzer Division had captured: The Admiral of the French Navy (North) and 4 other admirals, 1 Corps Commander, 4 Divisional Commanders with their staffs, 277 guns and 64 A.T. guns, 458 tanks and armoured cars, 4-5000 trucks, 1,500-2,000 cars, 400 buses and 400 motor-cycles and the major part of the 97,468 prisoners credited to the Group to which it belonged. The 7th Panzer Division lost 48 officers killed and 77 wounded; 108 sergeants and above killed and 317 wounded, 526 other ranks killed and 1,252 wounded; 3 officers, 34 sergeants and above and 229 other ranks missing. And it lost only 42 tanks. This remarkable victory was only made possible due to General Rommel's bold leadership, his daring and his super-human courage and that of his men. For his bravery and courage, Rommel was awarded the Knight's Cross. Bibliography Young, Desmond. Rommel: The Desert Fox: Harper, 1950, New York. Back to Table of Contents -- World War Two Newsletter May 2002 Back to World War Two Newsletter List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2002 by Shahram Khan. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com