I thought I was seeing things today when I watched The Desert Fox again, but obviously rear-projected on a screen behind Rommel, were columns of M4 Shermans (USA). So, I am confused--was the director trying to show a 'flashback' of Rommel leading his men, or was Hathaway trying to say that Rommel rides with all tank crews? Which apparently he did during Desert Storm. LOL
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Good catch. No, they were just trying to show Rommel leading his troops in "the good old days" (hah!). The filmmakers obviously used whatever stock footage was most readily available, assuming no one would likely spot the difference. But then, they didn't count on us still watching the movie and commenting on it 60 years later on IMDb.
Besides, did Rommel ever ride atop a tank into battle? Wouldn't he have used a staff car? Plus he'd never have been in the vanguard of his tanks, so exposed to the enemy.
On the other hand, in that final scene, maybe the Shermans were chasing him.
Besides, did Rommel ever ride atop a tank into battle? Wouldn't he have used a staff car? Plus he'd never have been in the vanguard of his tanks, so exposed to the enemy.
I have never heard that Rommel was ever in the vanguard of his forces, at least when it came to actual battles. Perhaps he led the way in standard movements, but no modern commanding officer, in charge of directing the strategy and tactics of his army, would be in the forefront of an actual attack, leading his men into battle. Like every top commanding officer, Rommel would stay behind the battle lines so he could function as commander.
shareThis was one of the reasons, perhaps the main reason (aside from success) that Rommel was so popular with his men: he took the same risks they did. He had been accustomed to doing so since being an infantry officer in WWI, and earning the Pour le Merite twice before actually being awarded it.
In the opening scene of this movie we see the raid on Rommel's HQ. The reason it failed was because Rommel wasn't there -- he preferred to set up HQ at the front, close to his men, and rarely used the assigned building.
Right -- his headquarters was at or near the front. But when he would order his forces to attack, he wasn't in the lead tank, or in a staff car racing in front of his tanks. He would be near the action, but not in it doing any actual fighting. Again, no modern commander would ever literally lead an attack. They have to stay removed from the actual fighting so they can direct their forces. That final scene in the movie is essentially fictional, at least in terms of showing Rommel leading his tanks into combat himself.
Even so, commanders could still be at risk, though normally not to the extent that the front-line soldiers were. As you know, Rommel himself was gravely wounded in a random air attack in France on July 17, 1944. Of course, that was not during a formal battle of any sort. It was just a fortuitous strike by an Allied plane whose pilot simply saw a staff car but had no idea Rommel was in it. Ironic that he'd be wounded in such circumstances, and not on or near a battlefield.
In the push through the Ardennes Rommel was often ahead of the vanguard, which is why the advance went so quickly. There are two anecdotes in particular I remember (though I'll have to dig a bit to find out exactly where):
The first was when Rommel didn't want to get bogged down fighting an entrenched French unit, and so lead his vanguard in waving flags as they rode by and saying in French, "don't shoot!" The French, puzzled, let the German coloumn ride through. The reason Rommel was keen on driving onwards was that he was a newly appointed Panzer commander, eager to prove himself, and he felt he was "competing" with the 5th Panzer.
The other anecdote is from an actual battle, where, unperturbed by small arms fire, he walked up to one of his panzers, rapped at the gun barrel with his riding cane and demanded to know why it wasn't firing.
Also, Rommel was wounded on numerous occasions. He was actually looking forward to receiving his Golden Wound Badge after being strafed by that pilot.
Yes, you're quite right about those incidents. Still, they occurred under extraordinary circumstances and weren't quite the same as actually leading a column onto the battleline itself. A number of top commanders -- Patton comes to mind, but MacArthur did this too, especially in World War I -- did make occasional forays right up to the forefront of the action. But again, this was usually under exceptional conditions or for a particular reason. In terms of tank columns actually firing at one another, no commander would deliberately be right in the middle of such action -- assuming he could avoid it. But it's certainly true that by apearing near the front, or by being visible to their troops in the combat zone, commanders such as Rommel clearly helped inspire their men.
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