Nothing Special   »   [go: up one dir, main page]
Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Rommel's Ghost Division: Dash to the Channel – 1940
    Rommel's Ghost Division: Dash to the Channel – 1940
    Rommel's Ghost Division: Dash to the Channel – 1940
    Ebook300 pages1 hour

    Rommel's Ghost Division: Dash to the Channel – 1940

    By David Mitchelhill-Green

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Adolf Hitler invaded Western Europe on 10 May 1940. After breaking through the supposedly ‘impenetrable’ Ardennes, Erwin Rommel was at the forefront of the Wehrmacht’s audacious drive through France. Rommel, who had no prior experience leading an armored division in combat, moved with such speed and nerve that he frequently surprised French units by arriving far earlier than expected. Crossing the Meuse River, we follow Rommel—in what he referred to as ‘practically a lightning Tour de France’—as he pushed through northern France to the English Channel. His spectacular victory at the coastal port of Saint-Valéry-en-Caux was crowned by the capture of Cherbourg. Following the armistice, Rommel was involved in reenacting certain battles, such as crossing the Somme, for the documentary Sieg im Westen (Victory in the West). This is the story of Rommel and the 7th Panzer Division—the so-called ‘Ghost Division’—in France, 1940.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPen and Sword
    Release dateJul 25, 2024
    ISBN9781526715197
    Rommel's Ghost Division: Dash to the Channel – 1940
    Author

    David Mitchelhill-Green

    David Mitchelhill-Green is a freelance military author and photographer. His areas of interest include the Second World War and Japanese castles. Previous books in this series include: Fighting in Ukraine: A Photographer at War, With Rommel in the Desert: Tripoli to El Alamein and Rommel in North Africa: Quest for the Nile.

    Read more from David Mitchelhill Green

    Related to Rommel's Ghost Division

    Related ebooks

    Wars & Military For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Clash On The Devil’s Bridge

      Jun 18, 2020

      Clash On The Devil’s Bridge
      7 min read

    • Article

      Rise Of The Afrika Korps

      Jan 21, 2021

      Rise Of The Afrika Korps
      9 min read

    • Article

      Breaking Rommel’s Siege

      Nov 29, 2018

      Breaking Rommel’s Siege
      11 min read

    • Article

      Boer Reichsrevolver

      Jul 15, 2019

      Boer Reichsrevolver
      8 min read

    • Article

      Art In The Aftermath

      Nov 1, 2018

      Art In The Aftermath
      2 min read

    • Article

      Desert Rats In Normandy

      Jul 11, 2019

      Desert Rats In Normandy
      11 min read

    • Article

      Cambrai Dawn Of The Tank Age

      Oct 30, 2017

      Cambrai Dawn Of The Tank Age
      13 min read

    • Article

      Enter The Afrika Korps

      Oct 2, 2017

      Enter The Afrika Korps
      11 min read

    • Article

      Henry Foote

      Oct 2, 2017

      Henry Foote
      7 min read

    • Article

      Mind The Gap

      Jun 10, 2022

      Mind The Gap
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Jonah Of The Panzers

      May 23, 2019

      The Jonah Of The Panzers
      1 min read

    • Article

      Becoming The Desert Fox

      Jan 9, 2024

      Becoming The Desert Fox
      11 min read

    • Article

      Knight Of The Air

      Aug 6, 2019

      Knight Of The Air
      9 min read

    • Article

      Hitler’s Tiger Ace

      Feb 17, 2022

      Hitler’s Tiger Ace
      7 min read

    • Article

      Becoming “The Red Baron”

      Jul 12, 2022

      Becoming “The Red Baron”
      8 min read

    • Article

      Tanks For The Memories

      Feb 17, 2021

      Tanks For The Memories
      3 min read

    • Article

      The Fighter And The Writer

      Mar 31, 2020

      The Fighter And The Writer
      11 min read

    • Article

      Timeline Of… The Desert War

      Oct 2, 2017

      “OPERATION CRUSADER MARKS ROMMEL’S FIRST DEFEAT IN NORTH AFRICA, BUT THE ALLIED VICTORY IS HARD WON” Italian divisions invade Egypt, with the ultimate aim of seizing the Suez Canal from the British. Although the British are heavily outnumbered, the I

      2 min read

    • Article

      Samuel I Parker

      May 11, 2023

      Samuel I Parker
      5 min read

    • Article

      Wwi Tommies’ Instruction Booklet

      Jun 14, 2018

      Soldiers of the Worcestershire Regiment march towards trenches at Acheux-en-Amiénois, 27 June 1916. Frederick Astley fought in this regiment on the Western Front between 1914-17 Trench warfare was a terrifyingly modern experience for soldiers in WWI.

      1 min read

    • Article

      LEADERS & COMMANDERS

      Dec 27, 2018

      LEADERS & COMMANDERS
      3 min read

    • Article

      Rare Lance Of The 21 St Lancers

      Jan 20, 2020

      THE BRILLIANT ARTICLE on Kitchener (Nov 2019 edition) and his involvement in the cavalry charge at Omdurman in 1898 prompted me to share this story. Some years ago, I attended an auction on a farm in the Fauresmith district, which had belonged to the

      3 min read

    • Article

      Hitler’s Strategic Errors

      Nov 25, 2021

      Hitler’s Strategic Errors
      3 min read

    • Article

      'The Battle Of Arnhem' Brings A Wealth Of New Detail To A Major World War II Disaster

      Sep 11, 2018

      Bestselling historian Antony Beevor recounts the heartbreaking series of catastrophes that many Germans considered their last great victory of the war.

      3 min read

    • Article

      The Dark Mirror

      Mar 14, 2024

      The Dark Mirror
      9 min read

    • Article

      An Immigrant Hero

      Dec 1, 2023

      An Immigrant Hero
      4 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Rommel's Ghost Division

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Rommel's Ghost Division - David Mitchelhill-Green

      Preface

      ‘This book is an adventure book,’ Leutnant Alfred Tschimpke wrote in the introduction to his 1940 Nazi propaganda publication Die Gespenster-Division. Mit der Panzerwaffe durch Belgien und Frankreich (The Ghost Division. With the Panzerwaffe through Belgium into France). As Tschimpke explained:

      It describes the breakthrough of German Panzer divisions through Belgium and France. Five rivers were crossed, broad streams whose names everyone learns at school. This time, they did not look as innocent as they appeared on geography lesson maps. They had become broad moats in front of thousand-fold fortified enemy positions. Both the moats and the fortresses could not stop the German attacker.

      Tschimpke’s book, like this one, followed the exploits of General Erwin Rommel as he pushed through Belgium into France in 1940:

      ‘The Maginot Line was breached,’ Tschimpke gushed, ‘this concrete wonder of France. A push sixty kilometres deep in one day! The run to the coast began, which became a race between the German tanks and the remnants of the English divisions. The breakthrough by the 7th Panzer Division, later called the Ghost Division by the French, was fast, hard and costly. But he [Rommel] was bold and victorious.’

      Now, eighty-four years later, we can retrace Erwin Rommel’s path through Belgium into France – drawing on photographs from his personal collection – as he marshalled the 7th Panzer Division towards the English Channel.

      Introduction

      Erwin Rommel

      Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel was born at Heidenheim, near Ulm in the southern German state of Baden-Württemberg on 15 November 1891. Unlike his father or grandfather, both schoolteachers, Rommel joined the 124th Württemberg Infantry Regiment as an officer cadet in 1910. Commissioned as a Leutnant on 27 January 1912, he fought during the First World War in France, Romania and Italy. A natural gift for leadership, an understanding of his men and courage in battle were early hallmarks of a promising career. Promoted to Oberleutnant in 1915 and transferred to the Alpenkorps (Alpine Corps), he served with distinction at the Battle of Caporetto (October to November 1917) and in the capture of Longarone on 9 November. Rommel was awarded the Pour le Mérite – Germany’s highest (First World War) gallantry award – for his exploits against the Italians during the Battle of Caporetto. A Hauptmann in a staff position when the war ended in November 1918, Rommel was one of the 4,000 officers retained in the Weimar Republic’s Reichswehr. Initially assigned to the Infanterie-Regiment 13 as a company commander, in October 1929 he was appointed tactics commander at the Infanterieschule (Infantry School). This posting marked a turning-point in his career with several instructor roles over the next decade at Dresden, Potsdam and Wiener Neustadt, as well as commander of the III (Jäger) Battalion, Infanterie-Regiment 17 (Goslar) in 1933–35.

      Leutnant Erwin Rommel in Italy in 1917 wears the Pour le Mérite around his neck and Eisernes Kreuz I. Klasse (Iron Cross, First Class) on the left side of his jacket.

      Erwin Rommel, seated on the front left, in a photograph likely taken with the staff of Württembergisches Generalkommando zbV. 64 (64th Corps (Württemberg)) in 1918.

      Twenty years later, in March 1938, Adolf Hitler is given a standing ovation in Berlin after the ‘peaceful’ Anschluss with Austria. His next move was to annex the Czechoslovakian Sudetenland, declaring it was ‘the last territorial demand I have to make in Europe.’ The remainder of Czechoslovakia was subsequently occupied, prompting Britain’s Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain to question whether it was ‘a step in the direction to attempt to dominate the world by force.’

      Having distinguished himself during the First World War, Rommel (right) came to Hitler’s notice through the officer training system. An instructional book based on his tactical lecture notes, Gefechts-Aufgaben für Zug und Kompanie (Combat Problems for Platoon and Company), published in 1934, was followed by Infanterie greift an! (Infantry Attacks!) in 1937. The second volume, which drew heavily on his lecture notes and experiences during the First World War, caught the Führer’s attention, as did a commendation from a former student, Nicolaus von Below, now Hitler’s Luftwaffe adjutant. Assigned to the War Ministry as liaison officer to the Hitler Youth in charge of military training (where he clashed with the Hitler Youth Leader, Baldur von Schirach), Rommel was promoted to Oberst and reassigned to the Theresian Military Academy as commandant. Promoted to Generalmajor in August 1939, Rommel was given command of Hitler’s personal security battalion, the Führerbegleitbataillon. As Kommandant des Führerhauptquartiers (note the cuff title on his left sleeve), he led Hitler’s personal escort during the 1939 Polish campaign.

      With Hitler at an army field kitchen during the Polish Campaign. Three days into the invasion, the conflict escalated when Great Britain (followed by the Commonwealth) and France declared war on Germany. Hitler had earlier decided that the Western powers would remain out of the conflict: ‘England will not accept any risk. In France they have a manpower shortage.’ News of a new world war, Generalmajor Erich Fellgiebel recounted, struck Hitler ‘like a bomb’.

      General Heinz Guderian, one of the architects of German armoured warfare between the wars, spearheaded the invasion of northern Poland with the XIX Army Corps. He recalled a visit by Hitler to the front on 5 September:

      I met him near Plevno on the Tuchel-Schwetz road, got into his car, and drove with him along the line of our previous advance. We passed the destroyed Polish artillery, went through Schwetz, and then, following closely behind our encircling troops, drove to Graudenz where he stopped and gazed for some time at the blown bridges over the Vistula. At the sight of the smashed artillery regiment, Hitler had asked me: ‘Our dive bombers did that?’ When I replied, ‘No, our panzers!’ he was plainly astonished.

      Rommel (far left) looks on as Hitler gives an operations map discourse.

      Hitler is welcomed at Tomaszów airport, Łódź, Poland by General Walter von Reichenau, commander of the German 10th Army. Rommel eyes the camera.

      Adolf Hitler reviews a parade in Warsaw on 5 October 1939. The Polish capital had fallen after 27 days; the last pockets of resistance were overcome after 35 days.

      Senior Wehrmacht officers attend an exhibition about the Polish campaign. Left to right (facing the camera): Erwin Rommel, General der Infanterie Kurt von Tippelskirch and Generalmajor Wilhelm Speidel (Luftwaffe).

      After the Polish surrender, an ambitious Rommel (above, centre) requested a field command role. Initially appointed to lead a mountain division, which ideally suited his First World War experience in Italy, Rommel skirted protocol and appealed directly to Hitler, ‘immoderately’ requesting command of a Panzer division, although ‘many others were more qualified’. He later admitted that such behaviour did ‘not suit the gentlemen at the army headquarters’. Hitler’s approval raised eyebrows in senior military circles. General Alfred Jodl (Chief of OKW) was ‘flabbergasted at my new posting’, Rommel wrote to his wife Lucie on 17 February 1940.

      Erwin Rommel, seen here with his wife Lucia Maria ‘Lucie’ or ‘Lu’ (née Mollin) and their son Manfred. The couple met while Rommel was in Danzig attending the officer cadet school in 1911. Married in November 1916, their son (and future mayor of Stuttgart) was born in 1928.

      Chapter One

      The 7th Panzer Division – Arms and Armour

      After experimental testing of tanks and tactical training in Russia, Nazi Germany’s first Panzer training unit was formed in November 1933. Two years later in August 1935 the first Panzer Division was formed at the Munster training ground, followed by the creation of the first three Panzer divisions in October 1935. Four years later after Poland fell, the German high command reorganized the existing ‘light’ armoured divisions into ten full Panzer divisions – the primary offensive element of the German army. One of these formations, the 2nd Leichte (Light) Division, formed in Gera (south of Leipzig) in 1938, had played a significant role in the Polish Campaign with its Panzer I and Panzer II light tanks. On 18 October 1939 it was re-formed as the 7th Panzer Division. As Heinz Guderian later explained, after the Polish Campaign, ‘the very urgent business of re-equipping the tank regiments with Panzers III and IV only went forward slowly, partially owing to the limited production capacity of the industry, but also because of a tendency by the Army High Command to hoard the new tanks.’ On the eve of the offensive, the 7th Panzer Division was attached to the XVth (Motorised) Corps, Army Group A, under General Hermann Hoth, with its 225 tanks: 34 Pz.Kpfw. I, 68 Pz.Kpfw. II, 91 Pz.Kpfw. 38(t), 24 Pz.Kpfw. IV and eight command tanks, some 20 per cent of the German army’s tank strength at this time.

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1