Generalmajor Erwin Rommel is wearing the Offiziermantel (officer coat) in this photo, taken in early 1940. He is still wearing the Pour le Mérite that he received in World War One, while there is still no additional Ritterkreuz medal around his neck. Rommel himself was awarded the Pour le Mérite, the German Empire's highest medal of courage, in the First World War - on December 10, 1917 - after the Battle of Caporetto which he captured 7,000 Italian soldiers with only 100 men! Rommel's first combat command in World War II was as Commander of the 7th Panzer-Division. which he led in the fighting in France in 1940. During the campaign, 7. The Panzer-Division suffered more casualties than any other division throughout the Wehrmacht: it lost 2,594 men (including 682 killed, 1,646 wounded, and 266 missing) - which accounts for 20 percent of its total force - plus 39 tanks destroyed. But all of these sacrifices were paid for with great achievements: from May to June 1940, 7. Panzer-Division captured 97,486 Allied soldiers, c458 tanks and other armored vehicles, seized 277 field guns, 64 anti-tank guns., 4,000-5,000 trucks, as well as destroying dozens of other vehicles. Not only that, this division was also able to seize or destroy hundreds of tons of other very valuable military equipment, as well as shoot down 52 warplanes (plus destroying 15 aircraft on the ground and confiscate 12 others intact). 7. Panzer-Division also managed to capture the Commander of the French Atlantic Fleet and four admirals, a French Army Corps Commander, 15-20 other French generals, and one British general. In the process, the division emerged surprisingly from the dense Ardennes Forest, broke through the defenses on the banks of the Meuse River in Dinart, and advanced through Belgium and northern France. All forces that came in his way were mercilessly crushed (including the French 1st Armored Division and the 4th North African Division), and their swift movement allowed them to penetrate the extension of the Maginot Line near Sivry, and withstand the largest Allied counterattack in the Battle of France, deployed in the open field of Arras. Subsequently, 7. Panzer-Division played an important role in the siege and destruction of the mighty French 1st Army at Lille, which was followed by a rapid advance southward, storming through the Somme and Seine, and ended with the capture - after a fierce battle - of the main French port of St. Valery and Cherbourg... and all of this amazing achievement was done almost without the help of the rest of the German units! The 7. Panzer-Division was nicknamed the "Gespenster Division" (Ghost Division) by the Wehrmacht high ranking officers in Berlin, who were often confused by the fact that how often this division were "lost" without news for days, only to reappear with a shocking victory far away through enemy territory! By the time the French finally surrendered, the division was about 320 kilometers from the border with Spain. It could be said that in the period from February 5, 1940 to February 15, 1941, Erwin Rommel had performed very well for his duties as a Divisionskommandeur!
Source :
http://alifrafikkhan.blogspot.com/2012/03/album-foto-erwin-rommel-sebagai_10.html
