Rommel Visit to Batterie Rozenburg

Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel (center, Oberbefehlshaber Heeresgruppe B und Generalinspekteur der Küstenbefestigungen West) during inspection trip to the Batterie Rozenburg (Hoek van Holland), 26 March 1944. At left is Kapitän zur See Frank Aschmann (Seekommandant Südholland). On the left of Rommel is General der Infanterie Hans-Wolfgang Reinhard (Kommandierender General LXXXVIII. Armeekorps), while on the right next to Rommel and Hauptmann Hellmuth Lang (wearing black Panzertruppen uniform, Ordonnanzoffizier Oberbefehlshaber Heeresgruppe B) is Generalmajor Carl Wahle (Kommandeur 719. Infanterie-Division). The officer with helmet and binoculars must be the Batterie kommandant. The heaviest coastal battery in the Netherlands was stationed in the Festung Hoek van Holland; Marine-Küsten-Batterie Rozenburg (Naval Coastal Battery ‘Rozenburg’) (XV) was stationed south of the estuary. To the north of the estuary were batteries Vineta (III) and Monster (VI). The picture was taken by Kriegsberichter Jesse of KBZ OB West (Kriegsberichter-Zug Oberbefehlshaber West).

Source :
https://www.atlantikwall-museum.nl/coastal-battery.html
https://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=147822&sid=78d82b8f0bb769a3633ae37dee35a1d5&start=495

Rommel Visiting 21. Panzer-Division in France

FIRST VISIT (18 MAY 1944)

On Thursday, 18 May 1944, Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel (Oberbefehlshaber Heeresgruppe B und Generalinspekteur der Küstenbefestigungen West) visited the 21. Panzer-Division base at Maisons-Laffitte, northern France. At 8:00 AM, when Rommel arrived at the HQ of Panzer-Regiment 200. there was nobody! When the Regimentskommandeur, Oberst Hermann von Oppeln-Bronikowski, eventually arrived, trailing alcohol fumes, Rommel snorted: “You’re lazy stinkers! What happens if the enemy invasion begins before eight-thirty?” The colonel gasped, “Catastrophe!” and slumped into a chair. Amazingly, the field marshal took no action. Ruge explained in his diary, “Rommel saw at once that he was a good fellow, and he didn’t hold this lapse against him.”

The reformed 21st Pz Div came into existence in Normandy in mid-1943, and was the only panzer division over which Rommel had been allowed to exercise any control prior to the invasion. He had practised them when they were stationed just south of Caen, in various manoeuvres to exploit any momentary weaknesses of the enemy just after landing. Although the Division contained some Afrikakorps veterans, it was equipped with poorly armoured light tanks and had been rated as unfit for service on the Eastern Front. After the withdrawal through France it was assigned to Army Group G. It was commanded throughout its second existence by Edgar Feuchtinger (last rank Generalleutnant), an artilleryman born in Metz in 1894. Most of division’s officers had never had anything to do with tanks before. Divisionskommandeur Edgar Feuchtinger had resourcefully mechanized the unit with an extraordinary array of captured Czech, French and Russian tanks. If the enemy invaded Normandy, Feuchtinger’s would be the only panzer division on the spot!

Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel (Oberbefehlshaber Heeresgruppe B und Generalinspekteur der Küstenbefestigungen West) shaking hands with the officers of 21. Panzer-Division, introduced by Divisionskommandeur Generalmajor Edgar Feuchtinger who stands behind Rommel.



Accompanied by Generalmajor Edgar Feuchtinger (right, Kommandeur 21. Panzer-Division) and Hauptmann Dr.-Ing. Alfred Becker (left, Kommandeur Sturmgeschütz-Abteilung 200 / 21.Panzer-Division), Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel (Oberbefehlshaber Heeresgruppe B und Generalinspekteur der Küstenbefestigungen West) inspecting the war machines of 21. Panzer-Division. In the background parked a 15cm heavy field howitzer stands on a French Lorraine Schlepper (Tank Supply Tractor).



Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel (Oberbefehlshaber Heeresgruppe B und Generalinspekteur der Küstenbefestigungen West) inspecting the war machines of 21. Panzer-Division, accompanied by the Divisionskommandeur, Generalmajor Edgar Feuchtinger. In the background parked a 15cm heavy field howitzer stands on a French Lorraine Schlepper (Tank Supply Tractor).



Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel (Oberbefehlshaber Heeresgruppe B und Generalinspekteur der Küstenbefestigungen West) inspecting the war machines of 21. Panzer-Division, accompanied by the Divisionskommandeur, Generalmajor Edgar Feuchtinger.



Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel (Oberbefehlshaber Heeresgruppe B und Generalinspekteur der Küstenbefestigungen West) inspecting the war machines of 21. Panzer-Division, accompanied by the Divisionskommandeur, Generalmajor Edgar Feuchtinger. Shown here is the Jagdpanzer Marder 1 105mm self-propelled artillery (Panzerhaubitze) based on the French H39 chassis.



Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel (Oberbefehlshaber Heeresgruppe B und Generalinspekteur der Küstenbefestigungen West) tasting the soldier's meal. In the background is Generalmajor Edgar Feuchtinger (Kommandeur 21. Panzer-Division).



Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel (Oberbefehlshaber Heeresgruppe B und Generalinspekteur der Küstenbefestigungen West) tasting the soldier's meal. At left is Generalmajor Edgar Feuchtinger (Kommandeur 21. Panzer-Division).


Parade of the war machines of 21. Panzer-Division in front of Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel (Oberbefehlshaber Heeresgruppe B und Generalinspekteur der Küstenbefestigungen West) and Generalmajor Edgar Feuchtinger (Kommandeur 21. Panzer-Division)

Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel (Oberbefehlshaber Heeresgruppe B und Generalinspekteur der Küstenbefestigungen West) speaks in front of the members of 21. Panzer-Division. These soldiers probably in the middle of a gas prevention training, judging from their gas-mask in use.

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SECOND VISIT (30 MAY 1944)

On Tuesday 30 May 1944, After seeing a demonstration of smoke projectors and 80mm caliber multi-rocket launchers on the Riva-Bella beach, in the afternoon Generalfeldmarschall Rommel continued his tour by inspecting war machines belonging to 21. Panzer-Division. The inspection took place at Bois de Lébisey, Hérouville-Saint-Clair (6 km north of Caen), and was Rommel's second visit to 21. Panzer-Division headquarters after the first at Rouen which took place on 18 May 1944.

Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel (Oberbefehlshaber Heeresgruppe B und Generalinspekteur der Küstenbefestigungen West) inspects members of an assault gun battalion standing in front of their guns—10.5cm leFH 18 (Sf.) auf Geschützwagen 39H(f)—a self-propelled howitzer designed by Alfred Becker—in Normandy, France, a month before the Allied invasion. Only 48 were produced during the war.

Source :
Jim Haley photo collection
Bundesarchiv photo collection
"The Armies of Rommel" by George Forty
"The Trail of the Fox: The Search for the True Field Marshal Rommel" by David Irving
https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/erwin-rommel-northern-france.html?sortBy=relevant
https://www.facebook.com/worldwarincolor/photos/a.393169424146189/643834395746356/?type=3

Rommel and Paul Hausser in 1943

Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel (left, Oberbefehlshaber Heeresgruppe B) and SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS Paul Hausser (Kommandierender General II. SS-Panzerkorps). The picture was probably taken at the northern sector of the Italian front, autumn 1943, when Hausser and his troops involved in the anti-partisan operation in Slovenia. Rommel just recently chosen as the Commander in Chief of Army Group B, and he is still wearing his tropical uniform used in North Africa.

Source :
Jim Haley photo collection
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/294323576591

Rommel Visiting the Sollum Front

 

 

Together with his staff officers, on 2 July 1941 General der Panzertruppe Erwin Rommel (left, Kommandierender General Deutsches Afrikakorps) made a visit to the headquarters of I.Bataillon / Schützen-Regiment 104 / 15.Panzer-Division in the Sollum front, which is on the border Libya-Egypt. During this visit, in particular "Der Wüstenfuchs" (The Desert Fox) congratulated the commander of the battalion, Hauptmann der Reserve Wilhelm Bech (walking at the forefront with Rommel), who in the battle a month earlier managed to withstand the British tank forces who were trying to break through the Halfaya Pass in order to free their comrades who were besieged in Tobruk, in a mass attack codenamed Operation Battleaxe (15-17 June 1941). For three full days Bach and his men endured wave after wave of enemy tank attacks, with only a platoon of Flak 88 cannons as their main weapon. Although Rommel himself had ordered the Bataillonskommandeur to retreat to a more adequate defensive location "if possible", Bach interpreted his commander's last words in the opposite direction: a counterattack that succeeded in repelling the British troops! For this phenomenal achievement, Bach - who is a former priest (!) - was awarded the prestigious Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on July 9, 1941, just a week after this photo was taken. The Flak 88 itself was originally an anti-aircraft gun, but it can be just as good when it comes to hitting tank targets on the ground. BTW, in April 1941 - which was only one month after Rommel arrived in North Africa - German forces managed to defeat the invading British army and driven it out of Libya, except for one stubborn ANZAC garrison which remained in the port city of Tobruk (despite being besieged by a combined force of Italian and German Afrikakorps). Over the next year, the re-capture of Tobruk became Rommel's biggest obsession, because without it all German efforts to conquer Egypt would be vulnerable. When the port city was finally occupied in June 1942, a grateful Hitler rewarded Rommel with an extraordinary promotion to Generalfeldmarschall.

Source :
https://www.bridgemanimages.com/en/search?filter_group=all&filter_region=GBR&filter_text=Erwin%20Rommel

Rommel on an Inspection Tript to Atlantikwall

 

This photo is come from the private collection of Hauptmann Hellmuth Lang, Rommel's personal aide, and shows Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel (Oberbefehlshaber Heeresgruppe B und Generalinspekteur der Küstenbefestigungen West) sitting in a car on an inspection trip to the German stronghold Atlantikwall in the Western Front. The German Marshal wears a schirmmütze (visor hat) on his head and a ledermantel (leather coat) over the outer layers of his uniform. Around his neck hung the Brillanten zum Ritterkreuz medal, which was only given to the selected 27 people in the entire German Armed Forces. The cold air made him wear leather gloves, which he used to hold the interimstab (the marshal baton). This photo appears to be a Rommel's personal gift to his aide, which can be seen from the addition of his original signature. There is no information on when this photo was taken, but at least in the period between February to June 1944. The reason is that it was only during this period that Rommel wore a leather coat during his inspections, while in the previous two months - December 1943 and January 1944 - from his appointment as a Commander-in-Chief of Heersgruppe B, he preferred to wear the Generalmantel (general's coat).

Source :
https://historical.ha.com/itm/autographs/non-american/erwin-rommel-signed-photograph/a/6149-49182.s