View Single Post
Old 10-31-15, 02:37 PM   #2
Oberon
Lucky Jack
 
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 25,976
Downloads: 61
Uploads: 20


Default

I'm a big fan of Rommel as a general, but his dash through France has been somewhat overblown, if anything it was only the collapse of the French communications ability and disorganisation that prevented him from being isolated and destroyed.
Likewise the tanks he used, only a handful of them were a match for the French and British armour they faced. At the Battle of Arras it was only the Flak 88 which managed to blunt the British attack of Matilda II tanks.

That being said, one of the great successes of the invasion, aside from the surprise of the Ardennes, was the one day when the Luftwaffe and Wehrmacht were actually organised enough to work together. I believe the Wehrmacht called it 'The day when everything went right', I think it was on the Breakout at Sedan and the crossing of the Meuse. At this point the French government itself believed it was beaten, and things broke down pretty badly. That, really, was the best success of 'Blitzkrieg', the speed and shock, the morale side of it. If the British and French had managed to retreat out of Belgium in time and organise a better defence then they could well have halted the German advance.

In Africa, Rommel was better, but I'm not so sure he deserves the almost mythic status he has attained in modern history, although as generals of the Wehrmacht go, he wasn't a bad one, but I wouldn't have put him as the best.
Oberon is offline   Reply With Quote