Field Marshall Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel was born on the 15th of November 1891 in the small town of Heidenheim, near the city of Ulm, Germany. He was the second son born to Professor Erwin Rommel, a schoolmaster. His elder brother, Manfred, died in infancy. He also had two younger brothers and one sister. Their father died in 1913 after an operation, making Erwin the man of the house at the age of twenty-two.

When Erwin turned 18 he had aspired to join his f

Enter the Americans, they felt the war in Europe had to end before action could be taken against Japan. They originally wanted to begin with an invasion of mainland Europe, but were persuaded by the British to invade North Africa. Because of this, they invaded North Africa behind German lines in Morocco and Algeria. They landed on the 8th of November, and by the 16th were across the Tunisian border. Rommel, at this point, was retreating quickly, Tobruk was evacuated on the 13th of November and Benghazi on the 20th. Rommel's forces had fallen back to El Agheila. When the British attacked Mersa Brega on the 12th of December, Rommel ordered a retreat. On the 15th December, Rommel evacuated the Agheila region. On the 16th Montgomery caught and attacked German forces at Buerat, again the Germans were heavily outnumbered. This time there were 15 German tanks against 100 British tanks. The British lost 20 tanks however, due to the defenses and traps Rommel had lain. Rommel felt the attack was meant to keep his forces from retreating, however, the real plan was for the taking of Zauia, 30 miles west of Tripoli. This meant Rommel and his forces would be stuck in the middle. When Rommel was informed of this, he felt the only option was to retreat. Therefore, he ordered the complete withdrawal of the Tripolitania region on the 19th. Rommel had withdrawn his forces to Mareth were he set in for the final defense of Axis territory. At this point Rommel wanted to push all his forces westward to knock out the Americans before the British arrived at the Mareth Line. Similar to the Shlieffen Plan proposed in the First World War. From the 12th to the 22nd of February Rommel's forces inflicted heavy damages and nearly did accomplish his goal of knocking the Americans out, however, General von Arnim (commander of the 5th Panzer Army) would not supply him with the tanks that he needed to finish the job. At this point Montgomery was fast approaching the Mareth Line. All told the battle in the west inflicted losses of 10,000 Allied troops compared to the losses of 2,000 Axis troops. On The 6th of March, Rommel launched a fruitless preemptive strike on British forces; he sustained heavy losses and was forced to call off the offensive. At the end of February, Rommel knew there was no stopping the Allies in Africa, so he asked permission to withdraw 300 miles. Both Mussolini and Hitler rejected his pleas. On the 13th of May 1943 the last of the Axis forces surrendered, the war in Africa was over.

By 1941, Rommel found himself in North Africa with the rank of Lieutenant General and Commander-in-Chief, German Forces in Libya. He took command of the Deutsche Afrika Korps, which was composed of the 15th Panzer Division and the 5th Light Division. He was sent to assist the Italians who had lost territory to the British. On March 19, 1941, Hitler awarded Rommel with the Oak Leaves. The most significant battles in North Africa occurred between El Agheila and El Alamein (illustrate), in a strip of desert stretching about 600 miles. The desert was the perfect environment for tanks. Rommel suffered a permanent disability in that of supply. In the early stages of his North African campaign, from March to November of 1941, Rommel pressed the British and ousted them from Cyrenaica, leaving the British with the stronghold of Tobruk. Rommel advanced his troops from El Agheila to Mersa el Brega (taken on March 31st), Agedabia (April 2nd), Benghazi (April 3rd), El Mechili (April 6-8th), and towards Tobruk (April 10th). Rommel thought Tobruk would fall quickly, he thought that the British were already evacuating it. However the British would hold their ground knowing that if Rommel could take Tobruk there would have been no stopping him. The Italians disapproved of Rommel's unrelenting pursuit of the British, although praise came from Hitler. With this praise came the Swords to accompany his Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves. The British still held Tobruk at the end of

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