Rommel overated?

I think Manstein and Guderian were the gratset german generals.This men were able to devise briliant plans and execute them flawlessly.There is also Gerd von Runstedt, regarded by many contemporaries as the best german general(this was before the war, though).

As fo Rommel, his greatest asset was his speed of thinking.His agressivenesss usually threw the enemy off balance, and Rommel was there to speculate any mistake.When the enemy made no mistake, Rommel's military value was greatly diminished.

If anything Rommel is UNDERratted!  The only flaw he had was trusting the German and Italian high command.  He was a brilliant field marshal in defense and offense.  Had it not been for the lack of supplies in Africa he would have wiped the Brits out!

His agressiveness was a major asset and his best characteristic. 

It's not his fault he didn't have the neccessary supplies.

I believe Rommel is a bit overrated.

 He was a great Field Marshall, but he was not the best German General/Field Marshal in my opinion. Von Manstein was.

Rommel was certailny plagued by the fact that he had to deal with hitler who was not a good war-time commander at all.

Rommel gave the Allies alot of resistance, but he always ended up losing most of the time. He lost North Africa and lost Again drugin D-Day (though this is a good example of why Hitler was an idiot)

a tough and effective commander? Yes, he was. But he is overrated in terms of how he is seen today.

He also gets alot of respect for being a fair and decent man. he was not a Nazi and not a murderer. He was merely a soldier fighting for his country, and he was even involved int he plot to assassinate Hitler.

I don't know if there were any Generals better qualified to face the d day landings than Rommel. By '44 he was very experienced facing western offensives with their unlimited air strategies, naval components and vast resources.

Rommel knew the war was lost.  In fact he was trying to contact Churchill and Eisonhower but he was attacked and hospitalized.  then was murdered for his "part" in the Stuafenberg attack.  A very sad ending to one of the greatest German generals in the 20th century!

Rommel would have had the neccessary supplies had the Italian and German high command lived up to their numerous promises.  They promised Rommel more supplies and troops nearly everyday and he hardly ever got them. 

Lack of supplies was also do to the Italians incompitance on the battlefield.  The Italians were so out of date it wasn't even funny.  That and the Italians codes had been broken giving away all of their supply lines!

Rommel was a better general than Kesselring!  Kesselring was a defense strategist and had no right tellimg Rommel, a very powerful attacker, where and when to attack!

Rommel was a good commander, but his secrets were exposed when Patton read his book....

It was hard for rommel to command his forces when he can only move at night, casue Germany lost most of their air force during the Battle Of britain.

If ur opponent knows what ur doing, how are you suppose to win?

 

Rommel did the very best he could with the little he had.  He could not have done more with such little he had.  The problem with the supplies was that the high command was not even sending the supplies.  It is not that they all got blwo up(some did) but that the command was not even sending them.  Mainly the Italians.  And as for the codes being broken, if I am not mistaken the British codes were not boken until much later in the war.  But I may be wrong on that!

The Italian incomitance was a major problem on the battelfied with supplies.  The Italians were not good fighters and not well equiped.  Thus they were taking up resources that could have been used to other causes!

Hesselring may have sen the power of an air force but Rommel saw the importance of the tank! 

Now this is my opinion;  Rommel was one of the best German Field Marshals during the war, no doubt about it.  He just had some trouble with the German command and Hitler.  If you know how Rommel died you'll see what "troubles" Hitler gave him!

Well, the eproblem with supplies could be giving to Rommel, but he really had no controll over his own supplies.  During the end of the African campaign(in the later years when the Afrika Korps began to fail) the German began their attack on Russia which even Rommel thought was a good idea.  And for a time it was; everything was going good.  Then Stalingrad; the supplies just stopped coming to Afica, and Rommel understood why but he said they should not have been fighting on 3 fronts. 

Overall he was a good filed marshal.  You said one of his weak chacteristics was his assertiveness and lack of planning.  Well, many take that to be one of his good qualities which is why he even got as far as he did in Africa with his very limited resources.  He actually was planning; planinng that he was to get more supplies.  A plan often seems good on paper, but when put into action if could easily fall apart.  Thus is what happened with Rommel's popularity with Hitler!