Manfred Rommel has said his father never visited America. None of Rommel's biographers have mentioned it. The only source for it happening is an "oral tradition" emanating from a small geographical area. Before WW II, Rommel was not a particularly senior officer... he made colonel in 1937... albeit one with a distinguished combat record in WW I. And he never served in positions that would have required foreign travel, such as General Staff or military attache.
Rommel only wrote one book. Infantry Attacks. It was required reading when I went through infantry officer advanced course at Fort Benning and again at Command and General Staff College at Leavenworth. It deals only with Rommel's personal experiences fighting in France, Italy,and the Carpathians as a lieutenant in World War I. Very insightful and I used it as a professional development resource when I commanded at the company level. Despite what George C Scott has George Patton say in "Patton", Rommel never wrote professionally on war above the company level and never wrote on armored warfare. Heinz Guderian would have written any book Patton used to beat the German army.
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From: Anita Henderson <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2013 1:14 PM
Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] Rommel
One solution to all this is to contact Manfred Rommel his son who I still think is alive. Another resource would be a respected biographer of Rommel. He may have some memory or documentation of this visit. Based on the sources, it does seem probably that Rommel visited the US in the pre World War II era. Talking about connections, George S. Patton knew John Singleton Mosby when he was a little boy in California. In the 1890s, Mosby was a lawyer for I believe the Union Pacific RR where Patton's father worked and they frequently took trail rides together in which Mosby imparted tales of his CW exploits to the impressionable boy. Mosby as a child had as his hero Francis Marion the Swamp Fox of Rev war fame and had modeled his raids on what Marion had done. Patton in turned modeled his horse cavalry exploits during the Punitive Expedition and later his armored cavalry actions on Mosby's actions. He also had read Rommel's books. It is
interesting how military tactics that originated in the 18th century were used or expanded on by two brilliant cavalry commanders of the 19th and 20th century. I love connections!!
Anita L. Henderson
Atlantic Guard Soldiers' Aid Society www.agsas.org-cook
13th VA Cavalry, Co. H., Light Sussex Dragoons-bugler
interpreting and researching Maria Lewis, black female trooper of the 8th NY Cavalry
-----Original Message-----
From: Barbara Vines Little, CG, FNGS, FVGS <[log in to unmask]>
To: VA-HIST <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thu, Jan 24, 2013 11:56 am
Subject: [VA-HIST] Rommel
Clint Schemmer offered an interesting alternative that some of you might
be interested in
http://vahistoryonline.com/2011/04/12/george-meet-erwin/
--
Barbara Vines Little, CG, FNGS, FVGS
PO Box 1273
Orange, VA 22960
[log in to unmask]
540-832-3473
CG, Certified Genealogist, is a service mark of the Board for
Certification of Genealogists, used under license by board certified
genealogists after periodic evaluation, and the board name is registered
in the US Patent & Trademark Office.
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