caption serviceyears branch relations death_place death_date birth_place article_title battles birth_date placeofburial signature nickname image rank spouse name
field marshal erwin rommel in 1942 1911 -- 44 flag of weimar republic -lrb- war -rrb- . svg '' reichswehr of '' 25px '' heer '' the german empire.svg imperial german army flag manfred gertrud stemmer -lrb- 1913 -- 2000 -rrb- , daughter rommel -lrb- 1928 -- 2013 -rrb- , son herrlingen , state of württemberg , germany yes 14 october 1944 4 november 1891 heidenheim , kingdom of württemberg , germany erwin rommel
 '' ` world war i '' ' yes 15 november 1891 cemetery of herrlingen erwin rommel signature.svg '' wüstenfuchs '' -lrb- desert fox -rrb- bundesarchiv bild 146-1973-012-43 , erwin rommel.jpg '' generalfeldmarschall '' -lrb- field marshal -rrb- lucia maria mollin 27 november 1916 erwin johannes eugen rommel
erwin rommel

erwin johannes eugen rommel -lrb- 15 november 1891 -- 14 october 1944 -rrb- , popularly known as the desert fox -lrb- `` wüstenfuchs '' , -rrb- , was a german field marshal of world war ii .
he earned the respect of both his own troops and his enemies .
rommel was a highly decorated officer in world war i and was awarded the pour le mérite for his exploits on the italian front .
in world war ii , he further distinguished himself as the commander of the 7th panzer division during the 1940 invasion of france .
his leadership of german and italian forces in the north african campaign established him as one of the most able commanders of the war , and earned him the appellation of the desert fox .
he is regarded as one of the most skilled commanders of desert warfare in the conflict .
he later commanded the german forces opposing the allied cross-channel invasion of normandy .
rommel is regarded as having been a humane and professional officer .
his `` afrika korps '' was never accused of war crimes , and allied soldiers captured during his africa campaign were reported to have been treated humanely .
orders to kill jewish soldiers , civilians and captured commandos were ignored .
later in the war , rommel was linked to the conspiracy to assassinate adolf hitler .
because rommel was a national hero , hitler desired to eliminate him quietly .
he forced rommel to commit suicide with a cyanide pill , in return for assurances that rommel 's family would not be persecuted following his death .
he was given a state funeral , and it was announced that rommel had succumbed to his injuries from an earlier strafing of his staff car in normandy .
