Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel
(15.11.1891 - 14.10.1944)
place of birth:  Heidenheim an der Brenz
Königreich Preußen:  Hauptmann,  Generalfeldmarschall  (WW2)


A future Wehrmacht Field Marshal and the "Desert Fox" of the Second World War, Erwin Rommel also had a distinguished career during the Great War, serving in France, Russia, and Italy. His father Erwin Sr. was a school administrator who had served as an artillery officer.

In the summer of 1914, as Germany mobilized for war, Rommel was a Leutnant and company commander with Württemberg's Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 124.  By late August, he had clearly demonstrated his military leadership in the Longwy area, earning the Iron Cross 2nd Class the Iron Cross 1st Class.

Rommel was then assigned to the Württemberg Gebirgs-Battalion, attached to the Alpenkorps, a unit which soon redeployed to Romania for the successful attack on Bucharest in November 1915. October 1917 saw his 200-man battalion moving to the Italian Alps, where they played a leading role in the breakthrough at Caporetto. For this his bravery and leadership, was also awarded the Pour le Merite. After the War, Rommel remained on active duty with the interim military forces. As a highly respected and successful Wehrmacht Feld-Marschall during World War Two, he found himself involved on the fringes of the assassination plot against Hitler and was ultimately coerced into taking his own life (in order to protect his family's honor) at the age of 52.

	Hauptmann	18.10.1918
	Württemberg MVO	08.04.1915  Ritter
	Pour le Mérite	10.12.1917