Chapter I

Young Rommel

Born into a strict, typically middle-class southern German family, the young Erwin Rommel showed no early signs of military genius. A pale and sometimes sickly child, he nonetheless enjoyed physical challenges, and had youthful ambitions of becoming an aeronautical engineer. However, his future was to be in another profession…

Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel was born on Sunday 15th November 1891 at Heidenheim, near Ulm in Württemberg. His father, after whom he was named, was a schoolmaster and a mathematician of some distinction; his mother, Helene, was the eldest daughter of Karl von Luz, President of the Government (Regierungs-Praesident) of Württemberg. Erwin was therefore assured of a comfortable upbringing; as he was later to recall: ‘my early years passed very pleasantly as I was able to romp around our yard and big garden all day long’. He had an elder sister, Helena, and two younger brothers, Karl and Gerhardt; an elder brother, Manfred, died while still an infant.

Officer Cadet Rommel photographed in 1911, an official portrait he gave to his mother at the beginning of his military career.

There was no indication in his early years that he would pursue a military career. As a child, Erwin was so pale and sickly that, according to Helene, he was known in the family as the ‘white bear’. He also displayed little intellectual capacity. In 1898 his father was appointed headmaster of the secondary school (Realgymnasium) at Aalen, but as there was no primary school in the town, Erwin had to be educated by private tuition. Although this proved sufficient to gain him a place in his father’s school in 1900, he had clearly not kept up with his contemporaries. Aware of this, he became even more pale and sickly, falling so far behind in his work that he gained a reputation for being lazy and inattentive.

But he did have potential. According to an anecdote recalled to Desmond Young when he was researching his bookRommel (Collins, London, 1950), he was so careless that it became a standing joke, leading his teacher to declare that ‘if Rommel ever shows up [with] a dictation without a mistake, we will hire a band and go off for a day in the country’. On hearing this, the youngster woke up and produced a perfect piece of work. When the day in the country did not materialise, however, he soon reverted to his former character. Erwin suddenly changed when he was in his teens, showing a flair for mathematics, taking an interest in sport and, with a friend, building a glider in the countryside near his home. Indeed, at this stage he seems to have wanted to be an engineer, with particular reference to the new and exciting field of aeronautics.

He was stopped from doing this by his father, however, who had a reputation for being strict and insistent. Instead, the young Erwin changed his mind and declared that he wanted to