After D-Day. Rommel's View & Assessments

[Andy H]

Hi

This directly translated from German official documents maybe of interest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DX-2mR_FsQ

Regards

Andy H

[Carl Schwamberger]

So familiar from so many books and magazine articles. Its great to see the original text in German. Plus seeing coherent paragraphs and not just phrases or a sentence quoted is excellent.

[Michael Kenny]

The book 'Army Of The West' has the weekly reports of Army Group B. The paperback is pretty cheap and it is an essential reference for those who want to know how the Germans saw the progress of the campaign in Normandy. The sense of impending disaster felt by the Generals is in stark contrast to the oft-repeated claims they were coping well and blunting the Allied attacks.

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=n86 ... &q&f=false

[kstdk]

Hello

Any one knows if Rommels Reports to OKW/Hitler about the Atlanticwall and the troops there, still is accesible at archives?

I have not been able to find any!

Regards
Kurt
kstdk

[Carl Schwamberger]

... Any one knows if Rommels Reports to OKW/Hitler about the Atlanticwall and the troops there, still is accesible at archives? ...

They were cited in the recently published 'Count Down to D Day' So likely. From the 1970s the German government has made a effort to recover and preserve all the pre 1946 records.

Rommels observations from Dec 1943 through January 1944 confirm other sources that most beaches were very lightly defended and the coastal defenses concentrated at the ports. The bulk of the fortifications & entrenchments 21 Army Group encountered on the Normandy beaches did not exist December 1943 and had been built the winter/spring of 1944.

[kstdk]

Hello

At Carl Schwamberger, thanks for the answer.

Did the units that Rommel visited and inspected, also receive a report from him?

If that is the case, the report may also be found in the units War Diaries?

Regards
Kurt
kstdk

[Carl Schwamberger]

Im only cognizant of the reports Rommel sent to OKW, with copies to OB West. One presumes copies or at least summaries would be sent from OB West to the army commanders. After Rommel was appointed Army Group commander in January 1944 he set a lot of memos, orders, and report copies to his army commanders. The 7th and 15th Armies.

[Carl Schwamberger]

The book 'Army Of The West... The sense of impending disaster felt by the Generals is in stark contrast to the oft-repeated claims they were coping well and blunting the Allied attacks.

Reading through the accounts of the surviving landser I'm struck the same growing feeling. One related for him & his comrades the moment of truth came with the news of the surrender of Cherbourg.

[jpz4]

FWIW, the two documents referred to in the video and most of those (all?) in the book mentioned by Michael can be found in T311 R3.

[Carl Schwamberger]

FWIW, the two documents referred to in the video...

Thanks