Where Do Guderian, Rommel Belong in Tank Warfare History?

By JIM PURCELL

I am the son of a U.S. World War II European combat veteran. My uncle, a 19-year-old LST driver for the U.S. Navy, was killed by the Germans at the Anzio Beach landings, in 1944. Most of my uncles fought the Germans during World War II. And, my family lived with my Dad's undiagnosed PTSD all our lives before he passed. During my early years, I was an intelligence analyst with the 4th Battalion, 41st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Armored Division (Forward), in Garlstedt, Federal Republic of Germany in the 1980s. I wanted to qualify this up front, before i offered commentary about where German tank masters belong in history.

Erwin Rommel (circa World War I)

  I have biases, of course. But, I have stated them honestly: so, we can begin, I suppose.

  In important ways, Germany was a leader in the development of armor, armor tactics and combined arms tactics using armor as a centerpiece.

  I believe if you had to boil everything down to two central figures in German tank history, it would come down to understanding the contributions of two German Army officers: Generalfieldmarschall Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel (1891-1944) and Generaloberst Heinz Wilhelm Guderian (1888-1954).

  During World War I (1914-1918), Rommel was an infantry lieutenant in France and Romania. While in this capacity, Rommel developed his own style of combat which involved covering fires with rapid troop advances. He also innovated the use of penetrating attacks, the doctrine of which were later used by the German Army as well as Allied Forces. This stylized approach amounted to the genus of the idea of "Blitzkrieg tactics" in the next war. Rommel did not play a role in the adoption of Blitzkrieg by the German Army of the late 1930s, but he certainly laid down the gospel of attack from which later leaders would place the tank at its center. These ideas were published by Rommel in 1935, in his book "Infantry Attacks." This work appeared after, the year before, he had written a  manual for infantry attacks for the German Army.

  It was Guderian who would go on to refine Rommel's ideas of attack, and codify them in a technique known in World War II as Blitzkrieg, or "Lightning War." During World War I, Guderian was a communications officer who commanded a radio station. Certainly, this must have given him an appreciation for close communications of units that he would remember later. However, when he was promoted to captiain, young Guderian was placed in command of an infantry company. Later during the war, Guderian would serve as a General Staff officer.

  Aster the war, Guderian became an admirer of World War I tank ace Ernest Volckheim (1898-1962). Guderian began to consume whatever he could about armored development and combat. In addition, he wrote scholarly military articles about the subject. By 1928, Guderian was considered the voice of Germany's armored development. And, by 1938, Guderian was promoted to the rank of colonel-general and placed in command of Germany's motorized forces and armored development. And it was during this time that Guderian brought together Rommel's concepts of attack with his own insights into armored development and the use of combined air into the Blitzkrieg strategy, which created a new doctrine in armored warfare, but heralded the darkest of times for Europe during World War II (1939-1945).

Guderian (circa World War II)

  During the war, Rommel learned a great deal from Guderian's insights. And, he applied them with vicious efficiency as a tank force commander. Rommel used armor so well, in fact, that for many of his enemies he was considered the armored warfare leader of the day.

  Well, after this bit of history, let's get into it about where these men belong in the history of armor. We can start with the elephant in the room: they fought for an unholy cause under the most evil leader in the history of humanity. Despite attempts by Rommel and Guderian apologists of the past half-century, the fact remains that no one became a field marshal or a general in Hitler's army by being against him. These men were pro-Nazi, whether or not they agreed with all the things Nazis believed in. Should someone get a pass if they say, "I was a Nazi, but I never believed in..."? In my view, one is either a Nazi or they are not a Nazi and both Rommel and Guderian were Nazis. Yes, later in the war Rommel did try to kill Hitler as part of a failed coups. But, whether or not the coups succeeded, Rommel was a Nazi. So, when I go forward from here there will be some words missing from my description of either of them. Some of these words will be 'good,' 'great,' or 'well-intentioned.' These men were master's of death and evil. But, their 'contributions,' such as they were, led to the advancement of armored theory. This cannot be denied, in my opinion.

  During the Interwar Years between World War I and World War II, perhaps Guderian was the most important figure in the development of the production and use of armor. In the United States, later advocates of armor like General George S. Patton Jr. had happily reverted to horse vavalry ways. At least, this was so until the world got a taste of what armor could do during the late 1930s.

  To be honest, Rommel and Guderian laid the bedrock of the use of the tank as the focus of a combined arms attack. Without them, perhaps the opening days of World War II would have started with ancient cavalry attacks waged against protagonists. In many ways, the combined arms theories used by modern armies have their origin in Blitzkrieg. It's probably not popular to say, but it is true that modern tank warfare's unlikely fathers were Rommel and Guderian. But, even after more than 70 years, it galls me to have to credit these guys with anything remotely relevent. But, even the Devil gets his due sometimes, and that is a very adequate saying to apply to this discussion.