Editing Erwin Rommel (section)

=== France 1940 ===
==== Promotion to armoured division commander ====
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-124-0242-24, Mosel, Julius v. Bernuth, Erwin Rommel.jpg|thumb|upright|General Erwin Rommel and his staff observe troops of the 7th Panzer Division practising a river crossing at the Moselle River in France in 1940.]]

Following the invasion of Poland, Rommel began lobbying for command of one of Germany's [[panzer division]]s, of which there were then only ten.{{sfn|Butler|2015|p=151}} Rommel's successes in World War I were based on surprise and manoeuvre, two elements for which the new panzer units were ideally suited.{{sfn|Hoffman|2004|p=114}} Rommel received a promotion to a general's rank from Hitler ahead of more senior officers. Rommel obtained the command he aspired to, despite having been earlier turned down by the army's personnel office, which had offered him command of a mountain division instead.{{sfn|Watson|1999|p=158}} According to [[Peter Caddick-Adams]], he was backed by Hitler, the influential [[14th Army (Wehrmacht)|Fourteenth Army]] commander [[Wilhelm List]] (a fellow Württemberger middle-class "military outsider") and likely [[Heinz Guderian]], the commander of [[XIX Army Corps]], as well.{{sfn|Caddick-Adams|2012|pp=125, 141}}

Going against military protocol, this promotion added to Rommel's growing reputation as one of Hitler's favoured commanders,{{sfn|Zabecki|2016}} although his later outstanding leadership in France quelled complaints about his self-promotion and political scheming.{{sfn|Zaloga|2013a|p=64}} The [[7th Panzer Division (Wehrmacht)|7th Panzer Division]] had recently been converted to an armoured division consisting of 218 tanks in three battalions (thus, one tank regiment, instead of the two assigned to a standard panzer division),{{sfn|Pimlott|1994|p=49}} with two rifle regiments, a motorcycle battalion, an engineer battalion, and an anti-tank battalion.{{sfn|Fraser|1993|pp=156–157}} Upon taking command on 10 February 1940, Rommel quickly set his unit to practising the manoeuvres they would need in the upcoming campaign.{{sfn|Fraser|1993|pp=151, 161}}

==== Invasion of the Netherlands, Belgium and France ====
{{main|German invasion of the Netherlands|German invasion of Belgium (1940)|Battle of France}}
The invasion began on 10 May 1940. By the third day Rommel and the advance elements of his division, together with a detachment of the [[5th Panzer Division (Wehrmacht)|5th Panzer Division]], had reached the [[Meuse]], where they found the bridges had already been destroyed (Guderian and [[Georg-Hans Reinhardt]] reached the river on the same day).{{sfn|Butler|2015|pp=154–155}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Alexander |first1=Bevin |title=Inside the Nazi War Machine: How Three Generals Unleashed Hitler's Blitzkrieg Upon the World |date=2008|publisher=Casemate Publishers|isbn=978-1-101-46091-7|page=104|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GsN2SVvNZZYC&pg=PT104}}</ref> Rommel was active in the forward areas, directing the efforts to make a crossing, which were initially unsuccessful because of suppressive fire by the French on the other side of the river. Rommel brought up tanks and [[flak]] units to provide counter-fire and had nearby houses set on fire to create a smokescreen. He sent infantry across in rubber boats, appropriated the bridging tackle of the 5th Panzer Division, personally grabbed a light machine gun to fight off a French counterattack supported by tanks, and went into the water himself, encouraging the sappers and helping lash together the pontoons.{{sfn|Lewin|1998|p=14}}{{sfn|Murray|Millett|2009|p=71}} By 16 May Rommel reached [[Avesnes]], and contravening orders, he pressed on to Cateau.{{sfn|Butler|2015|pp=160–161}} That night, the French II Army Corps was shattered and on 17 May, Rommel's forces took 10,000 prisoners, losing 36 men in the process. He was surprised to find out only his vanguard had followed his tempestuous surge. The High Command and Hitler had been extremely nervous about his disappearance, although they awarded him the Knight's Cross. Rommel's (and Guderian's) successes and the new possibilities offered by the new tank arm were welcomed by a small number of generals, but worried and paralysed the rest.{{sfn|Krause|Phillips|2007|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=1DLRMQfzyVwC&pg=PA176 176]}}

On 20 May, Rommel reached [[Arras]].{{sfn|Butler|2015|p=164}} General [[Hermann Hoth]] received orders that the town should be bypassed and its British garrison thus isolated. He ordered the 5th Panzer Division to move to the west and the 7th Panzer Division to the east, flanked by the [[SS Division Totenkopf]].{{sfn|Fraser|1993|p=183}} The following day, the British launched a counterattack in the [[Battle of Arras (1940)|Battle of Arras]]. It failed and the British withdrew.{{sfn|Butler|2015|pp=165–166}}

On 24 May, ''[[Generaloberst]]'' (Colonel General) [[Gerd von Rundstedt]] and ''Generaloberst'' [[Günther von Kluge]] issued a halt order, which Hitler approved.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/dunkirk-75th-anniversary-real-reason-hitler-let-british-troops-go-1503201|title=Dunkirk anniversary: The real reason Hitler let the British troops go|first=Michael|last=Epkenhans|date=27 May 2015|access-date=3 February 2017|archive-date=3 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211203183410/https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/dunkirk-75th-anniversary-real-reason-hitler-let-british-troops-go-1503201|url-status=live}}</ref> The reason for this decision is still a matter of debate.{{sfn|Butler|2015|p=166}}{{sfn|Hoffman|2004|p=24}}{{sfn|Krause|Phillips|2007|p=179}} The halt order was lifted on 26 May.{{sfn|Hoffman|2004|p=24}} 7th Panzer continued its advance, reaching [[Lille]] on 27 May.{{sfn|Messenger|2009|p=51}} The [[Siege of Lille (1940)|Siege of Lille]] continued until 31 May, when the French garrison of 40,000 men surrendered. Rommel was summoned to Berlin to meet with Hitler. He was the only divisional commander present at the planning session for ''[[Fall Rot]]'' (Case Red), the second phase of the invasion of France. By this time the [[Dunkirk evacuation]] was complete; over 338,000 Allied troops had been evacuated across the Channel, though they had to leave behind all their heavy equipment and vehicles.{{sfn|Butler|2015|pp=169–171}}

==== Drive for the Channel ====
{{main|Fall Rot}}
Rommel, resuming his advance on 5 June, drove for the [[River Seine]] to secure the bridges near [[Rouen]]. Advancing {{convert|100|km|mi|-1}} in two days, the division reached Rouen to find it defended by three French tanks which managed to destroy a number of German tanks before being taken out. The German force, enraged by this resistance, forbade fire brigades access to the burning district of the old Norman capital, and as a result, most of the historic quarter was reduced to ashes.<ref>"Three German Invasions of France: The Summers Campaigns of 1830, 1914, 1940" Douglas Fermer p. 210, ''Pen & Sword'' 2013</ref> According to [[David Fraser (British Army officer)|David Fraser]], Rommel instructed the German artillery to bombard the city as a "fire demonstration".<ref>''Knight's Cross: A Life of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel'' by David Fraser, 1993, p. 198, David Fraser. "Rommel planned to send a force to a crossroads a few miles east of Rouen from which a powerful fire demonstration could be opened towards Rouen itself".{{ISBN?}}</ref> According to one witness report, the smoke from burning Rouen was intense enough that it reached Paris.<ref>''Half Past when: An American with the Fighting French'', Hassoldt Davis, p. 40, J. B. Lippincott Company, 1944 "On the tenth and eleventh of June the docks of Rouen were burned and an enormous cloud of black smoke settled over Paris. Rumour had it that the smoke was to hide the movements of the evacuees and to blind the German advance, but in our hearts we knew the truth, simply and terribly that Rouen was burning."{{ISBN?}}</ref> Daniel Allen Butler states that the bridges to the city were already destroyed. After the fall of the city, both black civilians and colonial troops were summarily executed on 9 June by unknown German units.<ref>Les Tirailleurs sénégalais; Les soldats noirs entre légendes et réalités 1939–1945 by Julien Fargetta, Tallandier 2012 ''Lyon ne constitue pas un cas unique puisque, à l'issue de la chute de Rouen, le 9 juin 1940, des exécutions de civils de couleur sont mentionnées'', "Lyon is not a unique case since, after the fall of Rouen, on June 9, 1940, executions of colored civilians are mentioned".</ref><ref>Rouen sous l'occupation: 1940–1944, Patrick Coiffier, p. 6, Bertout, 2004 ''Tous les hommes de couleur sont regroupés [...] Ils seront tous conduits sur les hauteurs, dans une propriété située au n° 11 rue de Bihorel où ils seront massacrés à la mitrailleuse.'' "All the men of color are grouped together [...] They will all be taken to the heights, to a property located at 11 rue de Bihorel where they will be massacred with a machine gun."</ref><ref>Paroles de résistance – p. 75, Jean Pierre Brulé, ditions de la Veytizou, 2003 ''A Rouen, dès le 9 juin 1940, les premiers détachements Allemands entrés dans la ville s'emparèrent de civils d'origine africaine et, dans le parc d'une propriété où ils avaient installé un PC, 11 rue de Bihorel, ils les abattirent à la...'' "In Rouen, from June 9, 1940, the first German detachments to enter the city seized civilians of African origin and, in the park of a property [...], 11 rue de Bihorel, they shot them down".</ref> The number of black civilians and prisoners killed is estimated at 100.<ref>Histoire de la Normandie et questions diverses, Volume 2 Comité des Travaux Historiques et Scientifiques 1984, p. 373 ''Les exécutions de prisonniers, comme celle d'une centaine de nord – africains, rue Bihorel à Rouen, et'' "The executions of prisoners, like that of a hundred North Africans, rue Bihorel in Rouen"</ref> According to Butler and Showalter, Rouen fell to the 5th Panzer Division, while Rommel advanced from the Seine towards the Channel.{{sfn|Showalter|2006|p=182}}{{sfn|Butler|2015|p=174}} On 10 June, Rommel reached the coast near [[Dieppe]], sending Hoth the message "''Bin an der Küste''" ("Am on the coast").{{sfn|Butler|2015|pp=172, 174}} On 17 June, 7th Panzer was ordered to advance on [[Cherbourg-en-Cotentin|Cherbourg]], where additional British evacuations were under way. The division advanced {{convert|240|km|mi|abbr=on}} in 24 hours, and after two days of shelling, the French garrison surrendered on 19 June.{{sfn|Fraser|1993|pp=204–206}} The speed and surprise that it was consistently able to achieve, to the point at which both the enemy and the ''[[Oberkommando des Heeres]]'' (OKH; German "High Command of the Army") at times lost track of its whereabouts, earned the 7th Panzers the nickname ''Gespensterdivision'' ("ghost division").{{sfn|Fraser|1993|pp=191–192}}

After the armistice with the French was signed on 22 June, the division was placed in reserve, being sent first to the Somme and then to Bordeaux to re-equip and prepare for ''Unternehmen Seelöwe'' ([[Operation Sea Lion]]), the planned invasion of Britain.{{sfn|Butler|2015|p=177}} This invasion was later cancelled, as Germany was not able to acquire the air superiority needed for a successful outcome, while the ''[[Kriegsmarine]]'' was massively outnumbered by the Royal Navy.{{sfn|Hoffman|2004|p=26}}