Erwin Rommel signed postcard.

Erwin Rommel signed postcard.

Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel (15 November 1891 – 14 October 1944) was a German general and military theorist.

Popularly known as the Desert Fox, he served as field marshal in the Wehrmacht (armed forces) of Germany during World War II.

On October 14, 1944, Rommel was confronted by two generals at his home after being connected to the assassination plot on Hitler known as
"Operation Valkyrie". Fearing reprisals on his family, he agreed to commit suicide while the German public would be told that he had died from complications of the injuries he received in France when British bombers attacked his staff car shortly before the failed assassination plot. This was done as the regime sought to avoid the embarrassment of prosecuting one of its beloved generals in public. Rommel was given a state funeral, and Hitler ordered an official day of mourning to commemorate the general.

It is believed that Rommel had no direct role in the plot to assassinate Hitler, only that he had some prior knowledge of it and failed to take action to stop it.

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