On this day during W.W. 2

October 14th 1944.
I forgot; forgive me!
Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel commited suicide.
He was born in Wurtemburg on 15th November 1891. Had a glittering career as an Infantry commander in WW1, winning the Pour Le Merite(which he proudly wore) fighting the Italians. He shot to prominence in WW2, after being close to Hitler, leading the 7th Panzer Division in France. In February of 1941 he was sent to North Africa to command a small German contingent fighting alongside Italy. He would become every school boy’s dream commander, running a well supplied British Army ragged for 16 months before capturing the key port of Tobruk, in Libya. He was promoted Field Marshal for this. In November he met his match in Montgomery and despite a few Allied reverses was always retreating. He was not in Africa when the Axis surrendered.
In 1944 he was in France as commander of Army Group B(the important North).
He was wounded and invalided back to Germany. While he was there he was approached by anti-Hitler plotters and because of this link he took his life rather than stand trial.

@wittmann:

October 14th 1944.
I forgot; forgive me!
Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel commited suicide.
He was born in Wurtemburg on 15th November 1891. Had a glittering career as an Infantry commander in WW1, winning the Pour Le Merite(which he proudly wore) fighting the Italians. He shot to prominence in WW2, after being close to Hitler, leading the 7th Panzer Division in France. In February of 1941 he was sent to North Africa to command a small German contingent fighting alongside Italy. He would become every school boy’s dream commander, running a well supplied British Army ragged for 16 months before capturing the key port of Tobruk, in Libya. He was promoted Field Marshal for this. In November he met his match in Montgomery and despite a few Allied reverses was always retreating. He was not in Africa when the Axis surrendered.
In 1944 he was in France as commander of Army Group B(the important North).
He was wounded and invalided back to Germany. While he was there he was approached by anti-Hitler plotters and because of this link he took his life rather than stand trial.

Thank you Aequitas. I am no good with Pcs and pictures are beyond me!
Had been waiting to do Oct 14th and Rommel as I thought he was probably a favourite general of many of us: always  mine as a child.
Got back from Florence on Sunday and forgot. Actually wrote that drunk last night off the top of my head!

as you can see I also attached one pic with the emblem of the 7th PD on a Mark IV (edit: Sorry Mark III) on it, They used the Ghost or Phantom as their own marking. Feared from the French soldiers as they kept continuely saying about the 7th ,that they most of the time emerged from were they would have at least expected them.

@aequitas:

as you can see I also attached one pic with the emblem of the 7th PD on a Mark IV (edit: Sorry Mark III) on it, They used the Ghost or Phantom as their own marking. Feared from the French soldiers as they kept continuely saying about the 7th ,that they most of the time emerged from were they would have at least expected them.

My understanding is that it was the Germans who called it the ghost division, because Rommel would deliberatly avoid radio contact with HQ, in order to exploit gains in the field and stay at the front.

The division on the HQ’s map would move so fast, and be in so many places, that HQ could not determine it’s location hence calling it -The Ghost Division-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5V6sxZ8-eg&bpctr=1351053622

Tribute ;)

Thanks Surprise Attack. I had no idea Franco and Hitler talked about Gibraltar.
Cannot see what problem Hitler had with conceding parts of West Africa and I think we all know from playing how important to the Allies Gib was.
Dare I say, Hitler made a mistake!
Those Guadalcanal casualties are a sign of things to come too.
All in all an important day.

Just noticed you said North and West Africa.
Still,  I would have made the deal.

OK ,to do it the correct way:

The 7th Panzerdivision was called by the French the „Gespensterdivision“ (La division fantome). Wich means The Ghost Division, but the emblem was worn by the 11th PD because : The nameing was given by the French during the West campagne and used for/of the 11.SB (Schützen Brigade) von Angern; and came along or together with the 7th PD wich was also lead by Kleist. Later on when the 11th PD was built, it designed the Emblem, the Ghost picture and used it as their additional Emblem.

I hope this will explain it, wiki doesn´t! ( I got it from a German Forum)

Today, October 31st, in 1941 the US Destroyer Reuben James was sunk off Iceland while escorting a British convoy. The U-Boat that sank her was U552,  commanded by Erich Topp. Reuben James was a post WW1 ship of the Clemson Class. Over 100 sailors died when she sank. The US was still neutral, so the incident caused controversy at the time.
Erich Topp survived the war and lived to the age of 91. He was the third most successful U-Boat commander, sinking nearly 200000 tons of shipping. The U552 survived to be scuttled by her crew.

Today on the 8th of November 1942, three Task Forces landed in North Africa. The Western TF came directly from the US. It composed 2Armoured and 3 and 9 Inf Divisions under the command of General George Patton. The Central TF had come from the UK and composed the 1US Armour and part of the 82 Airborne under Lloyd Fredendall . The Eastern TF also came from the UK and composed  the 78UK Inf and US 34Inf Divisions under Kenneth Anderson.
Patton’s TF landed at Casablanca on the Atlantic coast and the other two entered the Med at Gobraltar and landed at Oran and Algiers. All three TF were protected by a strong Air contingent and did not meet any German Subs.
No one knew how the Vichy French would react,  but fortunately seeing the number of Allied troops was enough to persuade Admiral Darlan, Petain’s Commander in Chief, that surrender was the best alternative.
The Americans had joined the war against the European Axis and were soon to discover what the German War Machine was capable of. even in defeat.

On the 10th November 1942 the Germans implemented Fall Anton: the invasion of Vichy France. It was a reaction to the Allied landings in North Africa(Torch) on the 8th.
The 1st(Blaskowitz) advanced into the South of France and the 7th(Dollmann),  later of Normandy fame, moved into the North of France and on to Vichy and Toulon.
The Italian 4th Army advanced along the French Riviera and took Corsica.
The French forces could do nothing to prevent the Germans doing this, as they were not strong enough.
France was now fully truly occupied and would remain so until the Allies landed on 6th June 1944 and its liberation could begin.

November 13th 1941, the British Aircraft Carrier was hit by a torpedo fired from the U81, commanded by Friedrich Guggenberger. She was a big ship and, thoughcapable of carrying more, usually housed 54 aircraft. The Ark Royal had been instrumental in the search and sinking of the Bismarck in May, as well as involved in the hunt for the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau in 1940. 
When she was hit by the torpedo, she was in the process of ferrying planes from Gibraltar  to Malta. It was thought at first by her Captain, Maund, that she could reach Gibraltar. She was to sink on the 14th, with the loss of only one sailor, killed when the torpedo hit.
She was thought a lucky ship, many times surviving attacks.
Her wreck was discovered in 2002, some 30 nautical miles from Gibraltar.

November 19th 1942: the Russians launched Operation Uranus. It was the major offensive designed to encircle Stalingrad and its 200000 men. While Chuikov held Paulus’ 21 Division 6th Army in Stalingrad, two massive Army Fronts were to rip holes North and East of the city, targeting the two weaker Armies from Romania. The attacks had to be far enough away from 6th Army(still a potent force with 3 Panzer Divisions)that it could not help contain the breakthroughs.
To the North, Vatutin’s SW Front easily broke through the weak and low in Anti Tank gun 8 Romanian Divisions that made up Dumitrescu’s 3rd Romanian Army holding a 100 mile front line. Romanenko’s 5 Guards Tank Army was no match for these formations and the only reserve was the 1st Tank, with old Czech tanks and the weak 22nd Pz.
To the East of Stalingrad the 4th Romanian Army(Constantinescu), 7 Inf Divisions, was attacked by Yeremenko’s renamed Stalingrad Front. It, at least had Hoth’s  4PZ to its rear, though it no longer contained any Pz Divisions.
In 7 days the damage would be done, as units from both Fronts met at Kalach to seal the encirclement of nearly 250000 men, mostly German.

Sweet thread thanks guys!

Why have I not been reading this?

On the 20th November 1940, Hungary joined the Tripartite Pact with Germany, Italy and Japan.
They had been wooed by Hitler with two Awards of land and saw their interests best represented by sticking with their former WW1 ally. The land granted them by Hitler was, in 1938,former Czechoslovakia:  southern Slovakia and part of Southern Carpathian Rus. Three months before signing the pact in 1940, they were awarded the Northern half of Translyvania from Romania. This Award was to cause problems for the German High Command in Russia from 1941 on, as Hungarian and Romanian units could not be in close proximity for they would fight each other, their hatred was so much.
Naturally, after the war, Hungary lost these  territorial gains,  or Awards.
Furthermore, signing the Tripartite Pact would cost them  237000 military casualties and many more civilian ones and as we know, their own freedom to Russian occupation.

Three days after Hungary signed the Tripartite Pact, Romania signed too. It was the 23rd November 1940. In WW1 Romania sided with the Allies and were rewarded with Translyvania, formerly a possession of the now extinct  Austro-Hungarian Empire. As aforementioned, half was given back to Hungary by Germany and Italy. They also lost some land to Bulgaria and Bessarabia to the Soviet Union. The main reason they  joined the Axis was fear of the Soviet Union.
Like Hungary, its war with The Soviet Union  would cost Romania dear, although at first it seemed Germany had been the better side to choose, as former Bessarabia was conquered and returned. Its unpreparedness for war was proven at Stalingrad when its two field armies, the 3rd and 4th, were ripped to shreds in November of 1942. Until then they had been the ally who most supported the Barbarossa attack.
By war’s end(including a switch of sides), it was to suffer 300000 military and 500000 civilian deaths. Communism was to be its politics for 45 years, the first of which saw its resources drained by the Soviet Union, then later by a despot.