Erwin Rommel (1891—1944) was a daring and highly decorated infantry officer in the First World War. A quarter century later, he became an early supporter of Hitler and the Nazis and was chosen to command Hitler’s personal security. Rommel was later awarded command of a panzer division during the 1940 campaign in France, where he amassed an impressive record.

His success continued in North Africa, with Rommel earning the nickname “Desert Fox” for his early battlefield mastery. After his promotion to field marshal, Rommel’s success waned as he began facing more skilled Allied commanders, and in 1943, with his beloved Afrika Korps shattered and defeat looming, Rommel was ordered by Hitler to return to Europe.

He later commanded German coastal defenses in France and battled the invading Allied army in Normandy after D-Day. In July 1944, British planes strafed Rommel’s staff car, hospitalizing him with severe head injuries. Days later, conspirators detonated a bomb inside an East Prussian command bunker where Hitler and his staff were conferring. Hitler survived the blast, and a vengeful Gestapo went on a rampage, interrogating and executing anyone in the German military and government with suspected involvement. Though disillusioned with Hitler’s war strategy and likely sympathetic to the aims of the conspirators, Rommel never involved himself directly in the plot. He was aware of it, however, and eventually implicated. Rommel’s stature and popularity compelled Hitler to avoid a trial and offer to spare the field marshal’s reputation and family if Rommel took his own life. Rommel did so, poisoning himself on October 14, 1944.