| Original caption: “Colonel General Erwin Rommel inspecting Italian troops. Erwin Rommel with Major General Alfred Gause and Colonel Erwin Menny.” Several officers gather round Rommel’s car. Map in hand, Rommel issues instructions. From left to right: 2 unidentified soldiers; Oberst Erwin Menny (August 10, 1893 – December 6, 1949) Kommandant, 15.Schützen-Brigade, (“Fifteenth Rifle Brigade”) 15.Panzer-Division; Generalmajor Alfred Gause (February 14, 1896 – September 30, 1967) Stabschef Panzergruppe Afrika listen to Generaloberst Erwin Rommel (November 15, 1891 – October 14, 1944), Kommandant, Panzergruppe Afrika, direct operations from his Horch 901 Kraftfahrzeug 15 command vehicle. Rommel was 1st and foremost a soldier in the field. Never comfortable in the hushed atmosphere of staff headquarters, the Panzergruppe Afrika commander enjoyed close contact with his men. He was always ready to go up to the front to meet them and see the situation for himself. In his memoirs, Leutnant Heinz Werner Schmidt (1916 – 2007), who was his aide-de-camp for a time, recalls how Rommel’s visits to the front started early in the morning and often ended after nightfall, and how the general readily took the wheel when his driver was tired. This photo was made during 1 of those trips during the Battle of Gazala. Rommel’s car has stopped amid the vast plateau of the Libyan desert near a column made up of German-Italian elements. Standing in his car, the Panzergruppe Afrika commander is saying a few words to the occupants of a nearby vehicle. Rommel stopped near an Italian M40 75/18 self-propelled gun. It had a 75 millimeter (3 inch) field howitzer and a Breda 8 millimeter (.312 caliber) machine gun, and probably belonged to the “Ariete” Armored Division. Photo by Kriegsberichter Sonderführer Fritz Moosmüller (1911 – 1984). | |
| Image Filename | wwii0739.jpg |
| Image Size | 294.90 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 2533 x 1687 |
| Photographer | Fritz Moosmüller |
| Photographer Title | Kriegsberichter |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | June 7, 1942 |
| Location | |
| City | |
| State or Province | |
| Country | Libya |
| Archive | Bundesarchiv |
| Record Number | 101I-784-0208-32A |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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