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Recover company field

welcome to history legends you probably heard about general rummel the desert fox probably the most famous german commander of world war ii but this video is about his origin story you will learn how young alvin ramel famous and how he was awarded germany's highest military medal the blue max as a mere lieutenant you will understand how his experience in world war one deeply influenced his military approach during world war ii johannes irvin oygen rommel was 22 years old when world war one broke out in 1914 rommel started out the war in command of a reserve artillery battery but immediately transferred back to the 124th wurttenberg infantry regiment right at the beginning of the war the following combat action showcased rommel's surprising skill and small infantry tactics despite little to no battle experience by the middle of august 1914 during the major battle of the ardan he came into contact with the french for the first time he was in command of a platoon of the 2nd battalion the battalion was halted in front of a small belgian village called bled fog limited visibility to 50 yards and the germans sent out scouting parties up the road leading to hill 3-2-5 testing the various hedgerows and farms for french resistance taking just three men from his platoon rummel advanced to the edge of the village way ahead of the main german force they approach a group of farm buildings from the corner of one of the buildings they found 15 french soldiers drinking coffee and chatting rather than retrieving his full platoon in order to attack rommel gave the order to open fire and this format party scattered the french soldiers leaving five of them on the ground after receiving stiff fire in response and outnumbered he and his men ran back to their platoon it was now time for the entire battalion to move in leading from the front rumble entered the first two houses in the village and provided covering fire for the advance of the battalion as it moved in under excellent artillery support through the mutual cover of small groups every building of blood was cleared and 50 french soldiers hidden in bushes along the main road were captured during this unknown battle rommel's regiment suffered 47 killed and 385 wounded and the french brigade defending the sector was annihilated this showcased rommel's first military action he led from the front analyzed every situation in an instant and made bold but decisive decisions these traits would become his trademark one month later on september 24 1914 rommel fought near verdan precisely close to the village of varen a region famous for its forest hills his lack of fear allowed him to capture four french strong points lost by the germans the previous day the success came at a cost ten men of his platoon were either killed or wounded all of a sudden he was isolated from his platoon and faced three french soldiers without thinking twice he charged them but was shot and wounded in the leg his men managed to rescue him and he was sent for three months in the hospital for his action he was awarded his first second class iron cross however staying in the hospital was not for him despite his cars not completely healed he decided to go back to the front in january 1915 however when he finally returned the war had drastically changed gone were the days of free infantry advance trenches now covered the landscape despite the new tactical situation he quickly got a grip of trench warfare with 50 men he pushed through a section of the argonne forest after charging through heavy french rifle fire coming out the other side of the hill they found a break in the barbed wire line which overlooked french positions to the south but lieutenant rommel panicked he was in the open and the ground was too hard for his men to dig their own trenches he rejected a withdrawal and they pressed forward to an abandoned farmhouse further north his approach was not stealthy and surrounding french forces soon counter-attacked but ramos men held them at a distance with steady fire however the germans quickly diminished their own ammunition with no reinforcements in sight or ammunition on its way rommel identified three options option one retreat the same way they had come from to pull back up to the barbed wire on the heavy french fire and up the hill this would lead to high casualties and no chances of success option 2 continue firing until every magazine and chamber was empty then wave the white flag of surrender he chose the third option fix bayonets and charge surprisingly this worked they scattered the enemy giving him and his unit just enough time to beat the hasty retreat and they all safely returned to their lines through the forest hill rummel was awarded the iron cross first class and gained the respect and adoration of his men as the war dragged on in september 1915 rommel was promoted to obelet nunt or first lieutenant and transferred to the newly created royal wurttemberg mountain battalion of the alpencoa also known as the vertebra quebec battalion as a company commander ramos mountain battalion was part of the elite of german infantry they were taught small group tactics and infiltration methods rommel was now in command of troops that fought and thought like him and apparently 150 men of the battalion had already earned bravery awards major prusa commended the battalion throughout rommel's service with it rejected the main school of thought about trench warfare and recognized roma's talent and potential an ideal mentor should process ella rummel to extend himself without overextending the battalion and restrain their young officer when necessary in august 1917 after intensive training his new unit would be battle tested in the corpation mountains ramos unit was involved in the battle of among kosna a heavily fortified objective held by romanian troops on the border between austria-hungary and romania on august 9 elements of the wurtzenberg mountain battalion under lieutenant irvine romel infiltrated the path along the oitus river and threatened to surround the romanians there forcing the enemy to pull back the next morning rommel pressed his advantage and led infantry and machine gun detachments in silence up the slope of mount kosna launching a surprise attack at point blank just before dawn which quickly forced the half asleep romanians out of the outpost and retreat for over a mile the next day rommel launched the attack on the summit of mount kozna itself they took it quickly but the fighting soon evolved in a series of counter-attacks over the course of the day before the romanians finally abandoned the peak ramos forces now exhausted after three days of intense fighting did not have the strength to go down the far side of the mountain and had to be replaced by another unit in the meantime the romanians were able to recover their strength and by august 13 they were in possession of the peak once again now with the carpathian front stagnating the wintenberg mountain baton was next assigned to the sons of front a mountainous area between austria-hungary and italy the alpine corps was one of seven german divisions sent to the front to serve as spearhead for the upcoming austro-hungarian offensive after years of stalemate fighting the offensive known as the battle of caporetto began on the 24th of october 1917 where rommel led some of the most successful attacks of his entire life the battalion structure was reinforced and optimized for flexibility the theoretical strength was the following six rifle companies of five officers and 212 men each and six machine gun platoons with two machine guns one officer 57 men each plus mortar and transport units the alpencore division was located in a sector near the city of tulmin its goal was to capture a series of mountaintops that controlled the axis to the entire caporetto valley the attack was risky but the italians didn't expect the main push to come through this rugged terrain which strongly favored defenders on the 25th a major of the elite royal bavarian guard regiment announced that his unit would lead the attack head on the wurtzenbergers could mop up whatever they would leave behind but when spruce arrived rommel outlined an alternative plan to swing around through the hillside outside the regiment sector bypass mount colorado and go straight for mount cook the sector's first key terrain feature gave his favorite lieutenant three companies and his blessing rommel and his men moved out at first light under the cover of bushes snacking their way up culver ridge on italian rations left behind on abandoned artillery positions until they encountered their first occupied italian trenches rommel hid his men only 200 yards from the enemy as his cows came back announcing they found a path that goes around italian positions his men followed him through and encircled the italians from the rear taking hundreds of prisoners in a matter of minutes but this victory was short-lived as neighboring italian units soon counter-attacked and rifle fire ran down from kolovrat ridge once again rummel had to think fast or his entire unit would be wiped out he knew that defense was out of the question because he now faced encirclement he then opted for what he knew best attack he positioned his first and second companies and his machine guns to provide suppressing fire and ordered his third company into a hidden position near the enemy's lines as the italians launched their assault on the second company they got lured into a trap and romo's third company jumped out and counter-attacked completely stunned the italians turned to face him but at that moment the second company charged their now exposed flank out in the open the entire italian force surrendered 12 officers and 500 men rommel's prisoner count was now around thousand five hundred just two german soldiers walked 1500 italian prisoners back to german lines several more oversaw the captured officers who were less enthusiastic about their new situation the way to cook summit seemed open ramadan found a camouflage road down the back of the ridge rommel pushed his advantage and went down the hill with only 150 exhausted men the village beneath was full of italian reserve troops and most importantly lots of supply trucks he charged downhill and scattered the defenders taking even more prisoners ramos troops cut the italian field telephone wires and began digging in his soldiers morale remained high the hungry germans could rest and enjoy eggs chocolate jam and white bread from the supply trucks he was then attacked by column of the elite 20 per secleria regiment as they refused to surrender rommel unleashed his hidden machine guns and after 10 minutes of stiff fighting against the vanguard the italians surrendered 50 officers and 2 000 men most of whom never had a chance to get into the fight it brought account to 3 500 prisoners in one single day but rummel wasn't done mount matajor remained his final goal and he approached the night before to prepare the assault on the following italian line of defense the next morning the germans found the defenders alert and ready to fight baromo's force was quickly pinned down by the intense italian fire but once again rommel got the upper hand he pulled three light machine gun squads out of the line and led them across their ground to the enemy rear a shot of surrender prompted thousand six hundred surprise person glari and now exposed positions to drop the rifles his next objective was another hilltop a mile away the next and last high ground before mount matajor saw what appeared to be two battalions worth of italians blocking the path fully armed and on the high ground rommel rejected the idea of waiting for reinforcements and pushed forward his scouts pulled a daring maneuver they waved the white handkerchief and called the italians to surrender tension was at a high point if the italians didn't fall for his bluff only a deadly frontal assault could save him but that would probably be the end of his unit suddenly hundreds of italians started running towards him throwing down the rifles and shouting viva la germania or long live germany the first men to reach rummel hoisted him on their shoulders while others shot one of their own officers who seemed reluctant to surrender rama's detachment began to disarm what turned out to be more than 1500 men of the salerno brigade after witnessing waves of italian prisoners walking down the mountain major posa assumed the battle to be over and ordered the battalion to return in order to refit rommel ordered the bulk of his troops to march back towards german lines but retained six machine guns and one hundred of his best riflemen for his plan to capture mount matajor rounding a bend in the road the germans encountered thousand two hundred more italians surrendering their arms as their corner wept rommel sent his new prisoners downhill under a token guard and continued towards matajor's summit with the few men he had left with matajor only a few hundred meters away his machine guns kept a precise and intensive suppressive fire on the mountain peak while rommel led a handful of infantry crawling climbing and bounding up the side of the mountain but when he arrived he didn't need to fire a single shot the italian defenders were already facing another german force all rommel had to do was to go around their position and attack them from the rear for them to surrender at 11 40 in the morning the germans sent up flares three white and one green announcing matajore's capture rommel gave his men a well-deserved hour's rest spent a few minutes admiring the spectacular view and settled in to write his report in the first 52 hours of the offensive rommel and his men had traversed some 12 miles of italian defenses up and down multiple mountains rommel's detachment captured 9 000 men and 81 artillery guns total german casualties once all stragglers reported back were six dead and 30 wounded it is also important to point out that italian officers were abusive like the veteran stories featured in my book italian soldiers disliked their officers they led their men through fear and abuse only and found any opportunity to belittle the man for being peasants and above all these officers sent their men on deadly assaults over and over without risking their own lives in the end many italian soldiers were more than happy to surrender as they hated their incompetent officers more than they hated the germans on november 9th rommel replicated his downhill charge at longarone this time taking 10 000 prisoners and 200 machine guns but the central powers offensive was running out of steam and after a bloody encounter at monte salarol on november 25th the battalion came to a halt it was time for his man to rest for good on december 13th major persa announced to the entire battalion that he and rommel were awarded the blue max imperial germany's highest military honor in rome's case it was almost unheard of for this to be awarded to a mere lieutenant rummel was promoted to hautman or captain and assigned to a staff position on the western front in the 64th army corps where he served for the remainder of the war meanwhile the wurttemberg mountain battalion was then transferred to france to prepare for the 1918 spring offensive where it ended up suffering dramatic casualties ramos conclusions after his experience during the war were basic but significant emphasize surprise speed and initiative gain the upper hand by demoralizing the enemy win the tactical battle as a means of operational and strategic success years later these principles applied in the context of tanks motorized vehicles and radios would place rommel amongst history's most respected tank commanders but the man who ultimately became the desert fox learned his craft on foot up and down the rugged mountains of northern italy and if you like this video don't forget 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