The accident that incapacitated Field Marshal Rommel

[Danmark]

Much has been written about the accident that incapacitated Germany’s “greatest field marshal” and which allied pilot was responsible for the strafing of his staff car that fateful day in July of 1944 – and how, since he was taken out of the picture, the July assassination attempt 3 days later may have gone differently.

This little expose is not another one of those - what I wanted to do with this thread is look at the severity of the accident and illustrate the sheer resilience of the man himself.

Some background .....

The injuries Rommel suffered on the 17th were indeed life threatening – whichever account you read, one or more things happened when sergeant Karl Daniel ( the driver ) was hit in the left shoulder with cannon fire that tore his arm off and the Horsch careened off the road…



Rommel was seated in the passenger front seat ( as was his habit as shown above - not sure that this was the car or driver ) and three others in the back. As the plane was making it's strafing run Rommel was looking back over his right shoulder and holding onto the door ( which being rear hinged was prone to flying open ) and as Daniel was hit, the speeding car hit a tree stump by the roadside, veered across to the left side of the road and back to the right side. ( where it eventually ended upside down in a ditch )

At some point Rommel was thrown forward into the windscreen stanchion and injured this way – or was flung from the car onto the roadway directly on his left temporal area and rendered immediately unconscious …. or a combination of both.

Laying in the middle of the road 20 yards behind where the car came to rest, Rommel remained unconscious as he bled from his left eye, mouth, a deep gash in the left side of his head, and several superficial cuts from the shattered windscreen. The obvious disfigurement of his skull in the temporal region led his comrades to believe he was dead.

His injuries were determined to be on first report: “a fracture of the petrous part of the left temporal bone, a perforation of the left tympanic membrane with blood coming from the external auditory canal.” He also had sustained a fracture through the left orbital arch, had a weak and thready pulse, and was in a deep coma.

At Bernay hospital, skull X-rays were carried out, and the staff awaited the arrival of neurosurgical consultant Professor A. Esch who arrived from Paris the next morning.
By the time Professor Esch did arrive, Rommel was restless and given morphine, chloral hydrate, and barbiturates. Upon initial examination, Professor Esch noted cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhoea and performed a lumbar puncture, which showed clear fluid and no blood. He noted a complete left oculomotor nerve palsy, but described no major motor deficit and no hematoma (neither subdural nor extradural), and concluded that the skull fracture was not depressed. Esch also observed that Rommel responded to strong sensory stimuli and did not recommend any surgical intervention. The anteroposterior and lateral radiographs revealed “severe fracture of the base of the skull running from the right cheek bone through the ethmoid cells and up to the sella turcica.”

Medical information has been sourced from the Journal of Neurosurgery Volume 41 Issue 1 (Jul 2016):


As several days passed, it became evident that Rommel was deaf in his left ear, but had no expressive or receptive aphasia. Additionally, the cerebrospinal fluid leak stopped, and there was no evidence of meningitis or posttraumatic convulsions. His left eye remained closed and his face was still bruised, but over 3–4 days he regained energy….. He seemed to be unstoppable in his recovery and was allowed home to convalesce.



On leave from his anti-aircraft unit, his then 15-year-old son Manfred, described the following:

“My father, his left eye covered with a black bandage, sat in an arm chair beside a low coffee table. The left half of his face had been crushed by the weight of the blow he had received. He raised himself shakily to his feet and we exchanged greetings. “I still get headaches and my left eye is closed and won't move. But it will all get better.”

At home Rommel was attended to by Professors Albrecht of ophthalmology and Stock of neurosurgery, of the University Clinic, Tübingen.
When Professor Albrecht examined Rommel he remarked, “I shall have to revise my lectures to my pupils. No man can be alive with wounds like that.”

Rommel continued to improve, and on September 6, his left eye was half open…. How much more would have he recovered to his former self will never be known ….. as despite such a herculean recovery, the mad Austrian corporal signed this man’s death warrant and 3 months after this event, on the 14th October, Rommel was dead …. At 52!!!!

As his death mask shows, there remained a deformed section of his skull, a testament both the the severity of the injuries, but also to the tenacity of the man.



Hope you enjoyed the history lesson?

[Larry C]

Great Info Danmark.

Great to see that there is more of a story than what little has already been previously told on research and history forums.

Rommel was a great tactical mind that even US General George S Patton respected.

Regards Larry

[Danmark]

Great Info Danmark.

Great to see that there is more of a story than what little has already been previously told on research and history forums.

Rommel was a great tactical mind that even US General George S Patton respected.

Regards Larry

Thanks Larry .... and to think I found it in a medical journal!!
Cheers, Dan

[AZPhil]

Thank You Good Sir!!!
Excellent read on a Great Man!

Semper Fi
Phil

[Paul D]

I have been many times to the location where this occured near the Village of St Foy de Montgomery , one of the coincidences of History that village carried the name of his old adversary !

[TabsTabs1964]

With Danmark permission.
I saw this photo a long time ago



Is the table in the Livarot asylum on which Rommel received first aid

Regards
Santi

[Danmark]

Wow, thanks Santi, thats very interesting..

. no permission required

Cheers, Dan