What Did Rommel and the Germans Think About Australian Soldiers in WWII?

Rommel and the Afrika Korps fought against Australian soldiers and others of the British Commonwealth. What did he and regular German soldiers think of the Aussies in North Africa? Believe it or not, he actually wrote down what he thought and it is presented in this video in a good way.

#WW2 #Australia #rommel

@TheImperatorKnight
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[pweter]

Story from Tobruk...
A English officer(lieutenant) approached a group of shirtless Australians digging in at Tobruk.
Berating the Australians for not saluting an officer and saying they were undisciplined rabble.
The Australians ignored him except one who stopped and started putting his shirt on revealing that he was a captain.
He ordered the English lieutenant to salute and piss off.

[MTG]

I have two friends who fathers were Italian soldiers in North Africa. They were so impressed with the Australians that they migrated to Perth WA to start a new life...

[clivelamond]

After the majority of Australian troops had been evacuated from the tobruk seige, a german officer captured in a offensive asked why the company of Australians who captured him were dressed in Australian uniforms . He said, "all the australians have left, that's why we attacked." The Aussies insisted, no that they were in fact Australian troops. The German officer replied, "no you are British, you only dress like Australians to frighten us."

[voxacwithstrat]

My grandfather emigrated to Australia from Scotland before the war. He fought in Tobruk and told me a couple of amazing stories one of which was about the night some Aussies dismantled and entire steam locomotive and buried it in the sand. He may have told me why but I was just a kid then and that explanation is lost in time. Another story was about how the aussies he was with found a piano in a bombed house and carried it back to the trench and played it during a bombardment. He was very proud to have served with the Australian army.

[Preview]

It certainly makes a fella feel proud to be Aussie hearing things like this about our courageous soldiers. I remember seeing the late US senator John McCain being asked about war one evening and he replied something similar to... if he was in a raging battle, the best he could hope for was to have an Aussie by his side.

[TrojBlu]

It's really interesting to know what different nationalities thought of a particular nation's troops. I remember watching a documentary on the Kokoda trail in Papua New Guinea during WW2. An American pilot based in Port Moresby told the story of his interaction with Australian troops. He put in a request for a transfer as he felt the Australian troops all hated him and he didn't know why. They just constantly kept making jokes at his expense. The commanding officer, an Australian, just laughed and said that if they're making fun of you, then they consider you one of their own. If they didn't like you, they'd just ignore you. I found it a pretty interesting observation.

[kerra]

Aussies were tough, and Australia was a very tough country when these men were growing up close to a century ago. My Popa served in Egypt and then on to the Front in France where he was mustard gassed and repatriated to England. These men of that time were strong willed and bred tough as nails, and we all owe them so much.

[johnkidd]

My Dad landed in England with his Canadian Dragoon Regiment and were held on the docks for inspection along with a newly arrived Australian group. After a long wait in ranks waiting for a VIP, the Australian officer dismissed his troops by saying "Right, we're off to the pub. Send a runner when the muckety muck arrives". My Dad always admired them for their toughness and their irreverence for authority.

[johnnys]

As an Australian (with mostly English background) I want to bow and give my most heartfelt thanks to everyone who commented that their ancestors served Australia during times of war. Thank you for their service. I can’t imagine how proud you must be. And to those from other nations that have fought for (and alongside) your Australian friends. This video makes me so proud to be Australian. It should almost be compulsory viewing every Anzac Day morning.

[dave-hprf]

I joined the Australian Army in 1958 as a 17 year old and I can tell you we all looked up to those who went before.I served for 27 years and would like to think that we carried on the tradition of the "Digger" I served in malaya within a british Regt of ROYAL ARTILLERY I also did two tours of VIET NAM I feel sure that we did the memory of the DIGGER proud.

[sniperneil]

I met a man and his family 50 years ago in Wollongong NSW. He was of German descent and had been a soldier in WWII. He told me he had served under Rommel in North Africa and had fought the Australians at Tobruk, where he was wounded. He told me that he made the decision then that when the war was over, irrespective of who won, he was going to emigrate to Australia to live, such was his respect for Australians and the bravery and tenacity they showed during the many attacks they suffered. He felt so proud of their fighting prowess, he couldn't live anywhere else.
Sadly, he passed away about 10 years later. His wife told me he had refused to be repatriated back to Germany after his death, he wanted to remain in the land of those brave people he had come to love and respect.

[academyofnaturaljustice]

The Australians were the first to defeat both the Germans and Japanese in land battle, 2nd battle of El-Alamein Tobruk and Milne bay respectively. Paving the way for the defeat of Axis. My uncle Tommy AIF 2/15 and 10th fought in both battles plus more, along with my uncle Gil RAN CMF (choko) Milne bay. From the blistering desert to mountainous rain soaked jungle, how good are Australian soldiers? RIP thank you for your service.

[charlesdumar]

The Germans in WW1 hadn't just heard of the Australians from Gallipoli, they had fought them all through France and were well aware of the capabilities of Australian troops.

[keithshwalbe]

The British had the deepest respect and admiration for the Australian soldiers. WE STILL DO, AND ALWAYS WILL.

[Will_CH]

The Germans knew what the Australians were like in WW1. They faces the 5 divisions under General Monash. the "Black Day" coined by General Ludendorf was caused by Australians routing his army.

[thomasconc]

I had the privilege of meeting and being trained by a soldier from the 9th, who had been a Rat of Tobruk, brought home and served through PNG and the Solomon Islands, then after WW2 taken part in the occupation of Japan (where he met his wife and took her home to Australia), then served in Korea and finally served 3 years in-country in the AATTV in Vietnam (the most highly decorated unit of the Vietnam War), again brought his wife home from Vietnam (his Japanese wife had sadly died from cancer in the '50's). This was in the early 80's and he had served from 1941 as a 17 year old, was a WO1 / Regimental Sargeant Major and had been allowed to serve at 59 years old, part time beyond mandatory retirement age (his mate was the Chief of the Army)...boy now he had some stories - very weird when your 'old' Major who had also served in the AATTV with him, was all googly-eyed over his stories ;-). Well departed now, such a great man - god bless WO Robby.

[grouchogroucho]

My Dad, who fought in the desert at El Alamein and elsewhere, told me some interesting stories. One of them always made him laugh as he remembered it. A captured German officer, who was very arrogant, proceeded to lecture his Australian captors about how they were all going to die when Rommel came through them with tanks on his was to Cairo. One of the Australians, a big sergeant, said, "You bastards have to get through us first, " shoved him in the back towards the other prisoners and added "Now get on your way!" Everyone laughed uproariously.

[BillHalliwell]

G'day ET, I'm an Australian military historian who, for nearly 16 years has focused, part time, on the life and career of Field Marshal Sir Thomas Albert Blamey. Australia's first and only Field Marshal. When given the job of Commanding General of the 2nd A.I.F. in 1939 he wrote a Charter of how his forces would be used in the upcoming World War. It stipulated that Australian forces could not be used by British or other Allied commands without his express written permission. This was to avoid Australian soldiers being used by British commanders as 'cannon fodder' as they sometimes were.
While the 2nd A.I.F. was still training and acclimatising in Egypt General Blamey became concerned that British officers were repeatedly accusing or trying to charge Australian troops with minor and serious disciplinary offences.
Blamey, personally, and with the aid of his command's senior legal officer, formerly investigated every single case or charge levelled at the Australians.
After due investigation Blamey met with General Wavell to inform him that all allegations against Australian troops were foundless.
Then followed a semi-private, heated argument between the two commanders.
Blamey used his Charter, signed by the Australian Prime Minister, exactly as Blamey had written it, to dissuade Wavell from entertaining anymore accusations brought against Aussies by any British officer. (NB: later in the war Blamey and Wavell became genuine friends.)
It was Wavell himself who flew to Greece to personally evacuate Blamey. Blamey agreed to leave Greece only after he was certain "his boys" were safely on or near the evacuation beaches he designated on his very first day in Greece.
He wasn't defeatist, he was a highly intelligent soldier who knew the entire Greek campaign would fail before he arrived. He had word that he'd find the Greeks 'thinner on the ground' than promised. Blamey didn't accuse the Greeks of any cowardice, on the contrary.
He knew the entire theatre was another one of Churchill's 'stunts' for the benefit of F.D.R. to keep showing the American President that Britain was serious about attacking the Nazi threat.
Sadly, these days in Australia, Sir Thomas Blamey is barely known of, or if he is he is remembered as a highly controversial officer, mostly because of his short inter-war stint as the Chief Commissioner of Police in the State of Victoria, Australia.
As to Rommel, I have every one of your citations in our extensive private archive. The quip that is attributed to Rommel about attacking Hell etc. It does appear in some old ‘copied’ documents I discovered in the British National Archives among some files held about Rommel, and referred to among the many papers, signals traffic and some diaries pertaining to, or by Rommel himself.
I'll say I think that quote has around a 98 percent probability of being genuine.
While Rommel admired Australian and New Zealand troops, I can assure you from stories from my uncle Dan (an Australian Officer of Engineers with the 9th Division) who said, generally speaking, Aussie troops were not likely to admire any enemy commander as the Aussies saw them as the reason they were in the fight and so far away from home.
Lastly, to redress many untrue yarns of Aussie troops disliking General Blamey; when Field Marshal Blamey died in 1951, in Melbourne, Australia, many thousands of former WW2 soldiers voluntarily marched behind their old 'Bosses' coffin in what many sources said, at the time, was the largest funeral in the history of Australia.
Cheers, ET and all the best, Bill Halliwell
For anyone interested in Field Marshal Blamey they can visit:
www.TheBlameyEnigma.com.au

[waynesmith]

There is a story about Generals Montgomery & Freyberg, NZ Div Commander with LRDG Troopers. “Monty: Your chaps don't salute much! Freyberg: Oh if you wave ... They'll wave back!”