Rommelspargel
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Rommel's asparagus (
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
: ''Rommelspargel'' - the German word ''Spargel'' means '"asparagus"; ) were logs which the
Axis An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to: Mathematics * Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis * Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinat ...
placed in the fields and meadows of
Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...
to cause damage to the expected invasion of
Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
military glider Military gliders (an offshoot of common gliders) have been used by the militaries of various countries for carrying troops ( glider infantry) and heavy equipment to a combat zone, mainly during the Second World War. These engineless aircraft wer ...
s and
paratrooper A paratrooper is a military parachutist—someone trained to parachute into a military operation, and usually functioning as part of an airborne force. Military parachutists (troops) and parachutes were first used on a large scale during World ...
s. Also known in German as ''Holzpfähle'' ("wooden poles"), the wooden defenders were placed in early 1944 in coastal areas of France and the Netherlands against airlanding infantry. ''Rommelspargel'' took their name from Field Marshal
Erwin Rommel Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel () (15 November 1891 – 14 October 1944) was a German field marshal during World War II. Popularly known as the Desert Fox (, ), he served in the ''Wehrmacht'' (armed forces) of Nazi Germany, as well as servi ...
, who ordered their design and usage;Hymoff, Edward. ''The OSS in World War II'', p. 351. Richardson & Steirman, 1986. Rommel himself called the defensive concept ''Luftlandehindernis'' ("air-landing obstacle"). Though Rommel's forces placed more than a million wooden poles in fields, their effect on the
invasion of Normandy Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Norm ...
was inconsequential. Later, in the
French Riviera The French Riviera (known in French as the ; oc, Còsta d'Azur ; literal translation " Azure Coast") is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is usually considered to extend fro ...
, only about 300 Allied casualties were attributed to the tactic. These casualties could have been caused immediately or over time from trauma to the brain, organs, infection, etc. ''Rommel's asparagus'' refers specifically to wooden poles used against aerial invasion. The term has also been used to describe wooden logs set into the beaches of the
English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...
and the Atlantic Ocean to disrupt
amphibious landing Amphibious warfare is a type of offensive military operation that today uses naval ships to project ground and air power onto a hostile or potentially hostile shore at a designated landing beach. Through history the operations were conducted ...
s of troops. Testing found these wooden defenses too weak to stop boats, and they were largely abandoned in favor of ''Hemmbalken'' ("obstruction beams") and other beach defenses. Whitlock, Flint. ''The Fighting First: the untold story of the Big Red One on D-Day'', pp. 93–107. Westview Press, 2004.


Design and development

In November 1943, Rommel took command of the German
Army Group B Army Group B (German: ') was the title of three German Army Groups that saw action during World War II. Operational history Army Group B first took part in the Battle of France in 1940 in Belgium and the Netherlands. The second formation of Ar ...
in
occupied France The Military Administration in France (german: Militärverwaltung in Frankreich; french: Occupation de la France par l'Allemagne) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zo ...
. He also took control of the Atlantic Wall defenses on the French coasts facing the United Kingdom and during a tour of anti-invasion fortifications Rommel concluded that the defenses would have to be improved, and quickly. He ordered millions of wooden tree trunks and logs to be set against
airborne forces Airborne forces, airborne troops, or airborne infantry are ground combat units carried by aircraft and airdropped into battle zones, typically by parachute drop or air assault. Parachute-qualified infantry and support personnel serving in ai ...
. Barbed wire and
tripwire A tripwire is a passive triggering mechanism. Typically, a wire or cord is attached to a device for detecting or reacting to physical movement. Military applications Such tripwires may be attached to one or more mines – especially fragm ...
s were to be strung between the poles. On plans that Rommel sent to his subordinates, the complete system of wooden poles and interconnecting wires was called ''Luftlandehindernis''. Along inland fields and meadows where enemy gliders could land, Rommel specified that diameter wooden poles were to be set into the ground with some of the pole projecting upward. In every there would be placed approximately 1,000 such defenses. The wooden poles were to be made from tree trunks or very thick tree branches. The tops of the poles were often connected by tripwires, and every third log carried a
mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...
or hand grenade on top.Tour the Battlefields of Normandy
The Obstacles.
Retrieved on November 28, 2009.
Not only were tree trunks used as poles but steel rails were put to the same purpose in some locations. Air-landing obstacles were not the only tactic Rommel used against aerial invaders. Rommel ordered the flooding of some fields so that glider troops and paratroops landing in the water would drown. He ordered machine gun crews to cover the exits of fields that were bounded by
bocage Bocage (, ) is a terrain of mixed woodland and pasture characteristic of parts of Northern France, Southern England, Ireland, the Netherlands and Northern Germany, in regions where pastoral farming is the dominant land use. ''Bocage'' may als ...
—tall, dense hedgerows—so that glider infantry and paratroopers would come under fire as they moved out of their landing area.Masters, 1995, p. 48. The bocage hedgerows themselves were the worst hazard to safe glider landings, and caused more glider casualties than ''Rommelspargel''. Rommel reported after an inspection tour in April 1944 that "The construction of anti-paratroop obstacles has made great progress in many divisions. For example, one division alone has erected almost 300,000 stakes, and one corps over 900,000." Rommel emphasized that "Erecting stakes alone does not make the obstacles complete; the stakes must be wired together and shells and mines attached to them... It will still be possible for tethered cattle to pasture underneath these mined obstacles."Masters, 1995, p. 41.


Operational history


Normandy invasion

From February 1944, Allied reconnaissance showed the growing presence of ''Rommelspargel'' in landing fields, placed about apart. Commander-in-Chief
Trafford Leigh-Mallory Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory, (11 July 1892 – 14 November 1944) was a senior commander in the Royal Air Force. Leigh-Mallory served as a Royal Flying Corps pilot and squadron commander during the First World War. Remaining in ...
, in charge of the Allied Expeditionary Air Force that would be conducting air operations during the invasion of Europe, studied the threat and projected glider troops taking as much as 70% casualties from all sources, primarily from the wooden poles.Ambrose, Stephen E. ''D-Day, June 6, 1944: the climactic battle of World War II'', pp. 221–222. Simon and Schuster, 1994. On 30 May Leigh-Mallory went to see Eisenhower as he was concerned about the two American airborne divisions faced "futile slaughter" jumping onto Rommel's asparagus with heavy losses; he recommended the western drop be cancelled (but the British drop was less perilous). Eisenhower consulted his airborne commanders and decided Leigh-Mallory was wrong; it would have meant cancelling the attack on Utah Beach. However, Allied leaders noticed that German planners appeared to expect airborne landings to be carried out relatively far from the beaches. In response, invasion plans concentrated most landings near the beaches where fewer fields were planted with ''Rommelspargel''. Most of the Allied contact with ''Rommelspargel'' in Normandy was by British airborne forces. During
Operation Tonga Operation Tonga was the codename given to the airborne operation undertaken by the British 6th Airborne Division between 5 June and 7 June 1944 as a part of Operation Overlord and the D-Day landings during World War II. The paratroopers and ...
, the British airborne invasion of Normandy, Airspeed Horsa gliders landed among the wooden poles and suffered casualties. Some gliders were wrecked near
Sainte-Mère-Église Sainte-Mère-Église () is a commune in the northwestern French department of Manche, in Normandy. On 1 January 2016, the former communes of Beuzeville-au-Plain, Chef-du-Pont, Écoquenéauville and Foucarville were merged into Sainte-Mère-Ég ...
where Americans parachutists had also landed.Masters, 1995, p. 40. Where encountered, British forces blew up the logs with dynamite and cleared landing fields for reinforcements. On June 6, 1944, and afterward, most of the
American airborne landings in Normandy The U.S. airborne landings in Normandy were the first U.S. combat operations during Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy by the Western Allies on June 6, 1944, during World War II. Around 13,100 American paratroopers of the 82nd and 1 ...
were flown into areas that were not studded with ''Rommelspargel''. Some flights, however, came up hard against the defense. Accompanying the
82nd Airborne Division The 82nd Airborne Division is an Airborne forces, airborne infantry division (military), division of the United States Army specializing in Paratrooper, parachute assault operations into denied areasSof, Eric"82nd Airborne Division" ''Spec Ops ...
, Tito Moruza landed on D-Day with orders to don civilian clothing and make his way to Paris to seize
Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...
papers. His glider hit a wooden pole defense which tore into the three soldiers sitting next to him, mortally wounding them. More casualties were inflicted during delivery of glider infantry reinforcements when some 16–18 gliders landed in a field of ''Rommelspargel'' and the troops that crawled from the wrecked gliders were immediately targeted by German small arms fire. Of 250 troops landing, some 50–60 survived. Once Allied troops were on the ground, some German units used the ''Rommelspargel'' for defense, by cutting them down and using the logs to reinforce impromptu positions. ''Sturmmann'' Karl Vasold of the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend described how his unit dug in under fire in a tank trench and foxholes on the road from Buron to
Villons-les-Buissons Villons-les-Buissons () is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. Population See also *Communes of the Calvados department The following is a list of the 528 communes of the Calvados depar ...
, and used cut-down ''Rommelspargel'' poles to cover their positions and protect them from enemy fire.


Southern France

On June 29, 1944, German General of Infantry
Friedrich Wiese Friedrich Wiese (5 December 1892 – 13 February 1975) was a German general in the Wehrmacht who commanded the 19th Army. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves of Nazi Germany. Awards and decorations * Iron ...
was put in command of the French Riviera, where it was expected that the Allies would conduct an invasion of
Vichy France Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its ter ...
. Wiese ordered ''Rommelspargel'' planted in vineyards and fields from
Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...
to
Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...
. On August 15, Allied paratroopers and gliders of General
Robert T. Frederick Major General Robert Tryon Frederick (March 14, 1907 – November 29, 1970) was a senior United States Army officer who fought in World War II. During the war, he commanded the 1st Special Service Force, the 1st Allied Airborne Task Force, and t ...
's mixed-nationality
1st Airborne Task Force The 1st Airborne Task Force was a short-lived Allied airborne unit that was active during World War II created for Operation Dragoon–the invasion of Southern France. Formed in July 1944, under the command of Major General Robert T. Frederick ...
landed in
Operation Dragoon Operation Dragoon (initially Operation Anvil) was the code name for the landing operation of the Allied invasion of Provence (Southern France) on 15August 1944. Despite initially designed to be executed in conjunction with Operation Overlord, th ...
. One of the constituent units, the 551st Parachute Infantry Battalion, dropped on
Draguignan Draguignan (; oc, Draguinhan) is a commune in the Var department in the administrative region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (formerly Provence), southeastern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department and self-proclaimed "capital of ...
, from the coast. Some gliders were wrecked by ''Rommelspargel'' but more were destroyed by other obstacles such as trees, and by gliders landing atop one another. An officer in the 551st, Major "Pappy" Herrmann, saw the damage inflicted upon the gliders by the wooden poles and concluded for himself "I'll stick to parachutes." In total, the wooden stakes caused about 300 casualties in the 1st Airborne Task Force.Mitcham, Samuel W. Jr. ''Retreat to the Reich: The German Defeat in France, 1944'', p. 175. Stackpole Books, 2007.


Atlantic Wall defenses

Before Rommel was assigned defense of the Atlantic Wall, obstacles to
amphibious landing Amphibious warfare is a type of offensive military operation that today uses naval ships to project ground and air power onto a hostile or potentially hostile shore at a designated landing beach. Through history the operations were conducted ...
were being built upon the beaches of Belgium and France. On February 3, 1944, during a visit to the beach at
Neufchâtel-Hardelot Neufchâtel-Hardelot (; vls, Nieuwkasteel-Hardelo) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France. The commune houses a PGL hotel named Le Pré Catelan. Geography Neufchâtel-Hardelot is a farming and to ...
, Rommel was shown a method by which local troops employed a high pressure water hose to quickly create a hole in beach sand, one which could be used to set high wooden stakes (''Hochpfähle'') into the beach as an obstacle to landing craft. The water hose method took three minutes, fifteen times faster than using a pile driver.Zaloga, 2005, pp. 14–17. Rommel ordered such methods to be used to place wooden beams, metal rails and other obstructions along the beaches of Normandy. Nearly 11,000 were emplaced in the south part of Normandy's coastline where the Allies would eventually land. However, a test against the wooden stakes in mid-February showed them to be too weak to stop a captured British landing craft. As a result, a stronger design was contrived using a larger beam set at an angle and reinforced with other thick beams, most topped with a
Teller mine The Teller mine (german: Tellermine) was a German-made antitank mine common in World War II. With explosives sealed inside a sheet metal casing and fitted with a pressure-actuated fuze, Teller mines had a built-in carrying handle on the side. As t ...
. The more robust obstacles were called ''Hemmbalken'', or "obstruction beams". The original upright beams were left in place – some were topped with mines for greater effectiveness. The ''Hochpfähle'' have sometimes been called "Rommel's asparagus" or ''Rommelspargel'' for their close resemblance to the air-landing obstructions.Corbis images
Image number NA008708. "Rommel's asparagus."
Retrieved on December 29, 2009.
U.S. Navy Commander
Edward Ellsberg Edward Ellsberg, OBE (November 21, 1891 – January 24, 1983) was an officer in the United States Navy and a popular author. He was widely known as "Commander Ellsberg". Early years Ellsberg was born in New Haven, Connecticut, and grew up in Col ...
said of the various Atlantic Wall obstacles, "Rommel had thoroughly muddled our plans. Attacking at high tide as we had intended, we'd never get enough troops in over those obstacles..." Instead the Allies landed at low tide, which increased the length of the beach to be crossed but uncovered and revealed the obstacles, greatly reducing their effectiveness.


References

;Notes ;Bibliography * Devlin, Gerard M. ''Paratrooper – The Saga Of Parachute And Glider Combat Troops During World War II''. Robson Books, 1979. * Masters, Charles J. ''Glidermen of Neptune: the American D-Day glider attack''. SIU Press, 1995. * Orfalea, Gregory. ''Messengers of the Lost Battalion: The Heroic 551st and the Turning of the Tide at the Battle of the Bulge''. Simon and Schuster, 1999. * Wetzig, Sonja. ''Panzerhindernisse im 2. Weltkrieg Höcker, Rommelspargel etc.'', Podzun-Pallas-Verlag GmbH, 2000, * Zaloga, Steven J., and Hugh Johnson. ''D-Day fortifications in Normandy''. Volume 37 of ''Fortress Series''. Osprey Publishing, 2005. {{Good article Atlantic Wall Anti-aircraft warfare Airborne warfare Military aviation Operation Overlord Military history of Normandy Erwin Rommel