Gen. Rommel was admired by his peers on both sides of the war. Though he was a dedicated soldier, he detested Naziism.
Agreed. Rommel did the best he could under untenable circumstances. Patton adored him. Studied him.
“Though he was a dedicated soldier, he detested Naziism.”
Apparently not enough to not fight for them.
Like some other great military men he made the wrong decision on whom to fight for over misplaced or mistaken loyalties.
Why the admiration for Rommel? Much of it was wartime mythologizing by the British, building up Rommel's reputation so as to explain why they kept losing to him for so long in North Africa. Those who knew Rommel best -- the German general staff -- saw him as a Nazi and a loyal Hitler favorite lacking an appreciation of logistics and of the limited strategic importance of his North African campaign.
Yet Rommel deserves credit for avoiding wartime atrocities and for eventually seeing that the war was lost and confronting Hitler over it. On balance, Rommel was ultimately less a Nazi and more a German patriot and a military professional. Had Rommel not been suicided on Hitler's orders, he might have served honorably in the post-war Germany military or in the German government. Rommel's son had a worthy career after the war as a conservative German political figure.
Concur. In the 1970s and 1980s, I read almost any book or article about Rommel. Though I do not remember where I read it, I do remember that I saw it in several places, that during WWII, the British had a contest to vote "your favorite general." The British govt had to change the winner, because Gen Rommel received the most votes. His treatment of prisoners of war were recognized as being top notch. He was always focused on "the battle." He did not want atrocities to occur and wanted to minimize death and destruction to the civilian population. He did not mind killing piles of the "enemy," but he always sought to have the opposing force surrender.