littledesertfox

[littledesertfox]

Unfortunately I couldn't find this photo in better quality anywhere, but I still think it's another nice shot of Rommel and Bayerlein together. I'm not 100% sure about the context, however the photo description from his collection says that Fritz "attentively watches his commander observe the El Alamein fighting in the distance", which probably references the Second Battle of El Alamein in October/November 1942 (as other photos in the collection with more detailed descriptions also mention this time frame and place).

[littledesertfox]

I think I recently saw someone posting photos of Rommel when he was young, but I stupidly didn't reblog the post at the time and now I can't find it anymore :((

[littledesertfox]

A rare photo of Rommel sporting some sunglasses! Personally this is the only photo I've ever seen of him wearing any kinds of glasses, that includes the protection goggles he had attached to his officer's hat, even though he had those with him like all the time. The photo was taken by his friend Fritz Bayerlein and is part of Bayerlein's personal collection of photos from his time in North Africa. This collection was published in the book "The Private Afrikakorps Photograph Collection of Rommel's Chief-Of Staff Generalleutnant Fritz Bayerlein" (yes that's the entire title). It includes photos taken by Bayerlein himself as well as pictures of him taken by others, often with small annotations to describe the context of events.

In January 1943, when they had a brief period away from battles, Rommel and Bayerlein visited the ruins of the ancient Roman city of Leptis Magna (located in Libya) together. They were accompanied by Rommel's aide (and Bayerlein's close friend) Alexander Hartdegen, as well as probably some other officers who weren't further described. Bayerlein took the above photo of Rommel during their trip there, but also photographed some of the ancient architecture:

[littledesertfox]

Hello, I hope you're having a wonderful day! My name is Marlowe/Atari! I come to you to expose another neo-nazi in the community. His name is Paul, and his goes by @dertotalenkrieg on Tumblr.

Now, why am I saying this now? Well, I noticed that this user was in the same reichblr server as I was. As I was scrolling through the Neo-Nazi Community under the reichblr, I noticed that Paul posted there.

Content Warnings for Nazi Imagery and Holocaust Denial in the Screenshots

Before anyone says, "This wasn't supposed to be taken seriously/this is out of context." Counterpoint, the implication of the post's caption is that Paul had to obtain this from Telegram. It also implies that he has experience with the platform and its neo-nazi communities contained within.

And this isn't a one-note incident either. I looked through Joseph's likes and saw these posts.

Obviously there are more posts that aren't shown in the screenshots that are noteworthy. The only one I can remember is one that was about cutting a swastika on one's skin.

What initially set off alarm bells was this guy's Discord profile;

I immediately detected the dog whistles within this user's profile. The SS's, the extraterrestrial imagery referencing neo-nazi pseudoscience, and the quote are obvious signs that this person is serious about this.

I deliberated on doing this since I didn't want to be the bringer of bad news, and the fact that this could possibly be traced back to me. I'm hesitant on associating my blog with this community (even though I'm a part of it.) and getting called a Nazi (despite this entire ask pointing to the contrary). I know you guys don't like Nazis, and I'm not gonna call you bad people for having unconventional interests.

The obvious way of avoiding any nazis joining this community is looking for dog whistles, that's your best method of exiling them quicker from your community.

Also, if you're gonna refer to me in your post, my pronouns are they/them + co/cos.

Thank you for reading my ask!

Hi, first of all sorry it took me a bit to respond, I had some busy things going on in real life.

Secondly ew, that's fucking nasty. I wasn't aware that this community existed (I never really looked much into the communities feature in general), but that's just gross and shouldn't have a platform. Immediate report, I don't know if this will just result in (hopefully) the deletion of the community, or if it will also have an effect on the people who are members of it, but as it is public to everyone here's a free block list I guess:

Formerly, I didn't take a direct issue with this dertotalenkrieg guy personally, maybe I'm also confusing him with someone else but at least a few months ago I reckon he posted just historical photos and fairly "normal" reichblr stuff. Never really interacted with him as Goebbels isn't really a focus in my interests, and since a while I had him blocked anyway because he definitely did get weirder (and I just didn't want to see him anymore). I first noticed when he commented on my post to defend that other neo nazi, which should have been a clearer sign to me, however, I always had a hard time telling if he was ever genuine about something or if his entire account was just one big shitpost (personally I also don't believe in the whole reincarnation stuff, at least not in the way that he claims it to be, so the way he behaved about that might also be another reason why I couldn't really take him serious).

However this of course changes that, I never thought of looking through the guy's likes (I frankly didn't even notice that he had them public), but the things he engages with plus obviously the fact that he is a member in that neo nazi community makes it pretty obvious (that photo he posted there has literally nothing to do with historical interest). I kind of wonder now if him believing that he's the real Goebbels is what made him become a nazi (because he thought he had to replicate his "former self" or whatever) or vice versa that him being a neo nazi made him at some point think that he's one of the actual historical nazis. Regardless, he should not have a place here anymore. Thank you for letting me/us know!

[littledesertfox]

International Holocaust Remembrance Day is today, 27 January 2025.

80 years since the liberation of Auschwitz.

The International Holocaust Remembrance Day, or the International Day in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, is an international memorial day on 27 January that commemorates the victims of the Holocaust, which resulted in the genocide of one-third of the Jewish people along with countless numbers of individuals of other minority groups, by Nazi Germany between 1933 and 1945: an attempt to implement its "Final Solution" to the Jewish question. The choice of January 27 for the annual commemoration aligns with the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp by the Red Army in 1945.

Eighty fucking years.

Most of the Survivors are gone. There are so few left. Too few. Honestly, the statistics are scary.

Now this is for the US, your country may differ.

"Disturbing Findings Reveal Significant Number Of Millennials and Gen Z Can’t Name A Single Concentration Camp Or Ghetto, Believe That Two Million Or Fewer Jews Were Killed And A Concerning Percentage Believe That Jews Caused The Holocaust

U.S. Millennial Holocaust Knowledge and Awareness Survey, the first-ever 50-state survey on Holocaust knowledge among Millennials and Gen Z. The surprising state-by-state results highlight a worrying lack of basic Holocaust knowledge, a growing problem as fewer and fewer Holocaust survivors – eyewitnesses to a state-sponsored genocide – are alive to share the lessons of the Holocaust.

Nationally, there is a clear lack of awareness of key historical facts; 63 percent of all national survey respondents do not know that six million Jews were murdered and 36 percent thought that “two million or fewer Jews” were killed during the Holocaust. Additionally, although there were more than 40,000 camps and ghettos in Europe during the Holocaust, 48 percent of national survey respondents cannot name a single one."

This is a prime example of the dumbing down of America.

This here is the reality of Auschwitz.

A Soviet army surgeon examines an Auschwitz survivor, Vienna engineer Rudolf Scherm.

Fuck the nazis. Fuck neo-nazis. Fuck white supremacy. Fuck xtian nationalism. Fuck them all. Learn. For the love of God, learn your history. Learn about the monstrosities that happened then. Learn about the monstrosities that are happening now.

It's not just I/P. I/P is virtually the only one that gets talked about but it's not JUST I/P

Speak up for all.

Learn about Sudan. Learn about Rohingya. Learn about the Uyghur. Don't forget about Ukraine. Learn about them all. Especially today, of all days. Learn. That's the only way to fight back. They want us stupid and easier to control, just like the nazis did.

[littledesertfox]

I have to say I am not informed enough to make judgement on this situation specifically. I am not familiar with the person mentioned here, which is why I censored their name because I don't want to be involved in spreading accusations that I have no evidence for. Likewise, I couldn't point out the five people that are referred to in this or the previous ask either. Based on my observations throughout the past months it just generally seems to me that every once in a while, some nazis will try to join the community, and I think that should be made as hard as possible for them/if they're found out, it would be good if there was a community effort to not let them participate anymore.

But like I already mentioned, proof needs to be provided as well. I posted screenshots of that one person's blog, but if people didn't believe me they could also simply go over there and see for themselves. Or a few months ago, I think there was a warning going around about this guy named Elijah(?) who was called out as both a nazi and a pedophile, where evidence and screenshots were provided by multiple different people even. I'm willing to help and spread awareness if someone were to come forth and provided evidence but I think it's important to be properly informed beforehand. Unfortunately I've also seen cases were people were literally making stuff up to vilify someone they didn't like or had personal drama with.

That's to say, if you have "just a bad gut feeling" about a person in regard to those things, you don't have to entirely disregard those feelings. However, I don't think you should use just that as a base to publicly make incriminating assumptions about them. If they make you uncomfortable block them, or talk to a friend about what you're feeling. It's also okay to sometimes just not like someone, without them doing anything problematic. You're not going to vibe with every single person and that's just how it is sometimes.

[littledesertfox]

Aaand that's another one for the block list

[littledesertfox]

Hello, sorry for disturbing but I have seen your callout post and I need to inform you that there are some individuals (around 5 people) in reichblr who make racist comments and that are trying to lurk people in other community spaces to radicalise them.

Unfortunately I can imagine that, I think there are always a few who are trying to slip through the cracks and get comfortable here, which is why I think there has to be a community effort to not let them do that. I would hope that the majority of community members aren't like that though.

If you have information on who these people are, I think it would be good to share these to warn others. It definitely would be good if you can provide some proof though (like screenshots of them saying racist things etc) - I think just spreading accusations without anything to back them up isn't the right way either, awareness/callout posts and such should still be reasonable and not just sending people on witch hunts. If you are afraid of revealing yourself because they might attack you, maybe you could make an anonymous side blog or something to share them.

Also something that I forgot to mention in my other post: Even if someone is called out as a Nazi (or other type of problematic, I don't remember exactly but I think that Alf guy for instance was also a groomer and/or pedo?), do not go over to their blog and harass them or send anon spam/hate. Even if you think they may deserve it, it most likely won't do anything and you don't need to sink down on that level. Just block them, consider reporting them if they have any public posts that contain hate speech (or something else that doesn't align with tumblr's community guidelines), and make other people aware.

I'd hope that most people can agree with me that reichblr should be a place to share our passion and interest for history, it may be a community about the history of Nazis, but never should it be one for them.

[littledesertfox]

The Bayerlein Family

The Bayerlein children, from left to right: Richard (*1897), Ellen (*1901) and Fritz (*1899). Photo undated, based on the kids' ages probably sometime around 1905.

A little bit more on Fritz Bayerlein's background: His father, Donat Bayerlein (born March 28th, 1861) was originally from Bütthard, a small village in Franconia (a cultural region in South Germany that nowadays is largely part of Bavaria). A lot of Bayerleins lived around that area, but in 1890, Donat moved to the near town of Würzburg for the sake of better employment, and became a civil servant for the local town government.

Fritz' mother Louise Denkmann (born October 13th, 1869) on the other hand was originally from Magdeburg, a city located further north in what is nowadays the state of Saxony-Anhalt. She was born as an illegitimate child to the daughter of a miller, her father was never identified. In 1890, she as well left her home and happened to come to Würzburg. She started out working as a housekeeper for richer families, and managed to put enough money to the side to eventually attend further education and fulfil her dream of becoming a music teacher.

Louise and Donat eventually met in Würzburg, they married in 1896 and proceeded to move into a small apartment together. A year later, their first son Richard was born on September 20th, 1897. Their second son Fritz followed on January 14th, 1899, and their only daughter Ellen was born on April 22nd, 1901. Later on, Donat also took over the care of his deceased stepbrother's two children, and they moved into the Bayerlein household as well.

An interesting side fact: Donat was baptised Catholic as a child while Louise was Protestant, however this never seemed to be a problem for them, neither for getting married nor for their personal life. Later in his life their son Fritz, whenever he was asked to report his religious affiliation on any official documents, would sometimes list his mother's, other times his father's faith as his own, always depending on which he assumed to be favoured by the authorities in question. There isn't really anything known about his personal religious beliefs, but as it seems he either felt equally connected with both (since a person who was very strongly adherent to a particular religion probably likely wouldn't claim a different faith as their own), or he simply didn't care that much for religion in general that it would even make a difference to him.

Up until their 10th birthday, the Bayerlein kids were home-schooled. Despite not being from a wealthy background, the parents were relatively well-educated and managed to pass this on to their children - Fritz and his brother both were accepted at the local Gymnasium (an eight or nine year school for secondary education), something that only about five to ten percent of the applicants were able to achieve. The successful completion of this school was required for being allowed to attend to university, and was also needed if one wanted to apply as an officer candidate in the Imperial German Army. When he was young, Fritz dreamed of becoming a teacher for history, geography and mathematics, a career that wouldn't actually require such a high education (only teachers who worked at a Gymnasium needed to have a university degree, but not those at primary or trade schools). Regardless, his parents wanted to provide their children the best education they could afford, and Fritz proved himself to be a talented and hardworking student, even earning himself a stipend in 1915 for his exemplary grades. However, the outbreak of World War I, also known as the Great War, would chance the course of life for both Bayerlein sons forever - and in Richard's case, not with a good ending.

The tragic fate of Richard Bayerlein

Being the older brother, Richard would be the first to be conscripted. Learning about how many men had already died at the front, he decided that he wanted to become a Fahnenjunker (officer candidate) in hopes that in this kind of position he'd have a higher chance of survival than as a simple enlisted soldier. However, being accepted for an officer's career required money and influence, and the Bayerleins didn't have much of either; they weren't a traditional military family. In 1914, Donat Bayerlein made a request that his son would be accepted into the 1st Replacement Battalion of the King's Bavarian 11th Infantry Regiment, however he was declined. Throughout the following months, he continued his efforts, however futile. In February 1916, Richard was drafted. He fought throughout 1916 and 1917, and by the end of that year, he finally achieved his dream of becoming an officer as he was appointed the rank of Leutnant in November. By that time, it had become a lot easier for young men to become officers as the military was in desperate need for them (the Leutnant was the officer rank with the highest death rates), and a few months earlier, Fritz had received assignment as an officer candidate as well, which much less struggle than his brother once had.

Fritz' older brother Richard Bayerlein as a young officer, photo undated.

On May 4th 1918, Richard, who was currently stationed in Flanders, was reported missing. His father inquired by letter to learn more about his son's fate. It was told to him that Richard had been in a bad mental state, devastated about a recent loss and capture of some of the men under his command. The young officer struggled to handle the responsibilities laid upon him. Two other officers from his unit noted that he had acted strange and upset, and later that evening it was discovered that he had disappeared, however leaving behind his belongings and weapons in his shelter. Richard was never seen again after this day, and his body was never found. There were reports of French soldiers being nearby, and some assumed his death was an accident, however some of his comrades also believed that he purposefully walked into the enemy lines unarmed as his way of suicide.

Although he had never planned it, Fritz would go on to achieve Richard's dream of becoming a successful officer in his stead. He and his sister Ellen were now the remaining two Bayerlein siblings. They always had a good relationship with each other, and would continue to remain close and supportive of each other throughout their whole lives until Fritz' eventual death in 1970. Ellen would outlive her brother for 17 more years, until she passed away as well in 1987.

Aside from Richard, the Bayerleins all seem to be buried in their family grave in Würzburg (photo taken from Fritz' German Wikipedia page). It also lists the name of Ellen's son, who was also called Fritz (possibly as a nickname, as he's also referred to as Friedrich in Bayerlein's biography). He was probably named after his uncle and only passed away relatively recently in 2019. If he was still alive, he'd be able to celebrate his 100th birthday this month.

Source: Spayd, P. A. (2003). Bayerlein: From Afrikakorps to Panzer Lehr : the Life of Rommel’s Chief-of-staff Generalleutnant Fritz Bayerlein. Schiffer Pub Limited. (Chapter 1)

[littledesertfox]

I don't normally like making callout posts, but I stumbled over this person again today and I think this needs to be addressed. This person who occasionally posts in the reichblr tag is most surely an actual neo nazi. They spread antisemitic, racist and overall just extremely disgusting posts, as you can see here:

They also promote their discord server which they literally named "racist evil nazi club":

This photo was too big to fit on the page, but they showed that they were wearing jump boots with white shoe laces, a common dog-whistle among neo nazis:

I could go on because there is more, but honestly just looking at their blog just fucking disgusts me. They also seem to shit-post a lot so I was trying to give them benefit of the doubt that they're just an edgy teenager of a specifically immature type. However I fear that they're actually meaning the things they post, and such a person should not have a place in a historical community, especially one where many younger people are involved as well. I've reported them for hate speech before but it seems like that hasn't done anything yet, even though I gave tumblr support the exact links to a few specifically nasty posts. Please block them, and if you can report them as well, maybe it will do something if more people bring it to supports attention.

[littledesertfox]

Today is Fritz Bayerlein's birthday!

Exactly 126 years ago, on the 14th of January 1899, he was born in Würzburg. He was his parents' second son, and at the time they probably would have never anticipated what kind of path life would hold for their little boy. Happy birthday, Fritz!

I'm not 100% sure when exactly this photo was taken, however he is already wearing the swords to his Knight's Cross, which indicates it must've been some time after the 20th of July 1944 when they were awarded to him. He already held the rank of Generalleutnant at that time.

[littledesertfox]

Also just a short info I might be a bit inactive during January as I have a shitload of assignment deadlines coming up. I'd love to share more about Fritz Bayerlein now that that big post is finally out of the way but that may have to way for a while </3 Not going to deactivate or anything, but I might not come online for a while if I find it puts additional stress on me. You're still welcome to interact, comment, send asks etc my responses just might be slow(er than usual)

[littledesertfox]

This is another one of my favourite Downfall parodies. Krebs and Burgdorf finally get to tie the knot and become proper husbands❤️ The procedure of the ceremony is ... interesting, though xD

[littledesertfox]

Unexpected Bayerlein Cameo🙌

I recently read issue 24 of The Desert Peach when - to my surprise - Fritz Bayerlein got a small cameo :D Even though he doesn't appear personally, I'm still happy that he was being mentioned. It's lowkey adorable that he's the only one Erwin would want to talk to, and that they even have their own radio frequency just for the two of them to use - or at least they thought so. Erwin looks so happy expecting a transmission from his friend, only to realise it's actually his little brother calling him😅

[littledesertfox]

Who was Fritz Bayerlein?

I've been planning to make a post like this for a long time, since about August to be precise. But alas, motivation and free time don't always coincide. Last year, I've become very interested in the life of Fritz Bayerlein, former chief of staff of Erwin Rommel and also a close friend of his, and I wanted to share what I learned (and still continue to learn) about him here as well. However, I felt that probably not as many people would even know who he es, as he is not such an extremely well-known personality like for example Rommel himself, or some of the other most famous figures like Göring or Himmler, where you immediately have at least a basic idea of who they were. Hence I first wanted to make a comprehensive post with a short biography to present a basic overview of his life. Well, it probably became a bit more than "short". Of course, this means that I could not touch upon every detail, and I apologise if I've been too unprecise in some matters. As of now, I myself haven't read everything that there is to be found about him either, but very much plan to do so in the future. Now that this big thing is out of the way, I hope to make more posts about him, smaller and focusing in more detail on specific aspects of his life.

Fritz Hermann Michael Bayerlein was born on January 14th, 1899 in the town of Würzburg in Bavaria. He was the middle one of three children between an older brother and a younger sister. While the family was not rich or prestigious, the parents worked hard to provide for their children the best they could. Fritz and his siblings were home-schooled until the age of ten, before he and his brother were accepted into the local Gymnasium - a school type that would allow access to university upon successful completion, and required high performance from students. Fritz was an excellent student who aspired to become a teacher for history, geography and mathematics himself one day - although his father likely wanted him to strive for an education with better opportunities (becoming a primary school teacher didn't require a university degree back then and wasn't seen as a very prestigious job, teaches in higher institutes such as Gymnasiums usually had a better societal standing, but the education was often costly and difficult).

However, these dreams were shattered when the Great War broke out. In spring 1917, his school held emergency exams so that the 18-year-olds could graduate before being drafted. Fritz registered as a Fahnenjunker (officer candidate) into the 9th King's Bavarian Infantry Regiment. Unlike his older brother, who also tried to apply as an officer candidate but struggled a lot more with it (due the family not being rich or influential), Fritz had it much easier now, since a lot of young men had already died and the high command was in desperate need for new officers. After completing his training, he was later sent to the Western front. He received the Iron Cross 2nd Class for successfully holding off an enemy attack on August 30th, 1918. A day later he was wounded by a grenade splinter and sent home for recovery, just shortly after he was promoted to Fahnenjunker-Unteroffizier and assigned to further training on his way to become an officer. By the time he completed his course, the war was over.

After the war, Bayerlein was part of the volunteer battalion "Dittmar" for a while, before being promoted to Fähnrich and being accepted into the Reichswehr in 1919. The regulations of the Versailles treaty only allowed a number of 4000 officers to remain, but he had proven to be a candidate with a lot of potential. The Reichswehr had some very strict rules: officers had to pledge themselves for twenty-five years of service, and among other things they had a strict marriage policy. Officers were only allowed to marry after the age of 27 or at least 8 years of service. Additionally, lower ranking officers usually didn't earn a lot, so unless they were coming from a wealthy background, supporting a family would have been difficult still. Bayerlein had been promoted to the rank of Leutnant in 1922, but still continued to live with his parents during times when he wasn't at the garrison as he couldn't have afforded a place of his own. The financial crisis during the 1920s further contributed to this.

In March 1926, he encountered Erwin Rommel for the first time during a vacation in Kleinwalsertal in Austria. Bayerlein was there with some men of his battalion from Würzburg, and likewise, Rommel was there with some officers from his company in Stuttgart, acting as their skiing instructor. Bayerlein was on a hike one day when he spotted the group on top of a particularly steep and difficult slope, and like everyone else watching he was left quite impressed when Rommel was the first one to go downhill, confident and without any trouble. He had learned Rommel's name at the time (upon asking one of the men that were with him), but they only got to know each other personally three years later. In 1929, Rommel was sent to Dresden to become an instructor at the infantry school there, and Bayerlein (now an Oberleutnant after being promoted two years earlier) was assigned to be his assistant. Over the next years, the men formed a close friendship: they worked together as instructors, but also spent a lot of time together off duty, going on walks in the woods (sometimes for literal hours), visiting some of the local landmarks, or simply spending time together at the apartment that the Rommel family lived in at the time. Fritz had a good relationship with Rommel's wife Lucie as well, and although he never had children of his own, his bond with their son Manfred was probably the closest he got to taking up a parental role.

When the Nazi party seized control in 1933, Bayerlein was currently attending the war academy in Berlin in order to become a general staff officer. Personally, he was politically leaning towards the Social Democratic Party (same as his late father), but as an officer he wouldn't have been allowed to vote either way. However, with the introduction of the Aryan paragraphs and in 1935 the Nuremburg Laws, he suddenly found himself "accused" of having Jewish ancestry, which would have resulted in a discharge from the army. The reason for this was mainly that he could not provide any record of his maternal grandfather's identity (his mother had been born as an illegitimate child and the father remained unknown) - therefore he couldn't deliver unequivocal proof to be of entirely "Aryan" descent by National Socialist standards. Additionally, his mothers maiden name Denkmann, along with his mere physical appearance were considered stereotypically Jewish by the Nazis (although they of course have no rational basis, it was plain antisemitic stereotyping). All of this resulted in Bayerlein being classified as a "quarter-Jew" or "2nd degree Mischling", even though there is no actual evidence that he has had any real Jewish ancestors - the unknown grandfather could have been anyone. Eventually, he was allowed to remain in the army, likely due to being regarded as a highly skilled officer. In the first few years of the Nazi reign "quarter-Jews" weren't as targeted yet (the explanation was that the "Aryan" part of their heritage should be protected), however this would eventually change.

From 1935 on up to the dawn of World War II, Bayerlein (since 1934 with the rank of Hauptmann) held positions in a few different units, mostly as a general staff officer. In April 1939, he was appointed the 1st general staff officer of the 10th Panzer Division, holding the rank of Major since his promotion the year before. With this unit he participated in the Invasion of Poland. He was noticed by Heinz Guderian, who commanded the 19th Army Corps during the invasion. Guderian awarded him the Iron Cross 1st Class for his successes during the campaign, he also liked that Bayerlein was a proponent of modern warfare, and had him eventually transferred to the general staff of his own unit. As 1st general staff officer under Guderian, he then proceeded to participate in the Battle of France and later the Invasion of the Soviet Union. He also received his promotion to Oberstleutnant in September 1940.

In October 1941, Bayerlein was transferred to North Africa and appointed chief of staff of the Afrikakorps - this era of his life is probably the one he's most well-known for, and likely also the one where the most photos of him have their origin. The commanding general and Bayerlein's direct superior at this time was Ludwig Crüwell - Erwin Rommel, who held the command before, had moved on to be the supreme commander of the entire Panzer Army Africa that the corps was also a part of. Regardless, Rommel and Bayerlein were working together very closely on many occasions, as documented by numerous photographs from the time that show Bayerlein at the side of his old friend. In December of the same year he received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. He proved once again to be a capable officer, also the type who would sometimes disregard orders and act on his own initiative, similar to how Rommel sometimes did. He was promoted to Oberst in April 1942. Later in the same year, Rommel temporarily appointed him the commanding officer of the Afrikakorps (from November the 4th to the 16th), after the previous commander, General Wilhelm Ritter von Thoma, had been taken prisoner by British forces. In the following month, he was transferred to be chief of staff of the Panzer Army Africa, now serving directly under Rommel.

By spring 1943, the defeat of the German and Italian forces was inevitable. On the 1st of March, Rommel promoted Bayerlein to the rank of Generalmajor, just a few days before his departure. Bayerlein followed him just about two months later with one of the last flights before the surrender of the remaining troops. He also received the oak leaves to his Knight's Cross. After a few months in the Führerreserve, he was appointed commander of the 3rd Panzer Division as was sent to the Eastern Front. Based on his experiences in Africa, he tried to implement a form of warfare that focused on mobility. At the beginning of 1944, he was tasked by Guderian to become the commander of the newly formed Panzer Lehr Division - it was a division made up of training and demonstration troops and the only fully mechanised division in the Wehrmacht. After it was called to participate in the occupation of Hungary for a few weeks, the division moved on to its original destination in France. In the meantime, Bayerlein had also been promoted to the rank of Generalleutnant. After D-Day, he was tasked to lead the division in the defence of Normandy, but was faced with heavy losses and eventually had to retreat. He later had to temporarily hand off command due to an injury, but took it up again once he had recovered, and lead the division in the Ardennes Offensive. In the meantime, he had also received the swords to his Knight's Cross. In February 1945, after the offensive had failed and the Panzer Lehr Division was severely decimated, Bayerlein was reassigned to the 53rd Army Corps. The troops continued retreating until they were encircled in the Ruhr pocket, and on 15th of April, Bayerlein sent a formal capitulation message to the U.S. 7th Armored Division, which was accepted in the early morning of the following day. He was the first commanding general of the Wehrmacht who surrendered his entire corps, rather than just himself and his staff.

Bayerlein spent the next two years as a prisoner of war. During this time, he showed to be cooperative with the Allied forces. He started working for the U.S. Historical Division, helping them document battle histories, later he also took up work as a car mechanic, hoping to stick to this occupation after his release. He never intended to continue his career as in officer in the later formed Bundeswehr, after almost three decades in the army, he had had enough.

The new beginning after his release was rough. Bayerlein moved into a small apartment in his hometown of Würzburg. The house it was in belonged to him, it had been given to him as a reward alongside the swords to his Knight's Cross. Although the other inhabitants paid rent to him, money was tight as it had not been decided yet how to handle retirement pensions for former Wehrmacht officers. However, once these matters were settled, he was able to enjoy quite a decent life. He continued working for the Historical Division, and later also helped as advisor for books and films on WW2 topics, such as The Guns of Navarone. He was also a main contributor in B. H. Liddell-Hart's The Rommel Papers together with Lucie and Manfred Rommel. Bayerlein had a close relationship with the Rommel family even after his friend's death and would remain in regular contact with them for the rest of his life, it wasn't uncommon that he would pay them a visit or invite them over to his own place every once in a while.

During the early 1950s, Bayerlein's name became known to the police as he was suspected to have had sexual relationships with other men. Homosexuality between men was still prohibited in Germany at the time under §175. Multiple acquaintances of his mentioned his name in police interrogations, many of them were suspected of being homosexuals themselves, and were assumed to either be former partners of him themselves or have knowledge about his relationships with other men, as they were frequenting the same social circles. Although there were mentions of having Bayerlein called in for an interrogation, it seems that this never happened, at least there are no documents to be found. It remained at the suspicions, and he was never convicted for a supposed crime. According to other reports from friends and family members, Bayerlein also had multiple relationships with women during this time of his life. Nowadays it is assumed that he probably was bisexual and enjoyed relationships with both women and men. He moved around different town during these years and always liked to keep his relationships separate, with no long commitment. He never got married or even engaged throughout all his life and didn't have any children - by his own choice, he would have had plenty of opportunities to do so as he was considered an attractive and pleasant man who was liked by many women. He simply enjoyed being independent, but it seems he was always upfront about it, not making any promises about marriage or commitment that he didn't keep. The topic of his sexuality might be never fully cleared up. Bayerlein himself never had a chance to be publicly open about it even if it was something he had wanted - only in 1969, a year before his death, the law was loosened to allow relationships between men if both partners were over the age of 21 and not in any kind of dependent relationship (e.g. as employee and employer). Similarly, even the close friends and acquaintances who might have known more likely kept quiet in order to protect him, despite the change of the law, homophobia was of course still quite rampant and could have unpleasant consequences. In the end, he himself was probably the one who knew best about his true feelings.

In 1957, Bayerlein quit his work for the Historical Division, it seems he finally wanted to move on from military matters, though he still served as an advisor for some books, recounting his experiences as an officer. He moved back to his hometown of Würzburg where he and his sister opened an Oriental carpet shop that they managed together. He spent his last years rather peacefully, enjoying his time with friends (like the Rommel family and others) and family members, though his health started deteriorating in his last years. He had suffered from coming and going liver and kidney issues for a long time, possibly since his time in Africa or even before, and had needed to be hospitalised because of it a few times before already, though when he was younger he had always managed to recover again. Eventually however, it had finally caught up to him, and on 30th of January 1970, Fritz Bayerlein passed away at the age of 71 years. His funeral was one of the last public military funerals held in Germany, and aside from family and friends, many of the men who served alongside him in the Afrikakorps or Panzer Lehr Division attended to pay their last respect for their former commander.

Main sources: U.S. National Archives, Box 329, AE 501661, Fritz Bayerlein, 1-155. Spayd, P. A. (2003). Bayerlein: From Afrikakorps to Panzer Lehr : the Life of Rommel’s Chief-of-staff Generalleutnant Fritz Bayerlein. Schiffer Pub Limited. Rigg, B. M. (2009). Lives of Hitler’s Jewish soldiers: Untold Tales of Men of Jewish Descent who Fought for the Third Reich. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Bayerlein_(Generalleutnant) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Bayerlein

[I'm aware that some sources are already a bit older, and that not everything presented in them may be in accordance with more up-to-date research, and tried to keep this in mind while writing. Additionally, I want to note that of course I'm not infallible and can make mistakes, and I'd still recommend you to do your own research as well should you be interested in the topic.]

[littledesertfox]

I remember watching this years ago! They are so chaotic, his subordinates are suggesting the most ridiculous nicknames ever and Rommel is just so done with it😂 But I think look-wise the actor actually makes a pretty good Rommel, if there was ever a need for an actor to play him for documentary or something I think he'd be a great choice. I wonder if he could pull off the Swabian dialect too if he tried. My favourites of the proposed nicknames were probably "Erwin das Erdmännchen" (Erwin the Meerkat) - because he's small and (in my humble opinion) has a cute face - and "Rommel der Pyramidenschreck" (Rommel the Pyramid Terror) - because it's just so absolutely nonsensical😂

@littledesertfox This keeps coming up in my YouTube recommendations and I think of you when I see it.

[littledesertfox]

Imagine your favorite historical figure hugs you