Rommel's asparagus (German:Rommelspargel;German pronunciation:[ˈʁɔml̩ˌʃpaʁɡl̩]ⓘ) were 4-to-5-metre (13 to 16 ft) logs which theAxis placed in the fields and meadows ofNormandy to cause damage to the expected invasion ofAlliedmilitary gliders andparatroopers. Also known in German asHolzpfähle ("wooden poles"), the wooden defenders were placed in early 1944 in coastal areas of France and the Netherlands againstairlanding infantry.Rommelspargel took their name from Field MarshalErwin Rommel, who ordered their design and usage;[1] Rommel himself called the defensive conceptLuftlandehindernis ("air-landing obstacle").
Though Rommel's forces placed more than a million wooden poles in fields, their effect on theinvasion of Normandy was inconsequential.[2] Later, in theFrench Riviera, only about 300 Allied casualties were attributed[by whom?] to the tactic. These casualties could have been caused immediately or over time from trauma to the brain, organs, infection, etc.[citation needed]
Rommel's asparagus refers specifically to wooden poles used against aerial invasion.[3] The term has also been used[4] to describe wooden logs set into the beaches of theEnglish Channel and the Atlantic Ocean to disruptamphibious landings of troops. Testing found these wooden defenses too weak to stop boats, and they were largely abandoned in favor ofHemmbalken ("obstruction beams") and other beach defenses.[3]
The use of sharpened wooden poles as obstacles is not new in warfare, and their application to defending against invasion from the sky only slightly post-dates the advent of air-landing by troops itself; such obstacles were littered over the British countryside in the summer of 1940 after the threat of invasion from the air became all too apparent. By 1944 the threat from paratroops was very much that of an Allied invasion of German-occupied territory.In November 1943, when Rommel took command of the GermanArmy Group B inoccupied France, he also took control of theAtlantic Wall defenses on the French coasts facing the United Kingdom. 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 againstairborne forces.[5] Barbed wire andtripwires were to be strung between the poles.[1] On plans that Rommel sent to his subordinates, the complete system of wooden poles and interconnecting wires was calledLuftlandehindernis.[6]
Along inland fields and meadows where enemy gliders could land, Rommel specified that 15-to-30-centimetre (6 to 12 in) diameter wooden poles were to be set into the ground with some 2 to 4 metres (8 to 12 ft) of the pole projecting upward. In every 1 square kilometre (0.4 sq mi) 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 amine orhand grenade on top.[5] Not only were tree trunks used as poles butsteel rails were put to the same purpose in some locations.[7]
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 bybocage—tall, dense hedgerows—so that glider infantry and paratroopers would come under fire as they moved out of their landing area.[8] The bocage hedgerows themselves were the worst hazard to safe glider landings, and caused more glider casualties thanRommelspargel.[2]
Rommel reported after an inspection tour in April 1944[9] 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."[10] Rommel emphasized that "Erecting stakes alone does not make the obstacles complete; the stakes must be wired together andshells and mines attached to them... It will still be possible for tethered cattle to pasture underneath these mined obstacles."[10]
From February 1944, Allied reconnaissance showed the growing presence ofRommelspargel in landing fields, placed about 23 to 30 metres (75 to 100 ft) apart.[7] Commander-in-ChiefTrafford Leigh-Mallory, in charge of theAllied 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.[2] On 30 May Leigh-Mallory went to see Eisenhower as he was concerned about the two American airborne divisions facing "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.[11]
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 withRommelspargel.[12]
Most of the Allied contact withRommelspargel in Normandy was by British airborne forces. DuringOperation Tonga, the British airborne invasion of Normandy,Airspeed Horsa gliders landed among the wooden poles and suffered casualties. Some gliders were wrecked nearSainte-Mère-Église where Americans parachutists had also landed.[7] Where encountered, British forces blew up the logs with dynamite and cleared landing fields for reinforcements.[13]
On June 6, 1944, and afterward, most of theAmerican airborne landings in Normandy were flown into areas that were not studded withRommelspargel. Some flights, however, came up hard against the defense. Accompanying the82nd Airborne Division, Tito Moruza landed on D-Day with orders to don civilian clothing and make his way to Paris to seizeGestapo papers. His glider hit a wooden pole defense which tore into the three soldiers sitting next to him, mortally wounding them.[14] More casualties were inflicted during delivery of glider infantry reinforcements when some 16–18 gliders landed in a field ofRommelspargel 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.[15]
Once Allied troops were on the ground, some German units used theRommelspargel for defense, by cutting them down and using the logs to reinforce impromptu positions.Sturmmann Karl Vasold of the12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend described how his unit dug in under fire in a tank trench and foxholes on the road fromBuron toVillons-les-Buissons, and used cut-downRommelspargel poles to cover their positions and protect them from enemy fire.[16]
On June 29, 1944, German General of InfantryFriedrich Wiese was put in command of the French Riviera, where it was expected that the Allies would conduct an invasion ofVichy France. Wiese orderedRommelspargel planted in vineyards and fields fromNice toMarseille.[17] On August 15, Allied paratroopers and gliders of GeneralRobert T. Frederick's mixed-nationality1st Airborne Task Force landed inOperation Dragoon. One of the constituent units, the551st Parachute Infantry Battalion, dropped onDraguignan, 42 kilometres (26 mi) from the coast. Some gliders were wrecked byRommelspargel 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."[18]
In total, the wooden stakes caused about 300 casualties in the 1st Airborne Task Force.[19]
Before Rommel was assigned defense of the Atlantic Wall, obstacles toamphibious landing were being built upon the beaches of Belgium and France. On February 3, 1944, during a visit to the beach atNeufchâtel-Hardelot, 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 tolanding craft. The water hose method took three minutes, fifteen times faster than using apile driver.[20] 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.[20]
However, a test against the wooden stakes in mid-February showed them to be too weak to stop a captured British landing craft.[20] 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 aTeller mine. The more robust obstacles were calledHemmbalken, or "obstruction beams".[20] The original upright beams were left in place – some were topped with mines for greater effectiveness. TheHochpfähle have sometimes been called "Rommel's asparagus" orRommelspargel for their close resemblance to the air-landing obstructions.[21]
U.S. Navy CommanderEdward Ellsberg 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..."[3] 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.