Allied airmen wound Rommel, prisoner says
U.S. 1st Army HQ, Normandy, France (UP) – (July 29)
A captured German captain said today that Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, field commander of the German armies in Normandy, was wounded and unconscious six hours after Allied planes strafed his motorcar behind the British-German fronts recently.
The captain said Rommel jumped from his car into a ditch when the planes swooped down on him.
Since Rommel was reported to have attended a battle conference on the American front the day before the opening of this week’s U.S. offensive, it was presumed that he had recovered.
Unconfirmed rumors circulated that a French woman had told Allied officers that Rommel died of his injuries. Responsible authorities said they had been unable to find anyone who had talked with the “French woman.”
The BBC said the rumor that a French Red Cross nurse had reported Rommel dead was one of many circulating in the American area in Normandy.