Podbit · Fin vs History
Rommel's replacement, the portly, hypertensive General Stümer, tried to mimic Rommel's frontline style, drove into Allied fire, the driver's head exploded, Stümer fell off the car, was found three days later in the desert — dead of a heart attack, no bullet wounds.
Where this was said
At 38:10 · chapter starts 35:34
With Monty launching Operation Lightfoot — infantry tiptoeing through minefields set to anti-tank pressure thresholds — the group tries to visualise the flat, flour-fine desert terrain and fails entertainingly. Pierre notes that what looks like a gentle slope is actually three metres higher than your position, which means you're dead. The Allied force is celebrated as genuinely multinational: Australians, Indians, Kiwis, South Africans, Greeks — all before any meaningful American involvement. Pierre praises the Long Range Desert Group as 'ripped nerds' who had pre-war master's degrees and charted the desert out of sheer enthusiasm, a quality that gave the Allies irreplaceable local knowledge. The episode's comedic highpoint arrives: Rommel's replacement, the overweight, hypertensive General Stümer, attempts to visit the front line in a Jeep, his driver's head is blown off by an anti-tank gun, Stümer falls out of the moving vehicle, and is found three days later in the desert — dead of a heart attack, no bullet wounds. [1] — Fin Taylor "Rommel's replacement, the portly, hypertensive General Stümer, tried to mimic Rommel's frontline style, drove into Allied fire, the driver'…" 38:10
Rommel was reportedly using Pervitin (methamphetamine) throughout the North African campaign — approximately 18 months — before returning to Germany in September 1942.
Rommel's replacement, General Georg Stümer, fell out of a Jeep under fire, was found three days later in the desert, and had died of a stress-induced heart attack with no bullet wounds.
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