Rommel was posted to North Africa in 1941 after the collapse of the Italian offensive, and, as commander of the Afrika Korps, he deployed a series of surprise manoeuvres and succeeded in capturing Tobruk (1942). After being defeated by Montgomery at El Alamein (1942), he was ordered home the following year to serve as Inspector of Coastal Defences. He was forced to commit suicide after being implicated in the officers’ conspiracy against Hitler in 1944.