| Hitler and his Generals 1 |
| The history of the relations between Hitler and his Generals is a complex one but in 1938 after the Munich agreement the Fuehrer had achieved complete dominance over the German Generals. After the Fall of France, Hitler was so self-confident that he prevailed upon his Generals for the invasion of Russia in 1941 in spite of the gloomy foreboding of his senior soldiers, like Brauchitsch, Halder and Rundstedt. |
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| General of Panzer Troops Hans Jurgen von Arnim 1889-1962 |
| But after the stalemate of the 1941 campaign the relations changed and bitterness succeeded to support except for some lackeys like Keitel, Warlimont and Jodl. The failure before Moscow in 1941 led to the destruction of the German Army's independence : Hitler sacked Brauchisch and assumed the post of Commander-in-Chief. For an ex Corporal, it was an incredible lack of realism and the evidence of Hitler's megalomania and paranoia. Hitler thought he possessed the qualities of intellect, tenacity and iron nerves to a much higher degree than any of his Generals. Henceforth the Fuehrer could not trust anyone one among his Generals. Thus Hitler took precedence over any field decisions leaving no initiative to his Generals and by 1942 the headquarters of the Wehrmacht were the siege of very violent outbursts and arguments between Hitler and his Generals. After the failure of Stalingrad in 1943, which showed the mediocrity of General Paulus, a middle-class pro-nazi and not a Prussian Junker- a new phrase of the relations Hitler-Generals began : one of Hitler's complete refusal to face the realities of the defeat. Consequently Hitler entered into a vision of himself as a military genius betrayed by his incompetent Generals. After 1943, the incompetence of Hitler as Commander in Chief is blatant : discarding the advices of his Generals who pleaded for a global retreat from Africa and the Balkans, he condemned himself to a mere strategy of ad hoc patching of unravelling situations. He pinned all his hopes on the conviction that the alliance between the Anglo-Saxons and the Soviets would peter out and that he would not have any longer to fight on two fronts. It was not a military strategy any more but a political gamble. His Generals refused to follow him in this bet. In the field, the Generals did their best to save lost campaigns : Manstein's achievements in Russia, Kesselring's prowesses in Italy represent good examples of the genius of some of Hitler's Generals while confronted to the deliriums of a mad Commander in chief. But no genius could save the country and in 1944 the Generals broke down : the 20th of July coup showed that the Army had enough and that a lot of high ranking soldiers were ready to risk their lives to get rid of the tyrant. It failed because it was too late. Their upsurge of late political consciousness intervened at a moment where the dice had been rolling for too long : their refuse to be moved earlier by a wider sense of political and social responsibility had a price. Some were hung with piano wires, others were shot, others sent to Konzentration Lager. In 1923, the Army had given a hand to Adolf Hitler in his abortive Coup in Munich ; in 1934 it had sworn total allegiance to the new Chancellor of the Reich ; in 1938, it had applauded to the bluff about Czechoslovakia ; in 1940, it basked in its glory about the campagne de France. In 1944, it realized that the game should be stopped but the fate decided otherwise and Hitler remained a vengeful murderer convinced until the end that some miracle would permit him to win the war. He even deceived his Generals with false reports to make them accept his own line. But who were Hitler's main Generals and what were their particular relations with der Fuehrer ? You will find below a detailed résumé of every one of them (in alphabetical order) along with a short presentation of their principal achievements.According to Albert Speer, Keitel, Jodl, Warlimont, Dönitz were subservient Generals, Zeitler and Guderian tired to contradict and had to go, Rommel, Model, Kesselring always submitted in Hitler's presence and only occasionally spoke their minds. |
| Field Marshal Werner von Blomberg 1878-1946 |
| Colonel General Werner Freiherr von Fritsch 1880-1939 |
| Colonel General Heinz Guderian 1888-1954 |
| Colonel General Franz Halder 1884-1972 |
| General of Artillery Alfred Jodl 1890-1946 |
| Field Marshall Wilhelm Keitel 1883-1946 |
| Field Marshal Albert Kesselring 1885-1960 |
| Hans Jurgen von Arnim, (picture left) born in a ancient Prussian house that had produced officers since the XIVth century, went to WW1 as Second Lieutenant and ended it as Captain decorated with the Hohenzollern House Order and the Iron Cross 1st Class. After the war, he disapproved ot the Nazis but he had sworn an oath of loyalty to the Fuehrer and in 1938 he was ousted of his command and sent to command a depot by a higher ranking officer who did not want anti-nazis officers in the Army. The next year, he was ordered to assume command of the 52nd Division and promoted to Generalleutnant in December. In 1940, he took command of the 17th Panzer Division. In 1941, he was wounded on the Russian front and after his recovery he distinguished himself when his Division captured once 667,000 Russians, then 663,000 and again 33,000 in October of this year. In 1942, he was given command of the 39th Panzer Corps and fought extremely well the Russians until he was promoted Colonel-General and Commander of 5th Panzer Army in November. Summoned by Hitler to help Rommel in Africa with a new 5th Panzer Army, he won initially a series of important local victories but failed to coordinate his activities with Rommel whom he disliked. This failure would play a major role in the defeat of the Axis forces in North Africa even if Arnim's cause in Tunisia was doomed from the start. If he conducted the last battles in Tunisia with great skill, he could not prevent the fall of the Afrika Korps amidst a lack of the supplies promises by Hitler : in may 1943 his 5th Panzer Division surrendered and he was taken POW. He was released in 1947 when he found his land confiscated by the Communists. He was granted a pension in 1949 and died a forgotten figure in 1962 in a nursing home in Bad Widungen in 1962. aged 73. |
| General of Panzer Troops Hans Jurgen von Arnim 1889-1962 |
| Field Marshal Erich von Manstein 1885-1973 |
| General of Panzer Troops Hasso von Manteuffel 1897-1978 |
| Field Marshal Walter Model 1891-1945 |
| Colonel General Ludwig Beck 1880-1944 |
Ludwig Beck was born in an upper-class family near
Wiesbaden and entered the 15th Prussian Field Artillery
Regiment in 1898. During WW1, he was Staff Officer and
achieved some spectacular responsibilities, notably the
planning of the withdrawal of ninety German divisions at
the end of the war. Shy and withdrawn particularly after the
sudden death of his wife in 1917, he was a sort of ascetic
keeping his distances from the pleasures of life and
socializing.
In 1929, he became Commander of the 5th Artillery
Regiment and had a brief flirt with the Nazis but soon he
recanted. In 1933, he published the Die Truppenfuhrung
which marked him as a military thinker and was appointed
as Deputy Chief of the General Staff by General
Hammerstein. He was basically a conservative and no
match for the fast play of the Nazis who gradually
indoctrinated the Army, a policy that Beck opposed from the
beginning. In 1938, appointed Chief of the General Staff
and convinced that Hitler was geared to a war that
Germany once more would lose, he criticized the
planned annexation of Czechoslovakia and predicted that
France, Russia and the Anglo-saxons would join forces
against Germany. He was wrong but only by a year or two.
In August 1938, he resigned and Hitler accepted this act of
defiance. He then went off to obscurity but played a major
role in the attempted coup of July 20th 1944. Gravely
implicated, he choosed to commit suicide the very same
day at the age of 64.
Wiesbaden and entered the 15th Prussian Field Artillery
Regiment in 1898. During WW1, he was Staff Officer and
achieved some spectacular responsibilities, notably the
planning of the withdrawal of ninety German divisions at
the end of the war. Shy and withdrawn particularly after the
sudden death of his wife in 1917, he was a sort of ascetic
keeping his distances from the pleasures of life and
socializing.
In 1929, he became Commander of the 5th Artillery
Regiment and had a brief flirt with the Nazis but soon he
recanted. In 1933, he published the Die Truppenfuhrung
which marked him as a military thinker and was appointed
as Deputy Chief of the General Staff by General
Hammerstein. He was basically a conservative and no
match for the fast play of the Nazis who gradually
indoctrinated the Army, a policy that Beck opposed from the
beginning. In 1938, appointed Chief of the General Staff
and convinced that Hitler was geared to a war that
Germany once more would lose, he criticized the
planned annexation of Czechoslovakia and predicted that
France, Russia and the Anglo-saxons would join forces
against Germany. He was wrong but only by a year or two.
In August 1938, he resigned and Hitler accepted this act of
defiance. He then went off to obscurity but played a major
role in the attempted coup of July 20th 1944. Gravely
implicated, he choosed to commit suicide the very same
day at the age of 64.
| Field Marshal Fiedrich Paulus 1890-1957 |
| Field Marshal Erwin Rommel 1891-1944 |
| Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt 1875-1953 |
| Field Marshal Werner von Blomberg 1878-1946 |
Werner von Blomberg, was educated in the Cadet
Corps like his father and his famous uncle Herman von
Blomberg (1836-1924) who was not from noble descent
but claimed the particule. In 1911, he joined the General
Staff on account of his outstanding intelligence. During
WW1, he made a career as such, stayed in the
Reichswehr of Weimar in 1919 and served until 1929 as
Chief of the troop office, the disguised small General Staff.
Impressed by the new Red Army, he failed to notice the
purge of 1929-30 by Stalin of the ancient Tsarist officers
who had sworn allegiance to the Red Flag.
He displayed democratic tendencies which did not appeal
to Schleicher, future Chancellor, who was a monarchist
and he was sent to East Prussia as commander of the 1st
Infantry Division. He lost his wife aged 43 only in 1932, a
severe blow. He was then sent to the League of Nations in
Geneva for the discussions about disarmament and in
1933 was called back to Berlin as Defence Minister as
counter-weight to the rise of Adolf Hitler and Ernst Rohm,
leader of the SA.
Blomberg very quickly won Hitler's confidence and at the
request of Hitler published an article in the Volkischer
Beobachter stating how party and army should constitute
the two pillars of the new 3rd Reich. In 1934, he let the SS
massacre their rivals of the SA and did not comment on
the blood purge prefering to let the things come to rest on
their own for the benefit of the NSDAP.
In 1937, he represented the Reich for the coronation of
King George VI in London and made the funeral speech for
Marshal Hindenburg's burial in December of this year. But
the widower fell in love with a woman of humble
background, a certain Margarethe Gruhn, laundress in new
Cologne and expert in "l' amour", and decided to marry her.
They were married in January 1938 but two weeks later the
vice squad revealed that Margarethe had previously been
charged of dealing with pornographic pictures. Overnight
Blomberg was persona non grata in the Hitler's Reich.
Arrested in 1945, he died in interment in 1946. His two
sons of his first marriage died on the battlefield.
Corps like his father and his famous uncle Herman von
Blomberg (1836-1924) who was not from noble descent
but claimed the particule. In 1911, he joined the General
Staff on account of his outstanding intelligence. During
WW1, he made a career as such, stayed in the
Reichswehr of Weimar in 1919 and served until 1929 as
Chief of the troop office, the disguised small General Staff.
Impressed by the new Red Army, he failed to notice the
purge of 1929-30 by Stalin of the ancient Tsarist officers
who had sworn allegiance to the Red Flag.
He displayed democratic tendencies which did not appeal
to Schleicher, future Chancellor, who was a monarchist
and he was sent to East Prussia as commander of the 1st
Infantry Division. He lost his wife aged 43 only in 1932, a
severe blow. He was then sent to the League of Nations in
Geneva for the discussions about disarmament and in
1933 was called back to Berlin as Defence Minister as
counter-weight to the rise of Adolf Hitler and Ernst Rohm,
leader of the SA.
Blomberg very quickly won Hitler's confidence and at the
request of Hitler published an article in the Volkischer
Beobachter stating how party and army should constitute
the two pillars of the new 3rd Reich. In 1934, he let the SS
massacre their rivals of the SA and did not comment on
the blood purge prefering to let the things come to rest on
their own for the benefit of the NSDAP.
In 1937, he represented the Reich for the coronation of
King George VI in London and made the funeral speech for
Marshal Hindenburg's burial in December of this year. But
the widower fell in love with a woman of humble
background, a certain Margarethe Gruhn, laundress in new
Cologne and expert in "l' amour", and decided to marry her.
They were married in January 1938 but two weeks later the
vice squad revealed that Margarethe had previously been
charged of dealing with pornographic pictures. Overnight
Blomberg was persona non grata in the Hitler's Reich.
Arrested in 1945, he died in interment in 1946. His two
sons of his first marriage died on the battlefield.
| Lieutenant General Dr Hans Speidel 1897-1987 |
| Colonel General Kurt Student 1890-1978 |
| General Frido von Senger und Etterlin 1891-1963 |
| General of Artillery Walter Warlimont 1894-1976 |
| Field Marshal Erwin von Witzleben 1881-1944 |
| Field Marshal Walter von Brauchitsch 1881-1948 |
Walter von Brauchitsch, was born in Berlin into an
upper-class family of outstanding Prussian officers.
Before 1914, he gained entry to the War Academy and
served on the General Staff. In WW1, he won the
Hohenzollern House Order and the Iron Cross, 1st class,
as a Staff Officer.
After 1919, he continued to serve into the substitute of the
abolished General Staff, known as the Truppenamt and
until 1925 organized manoeuvres to test the joint
utilization of panzers divisions and aircraft. He had some
admiration for Hitler but hated the NSDAP. However he
had a reserved and sensitive personality and was not of
the kind to openly oppose the Nazis or even to take
important decisions on his own. Furthermore he was
indebted to the Fuehrer who financially helped him out of
a first marriage and into a second one with a fanatical
Nazi woman who undermined his position by constantly
reminding him "how much we owe to the Fuehrer."
In 1938, he accepted the post of Commander-in-Chief of
the Army -even before his predecessor General Fritsch
who was charged with homosexuality- was tried and
sentenced. He then became the hostage of Hitler. After
Fritsch was found innocent, he refused to confront Hitler
with the evidence of the framing of Fritsch by the SS and
the Gestapo.
He feebly tried to oppose the invasion of Czechoslovakia
but after its success he published a praise of Hitler's
great gifts and urged the officer corps to support the
National Socialist thought. He had the same ambivalent
attitude during the polish question but Hitler gave him a
free hand during the blitzkrieg against Poland. He did not
bulge when Hitler started deporting the Polish Jews and
just begged Hitler not to involve the Army into the
expulsion process.
Eventually Hitler nourished some contempt for
Brauchitsch and referred to him as "my coward #1" and
to the "Spirit of Zossen (the location of the OKH)(1) but it
is due to his lack of support that the onset on France
planned as "Fall Gelb (Yellow Plan) for September 1939
was postponed to a better date. Later he let down his
Chief of Staff, Halder, who was leading the conspiration
against Hitler and told him not to plan anymore the
"removal of Adolf Hitler that would be useless."
upper-class family of outstanding Prussian officers.
Before 1914, he gained entry to the War Academy and
served on the General Staff. In WW1, he won the
Hohenzollern House Order and the Iron Cross, 1st class,
as a Staff Officer.
After 1919, he continued to serve into the substitute of the
abolished General Staff, known as the Truppenamt and
until 1925 organized manoeuvres to test the joint
utilization of panzers divisions and aircraft. He had some
admiration for Hitler but hated the NSDAP. However he
had a reserved and sensitive personality and was not of
the kind to openly oppose the Nazis or even to take
important decisions on his own. Furthermore he was
indebted to the Fuehrer who financially helped him out of
a first marriage and into a second one with a fanatical
Nazi woman who undermined his position by constantly
reminding him "how much we owe to the Fuehrer."
In 1938, he accepted the post of Commander-in-Chief of
the Army -even before his predecessor General Fritsch
who was charged with homosexuality- was tried and
sentenced. He then became the hostage of Hitler. After
Fritsch was found innocent, he refused to confront Hitler
with the evidence of the framing of Fritsch by the SS and
the Gestapo.
He feebly tried to oppose the invasion of Czechoslovakia
but after its success he published a praise of Hitler's
great gifts and urged the officer corps to support the
National Socialist thought. He had the same ambivalent
attitude during the polish question but Hitler gave him a
free hand during the blitzkrieg against Poland. He did not
bulge when Hitler started deporting the Polish Jews and
just begged Hitler not to involve the Army into the
expulsion process.
Eventually Hitler nourished some contempt for
Brauchitsch and referred to him as "my coward #1" and
to the "Spirit of Zossen (the location of the OKH)(1) but it
is due to his lack of support that the onset on France
planned as "Fall Gelb (Yellow Plan) for September 1939
was postponed to a better date. Later he let down his
Chief of Staff, Halder, who was leading the conspiration
against Hitler and told him not to plan anymore the
"removal of Adolf Hitler that would be useless."
| Field Marshal Walter von Reichenau 1884-1942 |
| Field Marshal Gunther von Kluge 1882-1944 |
| General of Infantry Karl Heinrich von Stulpnagel 1886-1944 |
He had the same attitude concerning the invasion of Denmark and Norway which led Hitler to
completely by-pass the OKH. During the campaign of France, Brauchitsch acted valiantly and was
even very supportive of the planned invasion (coded Sealion) of England or pleaded for a preemptive
attack (coded Barbarossa) on the Soviet Union. But the preparation of the attack was ill organized
between the OKH (Army General Staff) and the OKW (Armed Forces General Staff) (2) and eventually
Hitler's views overrode the conceptions of the OKH that advised for a frontal assault on Moscow. This
mistake cost Germany the war. Brauchitsch did not argue with Hitler about the Barbarossa's
strategy nor about its implications : legal mass murder of the Jews and the Bolsheviks. Still he
was optimistic about the result of the attack in June 1941. He knew about the extermination of the
Soviet Commissars and lied about it at Nuremberg.
In November 1941, he pleaded Hitler to withdraw from Russia before the onset of the winter and
Hitler heaped on his head flows of insults. He suffered a heart attack some days later and was teh a
broken man. The OKH became little more than a post-box. In December 1941, Hitler relieved him of
his duties and assumed himself the job of Commander-in-Chief of the Army.
In his diary, Goebbels compared Brauchitsch to a "vain, cowardly wretch". In July 1944, he
condemned the attempted coup against Hitler, in 1946 he testified at Nuremberg and perjured
himself. He waas then sent to a POW camp to be judged by a British Tribunal but he died before his
trial in 1948.
He can be remembered as a man who failed to preserve the independence of the Army and the
integrity of the OKH against the encroachments of Hitler and the OKW. This failure had the most
dramatic consequences for himself, the German army and the war in general.
(1) OberKommando des Heeres
(2) OberKommando der Wehrmach
completely by-pass the OKH. During the campaign of France, Brauchitsch acted valiantly and was
even very supportive of the planned invasion (coded Sealion) of England or pleaded for a preemptive
attack (coded Barbarossa) on the Soviet Union. But the preparation of the attack was ill organized
between the OKH (Army General Staff) and the OKW (Armed Forces General Staff) (2) and eventually
Hitler's views overrode the conceptions of the OKH that advised for a frontal assault on Moscow. This
mistake cost Germany the war. Brauchitsch did not argue with Hitler about the Barbarossa's
strategy nor about its implications : legal mass murder of the Jews and the Bolsheviks. Still he
was optimistic about the result of the attack in June 1941. He knew about the extermination of the
Soviet Commissars and lied about it at Nuremberg.
In November 1941, he pleaded Hitler to withdraw from Russia before the onset of the winter and
Hitler heaped on his head flows of insults. He suffered a heart attack some days later and was teh a
broken man. The OKH became little more than a post-box. In December 1941, Hitler relieved him of
his duties and assumed himself the job of Commander-in-Chief of the Army.
In his diary, Goebbels compared Brauchitsch to a "vain, cowardly wretch". In July 1944, he
condemned the attempted coup against Hitler, in 1946 he testified at Nuremberg and perjured
himself. He waas then sent to a POW camp to be judged by a British Tribunal but he died before his
trial in 1948.
He can be remembered as a man who failed to preserve the independence of the Army and the
integrity of the OKH against the encroachments of Hitler and the OKW. This failure had the most
dramatic consequences for himself, the German army and the war in general.
(1) OberKommando des Heeres
(2) OberKommando der Wehrmach
| Continued on page Hitler and his Generals 2 |
| Colonel General Ludwig Beck 1880-1944 |
| Field Marshal Walter von Brauchitsch 1881-1948 |
| SS Colonel General Josef "Sepp" Dietrich 1892-1966 |
| Field Marshal Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist 1881-1954 |
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