corp commanders

8/6/2019 Corp Commanders

1/176

A thesis presented to the Faculty of the U.S. ArmyComnand and General Staf f College i n par ti al

f u l f i l l m n t of the requi rements for thedegree

MASTER OF HILITARY ART AN D SCIENCE

by

FRENCH L. i.IAcLEAN, MAJ, USAB.S. ,United S ta te s Mi li ta ry Academy, 1974

Fort Leavenworth, Kansas1988

Approved for public release; di.stribution i s unlimited


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MAST!ZX OF MILITARY ART AND SCIENCE

THESIS APPROVALPAGENane of candidate - French L. MacLean

Ti t l e o f Thesis - The UnknaJn Generals -- German CorpsComnanders i n World War I1

Approved by :

s isi s Ccmni.tteecmni.ttee Chairman

, Member,ember, Graduateraduate Faculty

Graduateraduate Faculty

Accepted chis 3rd day of June 1988 by:

, Di.rector, Graduate ikgree ProgramsPhi l ip l J . arwkes, Ph.D.

The opi.nions and conclusions expressed .herein are those of thestudent author and do not necessarily represent che vi.ews of theU.S. Army Comnand and General Staff College or any othergo ve rm nt al agency. (References to t h i s study should include theforegoiqq staternent. )

i i


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;1Bsma

TtE UtKNOl4NGENEIWLS - GERMANCORPS CCkLIMANDERs I N W0X.D WAR 11: ALeadership Ana1ysi.s of German Army Corps Comnanders by Major FrenchL. MacLean, USA, 169 pages.

This study i s an historical ana1ysi.s of the background anddemnstrated 1eadershi.p attributes of 332 World War I1 German corpscomnanders on the Eastern, Italian, and Western Fronts. Overa llcha rac te r i s t i c s are determined based on each o f f i c e r ' s experienceand performance based on avai.lable hi st or i. ca l recozds. These rec ordsfocus on age, nob ili .ty , background, educa tion, branch, previouscornnand and st a ff po si ti on s, rr en hrs hip i n the General Staff,da mns tr at ed m i li t a ry achievement, promotion, and subsequent higherC o m n a n d .

Among the many conclusions which could be dram from thisinvestigati.on are: mst su cce ssf ul corps COIIpnanders possessed anex ce lle nt educa tional background, perfomed well in previous

si. gni fic an t cornnand and s t a f f po si ti on s, and demonstrated theca pa bil ity for independent ac tion; and,' pol it i ca l fac tors played aminor role i n the se lect ion of off ice rs for corps c m n d .

The study concludes that the Eastern, Western, and I ta l ian Frontsa l l had competent German corps comnanders conducting op er at io ns ; noFront had a preponderence of successful comnander's to the detrimentof the other two.

i.i i.


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TABLE OF CONTEXTS

Chapter Page

Chapter 1 - Defining the Problem 1

Chapter 2 - Review of Literature 10

Chapter 3 - The German Corps System 26

Chapter 4 - Background, Education, an dExperience 38

Chapter 5 - Performance, Promotion, andTotential 73

Chapter 6 - Overall Characteri.stics 103

Appendi.x A - Abbreviations 118

Appendix B - List of Comnanders 123

Bib1 iography 164

iv


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LIST OF TABLES

Table Ti.tle

Table 1 Army Strength

Table 2 Corps Headquarters Strength

Table 3 Parent Army Headquarters

Table 4 Corps Assigned to Army Headquarters

Table 5 Divisions Assigned to Corps

Table 6 General Officer Grades

Table 7 Age of Comnanders

Table 8 Newly Prcnoted Xajors

Table 9 Newly Pronoted Lieutenant-Colonels

Table 10 Xewly Promoted Colonels

Table 11 Ca mri de rs of Noble Descent

Table 1 2 Camrider ' s Background

Table 13 Corps Ccmanders w i t h

Police i3ackgounds

Table 14 Panzer Corps (hmancIers

with Police Backgrounds

Table 15 Aust rian Army and Army

Group Cuimanders

Table 16 Newly Promoted Generalmajor

Table 1 7 Newly Pronoted Generalleutnant

Table 18 Newly Promoted General der

Infanter ie , e tc .

Table 19 Branch Affi1i.ation

Page

3

26

29

30

32

38

40

43

44

44

46

47

49

5 1

52

53

54

54

56

V


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Table 20

Table 21

Table 22

Table 23

Table 24

Table 25

Table 26

Table 27

Table 28

Table 29

Table 30

Table 31

Table 32

Table- 33

Table 34

Table 35

Table 36

Table 37

Table 35

Table 39

Corrrnanders from the General Staff

Pri.or Xvision b.mand Experience

Corps Gnmmnders coining

Out of Reti.rement

Corps Cor;manders from the Poli.ce-

Panzer Corps Ccmnanders

from Panzer Divisions

Arny Reci.pients of the

Knight's Cross

Highest Decorati.ons Received

by the Corps ComnandersKnight's Cross with Oakleaves

and Swords for Corps Cornnand

General Officers i n Service

Corps Ccmnanders Promoted

to Generalfeldmarschall

German Dead 1939-1944

General 0ffi. cer Fa ta li t i e s by Grade

General Officer Fatalities by Cause

Cor?s Corranander Fatalities

National Comnittee for a

Free Germany

Generaloberst

Generalleutnant

Army Group Comnanders

Corps Comander Baseline

Character i s t i c s

Corps Comnanders by Front Canparison

58

6i.

67

68

70

77

78

79

83

84

89

89

90

90

93

99

100

100

106

108

vi


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CHAFTEX1

DEFINIiqG THE P R O B L M

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of th is study i.s to examine the background and

proficiency of German corps colrnnanders i.n World War 11. I t i.s

evident that these E n , the links between operational and t a c t i c a l

l eve l s , were key components i n the re su lt in g successes and failures

of the Wehrmacht. Presen t United S ta te s AirLand Ba tt le do ct ri ne

draws extensively on the German experience i n th is confli .ct .

Current examination of German genera1shi.p i n World War I1

suffers from two deficiencies: identi.ficati.on and generalization.

idthou& nost high le ve l comnanders ( a n y and above) have been

identi.fied and their proficiency analyzed, such i.s not the case with

the colrananders of the ninety-three German corps.

Xesearch a t both the German Army Xi lit ar y Archives a t

Freiburg, West Germany, and a t Fort Leavenworth, re ve als that no

single complete l i s t i n g of corps comnanders e x i s t s . However, by

combi-ning source s found a t both pl ac es , a comprehensive l i s t can be

documented identifying these corps c m n d e r s .

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The second major deficiency concerns generalization of

leader s. Current li te ra tu re too of ten catego rizes German general

o ff i ce r s a s s t i f f P russ ian a r i s toc ra t s with almost superhuman

mil i t a ry expertise. Na tura lly, they va ried i n background,

proficiency, and potential. With th e iden tif i cati on of the

comnanders completed,. one can conduct an examination of individual

careers. This i.s especia l ly cri.tica1 for further investig ation of

the G e m mil i t a ry tenets on which so m h of U.S. doctrine i s

based.

This study will focus on the background, previous comnand

and staff experience, demonstrated m i li t a ry achievement, and

subsequent p ra m ti on t o hi.gher comnand t o identi. fy prominent

cha rac teri st ic s of these individuals. "k analysis w i l l conclude by

canparing corps commders on the Easte rn Front with those on the

Western Front.

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HISTURICAL EACKCuKUN!J

'Tne German A m y in World War I1 was an ext rem ly large,

multifaceted organization which conducted operations on two

continents. Personnel strength numbered in the millions. The A m y

was divided into two major sub-organizations, the Field Army and the

Replacemnt Amy. Personnel figures through the war for both are1

S h below.

Table 1

A m y Strength(in millions)

JUne JUne JUne JUne JUne December

1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1944

Field Army 3.7 3. 8 4.1 4.5 4.0 3.8

Replacement

Army .9 1.2 1.9 1.8 2.3 2.6

6 .4TAL 4.8 5.0 6.0 6.3 6 .3

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To control th is large force , the Germans developed several

echelons of c&. The highest f i e l d c b as th e army group.

Eighteen army groups were created during the war with the mission to

control tw o t o four armies i.n a si ng le the ate r of operations fo r a

single campaign. A fi el d marshal mst frequently comnanded an army2

group.

1rmedi.ately subordinate to the army groups were the armies.

An army was a mre permanent couxnand and was not formed for just a

speci.fic campaign. Twenty-seven armies were established betwsen 1939

and 1945. Each army theore t i ca l ly d i rec ted two t o six corps. An army

was comnanded by a fi .e ld marshal, a colonel gene ra l, or a genera l of3

in fan t ry, panzer, a r t i l l e ry, e t c .

Tne ninety-three corps and their ccrrmanders are the major

subject of this thesis. They will be discussed in de ta il in chapters

three , four, and five. Each corps directed the ac ti vi t i es of from

two t o s i x di.vi.si.ons and was comaanded by a general of infan tr y ,'

panzer, et c. , a lieute nan t gener al, or a major general.

The lowest general offi.cer c b s were the di vi sio ns .

Wi.thi.n the Army, th e number of di.visi.ons peaked i.n June 1944 a t 283.

In additi.on, both the Waffen SS and Luftwaffe provided ground4

divisions for combat.

4


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Pare than 2400 personnel served as general officers i.n the

German Amy. David Darni.ng, author of - he kv i l ' s K r m s o s , staces

that "The German generals were the fi ne st thi.nki.ng and fi gh ti ng5

soldiers of modern history." The le vel of competence of corps and

division comnanders was high. However, there was a wide va riance i n

prospects for advancement. Some officers had potential for promotion

t o higher comnands, some lost favor personally or poli . t ically, and

some were not vi.ewed as professionally competent for future major6

operational responsibi.li.ty. I t i.s the purpose of t h i s study t o

examine these factors of capabi1i.ty.

RESEARCHQUESTIONS

Tne major research questions this study will focus on

a re : ( l ) What were the prominent background, exp eri enc e, and

achievement cha rac ter i-s tic s exhi bited by German corps cocmanders in

World War I I ? and (2 ) Gi.ven these character is t ics as a whole, were

the Gelman corps comnanders faced by the Br i t i sh and Anericans on

the Keste rn/Ita l ian Fronts less or more proficienr: chan those

fighti.ng the Soviets on t h e Eastern Front?

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SIGNI?'ICAiiCE OF THE STUDY

The compi.lation of a de fi ni ti ve l i s t of corps cclimnanders

should add to the body of infonuatlion concerning G e m leadership

i n World War 11. Conclusi.ons concerning background, education,

camand and staff experienc e, and demonstrated m il it ar y achievement

may assis t our cxyn e f f o r t s a t senior leader development.

The methodology used for this study is three-fold. F i r s t ,

prominent characteristics for German general officers - . d l be

id e nt if ie d f r m post-war published sources. Second, each comnander

will be analyzed according to background, education, previous

comnand and staff experience, demonstrated nilitary achievemnt, andsubsequent promotions. With thes e ba se li ne s es ta bl is he d, the c o q s

cOmnanders on the Eastern Front will then be compared and contras ted

with those on t he Italian and Xestern r'ronts.

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ClAFl'ER 1 i s a de fi ni ti on of the problem ce ntr al t o the

thesis. The historical background of t h e s tudy is presenced as well

as the methodology to be followed.

CHAPTER 2 presents a detailed review of l i terature. Sources

essen t i a l t o the study to be discussed include manuscripts of the

U.S. Foreign Mi li ta ry Stud ies of the Histor ica l Division, United

S ta te s Army Europe (USAREUR); captured German record s microfilmed a t

Alexandria, Virginia; G e m records a t the Bundesarchiv-

bli l i taerarchiv, Freiburg, West Germany; and postwar German, a r i t i s h ,

and American literature.

CHAPTER 3 provides a background study of the German corps

system. This chapter will assi .st in putt ing later personnel issues

in perspective.

CHAPTER 4 is an in-depth presentation of prominent factors

of background, education, and previous c d and staff experience.

QiAlTE3 5 presen ts fac tor s of demonstrated mi lit ar y

achievanent , prmt ion, and subsequent higher level c d .

7


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15/176

- -

1W. Victor Y i d e j ,

(Allentown, Pennsylvania:L

Ibid., p.37.

3 Ibid., p.3a.4

Ibid., p. 15.. .5

David Darning, The

E N D N a E S

German Army OrderGarrae Marketiw-wai$

of Battle 1939-1945,,= ol 1, p.4.

Devil's Virtuosos: German Generals a t Wari

:.: :

.. 1940-45, (New Yak: S r V k r t i n ' s Press), 19//,-."

. , Telford Taylor, The March of Conquest: The German Victories -nWestern Europe, - 940, (NewYork:-%mn and ScGte r ) ,958 , p .20 .

.... ... '!

9


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c x m T R 2

REVIEW OF L I " U E

The purpose for presenting a det ail ed review of li te ra tu re

fo r this thesi.s i.s two-fold. First , i t w i l l familiarize the reader

with the wide variety of both English and German material available.

Second, i t provides succeeding rese arch ers with a synopsis of the

i.nformation re la t ing t o the German corps and corps comnanders i n

Xor Id War 11.

The review of lit er at ur e for this th es is con sis ts of books,

manuscripts of the U.S. Forei.gn Yi.li.tary Stud ies of the Historical

Division USAREUR., and cap tured German re co rds ni.cro filmed a t

Alexandria, Virginia. The research process entails exami.nation,

analyzati.on, co n tr a st , and comparison of the information from these

sources.

a t e r i a l ori.ginated from many lo ca tion s. The German Army

Archives a t the hde sarc hi.v -?lil itae rarc hiv , Freiburg, FRG was the

primary source for documenti.% the l i s t of corps and corps

comnanders. The Combined Research Library (CARL) a t the United

10


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States Army Camand and General Staff College (CGSC), Fort

Leavenworth, Kansas, provided the founda tion fo r documenting the

remainder of the thes i s .

The research material used i n t h i s thesis was unclassified.

The sources range from those writte n during World !Jar I1 t o the

present. Re-1945 material con sis ts of primary sources with l i . t t l e

author inter pre tat ion . Sources wr itte n imnediately af te r 1945

include i.nterviews with senior German c m d e r s . Recent li te ra tu re

includes wmirs and recently opened archive fi.les.

The review of 1i.te ratu re applicable t o this thesis i s

divided into two sections. Part I concent rates on i.nformation about

th e corps and corps c&ers. Part I1 focuses on those prominent

leadership characteristics emphasized by the &rmans, t h e p r m t i o n

and awards systems, and the General S t a f f . For nontranslated German

works I have provided an English translation of the t i t l e i n

parentheses. Other l i t e r a t u r e i.s included in the bibliography. The

following sources were the m st useful.

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PART I

John Angolia's work On the Field of Honor, --_- Historv of the -Knight's - ross Bearers (Volume --2) i s an ex cel len t source ofinformation on Geman military pers onal iti.e s i n World War 11. These

tw o works provide short bi.ographies of the winners of Germany's

highes t mi l i ta ry awards, i.ncluding many corps comnanders. The two

books are the f i r s t of a planned seven volume series. General career

information i s exce llent, although not a l l dates of assignrent areaccmate.

3. James Bender and Warren W. Odegard are the authors of

Uniforms, Organization - nd History - - Thisf the Panzertruppe. workprovides a wealth of information re la te d t o German panzer units,

equipment, and ; m i f o m . The section concerning personalities

provides li.sts of co~lpnanders of panzer armies, corp s, and di.visions

with only a few discrepancies.

kmt Bradley and Richard Schulze-Kossens are th e edi tors

of the Taetigkei.tsbericht --- Generales Chefs des Heerespersonalamtes

- er In fa nte ri e Rudolf Schmundt: 1.10.42-29.10.44. ( D a i l y Reports of

the Chief of the Army Personnel 0ffi.ce General of Infantry Rudolf

Scl-mIundt: October 1, 1942 t o October 29, 1944) Thi.s massive work

contains al l of the dai.ly ccmimunications from th e Army Personnel


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- - -

Of fic e. Promotions and demoti.ons a re covered along with valuable

information on re li e fs of connmders, d e t a i l s of ki.l?ed i n act ion

repor ts , and the involvement of of fi ce rs i n the 20 Ju ly 1944 plot

against H it le r .

Hit le r ' s Generals by Ri.chard Brett-Smith i s an excel lent

work on many of Germany's mili .t ary le ad er s. The author pr ese nt s

eighty-two short biographies of general of fi ce rs , more than any

other contemporary works. He categorizes these indi.viduals by

branch, loyal ty to Hi t l er, and other i n f o m t i v e chapters .

David Downing's work - he Devil's Virtuosos: German Generals

- -t War 1940-5 is an exanina ti.on of se ve ra l European campaigns fromthe viewpoints of the German generals i n comnand. I t srrmnarizes the

impact of a few of the more notable German comnanders bu t omits the

campai.gns i n Poland, Scandina via, North Afr ic a, I t a l y and the

Balkans. The book i s good fo r a qui.ck overview but not for se ri ou s

deTth.

3ie Traeger des- i; tter!aeuzes des E isernen Kreuzes ?9?9-1?b5

(The Wearers of t he Knight's Cross of the Iro n Cross) by Walter-Peer

Fellgiebel is an comprehensi.ve l i s t i n g of a l l winners of this award.

The book organizes this task alph abe tical ly and presents the name,

u n i t , and da te of each awardee. Ro analys is is given as t o t o t a lnumbers by rank, branch, etc.

13


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Hemam Geyer author of - - X Armeekorps -as i m O s t f e l d z q-941 ('The I'X Corps i n the Eas tfr ont Campaign 1941) has presented anex ce ll en t account of a German corps i n acti.on. Geyer served as

comander of this uni.t from 1939 t o 1942. 'Xe committed suicide i n

1946 and t h i s book w a s saved and published by a fonrrer staff

officer. Most post-war l i terature concerning units has been written

on a divis ion level; thi.s i s a good in si gh t in to a di.ffi.c ult

campaign for a veteran uni t .

One of the primary quick re fer enc e works a t th e

Bundesarchiv-Xilitaerarchiv i s Wolf Keilig' s three volume - as

Deutsche - eer 1939-1945 (The German Army 1933-1945). First published

i.n 1956, i t presents a wealth of factual data on army organizations,

campaigns, and persona1iti;es. Most informati.on i s presented i n chart

and table format. Long out of p r i n t , it has not been tran sla ted t o

English and i s di . ffi .cult to locate i n the United States. In 1983 the

author published - ie General - es Heeres (Tne Generals of th e Army) .This work, essenti.ally a reprint of the t h i r d volume of the above,

contains very short bi.ographies of the 2600 German generals i.n th e

Arry. These are good overviews with oniy a few omissions concerning

awards s t d n g from incomplete German records in 1956. Thi.s work

provides th e foundation for the biographi.ca1 information of the

the sis. Kei l ig 's thir d work Rangliste - es kutschen Heeres 1944145

(The German Army 1944/45 Rank L i . s t ) presents th e date of rank for

a l l majors and above as of May 1, 1944. In ad dit ion , i. t l i s t s the

14


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22/176

- -l a u s Chri.stian Richter i s the author of Die Geschichte der

deutschen Kavalle rie , 1919-1945, (The ili.story of the German Cavalry

1919-1945). This work i s a comprehensive study of the o rga niz at ion ,

t ra ining, personal i t ies , and operation s of cavalry un it s i.n both

the Weimar Rei.chswehr and the Third Rei.ch Wehrmacht. For this study

i. t provided mst of the information on the cavalry and Cossack corps

of the Army. I t has not been translated, but remains an excellent

work on German cavalry during the war.

Sylvester Stad ler presents an exce llen t account of the I1

Waffen SS Panzer Corps a t Kursk i n his - ie Offensive - ursk

- 943 (The Offensive against Kursk 1943). Most beneficial to this

thesis was the i.nformation on corps combat support attachments , a

subj ect oft en overlooiced i n other orders of ba tt le . Other exc ell ent

features of t h i s work include deta iled hourly divis ion reports and

sumnaries of German and Soviet combat losses. Machine produced

situation maps ar e ex ce ll en t; however, photograph reproduc tions of

origi.na1 G e m u n i t maps are not.

tleeresei nte ilu ng - 939 (Army Classification 1939) by

Friedri.ch Stahl is the G e m order of ba tt le effe ctiv e January 3,

1939. Units down to batt alion leve l are li st ed with haw stat ions

and corrrmanders. l3i.s guide i s useful in loca ting personnel prior to

the s t a r t of World War 11.

16


23/176


24/176

- -

"Generals of th e Third Reich" by r e t i r e d General Bernhard

von Claer i s one of an extensive se ri es of the U.S. Army Xis to r i ca l

Div ision post-war stuc lies . These works were c d s s i o n e d by t he Army

as after acti.on re po rt s wri.tten by fon rer German high ranking

offi.cers. This ar t ic le g i .ves s ta t i s t ica l da ta on the genera l

officers, providing extremely useful information on general offi.cer

ca su al ti es . Von Claer served w i t h many rear area comnands during the

war.

"Bi.ographica1 Sketch of High ;(anking German and Russi.an

Officers of th e Second World War", I n te ll ig ence Research Pr oj ec t

2346 prxoduced i n 1946 a t Fo rt Leavenworth, pro vide s ex ce lI en t page-

long biographi.es of 52 German and 21 R u s s i a n off i ce r s . G e m

biographies present exc ell ent d et ai l of the pre-1939 ca ree rs of

these individuals.

Order of Battle - - -f the German Army October 1942, April 1943,February 1944, and - -arch 1945 ar e four Gar Departrent Mi li ta ry

Int ell ige nc e Divisi.on documents de sc ri bi .q the perceived

organiza tion of th e G e m Army. Only incomplete listings of

comnanders and s t a f f s are li s t e d , but the works provide ex cel len t

infomti.on on wartime organization.

18


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BUNDESXCHIV-XILITrZERARCHIVLOCNWS

Several German Army Archive documents provided important

information on dates of rank and assignments and are listed below

along:

vom 12. Oktoberienstaltersliste _ -zur - - Stellenbesetzung- 91937 (Service Officer Date of Rank Li.st as of October 12, 1937)

(National Archives Microcopy No. 78, Roll No. 512). This work, as

well as those sham below, lists seniority by date of rank.

Dienstaltersliste - -zur Stellenbesetzung - es Heeres -938,A(Service Officer Date of Rank List as of 1938) (National Archives

Microcopy No. 78, Roll No. 512).

Di.ensta1tersliste - -zur Stellenbesetzung des Heeres 1. MayA -- 91940 (Service Officer Date of Rank List as of Nay 1, 1940)

(National Archives Kicrocopy No. 78, Roll No. 513).

Di.enstaltersliste _ _ zur Stellenbesetzung -es Heeres 1. Xay-91941 (Service Officer Date of Rank List as of Yay 1, 1941)

(National Archives Microcopy No. 78, Roll No. 514).

des Heeres - .Dienstaltersliste - -zur Stellenbesetzung --91942 (Service 0ffi.cer Date of Rank List as of May 1, 1942)

(National Archives Microcopy No. 78, Roll No. 514).

19


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27/176

- - -he Eas tern Front, 1941-45, German Troops and the

3arbari.sation - f IJarfare by Wr Bartov, presents an analysis ofsocia l and po li t i ca l fac tor s i n three divi.sions on the Eastern

Front. The author provides valuable ba cw ou nd mate rial concerring

the extent of nobili ty in the German Army.

Matthew Cooper's - he German Army 1933-1945 i s one of the

standard works on the overall picture of German Army operations.

Cooper pr esen ts many novel conc lusio ns concerning the "Blitzkrieg",

the r o l e of Hitler. and the s t r at e g ic d e v e l o p n t of the Army. I t is

an excellent general history.

One of the mre unusual but i.nformati.ve works i s Fighting

Power, German Mil it ary Performance, 1914-1945 by Martin van Creveld.

The author presents i n de ta il the contrasti.ng organizationa l and

leadership aspects of German and American forces during t h i s period.

For t h i s th es is he provides extensive info rnat ion on doc trine ,

promotions, deco ratio ns, ca su al ti es , and other leader re la te d

subjects. Hi.s premise i s that the German system produced u n i t s with

greater f ight ing pder than l ike h-erican ones.

21


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- ---

- - - -

T.N. hpuy i.s the author of two works on the General Staff:

A Genius for gar: The German - nd General S ta f f , 1307-1945 and

The of Demonstrated Excellence f orGerman General Staff, 1nstituti.on - -National Camand, Planni.ng, Coordi.nation, - nd Combat Performance,

hp uy disc usse s the or ig in s and mission of the General S t a f f , i t s

historical development and i t s stormy relationship with Hitler..- er deutsche Genera1stabsoffi.zier (Tne German General Staff

0ffi.cer) by Hansgeorg Model addresses the se lec tio n and tra ini ng of

the General Staff in the Reichswehr, LJetumacht and Ekmdeswehr.

Especially valuable ar e several appendices l is t in g a l l General Staf f

officers in 1939 and 1944.

Telford Yaylor, in his .book - -he Phrch of Comjuest: .The-

German Victori.es -a GJestern Europe, 1940, describes the 1940C q i g n i n France. He addresses organi.zati.on, re ti re d of fi ce rs

recalled to active duty, and the canpetence of the genera ls. Tnis i s

one of the be tt er works concerning the ea rl y war year s of the Army.

Bod0 Scheuri.g tackles the delic ate subjec t of Geman

pri.soner of war of fi ce r coll abor atio n with Soviet for ce s i.n h is - ree

Germany, The National Cornnittee and the L e a w of German Off ic ers .

Post war li te ra tu re on thi.s subject i s extremely limited. The author

provides an excelle nt discussi.on of the subject to i-nclude a l i s t i n g

of the senior offi. cer s involved and their scope of partici.pati.on.

Several were previ.ous corps comnanders.

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Guenther Blumentritt, th e former Chief of St af f fo r k m y

Group D and Comnander of the 25th Army, compiled "The Gernan .Armies

of 1914 and 1939" for t he U.S. Army H is to ri ca l Divi.sion. He compares

and contras ts the two German Armies i n this work. Most he lp fu l are

his views on re t i re d off ic ers recal led to act ive duty and off ic ers

la tera l ly t ransferred f rom the German pol ice t o the army i n the mid

1930s.

Another Histori.c a1 Division study i s "Cannnents on P-041a -PMlhh" by Heinz Guderian and Kurt Zeitzler. Guderian served as

Comnander 2nd Panzer Amy, Inspector General Panzer Troops, and

Chief 'of Staff of the Army, while Zei tzler als o served as Chief of

S t a f f of the Army a f t e r a tour as Chief of, Sta ff Army Group D. In

this work t hey c m n t on th e Army promotion system.

- he Guides -o German Records Microfilmed - t Alexandria,Virginia. -os - 6, - 5, - 8, - 9, -0, - 1, and 62 provi.de sumnaries ofcaptured German war docunents mi.crofilmed a t the Xati.onal Archives.

These particular guides cover German corps uni ts . I t has swmaries

of th e mate ria l photographed, a quick li s t i n g of campaigns, and some

carmanders. The r o l l s of microfilm include oper atio ns re po rt s,

1ogi sti.c s sumnaries, personnel l i s t s , and enemy ord er of b a t t l e

i.nformation. The guides are i n Engli.sh, th e mic rofilms i n German.

Not a l l unit records were captured, but those th at were are the

23


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single most important primary sources av ail ab le i n thi.s country.

CARL om s a smil percentage of the xk ro fi lm , but the National

Archives i s rel uc tan t to lend copies of their m microfilm on

inter - i i.brary loan.

German off icer eff ic iency repor ts are discussed by Rudolf

Hofmann in "German Ef fi de nc y Report System" another Hi st or ic al

Division study. The author presents the his tor y of the reporting

system, i t s importance t o prmti .ons, d i f i c a t i . o n s t o t he system

during the war, and th e impact of awards and decorations on

promoti.ons. Hofmann was the Chief of Staf f t o the 9th Army, 15thArmy and Army Group H.

"The h m y Personnel Office" by Helmut Kleikamp provided the

Historical Division with an in-depth look a t of fi ce r performance,

th e sele cti.o n system, c d tr ai ni ng cou rses , and Nazi Party

influence. The author served in the Amy Personnel 0ffi.ce for two

years before assming comMnd of th e 36th Infantry Division in the

cl osi ng months of th e war.

Hasso von Manteuffel presented another de ta il ed manuscript

to th e U.S. Army with "Fast, Mobile and Xrmored Troops". He

descr ibe s the opposing branch vi.ews toward the cr ea ti on of the

panzer branch, sp ec ia l a tt ri bu te s of armored comnanders, and the

i.nfluence Guderi.an had on a l l matters concerning a m r e d troops. Von

Manteuffel cmanded the 5th Panzer A r m y and the 3rd Panzer A r m y.

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The l i t e r a m r e reviewed in this chapter was essen t i a l to the

research of thi.s thesis. Yore l i t e r a t u r e was used t o corroborate

corps c d assi-nts and i s referenced i n the bibliography.

With the survey complete i. t i.s benef ic ia l to review the German corps

system of World War 11.

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The German corps system served as a fl exi bl e cornnand and

cont rol headquarters fo r combat div isi ons i n a l l theaters of the

w a r. The corps headquarters i t s e l f was a tactical and operational

headquarters only, unlike the headquarters a t divis ion and army1

which included logistic and administration functions.

Personnel sta ffi ng was limited but effe ctiv e. The following

personnel st re ng th was typ ic al of m st full strength corps2

headquarters:

Table 2

Corps Headquarters Strength

Officers C i v i l Servants Enlisted Total

Corps Staff 27 11 157 195

-Flapping Department 0 0 16 16

Military Police 2 0 31 33

Artil lery Staff 6 0 16 22

Headquarters Troops 31 3 704 738

Total 66 14 924 1004

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During the course of the war th e G e m Amy f ie lded e ight

different types of corps: infantry, panzer, mountain, reserve

infantr y, reserve panzer, a rti .ll ery , corps headquarters for special

employment, and cav alry/co ssa ck corps. Whi.le a l l but th re e were

designated by Roman m r a l s , each had a somwhat different

organization and function.

In fa nt ry corps (Anwekorps) formed th e backbone of the army.

Each corps normally had two or three infantry division s but the

cannand st ru ct ur e was fl ex ib le with resp ect to di.visions assigned3

and to parent army assignment based on operational requi.rements.

Panzer corps (Panzerkorps) normally were in cornrand of a

group of di vi si on s i n whi.ch panzer or panzer-grenadier di.visi.ons

played a primary role. During th e course of th e war th er e were4

eighteen panzer corps.

Eight mountain corps (Gebirgskorps) were raised from 1940-

1945. Special ized to fi gh t i n mountainous and rough te rr ai n, two

fought i n Norway, three i.n t5e 8 a l k n s , one ro ta te d jet'dee? both,5

one campaigned in I t a l y , and one fought in southern Russia. hhen

forced t o f ig h t i n non-mountain te rr ai n, a mountain corps would

of te n assume co nt ro l of one or two additional infantry divisions due

to the organi.zationa1 shortage of in fa nt ry i n the two regiment6

mountain divisions normally assigned.

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Initially raised in September 1942, reserve i.nfantry

(Reservekorps) and reserve panzer corps (Keserve-Panzerkorps) served

as controllimg headquarters for the reserve divisions of the

Xeplacemnt Army. In additi.on to replacement and :raining functions,

they provided security duty in Poland, the Ukraine, and France. klany

were redesignated as actual infantry and panzer corps as the war7

continued.

In the fall of 1944 several artillery units rimed People's

Artillery Corps (Volks-Artillerie Korps) were forned. However, these

were actually only reinforced brigades with five or six battalions

of artillery of varying caliber. For this study, the cmnanders of8

these units, lieutenant colonels and colonels, w i l l not be analyzed.

Corps headquarters for special employrent (Generalkomnando

2.b.V) were created for operations in secure or quiet fronts and for9

spcial purpose missions such as V-weapon sites. These units often

did not have the attached heavy artillery or anti-aixraft units

often found in front line organizations. As with reserve corps, many10

were upgraded io frontline stacus as operations required.

Late in the war the German High cornnand created one cavalry

corps (Kavalleriekorps) and one Cossack cavalry corps (Kosaken-

Kavallerie-Korps). The cavalry corps controlled a mixture ofinfantry, panzer, and Waffen SS divisi.ons, while the Cossack corps

11contained both Cossack cavalry divisions of Russian volunteers.

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The first of the named army corps was the German Africa

Corps (Deutsches Xfri.kakorps), f o m d February 19, 1941 from German

expeditionary forces under R m l . Although the overall comnand was

upgraded from corps to panzer group in August 1941, the -Her

Africa Corps remained in the order of battle until the surrender of12

German forces in Afri.ca, May 1943.

In the Fall of 1944 the final two named corps were

established, Panzer Corps Grossdeutschland (Panzerkorps Gross-

deutschland) and Panzer Corps Feldherrnhalle (Panzerkorps13

Feldherrnhalle). Both fought on the Eastern Front.

Corps =re frequently switched from control of one axmy to

another. Subordination to army headquarters for.severa1 sample types14

of corps are s h m below:

Table 3

Parent Army Headquarters

(Assigned at Date)

k r ps Type June 40 June 41 May 42 July 43 June 44

I Infantry 4th 18th 18th 18th 16th

111 Panzer 12th 6th 1st PZ AA Kempf 1st PZ

VI Infantry 2nd 9th 9th 3rd PZ 4th

XVI I Infantry 12th 6th 6th 6th 8th

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Parent Army Headquarters (continued)

(ilssi.gned a t Date)

corps Trpe June 40 June 41 May 42 July 43 June &4

-

xxxv Special - 4 th 2nd PZ 2nd PZ 9thXXXIX P-r 12th 3rd PZ 16th 4 th 4 th

XXXXIX Mountain - 17th 1st PZ 17th -W X Reserve - - - 2nd PZ 2nd PZ

Legend:

4th: 4th Army 1s t PZ: 1st Panzer A m y

- : Corps not f o m d AA: A m y k t a c h n t

The distr ibuti .on of corps per army headquarters i.s shown i n the

followi.ng table of the existing army headquarters and the t o t a l15

number of corps assigned to each by date:

Table 4

W e r of Corps Assigned t o A m y Headquarters

(by date shown)

Army 9.9.39 9.6.40 5.6.41 11.5.42 7.7.43 12.6.44 26.12.44

il

1st 2 1 2 31s t PZ - 2 4 22nd - 2 22nd Pz - 3 33rd 2 - -

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- - - -

Number of Corps Assigned t o Amy Headquarters

(by date shown)

Amy 9.9.39 5.6.41 11.5.42 7.7.43 12 .6 .44 26.12.44B

3rd P Z - 2 3 3 3 44 th 3 7 3 5 3 54thPZ - 2 0 2 - 3 35 t h 2 - - - - -5th P Z - - - 0 0 26th - 6 4 3 4 36 t h P Z - 17 t h 1

~

4 68th . 2 2 1-th 3 210th 5 2 311th - - -12th - - -14th 3 1 1

-5th 5 21 6 ~ 5 - 4 417th - 0 118th - 2 219th - 1 320th KIN - 3 421st - - -25th - - 2

Total 20 51 43 52 53 60

Legend:- : Army not f o m d0 : Arny f o m d but no corps assigned

These t o t a l s are further modified when adding corps i n

transit from one army area t o another and corps d i r e c t l y

subordi.nated t o army group level . The to ta l corps assigned to army

headquarters i n June 1944 was thus fur the r increased t o seventy-

three with these additional categori.es. Total corps strength peaked16

i n January 1945 a t seventy-seven.

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Just as the number of corps varied per army, so di d the

n m k r of ai.visi.ons a s s i p d ro each corps. The following cable1 7

presents a sample of thi. s us ing the corps shown previ.ously:

Table 5

W e r of Assigned Divisions per Corps

(Infa ntry Divisions 1 Panzer o r other type Divisi.ons)

Corps

I

Type of

corps

June 40 June 41 May 42 Ju ly 43 June 44

I Infantry 310 5 /0 611SS 111L 2/0

I11 Panzer 310 010 013 113 114

V I ' Infantry 410 2 /0 310 310 11 1

.xvII Infantry 210 510 210 310 210

xxxv Special - 110 310 410 510XXXVI Mountah 210 2!0 210 210 2/0

XXXIX Panzer 112 213 111 310 410

XXXXIX W t a i n - 6/0 210 3/1R -

LSIX Xeserve L!O 1;1c

Legend:

110: One i.nfantry, no panzer divi.si.ons assigned

611SS: Six infantry, one Waffen SS divi.si.ons assigned

11lL: One infantry, one Luftwaffe fi.eld divi.sions assigned

3/1R: Three i.nfantry, one Rumanian di vis io ns assigned

1IlC: One infantry, one Cossack division assigned

- : Corps not f o m d

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In addit ion t o assigning divisi .ons, the High Comnsnd could

weight combat w r LO inai.vidua1 corps by attac 'ment of s-cialized

units. One of the best examples of this technique occurred during

the Kursk off en siv e wit kin the 4t h Panzer Army and Ar;rry Detac'mnt

Kempf. The breakdown of special ized units fo r two corps was as- 18

f o l l m :

I11 Panzer Corps

Rocket Projector Regiuent 54 Flak Regiment 99

Heavy Tank Battalion 503 Flak Regiment 153

Engineer Regitrent 674 Assault G u n Battalion 228

Engi-neer Regiment 601 2nd Bn., A r t i l l e r y Regiment 71

Engineer Battalion 70 Heavy Artillery Battali.on 857

Engi.neer Battalion 127 2nd Bn., Arti . ll ery Regiment 62

Engineer Bridge Battalion 531

XXXXII Corps

deavy rlnti.-Tank 3atcallon 560 F!ak Kegiment 77

Heavy Anti.-Tank Battalion C Light Observation Battalion 13

Mountain Engineer Regiment 620 Co nstruc tion Regiment 26

2nd Bty., Heavy Art i l lery Bn 800 Construction Battali.on 219

Construction Battalion 112 Constructi.on Battalion 153

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41/176

ENDNOTES

Martin van Creveld, Fi.ghtiw Power, German Xilitarv Performance,1914-1945. (Potomac, Maryland: C&L Defense Consultants), 1980, p.56.

Ibid., p.58.

March of Conquest: The German Vi.ctories -Western Europe, 19 40 . 7e w York: Simon and ScEt-958, p.18.Telford Taylor, The - - i n

R. James Bender and Warren W. Odegard, Uniforms,- nd History of th e Panzertruppe. (San Jose: R. James Bep.60.

5 James h a s , A 1 ine El i te - German Mountain Troops of World War11. (London: Jane 'h8-186.-

6 Ibid., p.89.

7 Wehrmacht undm x

' Wolf Keilig, Das Deutsche Heer 1939-1945. (Bad Nauhein, mG.:Pcdzun Verlag), 1936; v ~ ~ Z T

Ibid., Vol 1, p.90/5.

lo Taylor, The March. p.18.

Tessin, Verbaende. Vol 2 , p.14 and Vol 1, p.5.

K l a u s Christ ian Richter, Die Geschichte der deutschen Kavallerie1919-1945, (Stuttgart, FRG: Notorbuch V e r l a x 1982, pp. 267-275and 374-375.

The XV Cossack Corps was formed from the many disgruntledcossack prisoners of war and volunteers seeking t o gain Cossacki.ndependence f rom the So viet s. 1ndivi.dual regiments were groupingsof te r r i t or ia l c lans such as from th e Don Basin , the Terek Steppe,etc. Prior to 1945 these units had operated independently in supportof established German units. The XV Cossack Corps was organizedFebruary 1, 1945 as follows:

1st Cossack Cavalry DivisionDon Cossack Regiment 1Si be ri an Cossack Regiment 2Kuban Cossack Regiment 4Cossack Arti.llery Regiment 1

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2nd Cossack Cavalry DivisionKuban Cossack Regiment 3Don Cossack X e g k n t 5Terek Cossack Regiment 6Cossack Artillery Regiment 2

Plastun (InTantry) Brigade

Plastun (Infantry) Regiment 7Plastun (Infantry) Regiment 8Reconnaissance Detachmnt

l2 R. James Bender and Ftichard D. Law', Uniforms, Organization andof the Afrikakorps. ( S a n Jose: R. James Bender), 1 9 r

s 3 . - -

The Africa Corps was m r e lightly organized than most otherGerman corps of the war. h i n g the campai.gn it had the 5th LightDivisi.on (later the 21st Panzer Division) and the 15th PanzerDivision assigned. In addition the following indi.vi.dua1 ombat unitswere assigned to the corps:

Anti.-Tank Battalion 6051st Bn. Flak R e g h n t 181st Bn. Flak X e g h n t 33Flak Battalion 606Reconnaissance Company 580

l 3 Tessin, Verbaende. Vol 1, p.18.

Panzer Corps Grossdeutschland had the proposed organization of:

P anze r Grenadier Division GrossdeutschlandPanzer Grenadier Division Brandenburg

Corps Fusili.er RegimentHeavy Tank BattalionOne Artillery RegimentArmored Engineer Battalion

Panzer Corps r'eldherrhaile had the proposed organization of:

Panzer Division FeldherrnhallePanzer Grenadier Division Feldherrnhalle 2Corps Fusilier RegimentHeavy Tank BattalionOne Artillery RegimentArmored Engineer Battali.on

Both corps were intended to be a m r e permanent organizati.onthan other corps with divi.sions assigned on a m r e permanent basis.

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CHAPTER4

B;1cKGRouND, EDUCATION, AND EXF'WIENCE

This chapter w i l l be t o examine the background, education,

and experie nce fac to rs of German cor ps comnanders i n World War 11. 4

total of 332 men served as permanent or a ct in g comnanders fo r the

ninety-three German Army corps from 1939 t o 1945. Cen tral t o a

thorough understanding of these f ac to r s i s a review of the system of

general off ice r grades and their equivalent American counterparts.

The basic grade system i s s h m below:

Table 6

General Officer Grades

German Grade Abbreviation E n g li.sh American

Trans 1ati.on Equi.valent

Gener a1 e dmar scha l l GFM Field Marschal General of

the Army

Generaloberst Go Colonel General General

General der 1nfanteri.e GdI General of Infantry Lieutenant

General

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G e m Rank Abbreviation English Amer ican

Translation Equivalent

General de r Arti l ler ie GdA General of Arti.llery Lieutenant

General

General der Panzer GdPz General of Panzers I ,

General der Pi on ie r GdPi General of Engineers

General der Gebirgs- GdGebTr General of Hountain

trim= Troops

General der Kavallerie GdKav General of Cavalry

Generalleutnant GL Lieutenan t General MajorGeneral

Generalmajor GM Major General Br igadie r

General

In comparing German grades with American ones it should be

noted that a G e m generalmajor w a s routinely a corrmander of a

divi.si.on. h i l e hi s . k r i c a n counterpart seldom was. Movfnp a?. a

generalleutnant could camnand ei.ther a di.visi.on or corps, h i i e his

major general Ameri.can counterpart m s t of ten s tayed a t d iv is ion1

level . To av0i.d thi.s mental conversi.on of grades I will use German

grade for a l l comnanders.

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BACKGROND

AGE

Tne f i r s t c h a r a c t e r i s t i c t o be examined is age. Yajor

General J.F.C. Ful ler in his work Generalship - t s Diseases - nd

- heir Cure: A study of the Personal Factor i.n Gnunand that- - - - statesphysical vigo r and energy are important assets of genera1shi.p and

2are usually found i n younger men. t!espi.te thi.s theory, the German

corps comnanders were a mature group of individuals and were not

young by the standards of th e t ime. The following i.nfonnation shows

the age groups as defined by age on assuming corps comnand.

Table 7

Age of Comnanders

Mmkr of Offic ers* Percentage of Total

40 t o 44 6 1. 8

45 to 50 104 31.8

51 to 55 162 49.5

56 to 60 44 13.4

61 to 65 11 3.3

* Note: Ages were determi.ned for 327 of 332 c m n d e r s

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48/176

After the co nf li ct selecti.on again became di ff i. cu lt . Under

che ?rovi.sions of :he Treaty of Versailles, tne post-war ilei.cnswehr

was reduced to 4,000 off icers , of whom 3,000 were wartime officers

and 1,000 were promoted noncomni.ssi.oned o f f ic e r s . Outside cand idates

were expected t o have an extensive pre- univ ersi ty education le ve l.

The Abitur was desi.red but not required. In i t s place, the candidate

could take sp ec ia l equivalency examinations, a system which as si st ed5

enlisted candidates lacking i n formal educati.on.

The environment through which the future corps ccnananders

entered service fostered candidates with a l l around excelle nt

character r athe r than m r e educated, technically oriented

indiv idua ls. Additiona lly, character was of te n judged by the sta tu s

of family inf lue nce and wealth. One standard was that of nobil i ty

and w i l l be examined next.

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NOBILITY

Gr%ile most officers were members of th e upper and middle

cla sse s, o ffi ce rs of noble descent had always f i y e d prominently i n

German mi li ta ry tr ad it io n. k i r g the Reichswehr e r a of 1924-1932,

nobi l i ty again fared well in the cm psi . t i on of the off icer corps .

The fo l lowing three ta bl es re fl ec t no bi li ty composition of newly

promoted majors (major), lieutenant colonels (oberstleu tnant) and

colonels (oberst). Nany of the later corps comnanders passed through6

these grades during this time.

Table 8

Newly P r m t e d Ynjors

Year Promoted Nobles Pe rcen t Noble

1924 73 12 16.4

1925 68 16 23.5

1926 74 19 25.6

1927 81 i 7 20.9

1928 93 27 29.0

1929 65 16 24.6

1930 66 10 15.1

1931 90 17 18.8

1932 73 5 1 .3

Total 683 139 20.3

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51/176

Newly Promoted Colonels (continued)

Year Pronoted Nobles Percent Noble

1928 45 13 28.8

1929 40 15 37.5

1930 46 11 23.9

1931 55 22 40.0

1932 45 1 0 22.2

Total 353 113 32.0

However, the high percentage of no bi li ty during the 1932-

1945 p r i o d diminished. In 1932, 23.8% of a l l o ffi ce r s were nobles7

with 52% of general officers in this category. This percentage had

dwindled by 1939. A t the beginning of the war, although the .4rmy had

a large number of landed gentry and ar is to cr ac y, the percentage of8noble general officers had dropped to 33. This percentage decli.ned

9even further by 1944 when only 19% of a l l generals were nobles.

The scope of this t hes i s nust 1imi.t the thorough

investi.gation of the various s t r a t a of no bi li ty . David Nelson1u

Spi.res' doc toral dis ser tati .on points out that :

... as far as the Reichswehr is concerned, "old" officerfamilies or those that tra dit ion al ly had supplied off-icers t o the army, could be mre significant than "new"noble families.

45


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CXoer Bartov i n hi s study of the German hrny on the Eastern

Front def ines rmber ship i n the nobili.ty as a l l off icers wi th a

"von" and other pre fix s of aris t0c rati .c o rig in attached to the11

family name. Using this definici.on, the following p att er n of

nob i l i t y emerges when examining the corps COIIpnanders.-

Table 11

comnanders of Noble Descent

Year Comnanders of Noble

Descent i n Corps Ccomand

1937 8

1938 9

1939 13

1940 21

1941 22

1942 31

1943 31

1944 29

1945 27

Seventy-five (22.69.) of th e corps comnanders were members of

the nobi l i ty. From the resu l t s of th is analys is it appears as though

this re pr es en ta tio n remained con sta nt throughout the war.

Addi.tionally, thi.s figure corresponds closely with the percentage of

to ta l genera l off icers .

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EXPANSION OF THE i(EICHS'dm

k i n g the 1930s, the German Army dramatically increased in

si.ze. This expansion directly affected the Officer Corps. I n 1938

for example, the Army expanded by 7,600 of fi ce rs : 2,000 re cr ui ts ,

2,500 la te ra l t ransfe rs from the police, 1,500 noncorrmissioned

offi cer prmotio ns, 1,800 reactiv ations from inactiv e service, and1 2

1,600 Austrian of fi ce rs incorporated i.nto the Wehnuacht. The

variety of sources for general officers who later assumed corps

camand are as shown:

Table 1 2

Comnander's Background

Category Number Comnanders Percentage

Career (Served in WWI 268 80.7

and r a i n e d i n Xeichsweh)

Recalled from iietirement 22 6 .6

( In Rei.chswehr, retired)

Transferred from Police 27 8.1

(Served in NJI, l e f t Army,

returned with Police rank)

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Comnander's Background (continued)

Category Number Conananders Per cen t age

Joined during 1930s Expansion 4 1.2

(Served in WWI, l e f t Army,

rejoined Army i n mid 1930s)

Incorporated from Austrian Army 11 3.3

Several of thes e sources of of fi ce rs should be explained.

More than 80 general offi.cers were recalled from active duty in 1939

from the inacti.ve l i . s t , and wi.th th e continued expansion during the13

war m y more were brought back.

Twenty-two gen era ls re ca ll ed t o ac ti ve duty l a t e r comnancied

a t the corps level . &cal l t o se rv ic e could be accomplished by two

mthods. Sme re ti re d of fi ce rs were ternporarily rest ored t o the

regular l i s t , while others were designaced z.V ( m r Ve r f u e m ) or14

"at di.sposa1". As expected, most recalled officers were among the

oldes t of the cannariders. Seventeen retu rned to ret ire me nt during

th e war, one die d i.n comnand, and fou r remained on ac ti ve se rv ic e.

Only one corps comnander d-10 had been re ca ll ed from ret ire me nt was1 5

selected for higher camand.

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During the mid 1930s many offi.cers rejoined the Xeichswehr

from the police. As an inducement, thes e men re tai ne d th ei r f o m r

poli.ce rank ranging from hauptmann (c ap ta in ) to generalmajor.

Professional competence of officers h o did not remain in

the Army after World War I was not held i n high regard. Guenther

Blumentritt, a former army group chief of staff and cunnander of the

1st Airborne Army i.n 1945, stated that the performances of officers

who reti .red in 1919 and rejoined during the mid-1930s was lower as

these officers s t i l l believed in obsolete Fi.rst World War16

experiences.

Despite Blu me ntr itt 's as se rt io n, twenty-seven generals who

returned to the Army i n the mid 1930s fiom the p olice achieved corps

cannard. Nost were absorbed into the infantry. Five later conrnanded

a t the army or army group level, representing 19% of a l l corps17

c d e r s with police backgrounds, and are shown below:

Table 13

Corps Gmnanders with Police Backgrounds

Grade Name Corps Highest Grade Higher Camands

Corrmand

GdPz Eberbach m v 1 1 Pz GdPz 5th Panzer Army

XxxXvIII Pz 7th Amy

xxxxPz

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Corps Comnanders with Police Backgrounds (continued)

Grade N a m e Corps Highest Grade Higher Carmands

Gmmland

GdI Grasser XXVI GdI 11th Army

LVI Pz

GL W l l e r ,F V GdI18

4th Army

XXXIV 2.b.V

LIX

LXVIII

GdI Wiese VIII GdI 19th Army

xxxv

GdI von Zangen LXXXIV GdI 15th Amy

LXXXVII

In examining Blurent?i.tt's assertion more deepiy, xi find

that seven former poli.ce officers comnanded panzer corps, positions

that would seem to require the greatest understanding of modern

mobile warfare. This would seem to undermine che "anti-police"

school of thought until we look at durati.on of c m n d . The

following table shows that only two (29%) comnanded longer than one

mnth. Although Kaellner and Schuenemnn were killed in action it

appears as though "police" comnanders were thought of m r e as

temporary panzer corps comrmders than permanent.

50


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Table 14

Panzer Corps Comnanders with Poli.ce Bac'kgrounds

Grade N a m e Corps Durati.on of Cornnand

GL Beyer,F LVII Pz 8 days

GdPz Eberbach XxxxVII Pz 7 days

XxxXvIII Pz 27 days

xxxx Pz 9 days

GdPz F r i e s XxxxVI Pz 4 months

GL Grasser LVI Pz 24 days

GdPz Henrici,S xxxx Pz 18 months

GL Kaellner XXIV Pz 29 days

GL schuenerrmann m1x Pz 1 day

After the annexation of Austria i n i938 ( t he Anschluss),

three Austrian corps composed of six d iv i s ions were incorporated

i n t o the German A m y , with a corresponding number of seniori9

off ice rs. Austri.an of fi ce rs conpared favorably to th ei r G e m n

cou nter par ts i n conpetency and leadership. The following ten

Austri.an officers achieved corps ccnirnand and were promoted t o hig her20

ccrrmand positi.ons a s s h m :

51


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Table 15

Austri.an Army and Army Group Comanaers

Grade Name

GdI Fiendulic

GdPz b u s

GI, Eibl

G dI Yiterna

GdI k y e r , E

GdA Marti-nek

GL Feurstein

GL Eglseer

GL R i n g e lGL von Nagy

GdPz Hubicki.

Corps

cornnand

XXXV

XxxXvII Pz

XXIV Pz

XX

XVIII

XXXIX Pz

U II

Lxx

L I Mtn

XVIII Mtn

LXIX Mtn

W I

W I X z

Highest Grade

Go

Go

GdI (Post .)

GdI

GdI

GdA

GdGebTr

GdGebTr

GdGebTr

GdI

W Z

52

Bigker C m n d s

2nd Panzer Army

20th 4lountain Army

Army Group Kurland

Army Group North

Army Group South

1s t Panzer Amy

3rd Panzer Army

4th Panzer ArmyL l

None (KIA)

None

None (Died)

None ( K I A )

None

None (Ki l l ed i n

plane crash)

None

None

NO W


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60/176


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Newly Promoted General der In fan te r i e , e t c . (continued)

Year Promoted In fa nt ry Cavalry A rt il le ry Technical

I 7. t 7. t '7. I

1926 0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0

1927 2 1 50.0 0 0.0 1 50.0 0 0.0

1928 2 1 50.0 0 0.0 1 50.0 0 0.0

1929 1 1 100.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0

1930 1 0 0.0 0 0.0 1 100.0 0 0.0

1931 1 1 100.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0

1932 1 1 100.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0

Total a 5 62.5 0 0.0 3 37.5 0 0.0

Older genera ls viewed in fa nt ry as the dominant branch and

attempted t o c ontrol the Army Personnel Branch to the detriment of23

other branch offi.cers. This was especially so w i t n respect to the

formation of the new panzer forces. Hasso von W t e u f f e l s ta ted tha t

the new 7anzer brancn required speciai leaders anu carmnanaers, but

the older arms d ispl ayed opposing views. To maintain s t a b i l i t y

within the armored force, GO Heinz Guderi.an r e p r t e d dire ctl y to

Hitler as Inspector-General of b r e d Troops and had full i n p u t

24concerning appointments to the comnand of armored formations.

55


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The distribution of corps comnanders by branch was as

fol lars :

Table 19

Branch Aff i . l i at ion

Branch Number of Comnanders Percentage

InfXCTY 1 7 1 51.5

Art i l le ry 63 18.9

Panzer 54 16.2

Cavalry 18 5.4

bu nt ai n Troops 15 4.5

Engineer 9 2.7

Luftwaffe 2 0.6

Another aspect of branch affi.liation concerns the comnanders

of panzer corps and mountain corps. Si xt yo ne per cen t of a l l panzer

corps comanders were of the panzer branch, h i l e forty-one perc.ent

of the conmanders of the m t a i n corps were mountain troop

off icers . Ar t i l le ry and cavalry officers comnanded i n both infantry

and panzer corps. Infantry generals served across the e n t i r e

spectnnn of uni t s .

56


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GENERAL STAFF SERVICE

The German General S t a f f Corps was a group of spe cia ll y

selected, trained, and educated officers. I t s mis sion was to serve

as a co ntr ol mechanism t o a s s i s t the ccarmander i n di re ct in g la rge

mi l i t a ry units. This included planning, coordinating, supervising,25

and assuring operational readiness.

Candi.dates for the General Staff were selected based on26

"character, di .spsit ion, physi .ca1, and intellectual abil i t ies".

Nemkrship was always select. Fewer than one percent of a l l off ic er s

i n the Army were select ed as General Sta ff Corps off ice rs i n the

PNSsian Army. Membership rose t o twenty percen t duri ng the Weimar27 28

Republic. By 1939 this amounted to 417 officers.

Austri.an General Sta ff of fi ce rs had l i t t l e d i f f i c u l t y after

the Anschluss i n obtaining positions on the German General S ta f f . A

former Austrian of fi ce r, General de Sartha , st at ed that i n many

respects th Austrian General Staff was the equal of i t s German29

counter?art.

Although the size of the General Staff increased to 1167

offi.cers by 1944, the i r relative importance in the Amy hierarchy30

began t o decrease beginning i n 1941. After the fa ilu re to takeMoscow i n December 1941, Hitler unfairly blamed not only several

high ranki.ng c m n d e r s , but also the General Staff for the lack of31

adequate winter preparations.

57


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In September 1942 Hitler accused the General Staff of

"cowardice" and berated GO Haiaer, Cuef of Army General Staff. This

led to Halder's dismissal and marked the end of the per iod when the32

General Staff t r u l y conducted operati.ons.

Many corps ccmmanders were menbers of the General Staff.

Their prominence during the war was s ig ni fi can t and will be

i discussed a t length i n a la te r chapter. Distri butio n of corps33

c d e r s with General S t a f f experience i s as shown:

Table 20

Comnanders from the General Staff

Year hnber of Comnanders Percentage, of Total

from General Staff

1939 31 66

1940 50 70

1941 61 i l

1942 75 57

1943 83 49

1944 82 40

1945 50

58

36


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Thi.s trend minors H it le r ' s increasing intervention with the

officer corps. 8y January 1943 he ordered the reintegration of the

General Staff into the regular officer corps and established

performance as the primary criteria for promoti.on, not General S t a f f34

membership.

PREVIOUS COMMAND AN D STAFF EXPERIENCE

As i n a l l mil i tary organizations, mst corps cmmnders had

es ta bl is he d a pa tt e rn of succe ssful performance a t previous cornnand

and staff assi.gments. In the staff arena, two General Staff

posit ions were considered extremely important: operatio ns of fi ce r

( Ia ) of a div isio n and chief of st af f a t a corps or higher level.

Division operations officers normally held the rank of

major. In addi tion to h is du tie s in operations, he al so served as

the chief of staff as the divis ion str uct ure di.d not alloc ate a

separate position for one. The division supply officer (Ib) and the35

di.vi.sion in te ll ig en ce of fi ce r ( I c ) were subordinated to him.

Chiefs of st af f had m h m r e prestige and authority than36

other oEficers of equal rank. Colonels and lie ute nan t colo nels

59


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served as corps chi efs of s t a f f , while army ch ief s of st af f were

u s u a l l y colonels or major generals. Responsibil i t ies for the corys

chief of staff were init ially laid out i n t he h s i a n Army i n 181437

and formalized i n 1865 i.n a royal order which stated:

When I have given no special i.nstructi.ons onf i l l i n g the post of a general comnanding duringhis temporary absence, the chi.ef of the GeneralStaff will transact the current duti es of thegeneral.. .

In reviewing pr ior st af f ser vi ce, th i r ty corps comnanders

had been di vis ion operatio ns of fi ce rs , si xt y-s ix served previ.ously

as corps chiefs of s taff , and th i r ty-e ight were army chiefs of

s ta ff . m t i p l e s taf f assignments of service as both corps and army

chief of staff were held by thirty-four l a te r c d r s . While

these staff assignments were not mandatory pr er equ isi tes fo r fut ur e

comnand, they certai.nly were in dic ato rs of e xc el le nt performance and

potent ia l .

In addition to previous staff experi.ence, prior division

comnand was essenti.al fo r ele vati on to corps c m n d . This trend is38

imrplified by the following division comnand s m r y :

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Table 21

Prior i)ivisi.on camand Experience

Corps Comnanders Mmkr Percentage

who were colnnanders of: -

Infantry Divisions 246 74.1

Panzer Divisi.ons 40 12.0

Reserve Division s 0 0.0

Infantry and Panzer Divisi.0- 11 3.3

No d iv is io n comnand 35 10.5

An a n a l y s i s of pri.or d iv is io n cornnand experience re ve al s

seve ral important trends. F i r s t , 89.59. of a l l corps cm mn de rs had

sr io r di.visi.on c m n d experience. Yost of the 5irf :r- f iv e - h o did

not were very sen ior gen eral s h o comnanded corps a t the s t a r t of

the war. Tnus, their opportunit ies for division cnrmand were limited

by the smaller s ize of th e army i n the mid-1930s. Those l e s s sen ior

who did not comnand a t the divisi.on l ev el fre qu en tly were General

S ta ff o ff i c e r s who held si gn if ic an t st af f comnands a t corps, army,

and army group level.

6 1


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None of the corps comnanders had previous reserve divis ion

coIimand as his sole division comnanci experi.ence. I t i s safe t o

conclude that reserve divis ion colTpnand s ignalled l i . t t l e poss ib i l i ty

for further conmand progression.

Fifty-one corps c m d e r s (15.4%) previ.ously comnanded

panzer divisions. In examining the panzer corps, thirty-six

comnanders (40.9%) had previously comnanded panzer divi si.o ns. Of

every three panzer division comnanders who later comnanded a t the

corps level, two commded a panzer corps while one comnanded a

corps of a different type. No single panzer di vi si on served as anoverwhelming source of future panzer corps cm n d e r s . The 4th and

11th Panzer Div isio ns each produced four. When an individual proved

' he could s uc ce ss ful ly covmand d iv is io n mobile fo rc es , he was quite

li-kely to be retained by Guderian and the panzer branch for fu rt he r

panzer corps comnands, ra th e r than be ' t ransferred to o ther

formations.

LNFLUENCEOF THE X A Z I PARTY

According to Helmt Kleikamp, author of "The Army Personnel

Office", with very few excepti.ons th e Nazi pa rt y exerci se d no

influence on A m y appointmentments. Army off ic e r promotions and

assignrents were based on performance and qualifications, not39

polit ical considerations.

62


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One facet of p a r t y aff i l ia t ion was the Nazi Party's highest

decoration for service, "The Decoration of 9 Xovember 1923" al so

horn as "The Blood Order". Hitler c rea ted th i s decora tion in b r c h

1934 to comnemorate the failed Putsch (attempted overt'mow of

Bavarian government) of November 9 , 1923 in M i c h . El ig i .b i .l ity was

i.ni ti.a lly lim ite d to persons who had pa rti ci pa ted i n the events of

November 9 th and who were Party members by January 1, 1932. These

individuals were a ffec t iona l ly known a s "Old k a d e s " . In 1938,

e l i g i b i l i t y was expanded t o persons who had rendered outs tanding

services t o the Party in th e 1920s and had received a Weeimar court

death sentence and served a t le as t one year in j a i l for pol i t i ca l 40crimes, or been sev ere ly wounded or k i ll e d i n Party s er vi ce .

. Awards fo r this f i r s t cr i ter i on of e l ig ib i l i . ty to ta led 1500. .

O f these 810 went to Party members, 500 to Freikorps troopers , and

140 t o Reichswehr and Poli.ce members. Seven Reichswehr re ci pi en ts

went on t o become general officers: Johannes Block, Curt-Ulrich von

Gersdorff, Wolfdietrkh von Xylander , Edurd lorn , Robert a c h e r ,

Paul Hermann, and Theodor i(retschwr. Only one went on to become a41

corps cnrmander.

Although Pa rty o f f i c i a l s may have had no influence on

appointments and promotions, in di re ct pressu res ex is ted in the

presence of sev er al se nio r Army o f f i c i a l s who sympathized wit h the42

Nazi.s and could a f fe c t personnel is su es . Generalfeldmarschall

W i l h e l m Keitel, General der In fante r ie Rudolf Schmundt, and General

der Infanterie W i l h e l m Burgdorf were three of these men.

6 3


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71/176

c d roops but did show lo ya lty and di sc re ti on toward Hi.tler and

was entrusted wi.th v i s i t i n g R-1 .*ith the choice of suicide or45

ar re st for involvement i n the July 20 Plot .

The influenc e of these mn on the Army Personnel Office wasprobably i.n th e li ne of what they did not do mre than what t hey

did. I t would have been very d i ff i cu l t to exp la in tha t a pa r t icu la r

o ff i ce r was selected for a posit ion because he was a National

So ci ali st. But for off ic ers seeking t o re tur n t o act ive duty from

retirement or volunteering for fron tl in e service from the

Replacement Army bureaucratic delays and refusals

46

were surely in

order for chronic complainers against the Nazis.

The background i.nformation i n t h i s chapter shows the corps

comnanders generally to be mature indi.viduals of approximately 50-57

years of age. About 23 7. were members of the nobili.ty, generally thesame as fo r g eneral of fi .c er s as a whole. Most corrmanders were career

soldiers with min te r rup ted service from "'Or?d ':Jar I , sore encerec

the Army from the police, the Austrian Army after the Anschluss, and

some were recalled from reti.rement. Concerning branch affiliation,

52 7. were infantry off icers , 19 % a r t i l l e ry, and 16 7. panzer. A l m o s t

50 % of th e co rps comnanders were General Staff officers with many

having st af f experience as divi sion operations off ice rs and corps

chiefs of staff. More than 89 7. had been d i v k i o n ccmnanders.

Fi na ll y, Nazi Pa rty in flu ence was minimal in their ri.se.

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--- -

1Ri.chard Brett-Smith, H it le r' s Generals, ( S a n Rafael,

Cali.fornia: Presidi.0 Pr es s) , 1937, p.12.2

J.F.C. Fuller, Generalship I t s Diseases and Their Cure: A Studv

- -f the Personal Factor i n Comnand,-(Harrisburg, PennsyTvania:Military Servi.ce Umngx.),, p.70.3 Martin van Creveld, Fi.ghti.ng Power, G e m Mili tar

Performance, 1914-1945, (Potanac , Maryland: C&L Associates)*pp. 150-152.

4Martin van Creveld, Fightiw, Power , p. 152.

5Martin van Creveld, F i . & t i rg

-ower, p. 152.

The se le ct io n process fo r Eduard Zorn, a l a t e r generalmajor,w a s a typical one and worthy of review. Late i n 1920 Zorn appli ed i nwrit ing t o the comnander of Infantry Regiment 19 Colonel Ri tt er vonHaack fo r admission fo r of fi ce r train ing . In his application Zornincluded informati.on on: date of bi.rth, st a te a ff il ia ti on , r eli gio n,level of educati-on, profession of father, and personal his tory. Inaddition he furnished two r ec m nd a t i on le t t er s from prominentcit izens of his comrmnity.

During the ensuing background in ve st ig at io n, Zorn underwent aphysical aptitude and mdical test. With these complete, hepart icip ated i n a one t o three day personal inte rview with Colonelvon Haack and selected members of hi.s staff.

The results of this process reflect Zorn's aptitude forservice. He was a candidate for the Abitur which fulfillededucati.ona1 requirements. H i s ch ar ac te r was exemplary as he was the

son of an of fi ce r ki ll ed i n ac ti on during World War I . Additionally,hi.s brother Hans was al rea dy a juni.or of fi cer i.n the regiment andhad an exc el len t ser vice record himself . In sum, Eduara Zorn wasi.n tel lis en t, physically f i t , motivated, and apl i. ti ca 1. Davi.d NelsonSpi.res, "The Career of the Reichswehr Offi.cer", ( k c t o r ofPhilosophy ilissertation: Universi.tjr of iqasningtcn), iY79, pp.3-iZ.

6David Nelson Spir es, "The Career of the Rei.cnswetu Off ic er ",

p.508.I

h e r Bartov, The Eastern Front, 1941-45, German Troo s andBarbarisation - f W a z r m Y o r k : S t . Martin's P r e s s d 6 z . 4 3 .a

Richard Brett-Smi.th, Hitler 's Generals, p.5.9

h e r Bartov, - he Eastern E, .43.10

David Nelson Sp i r e s , "The Career of the Reichswehr Officer",p.27.

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74/176


75/176

Corps Corrmanders from th e Police (continued)

Grade "ame Corps Date Transf erred Grade re ta in edfrom Po li ce from Poli.ce

GdI Strec'ker X I 14.6.35 Generalnaj orXVII

GL Usinger I 1.10.35 MajorGdI Wiese V I I I 1.8.35 Major

xxxvGdI Witthoeft XXVII 1.4.36 OberstGM Wolpert IXXXVIII 15.10.35 OberstleutnantGdI von Zangen IXXXIV 1.8.35 Oberstleutnant

LXXXVII18

Erwin Lenfeld and Franz Thomas, Die Ekhenlaubtraeger1940-1945. (Wiener Neus tadt, Ces ter rei .ch : Weirburg Ve rl ag ), 1952,p.105. GdI Friedrich W i . l h e l mNueller mde the m st rapid r i se of the"Police" cOmnanders. La te ra ll y tra nsf err i.n g f rm the Hamburg Policei n March 1936, he was a b a t t a l i o n ccmnander from 1938-1940, aregimental comnander 1940-1942, and a d iv is ion comuander from 1942-1944. In 1944 he served as both temporary and permanent corpscamnander before assuming cornnand of the 4th Army January 29, 1945.After the w a r he was condenmed fo r war cr in es and hanged i n Athens,Yay 1947.

19Friedr ich St ah l, Heereseinteilung 1939 (Friedberg, FRG:9

Podzun-Pallas-Verlag), 1953, p.145.20

Wolf Keilig, Die Generale des Heeres. (Friedberg, FRG: Podzun-Pallas-Verlag) , 1 9 8 3 , p ~ 8 0 , 8 9 , 1 5 2 , 2 1 8 , 2 3 7 , 2 7 3 , 2 7 8 .

LJ.

Dernot Bradley and Richard Schulze-Kossens, Tae ti gk ei ts be ri ch t- - -

es Chefs des Heerespersonalamtes General & nfanter ie 3udolfS c h d t : 11042-ck FRG.: Biblio Verlag), 19W,~ . 4 2 . GL Eibl became the onlv corm comnander t o be k i l l e d by h i sbwn troops when he was ser ious ly wbundea by a handgenade t h r k bya soldier in a passing It a l i a n truck column as he was s i t t i n g on thefender of h i s s t a f f c a r. He undemenr: emrgency surgery, h3chour:anathesi.a, whi.cn resul ted i n the amputation of a leg, but died.

22David Nelson Spi.re s, "The Career of t he Reichswehr Of fic er ",

pp.508-509.23

Hei.nz Guderian and K u r t Zeitzler, "Comnents on P-041a-P-O4lhh",U.S. Army Histori.ca1 Di.vision Study MSI/ P-04111, (Washington, D.C.:

Office of the Chief of Mili.tary Hi.story), 1953, p.2.24Hasso von Manteuffel, "Fast Mobile and Armored Troops", U.S.

Army Hi.storica1 Division Study MSll 8-036, (Washington, D.C.: Officeof t he Chief of Mil ita ry Hi sto ry ), 1945, pp.3,10,19.

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zation), 1984, p.6.

26 Franz Halder, "Control of the German Army General Staff", U.S.Army ilistorical Divi.si.on Study MSd P-O41d, (Washington, D.C. : Officeof the Chief of Yi li ta ry His tor y), 1952, p.3.

27 Trevor N. ~ e p u y, General ~ t a f f ,pp. 6 and B-1.W. Victor Madej, German Army - rder of Battle 1939-1945,

(Allentown, Pennsylvania: Garre Y t r k e t i n g c O m p a n ~ 9 8 1 , Vol 1,p.37.

29 de Bartha, "Austro-Hungarian General Staff" , U.S. ArmyHistorical Division Study b S # C-063, (Washington, D.C. : Office ofthe Chief of .Milita ry Hi st or y) , 1946, p.5.

30 Walter Goerli-tz, Histo of the G e m General staff 1657-1945.( N e w York: Praeger) , 1e , p.4n.-

31 Walter Goerlitz, History, p.405.32 Hansgeorg i.lodel, deutsche Generals tabsoffizie r , (Frankfurt,

ERG: Bernard & Graefe Ve r l a g ) , 8 , p.127.

33 ~ c h a e l y e r , " ~ b _ e Transformation of the ~e rm anof fi ce r. corps"p.47.

34 Helmt Kleikamp, "German Army High Cannand: The Central Branchof the Army General Staff", U.S. Army Hi.stori.ca1 Divi sion Study z/s#P-O41x, (Washington, D.C.: Office of the Chief of Mi lita ry Hist ory) ,

1952, p.7. .35 phrtin van Creveld, Power, German Xilitar

Perfornance, 1914-1945, (Potomac, Mary =f and: d&L Defense Cosu tan t s1980, p . 3 .

36 %chard Brett-Smith, Hit ler ' s Generals, p.13.

37 Bronsart von Sche llen dorf , Tne h t i e s of the General Staff(Volume - ). (London: C. Kegan Paul&Co?@$, n772.160. -

38 Tne fol lowi ng in di vi du al s comnanded both panzer divi si on s andpanzer corps.

Table 24Panzer Corps Cannarulers f rm Panzer Divi.si.ons

Grade Name Corps Gmnanded Divi si on Comnanded

GdF'z von Amim,H XXXIX Pz 17 th Pz

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Panzer Corps Comnanders f rom Panzer Di isions (continued)

Grade Name

GdPz Balck

GdPz Breith,HGdPz CruewellGdPz DeckerGdPz Eberbach

GdPz von EdelsheimGdPz von Esebeck,H

GdPz Fehn,G

GdPz von FunckGdPz Gey von

SchweppenburGL HarpeOberst HeidkaemperGL HeimGdPz HerrGdPz HubeGL , KaellnerGdPz von KesselGdPz KirchnerGdPz von hobelsdorff

GdPz Krueger,WGdPz vonLangemann

und ErlencinnpGdA LemelsenGL von Luettwitz,SGL von Luettwitz.HGdPZ Ne'm i ng

GdPZ b u sGdPZ K-1GdPZ von Saucken

G d P Z SchaalG d P Z von Schwerin,GW Z von Senger und

EtterleinGdPZ von T h m

GM von VaerstGL von Vormann

Corps Gnnnanded

xxxx PzXxxXvIII PzXIV PzI11 PzAfricaXXXIX Pzm zXxxxvIII PzXXXXPzm 1 1 zLVII Pzm PzxxxxPzAfricam z111 Pz

xxxx PzXXXXI PzXXIV Pzm 1 1 zLXXVI PzXIV PzXXIV PzVII PzLVII PzXXIV PzxxxxPzXxxxvIII PzLVIII PzXXIV Pz

m 1 1 zm Pzm 1 Pz:a1v JZXxxxVIII PzAfricaXxxXvII PzAfricaXXXIX PzGross DeutschlandI11 PzLVI PzLVI PzXIV Pz

Africa

AfricaXxxXvII Pz

Divi si.on Comnanded

11th Pz

3rd Pz11th Pz

5th Pz4th Pz

24th Pz2nd Pz,llth Pz

15th Pz5th Pz

7th Pz3rd Pz

12th Pz4th Pz

14th Pz13th Pz16th Pz19th Pz20th Pz

1st Pz19th Pz

1st Pz4th Pz

5th Pz26th Pz

2nd Pz,2Oth Pz18th Pz

6th Pz7th Pz4th Pz

10th Pz116th Pz

17th Pz

6th Pz,l7th Pz20th Pz15th Pz23rd Pz

GL von Wi.etersheim,W XXXXI Pz 11th Pz

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79/176

PERFORiiCE, PRCNOTION, AND FQTEWIAL

INIRODUCTION

To t h i s point th is study has exmined many of the background

characteri.stics of corps conmanders. This chapter w i l l review the

actual performance of th e generals i.n corps c m n d by examining

four major ar ea s: demonstrated performance, as evidenced by awards

and decorations, promotion, by examining the German Army promotion

system, po te n ti a l , through advancement t o higher c d , nd the

f ina l d i . sps i t i . on of th e cclmnanders t o include re ti rements, re l ie fs ,

prisoners of war, and k i l l ed in ac t ion.

The f i r s t characteri -s t ic exanined i s demonstrated

performance of duty through the German system of awards and

decorations. J.F.C. Ful le r, i.n h i s t r e a t i s e on generalship, stated

that heroism i s the "soul of 1eadershi.p" and i s essen t i a l to1

genera1shi.p.

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The Germans apparently agreed with Fuller as they

established the m st elaborate awards system of any ccnnbatants i n

the war, due i n parc t o the ir experience i n Uorld W a r I . The awards

system then was mismanaged, with too few d if fe ren t medals, confusing

di st in ct io ns between bravery and service, and separate awards for

offi cer s and enli ste d men. In addit ion, the subordinate states of2

Germany, such as Bavaria, issued their own awards.

A t the outbreak of World War 11, the Iron Cross 1st Class

and 2nd Class were re in st it ut ed . Both medals had or ig in al ly been

proposed by Colonel Gneisenau t o King Friedrich W i l h e l m 111 of

Pruss ia in 1811, for acts of mili tary bravery. Two years la ter both

were off ici .al ly founded and awarded to Prussi.an soldiers during the

campai.gns against Napoleon. Both awards were reinsti tuted by Kaiser

Wilhelm I i n 1870 during the Franco-Prussian War, and were open to

a l l Germans, not only PNs sia ns. In 1914 Kaiser W i . l h e l m I1 reopened

the awards and expanded e li g ib i li ty t o include bravery in the fi el d3

or for service t o the war effort.

On September 1, 1939 Hi.tler rei .nsti tuted th e venerable Iron

Cross 2nd Class to reward a single ac t of bravery i n combat beyond

the normal requi.r emnts of duty. I t could be awarded to a l l members

of the Arrred Forces or t o non-mili.tary i.ndivi.duals se rv ing with th e

mili.tary. The Iron Cross 1st Class, reinsti tuted the same day, was

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4usually awarded for an addi.tiona1 three to f ive si .gni.f icant act s.

Although the i. nte nt was to l e t an appropriate t i= pass between

award of the 2nd Class t o t ha t of the 1st Class, this could be5

compressed t o one or two days.

-

Also on September 1, 1939 Hitler i n s t i t u t e d a new

decoration, the Knight's Cross of th e Iron Cross for continuous acts

of exceptional bravery or i n the case of higher ranks for successful6

execution of b at tl e or f or formulating oustanding ba tt le plans.

R e c m n d a t i o n f o r the Knight's Cross required the endorsement of

the chai.n of c m d hrough army c d e r with the f inal decis ion7

made by Hitler. Prerequisites included previous award of both

classes of the Ir on Cross. E nlis ted personnel as w e l l as o ff i ce r s

were eligible for this award. Some 7,300 Knight's Crosses were8

awarded.

For conananding offi .c ers however, bravery alone was not

j u s ti f i c at i . on f o r r e c m n d a t i . o n f o r the Kni.ght's Cross. In addition

the off ice r had to demonstrate sever al instances of exerci sing

independent decisions. This i s bes t amplified by c m n t s by Field

Harschall Schoener concerning a r e c m n d a t i . o n fo r the award to a

colone l. Schoerner wrote th a t fo r a regimental comnander t o lea d a

counterattack personally with machi.ne-guns and hand grenades was not

9excepti.ona1 bravery but a "self evident duty".

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On June 3 , 1940 Hitler instituted the next higher grade the

of Knight's Cross, the Knight' s Cross of the Iron Cross wi.th

Oakleaves. This award w as intended t o fur the r recognize those

individuals, already winners of the Knight 's Cross, for continued

- accomplishrents of bravery and i.niti.ative. Enlisted personnel,

.of fic er s, and fore ign mi lit ar y personnel were e l i b l e t o receive the10

Oakleaves and by war's end 882 had.

Gne year later on June 21, 1941 Hitler agai.n introduced

another higher grade of award th e Knight' s Cross of the Iron Cross

wi.th Oakleaves and Swords. This grade was designed t o continue t o

reward those previous re ci pie nts of the Oakleaves who accomplished

further feats of military achi.evement. Although a l l German mili.tary

personnel were e l ig ib le to r eceive t h i s award, only 159 offi .cers11

actually did.

On July 15, 1941 Hitler introduced what was believed to be

th e final upgrade, the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with

Oakleaves, Swords, and Diamonds. Again it was in tended t o reward

further achievemnt and by the end of the war had only been awarded1 2

27 times.

By December 29, 1944 Hitler deci.ded that one ultimate award

be creat ed fo r Germany's twelve braves t so ld ie rs , the Knight's

Cross of th e Ir on Cross with Golden Oakleaves , Swords, and Diamonds.

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Three days l a t e r t h e f i r s t of these decorations was bestowed on

Lur'twaffe Stuka pilot Colonel Hans Ruciel. No other presentati.ons13

were made.

Each of t he grades of the Knight's Cross except the l as t was

won by Army personnel and are shown below:

Table 25

~ r m yRecipients of the ~nigt~i's cross

NLrmbeK Percentage of Total

Knight's Cross 5070 69

Oakleaves 486 55

Swords 75 47

Diamonds 11 41

Corps cOmnanders figured prominently as reci.p i.ents of a l l of

these awards as Hitler used the higher classes of Knight's Cross as

14an ef fec tiv e motivati.ona1 too l. The following i.s a presentation of

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those corps cc-armanders as a function of thei r hi-ghest award received

and the percentage of al l corps comnanders rec eiving each grade:

Table 20

Highest Decorations Received by the Corps Com;landers

NLrmber Percentage of Total

Knipht's cross 133 40.1

Oakleaves 102 30.7

Swords 35 10.5

Diamonds 7 2.1

Many of the corps comnanders received these awards fo r

previous service a s regimental and division c d e r s . In reviewing

actual corps comnand, we find that none received the D i m n d s for

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o n l y fi ve of these E n were panzer corps cam anders . This

dist .r ibu tion reveals two i tem. F i r s t , recognition for achievement

i n panzer corps came quicker than that in o ther types. Second, by

the time m st in di vi du al s reached corps comnand they had al re ad y

been awarded the Knigh t's Cross fo r previous subor din ate comnand-

le ve l achievement, although th i s was certainly not a prerequisi.te.

The importance of the bestowal of the gr

corp commanders

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