Heinz Guderian

[MLW]

Agreed. Note, the photo caption states Generals Guderian and Rheinhardt are waiting for a visit by the Hitler. I have another photo or two around somewhere. I will look to see if I can find them.

Regards,
Marc

[Gotthard Heinrici]

Was that Hans-Georg Rheinhardt who later commanded Army Group Centre or its equivalent in Poland and then got replaced by Col-Gen Josef Harpe?

[4th wilts]

yes,getting back to my comment about getting guderian to dance the wandsworth jig.imo examples needed to be made of,and guderian had been c-i-c,okh,that is reason enough for him to hang.lee.

[Gotthard Heinrici]

Examples were made of Lee, Jodl was hung and later Acquitted. He took the fall for the Officer's Corps.

[4th wilts]

these german generals helped a tyrant bully europe and russia,who then set about destroying an entire race.do not forget this.all these generals could have said no.they all should have hanged imho,they knew what was going on behind the lines.lee.

[Gotthard Heinrici]

Originally Posted by 4th wilts

these german generals helped a tyrant bully europe and russia,who then set about destroying an entire race.do not forget this.all these generals could have said no.they all should have hanged imho,they knew what was going on behind the lines.lee.

Well you can go on about this all you want but the fact is that they werent, each General was judged by a Committee who decided what crimes (if any) they should face. Some were tried, some committed suicide, either way at the end of the war the Allies smashed the Prussian Officer Corps ensuring that militarism in Germany was finished, at least for a generation.

[Gotthard Heinrici]

I'm going to order the book about Guderian by Kenneth Macksey. It would be interesting to see what a third party thinks about the "Father of the Panzerwaffe"

[Zoya]

Originally Posted by Gotthard Heinrici

Well you can go on about this all you want but the fact is that they werent, each General was judged by a Committee who decided what crimes (if any) they should face. Some were tried, some committed suicide, either way at the end of the war the Allies smashed the Prussian Officer Corps ensuring that militarism in Germany was finished, at least for a generation.

I think that was the wisest, possibly the only way of dealing with the military generals. Undoubtedly, there were those officers who were active participants in atrocities (of whom not all recieved their just deserts) but there were also professional soldiers, like Guderian, who did the job they were trained to do. I.e., tried to conduct a war they were thrown into, like it or not, led by an egomaniac dictator, who thwarted them at every turn.

But even that could be seen as a simplistic view. There were occasions, in the early days of Op. Barbarossa when Hitler's showed sound judgement, and took risks that paid off. Of course, by the end of the war, when Guderian was fighting a desperate defence in the east, this wasn't the case. By this point, Hitler really had lost the plot. From what I have read of Guderian (not much, I admit) it seems that he was desperately attempting damage limitation by the winter of 44/45. I admire him for his guts in standing up to Hitler in a way that his sycophantic cronies were afraid to, to the point of mental exhaustion.

I really believe that Guderian wanted the best for his country, and not for the interests of the Nazis, and in that sense, was a true patriot.

[Gotthard Heinrici]

Here is an Essay covering his operational leadership should you be interested:

http://stinet.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTR...c=GetTRDoc.pdf

[Zoya]

Thanks, GH! I'm off out now, but I'll take a look later