Branch: Heer
Born: 30 May 1881 in Philippsruhe castle in Hanau,
Hesse-Nassau, Germany.
Died: 25 May 1968 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen , Germany.
Ranks:
Generalfeldmarschall
Generaloberst
General der Infanterie
Generalleutnant
Generalmajor
Oberst
Oberstleutnant
Major
Hauptmann
Oberleutnant
Leutnant
Fähnrich
Decorations:
Commands:
Other: Personnel
Articles:
Georg Karl Friedrich Wilhelm von Küchler was born on
30 May 1881 and became a German Field Marshal during the World
War II. Georg von Küchler was a recipient of the Knight's
Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves (German: Ritterkreuz
des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub). The Knight's Cross of
the Iron Cross and its higher grade Oak Leaves was awarded
to acknowledge uttermost battlefield courageousness or successful
military leadership.
Georg von Küchler was born in Philippsruhe Castle in
Hanau, Hesse-Nassau, Germany on 30 May 1881. Very little is
known about Georg von Küchler's earlier life and
childhood. After attending cadet school, Georg von Küchler
entered the Kaiserliche Heer in 1900 and served in the 25th
Field Artillery Regiment. After being promoted to First Lieutenant,
he spent three years at the Prussian Military Academy from
1910 to 1913, prior to joining the General Staff in Berlin,
Germany.
During World War I Georg von Küchler commanded an artillery
battery on the Western Front and participated in the major
offensives at the Somme and Verdun. In 1916 Georg von Küchler
became staff officer of the 206th Infantry Division. In 1919
Georg von Küchler joined the Freikorps and fought the
Red Army in Poland. After returning to Germany Georg von Küchler
joined the staff of the Jüterbog Artillery School. And
was promoted to Colonel, Georg von Küchler became Deputy
Commander of the 1st Infantry Division in East Prussia in
1932. Georg von Küchler succeeded Walther von Brauchitsch
as commander of Wehrkreis I in 1937. The following year Georg
von Küchler endorsed
Adolf
Hitler in his removal of
Werner
von Blomberg and
Werner
von Fritsch from power. In March 1939 Georg von Küchler
joined forces with
Heinrich
Himmler in the successful occupation of the Lithuanian
port of Memel.
At the outbreak of World War II, Georg von Küchler was
given command of the 3rd Army. During the invasion of Poland
Georg von Küchler's troops captured Danzig. Whilst
a committed sponsor of the national socialist Party, Georg
von Küchler upset the Schutzstaffel (SS) by punishing
soldiers who committed atrocities against civilians. In 1940
he became far more supportive of national socialist racial
policy and ordered on 22 February stop to any criticism of
ethnic struggle being carried out in the General Government,
for example Polish minorities, of the Jews and of the Church
matters. Georg von Küchler order explained that the Final
ethnic solution called for unique and harsh measures.
During the Western Offensive Georg von Küchler fought
under General
Fedor
von Bock and commanded the 18th Army, which invaded the
Kingdom of The Netherlands. In the invasion of neutral Kingdom
of The Netherlands, Georg von Küchler was able to defeat
the Dutch ground forces at Moerdijk, Rotterdam, and the Hague.
Subsequently Georg von Küchler's forces moved into
Kingdom of Belgium and occupied Antwerp on 18 May 1940. And
then Georg von Küchler moved into France, attempting
to cut off the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) from the
English Channel at Dunkirk, which in the final analysis ended
in failure. The 18th Army finished this phase of the war at
Pas de Calais surrounding Dunkirk. Georg von Küchler's
role in this military campaign earned him the rank of colonel-general.
After meeting
Adolf
Hitler in March 1941 to plan for Operation Barbarossa,
Georg von Küchler told his divisional commanders on 25
April 1941, We're separated from Russian Soviet Federated
Socialist Republic, ideologically and racially, by a deep
abyss. Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic is, if
only by the mass of her territory, an Asian state. Adolf
Hitler does not wish to palm off responsibility for Germany's
existence on to a later generation,
Adolf
Hitler has decided to force the dispute with Russian Soviet
Federated Socialist Republic before the year is out. If Germany
wishes to live in peace for generations, safe from a threatening
danger in the East, this cannot be a case of pushing Russian
Soviet Federated Socialist Republic back a little or even
hundreds of kilometres but the aim must be to eradicate European
Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic, to dissolve the
Russian state in Europe. Georg von Küchler went on to
call Red Army commissars criminals who should all be shot.
On 17 January 1942, Georg von Küchler became commandant
of Heeresgruppe Nord (Army Group North) after Field Marshal
Wilhelm
Ritter von Leeb was relieved of his command. Georg von
Küchler, contrary to his predecessor
Wilhelm
Ritter von Leeb, was seen as politically submissive and
was liked by
Adolf
Hitler, who trusted that Georg von Küchler would
come through where he believed
Wilhelm
Ritter von Leeb had went wrong.
Georg von Küchler commanded Heeresgruppe Nord (Army Group
North) from December 1941 through January 1944 but was not
able to accomplish any victory at Leningrad. Georg von Küchler
sustained the siege of Leningrad, setting in motion massive
bombardments in an endeavour to intimidate the Russian Army
into surrender. On 30 June 1942
Adolf
Hitler promoted Georg von Küchler to field marshal
(Generalfeldmarschall). In January 1944 Russian military personnel
were able to break the encirclement of Leningrad, and Georg
von Küchler was dismissed when he called for the withdrawal
to the Luga River, which was essential to the survival of
Heeresgruppe Nord (Army Group North).
Whilst in retirement Georg von Küchler was approached
by Carl Goerdeler who tried to persuade him to join the July
Plot. While sympathetic to the group's objectives, Georg von
Küchler declined to take part in the attempt to assassinate
Adolf Hitler.
At the end of the Second World War, Georg von Küchler
was apprehended by American occupation authorities and tried
by a military court in 1948 in the High Command Trial. On
27 October 1948 Georg von Küchler was sentenced to twenty
years' incarceration for his treatment of partisans in the
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics but only served eight
years before he was released in 1953 due to sickness and old
age. Georg von Küchler died in Garmisch-Partenkirchen
on 25 May 1968.
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