Branch: Kaiserliche Heer/ Reichsheer / Wehrmacht Heer
Born: 12 December 1875 in Aschersleben, Germany.
Died: 24 February 1953 in Hannover, Germany.
Ranks:
Generalfeldmarschall 19 July
1940
Generaloberst 1 March 1938
General der Infanterie 1 October
1932
Generalleutnant 1 March 1929
Generalmajor 1 November 1927
Oberst 1 February 1923
Oberstleutnant 1 October 1920
Major 28 November 1914
Hauptmann 24 March 1909
Oberleutnant 12 September 1902
Leutnant 17 June 1893
Fähnrich
Decorations:
Boxer Rebellion Service Medal 1902
Iron Cross Second 1914
2nd Class
1st Class
Prussian Crown Order 4th Class
Bavarian Military Merit Order 4th Class with Swords and Crown
9 August 1915
Prussian Royal House Order of Hohenzollern Knight's Cross
with Swords 1917
Saxon Albert Order Knight 1st Class with Swords
Lippe War Merit Cross
Waldeck Merit Cross
Turkish War Medal
Cross of Honor 1934
Schwarzburg Honor Cross 3rd Class
Sudetenland Medal 1938
Order of the Crown of Italy, Grand Cross (1938)
Clasp to the Iron Cross 1939
2nd Class
1st Class
Knight's Cross 30 September 1939
Romanian Order of Michael the Brave
3rd Class 1941
2nd Class 1941
1st Class 1942
Oak Leaves on 1 July 1944
Swords 18 February 1945
Armed Forces Long Service Award with 40 year Clasp
Commands:
Heeresgruppe Süd
Takes command on 1 September 1939
Ends command on 1 October 1939
Oberbefehlshaber Ost
Takes command on 1 October 1939
Ends command on 20 October 1939
Heeresgruppe A
Takes command on 25 October 1939
Ends command on 1 October 1940
Oberbefehlshaber West
Takes command on 1 October 1940
Ends command on 10 June 1941
Heeresgruppe Süd
Takes command on 10 June 1941
Ends command on 1 December 1941
Oberbefehlshaber West
Takes command on 15 March 1942
Ends command on 2 July 1944
Oberbefehlshaber West
Takes command on 5 September 1944
Ends command on 9 March 1945
Other: Personnel
Articles:
Karl Rudolf Gerd von Rundstedt was born on 12 December 1875
and became a German Generalfeldmarschall (Field Marshal) of
the Wehrmacht during the Second World War. Gerd von Rundstedt
was born in Aschersleben in the Province of Saxony into an
noble Prussian family, and joined the Kaiserliche Heer in
1892, then entered Germany's elite military academy in 1902
an establishment that only accepted only 160 new students
each year. During the First World War, Gerd von Rundstedt
steadily rose in rank until 1918 when Gerd von Rundstedt promoted
to major and was chief of staff of his division.
At the start
of the Second World War Gerd von Rundstedt returned as commandant
of the Heeresgruppe Süd (Army Group South) in the Poland
campaign. Gerd von Rundstedt retained command of large formations
during Fall Gelb and was promoted to the rank of Generalfeldmarschall
on 19 July 1940. In the Soviet campaign, Gerd von Rundstedt
was commandant Heeresgruppe Süd (Army Group South), responsible
for the largest encirclement in history, the Battle of Kiev,
capital of the Ukraine. Because of the failure of Operation
Barbarossa, Gerd von Rundstedt like so many other commanders
was dropped by
Adolf
Hitler, during 1942 Gerd von Rundstedt was recalled in
1942 as Oberbefehlshaber West (German Army Command in the
West). Gerd von Rundstedt maintained this command until his
final dismissal in March 1945 by
Adolf
Hitler.
After the First World War, Gerd von Rundstedt rose steadily
in the small 100,000 man army of the Reichswehr and in 1932,
was appointed commandant of the 3rd Infantry Division. During
July 1932, Gerd von Rundstedt carried out the supposed Rape
of Prussia that saw the Reichswehr expel the Social Democratic
government of Prussia and allowed the Chancellor
Franz
von Papen to become the Reich Commissioner of Prussia.
Later that year Gerd von Rundstedt threatened to resign when
Franz
von Papen declared martial law and ordered his troops
to eject members of the national socialist party from state
government offices. During 1938, Gerd von Rundstedt was appointed
commandant of the 2. Armee (2nd Army) that occupied the Sudetenland,
but Gerd von Rundstedt retired after it was realised that
Werner
von Fritsch Commander-in-Chief of the Army was framed
by the Gestapo in the
Werner
von Blomberg-
Werner
von Fritsch Affair. During Gerd von Rundstedt retirement
he was given the honorary appointment of Colonel-in-Chief
of the 18th Infantry regiment, Gerd von Rundstedt often wore
an infantry colonel's uniform and collar patches with his
Generalfeldmarschall shoulder insignia until the end of his
career. Occasionally, Gerd von Rundstedt was mistaken for
a colonel, but he simply laughed at the opinion.
On 1 September 1939, the Second World War had commenced, and
Gerd von Rundstedt was called back to active military service
to command Heeresgruppe Süd (Army Group South) during
the successful invasion of Poland. Turning to the West, Gerd
von Rundstedt supported
Erich
von Manstein's armoured fist approach to the invasion
of France, and this was finally chosen as Fall Gelb. During
the battle Gerd von Rundstedt was in command of seven Panzer
divisions, three motorised infantry divisions, and 35 regular
infantry divisions.
On 14 May 1940, the armoured divisions led by
Heinz
Guderian had crossed the river Meuse and had opened up
an immense hole in the Allied front lines. General Gerd von
Rundstedt had uncertainties about the survivability of these
units without infantry support, and called for for a pause,
whilst the infantry caught up, the halt order permitted the
British to evacuate their military forces from the beaches
of Dunkirk. Subsequently Gerd von Rundstedt disallowed an
attack on the Dunkirk beachhead, permitting the British forces
to fully evacuate. These events has raised eyebrows over the
years. Gerd von Rundstedt and other people later on contended
that the decision was
Adolf
Hitler's and stemmed from his belief that Britain would
more readily accept a peace if he magnanimously saved what
remained of her military force. Nevertheless, this was no
more than a face-saving rationalisation. Gerd von Rundstedt
had wanted to conserves his mechanised units for the final
push to the south to conclude the campaign against the French
while
Hermann
Göring had convinced
Adolf
Hitler that the Luftwaffe could get the job done.
Gerd von Rundstedt was promoted to Generalfeldmarschall on
19 July 1940 and took part in the planning of Operation Sea
Lion (Invasion of Britain). When the invasion was called off,
Gerd von Rundstedt took control of occupation forces and was
given responsibility to develop the coastal defences in the
Netherlands, Belgium and France.
Operation Barbarossa took place during June 1941, Gerd von
Rundstedt was commandant of Heeresgruppe Süd (Army Group
South), where he led 52 infantry divisions and 5 Panzer divisions
into the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Initially Gerd
von Rundstedt progress was slow, but in September Heeresgruppe
Süd (Army Group South) captured Kiev in a double encirclement
operation made possible by Joseph Stalin's irrational refusal
to abandon the city, whilst the river Dnieper had been crossed
both north and south of it. The Germans claimed a phenomenal
haul of 665,000 Soviet POWs based on the encircled divisions.
Subsequently Gerd von Rundstedt moved east to attack Kharkov
and Rostov. Gerd von Rundstedt strongly opposed continuing
the advance into the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics during
the winter and advised
Adolf
Hitler to halt the offensive, but his views were disapproved.
During November, Gerd von Rundstedt had a heart attack, but
he declined to be hospitalised and persisted in the advance,
reaching Rostov on 21 November. A counter-attack forced the
Germans back. Whilst Gerd von Rundstedt called for a withdraw,
Adolf Hitler
became angered and supplanted him with General
Walther
von Reichenau.
Adolf Hitler
recalled Gerd von Rundstedt to duty in March 1942, placing
him once again in Oberbefehlshaber West (German Army Command
in the West) There he proved complacent, so much so that as
late as the autumn of 1943, no fortifications worthy of mention
existed along the entire Atlantic shore. It was only after
Generalfeldmarschall
Erwin
Rommel's appointment as Gerd von Rundstedt's ostensible
subordinate in November 1943 that fortification work began
in earnest. During the debates preceding the landing, Gerd
von Rundstedt insisted that the armoured reserves should be
held in the operational rear so that they could all be rushed
to whatever sector the Allies happened to land in. General
Leo
Geyr von Schweppenburg the armoured commander supported
him, but
Erwin
Rommel insisted that the armoured forces must be deployed
very near the shoreline, just beyond the reach of the Allied
naval bombardment. Badly affected by his experiences in North
Africa,
Erwin
Rommel believed that Allied air operations would prohibit
movement during the day and even at night gravely inhibit
movement. But von Gerd von Rundstedt was convinced that a
landing as far west as Normandy was out of the question and
that very little armour should be committed there. Ultimately,
the armoured divisions were dispersed, and only two were spared
to the Channel coast west of the Seine with one assigned to
the Normandy sector, a deployment that would have disastrous
consequences once the invasion began. After the D-Day landings
in June 1944, Gerd von Rundstedt urged
Adolf
Hitler to negotiate a settlement with the Allies, his
frustration culminating in his outburst, Make peace, you idiots!
Adolf Hitler
responded by replacing him with Generalfeldmarschall
Günther
von Kluge.
Because of the 20 July plot, which angered Gerd von Rundstedt,
he agreed to join Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (Supreme Command
of the Armed Forces) chief Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm
Wilhelm
Keitel and
Heinz
Guderian on the Army Court of Honour that drummed out
hundreds of officers suspected of being opposed to
Adolf
Hitler, often on the slightest of evidence. These judgements
removed the suspected dissidents from the jurisdiction of
the military and turned them over to the Volksgerichtshof
(People's Court) and its presiding judge, Roland Freisler.
Many of these men were put to death after brief trials.
During the middle of August 1944,
Günther
von Kluge committed suicide after being implicated in
the 20 July Plot and Generalfeldmarschall
Walther
Model was given command of Oberbefehlshaber West (German
Army Command in the West),
Walther
Model held the post for 18 days before Gerd von Rundstedt
was reappointed to command Germany's armed forces in the west.
Gerd von Rundstedt mobilised them in time to fight off Operation
Market Garden, with
Walther
Model's Heeresgruppe B (Army Group B) at the centre of
the German military defence. While Gerd von Rundstedt was
in command of the German forces on the Western front throughout
Operation Wacht am Rhein (the Battle of the Bulge, a.k.a.
the Gerd von Rundstedt Offensive), Gerd von Rundstedt was
opposed to that offensive from its beginning, and fundamentally
washed his hands of it. Gerd von Rundstedt was relieved of
command for the last time in March 1945, after telling
Wilhelm
Keitel once more that
Adolf
Hitler should make peace with the Allies, instead of continuing
a lost cause.
Gerd von Rundstedt was apprehended by the United States 36th
Infantry Division on 1 May 1945. During his captivity, Gerd
von Rundstedt suffered another heart attack whilst being interrogated
and was subsequently taken to Britain, where he was held in
a POW camp in Bridgend, South Wales and at Redgrave, Suffolk,
England.
Gerd von Rundstedt was charged with war crimes, but never
faced any trial due to his poor health. Gerd von Rundstedt
was released from captivity in 1948. Gerd von Rundstedt died
in Hanover on 24 February 1953, at the age of 77.
For a complete list of
sources
