Görlitz, W. Generalfeldmarschall Model

Walter Model, General Field Marshal of the German Wehrmacht since 30 March 1944, was considered a particularly capable defensive strategist during the Second World War. Five times as a commander of troops on the Eastern Front, he not only restored the front after defeats and retreats, but also gave his soldiers new strength and a new will to fight through his personal commitment: in 1942 in the Rzhev Arc, in 1943 in the Orel Arc, in 1944 first in the Baltic States, then in Eastern Galicia and then in Belarus. Then, in midsummer 1944, when the German Western Army threatened to break under the attack of the Allied invasion armies, he once again stabilised the German front on the western border of the Reich and in South Holland. And when finally in the Ruhr area all possibilities of military defence were exhausted, he showed an unusual consistency as a soldier. He disbanded his army group himself in order to avoid a senseless desperate struggle and the destruction of Germany's largest industrial district. He then put an end to his life by his own hand on 21 April 1945, an example of the tragic entanglement into which a soldier in a leading position can fall who obeys a political leadership, even if it acts against all rules of reason and law. At the same time, however, it is also an example of the high level of skill required to lead correctly in retreats and on the defensive, while maintaining the morale of the troops undiminished.

Contents

Introduction

Career in the Prussian Army
Family - Youth - Front and General Staff Service in the First World War from 1914-1918

Between Two World Wars
In the Reichswehr of the Republic and in the Wehr-power of the Third Reich 1919-1939

Corps Chief in Poland - Army Chief in France
The Blitz campaigns "Fall Weiß" and "Fall Gelb" 1939/40

"Through and Forward"
Commander of the 3. Panzer Division in the Russian campaign 1941

The first major crisis: defeat before Moscow
Commanding General of the XXXXI Panzer Corps

At the head of the 9. Armee
The longest and the happiest command

At the flashpoints of the Eastern Front
Commander-in-Chief of Army Groups and Field Marshal

Saviour of the Western Front - for the last time
Commander-in-Chief West and Commander-in-Chief Army Group B

To the Last Consequence
The Defence of the Rhineland and the End in the Ruhr Kettle

List of Sources
List of Names
Abbreviations.