Gerd von Rundstedt

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Karl Rudolf Gerd von Rundstedt

(born Dec. 12, 1875, Aschersleben, near Magdeburg, Prussia — died Feb. 24, 1953, Hannover, W.Ger.) German general in World War II. Chief of staff of an army corps in World War I, he was active after the war in Germany's secret rearmament. In World War II he was promoted to field marshal (1940) and commanded armies in the invasions of Poland, France, and the Soviet Union. As commander in chief on the Western Front (1942 – 45), he fortified France against the expected Allied invasion. Removed briefly from command (1944), he returned to direct the Battle of the Bulge. He was captured in 1945 but released because of ill health.

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Military History Companion: FM Gerd von Rundstedt

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Rundstedt, FM Gerd von (1875-1953), perhaps the leading soldier of the Third Reich, and the last Prussian officer of the Second. Gerd von Rundstedt, C-in-C West at several times during WW II, epitomized the old Prussian military élite, and struggled to rationalize its code of conduct with that of Hitler. He had been always destined for the military, entering the army at 16, was a graduate of the Berlin Kriegsakademie, and saw service during WW I on the general staff in France, Poland, and Russia. Serving in the inter-war Reichswehr, he maintained strict neutrality towards politics, unlike several colleagues, and was thus seen as a safe pair of hands, perpetuating the old values. By 1933, he was a full general, C-in-C of the First Army Group (the senior command), but privately (though never publicly) reviled the Nazis. At Nuremberg, Rundstedt interpreted his military role as being to execute orders to the best of his ability, but never to moralize to his superior. This personal inability—or reluctance—to distinguish between right and wrong prevented the military from putting an effective brake on Hitler's military ambitions.

Rundstedt was happy to retire after the Sudetenland occupation of 1938, but was recalled to plan and execute the invasion of Poland, as C-in-C Army Group South. He took over Army Group A which led the invasion of France through the Ardennes, to a plan formulated by his COS Manstein. The Fall of France gained Rundstedt his promotion to field marshal, although he was a conservative and reluctant convert to Guderian's use of armour. He was C-in-C of Army Group South for BARBAROSSA in June 1941, and remains culpable for transmitting the ‘Commissar Order’ (which authorized the immediate killing of captured commissars) down to his subordinate commands. Hitler dismissed Rundstedt on 1 December for withdrawing from Rostov against orders, but it is significant that he later apologized for doing so—at the behest of SS Gen Sepp Dietrich.

Replaced by the brilliant von Reichenau, who died of a stroke shortly afterwards, Rundstedt was recalled as C-in-C West in March 1942, and was joined by Rommel in a subordinate command in November 1943. The two differed over the strategy of how to defeat an Allied invasion, and in practice Rundstedt had little effective control. In the strategic disaster that developed after the Normandy landings, Rundstedt was again sacked on 2 July—a fortuitous time at which to bow out—but was recalled to preside over the odious courts of ‘honour’ in the aftermath of the July plot, and eventually again as C-in-C West on 4 September. He oversaw the Ardennes offensive, by then a 69-year-old figurehead. He was ‘retired’ for the fourth time on 11 March 1945 after the capture of the Remagen bridge over the Rhine, replaced by Kesselring, and captured in May. That he retired or was sacked four times, but always returned to serve Hitler, is evidence of the moral blind spot the old Prussian military had about serving their country, right or wrong. Never a sycophant—as Keitel and Jodl were—to Hitler's military pretensions, he was detained until 1949 and died four years later.

Bibliography

Blumentritt, Gunther, Von Rundstedt: The Soldier & the Man (London, 1952).
Ziemke, Earl F. (chapter), in Correlli Barnett (ed.), Hitler's Generals (London, 1990)

— Peter Caddick-Adams

Biography: Karl Rudolf Gerd Von Rundstedt

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Field marshal Karl Rudolf Gerd von Rundstedt (1875-1953), the senior German field commander in World War II, directed the German war effort on the Western front from 1942 to 1945.

Gerd von Rundstedt was born on Dec. 12, 1875, in Aschersleben near Magdeburg. His family was of old Prussian nobility with a long military tradition dating back to the Middle Ages. His father was a general, and his brother was a major. Rundstedt received all of his education in military schools, and in 1891 he entered the Prussian infantry. In 1906 he received his first general-staff assignment.

In World War I Rundstedt took part in the Battle of the Marne in the autumn of 1914, and then he alternately served on the Eastern and Western fronts in army corps chief of staff positions. By the end of the war he had become the chief of staff of the 15th Army Corps with the rank of major. From 1919 to 1932 Rundstedt held several staff and command positions related to the secret rearmament of Germany. During the time of troubles preceding the take-over of Adolf Hitler, he held, as a lieutenant colonel, the politically sensitive position of commander of the Berlin Military District. In this capacity in July 1932 he executed the eviction of the duly elected Social Democratic government of Prussia on the order of the German chancellor, Franz von Papen. A few weeks later Rundstedt advanced to commander in chief of the entire Army Group I (Berlin and central Germany).

During his term as Army Group I commander in chief, Rundstedt did much to improve and reform the infantry, most notably through the reequipment and reorganization of infantry commands into small, self-sufficient units, or Einheiten. By 1938 he had become increasingly alarmed at Hitler's policies toward the general staff and at the growing war preparations, and he expressed these concerns by signing an officers' petition circulated by the chief of the general staff, Gen. Ludwig Beck. In October 1938 Rundstedt asked for and obtained permission to retire.

Even before the outbreak of World War II, however, Rundstedt was recalled from retirement. In the invasion of Poland (1939), he commanded the group of German armies in the south that swept through Galicia toward Warsaw with brilliant precision. In the German attack on France in May 1940, Rundstedt led the vital drive of the centrally located Army Group A through the Ardennes and behind the French fortifications of the Maginot Line. He was rewarded for his brilliant success with a promotion to the rank of field marshal on July 19, 1940. In the summer of 1941, Rundstedt commanded the southern group of German armies in their rapid advance into Russia. He overwhelmed the army of Marshal Semyon M. Budyenny on the southern flank of the Soviets and subsequently occupied the mineral-rich Ukraine. Once again, however, the field marshal expressed disagreement with Hitler's plans and demanded a general retreat of his forces to the Mius Line. In the ensuing quarrel, Rundstedt offered his resignation, which was accepted in December 1941.

Following the entry of the United States into the war in December 1941 and the consequent increase in the likelihood of an Allied invasion of the Continent, Hitler once again turned to Rundstedt, and on March 1, 1942, Hitler appointed him commander in chief West. After the sinking of the French navy in November, Hitler added military commander of France to Rundstedt's titles. In this capacity Rundstedt prepared French defenses against an Allied invasion, which, however, he was unable to prevent. After the landing on June 6, 1944, Rundstedt withdrew German troops to the Seine River, which brought his dismissal and replacement on July 6. After his successor failed to reverse the situation and committed suicide, Rundstedt once again returned to the position of commander in chief West in September. In the following months he oversaw the declining fortunes of the German defense and watched with great consternation as Hitler's last gamble, the Ardennes offensive (Battle of the Bulge), failed in December 1944.

Thoroughly disenchanted and quite ill, Rundstedt entered final retirement on March 13, 1945. He was captured by American troops in Bavaria on May 1 and was turned over to the British for trial. Because of Rundstedt's poor health, his trial never took place, and on May 26, 1946, he was released from a British military hospital. He died in Hanover on Feb. 24, 1953.

Gerd von Rundstedt
12 December 1875(1875-12-12) – 24 February 1953 (aged 77)
Gerd von Rundstedt
Place of birth	Aschersleben, German Empire
Place of death	Hannover
Allegiance	German Empire (to 1918) Weimar Republic (to 1933) Nazi Germany
Years of service	1892 - 1938; 1939 - 1945
Rank	Generalfeldmarschall
Awards	Ritterkreuz mit Eichenlaub und Schwertern

Early life

Born in Aschersleben in the Province of Saxony into an aristocratic Prussian family, von Rundstedt joined the German Army in 1892, then entered Germany's elite military academy in 1902 – an institution that accepted only 160 new students annually and weeded out 75% of the students through exams. During World War I he rose in rank until 1918 when he was a major and was chief of staff of his division.

After the war, von Rundstedt rose steadily in the small 100,000-man army (the Reichswehr) and in 1932, was appointed commander of the 3rd Infantry Division. Later that year he threatened to resign when Franz von Papen declared martial law and ordered his troops to eject members of the Nazi Party from state government offices. In 1938 he was appointed commander of the 2nd Army that occupied the Sudetenland, but he retired after it was understood that Werner von Fritsch - Commander-in-Chief of the German Army (OKH) - was framed by the Gestapo. Upon his retirement he was given the honorary appointment of Colonel-in-Chief of the 18th Infantry regiment; von Rundstedt frequently wore an infantry colonel's uniform with his Field Marshal's tabs until the end of his career. On occasion, he was mistaken for a colonel, but he simply laughed at the notion.

World War II

In September 1939 World War II began, and von Rundstedt was recalled to active service to lead Army Group South during the successful invasion of Poland. Turning to the West, he supported Manstein's "armoured fist" approach to the invasion of France, and this was eventually selected as Fall Gelb. During the battle he was placed in command of seven panzer divisions, three motorized infantry divisions, and 35 regular infantry divisions.

By May 14, 1940, the armoured divisions led by Heinz Guderian had crossed the Meuse and had opened up a huge gap in the Allied front. General von Rundstedt had doubts about the survivability of these units without infantry support, and asked for a pause while the infantry caught up; the halt allowed the British to evacuate their forces to Dunkirk. Later Rundstedt forbade an attack on the Dunkirk beachhead, allowing the British to fully evacuate it. This turn of events has raised eyebrows over the years. Von Rundstedt and others subsequently argued that the decision was Hitler's and stemmed from his belief that Britain would more readily accept a peace treaty if he magnanimously spared what remained of her expeditionary force. However, this was no more than a face-saving rationalization. Rundstedt had wanted to preserve his motorized units for the final push to the south to conclude the campaign against the French while Göring had convinced Hitler the Luftwaffe could finish the job.^[1]

Von Rundstedt was promoted to field marshal on July 19, 1940 and took part in the planning of Operation Sealion. When the invasion was called off, von Rundstedt took control of occupation forces and was given responsibility to develop the coastal defenses in the Netherlands, Belgium and France.

Operation Barbarossa

In June 1941 von Rundstedt took part in Operation Barbarossa as commander of Army Group South, where he led 52 infantry divisions and five Panzer divisions into the Soviet Union. At first his progress was slow, but in September AG South captured Kiev in a double encirclement operation made possible by Stalin's unreasoning refusal to abandon it, even though the Dnieper had been crossed both north and south of it. The Germans claimed a fantastic haul of 665,000 Russian prisoners based on the encircled divisions' nominal, pre-combat strength as revealed by captured Soviet records. The Soviets reported that owing to previous losses - also exaggerated by the Germans, yet not subtracted by them from their tally of Soviet prisoners - the encircled divisions possessed merely 452,000 men and that, of those, 150,541 made their way out of the pocket before the lumbering German infantry divisions caught up with the armour and the ring of encirclement was consolidated. Thus "only" 300,000 men were permanently trapped, whether captured or killed. After this von Rundstedt moved east to attack Kharkov and Rostov. He strongly opposed continuing the advance into the Soviet Union during the winter and advised Hitler to call a halt, but his views were rejected.

In November, 1941 von Rundstedt had a heart attack, but he refused to be hospitalized and continued the advance, reaching Rostov on November 21. A counter-attack forced the Germans back. When von Rundstedt demanded to be allowed to withdraw, Hitler became furious and replaced him with General Walther von Reichenau.

Western battlefield

Gerd von Rundstedt with Erwin Rommel, Alfred Gause, and Bodo Zimmermann.

Hitler recalled von Rundstedt to duty in March 1942, placing him once again in command of 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 Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's appointment as von Rundstedt's ostensible subordinate in November 1943 that fortification work began in earnest. During the debates preceding the landing, 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 Geyr von Schweppenburg, the armoured commander, supported him, but 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 Africa, Rommel believed that Allied air operations would prohibit movement during the day and even at night gravely inhibit movement. But 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, von Rundstedt urged Hitler to negotiate a settlement with the Allies, his frustration culminating in his outburst, "Make peace, you idiots!" Hitler responded by replacing him with Field Marshal Günther von Kluge.

As a result of the July 20 Plot, which outraged von Rundstedt, he agreed to join OKW chief Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel and Guderian on the Army Court of Honour that expelled hundreds of officers suspected of being opposed to Hitler, often on the flimsiest of evidence. This judgement removed the suspected dissidents from the jurisdiction of the military and turned them over to the Volksgerichtshof and its presiding judge, Roland Freisler. Many of these men were executed after brief trials in what amounted to a kangaroo court.

In mid-August 1944, von Kluge committed suicide after being implicated in the July 20 Plot and Field Marshal Walter Model was given command of OB West; Model held the post for eighteen days before von Rundstedt was reappointed to command Germany's forces in the west. He rallied them in time to fight off Operation Market Garden, with Model's Army Group B at the center of the German defense. Although von Rundstedt was in command of the German forces on the Western front throughout Operation Wacht am Rhein (the Battle of the Bulge), he was opposed to that offensive from its inception, and essentially washed his hands of it. He was relieved of command for the last time in March 1945, after telling Keitel once again that Hitler should make peace with the Allies, rather than continue to fight a hopeless war.

After the war

Gerd von Rundstedt

Rundstedt was captured by the US 36th Infantry Division on May 1, 1945. During his captivity, he was reportedly asked by Soviet interrogators which battle he regarded as most decisive. They expected him to say "Stalingrad", but von Rundstedt replied "The Battle of Britain". Annoyed, the Soviets "put away their notebooks and left."^[2] While being interrogated, he suffered another heart attack, and was taken to Britain, where he was held in a Prisoner-of-War Camp in Bridgend, South Wales, and at Redgrave, Suffolk. The British authorities charged him with war crimes. These concerned allegations of his involvement in mass murders in occupied Soviet territories. On October 10, 1941, his subordinate, Walther von Reichenau, the 6th Army's commander, had issued his infamous "Reichenau Order".[1], which von Rundstedt allegedly approved. Ultimately, he never faced trial, allegedly because of his poor health. He was released in July 1948, and lived in Hanover until his death.

Family

On January 22, 1902 von Rundstedt married Luise Bila von Götz (d. 1952) and they had one child Hans Gerd von Rundstedt (1903-1948).

Summary of the military career

Dates of rank

Fähnrich: March 22, 1892
Leutnant: January 01, 1899
Oberleutnant: October 01, 1902
Hauptmann: March 22, 1909
Major: November 28, 1914
Oberstleutnant: October 01, 1920
Oberst: February 01, 1923
Generalmajor: November 01, 1927
Generalleutnant: March 01, 1929
General der Infanterie: October 01, 1932
Generaloberst: March 01, 1938
Generalfeldmarschall: July 19, 1940

Notable decorations

Iron Cross Second (1914) and First (1914) Classes
Prussian Crown Order 4th. Class (?)
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (1939)
Oak Leaves (1944)
Swords (1945)
Prussian Royal House Order of Hohenzollern Knight's Cross with Swords (1917)
Bavarian Military Merit Order 4th Class with Swords and Crown (August 9, 1915)
Saxon Albert Order Knight 1st Class with Swords (?)
Sudetenland Medal (1938)
Schwarzburg Honor Cross 3rd Class (?)
Lippe War Merit Cross (?)
Waldeck Merit Cross (?)
Turkish War Medal (?)
Order of the Crown of Italy, Grand Cross (1938)
Clasp to the Iron Cross Second (1939) and First (1939) Classes
Cross of Honor (1934)
Armed Forces Long Service Award with 40 year Clasp(?)
Romanian Order of Michael the Brave 3rd (1941), 2nd (1941) and 1st (1942) Classes
Boxer Rebellion Service Medal (1902)
Mentioned six times in the Wehrmachtbericht

References

Bungay, Stephen. The Most Dangerous Enemy: A History of the Battle of Britain. London: Aurum Press 2000. ISBN 1-85410-721-6(hardcover), ISBN 1-85410-801-8(paperback 2002).
Blumentritt, Günther, Von Rundstedt: The Man and the Soldier, London: Odhams Press, 1952
Liddell Hart, B. H., The German Generals Talk, New York: William and Morrow, 1948, chap. 7
Messenger, Charles, The Last Prussian: A Biography of Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, 1875-1953, London: Brassey's, 1991 ISBN 0-08-036707-0
Schaulen, Fritjof (2005). Eichenlaubträger 1940 - 1945 Zeitgeschichte in Farbe III Radusch - Zwernemann (in German). Selent, Germany: Pour le Mérite. ISBN 3-932381-22-X.
Ziemke, Earl, "Gerd Von Rundstedt" in Hitler's Generals, ed. Correlli Barnet, New York: Grove Weidenfeld, 1989

Notes

^ Kershaw, Ian, Fateful Choices: Ten Decisions That Changed the World, 1940-1941, London: Penguin Books, 2008, page 27.
^ Bungay 200, p. 386

Military offices
Preceded by none	*Oberbefehlshaber West* 10 October 1940 – 1 April 1941	Succeeded by Generalfeldmarschall Erwin von Witzleben
Preceded by Generalfeldmarschall Erwin von Witzleben	*Oberbefehlshaber West* 15 March 1942 – 2 July 1944	Succeeded by Generalfeldmarschall Günther von Kluge
Preceded by Generalfeldmarschall Walter Model	*Oberbefehlshaber West* 3 September 1944 – 11 March 1945	Succeeded by Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring
Awards and achievements
Preceded by Jawaharlal Nehru	Cover of Time Magazine 31 August 1942	Succeeded by Frank Knox
Preceded by Sir Arthur Coningham	Cover of Time Magazine 21 August 1944	Succeeded by Alexander Patch

v • d • e German Field Marshals and Grand Admirals of World War II

Field Marshals (Generalfeldmarschall)	Werner von Blomberg · Fedor von Bock · Eduard Freiherr von Böhm-Ermolli (honorary) · Walther von Brauchitsch · Ernst Busch · Hermann Göring · Robert Ritter von Greim · Wilhelm Keitel · Albert Kesselring · Ewald von Kleist · Günther von Kluge · Georg von Küchler · Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb · Wilhelm List · Erich von Manstein · Erhard Milch · Walter Model · Friedrich Paulus · Walther von Reichenau · Wolfram von Richthofen · Erwin Rommel · Gerd von Rundstedt · Ferdinand Schörner · Hugo Sperrle · Maximilian von Weichs · Erwin von Witzleben

Grand Admirals (Großadmiral)	Karl Dönitz · Erich Raeder

v • d • e Recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords

Ernst-Günther Baade · Franz Bäke · Hermann Balck (Diamonds) · Heinrich Bär · Erich Bärenfänger · Gerhard Barkhorn · Wilhelm Batz · Otto Baum · Werner Baumbach · Fritz Bayerlein · Hermann-Heinrich Behrend · Wilhelm Bittrich · Johannes Blaskowitz · Georg Bochmann · Alwin Boerst · Georg Freiherr von Boeselager · Albrecht Brandi (Diamonds) · Hermann Breith · Josef Bremm · Kurt Bühlingen · Karl Decker · August Dieckmann · Eduard Dietl · Josef Dietrich (Diamonds) · Helmut Dörner · Hans Dorr · Alfred Druschel · Maximilian Reichsfreiherr von Edelsheim · Karl Eibl · Hermann Fegelein · Fritz Feßmann · Walter Fries · Adolf Galland (Diamonds) · Waldemar von Gazen · Herbert Otto Gille (Diamonds) · Gordon Gollob (Diamonds) · Walter Gorn · Hermann Graf (Diamonds) · Fritz-Hubert Gräser · Robert Ritter von Greim · Franz Griesbach · Anton Hackl · Heinz Harmel · Josef Harpe · Erich Hartmann (Diamonds) · Walter Hartmann · Paul Hausser · Richard Heidrich · Ludwig Heilmann · Gotthard Heinrici · Joachim Helbig · Traugott Herr · Hajo Herrmann · Otto Hitzfeld · Hermann Hogeback · Hermann Hohn · Hermann Hoth · Hans Hube (Diamonds) · Herbert Ihlefeld · Hans Jordan · Arthur Jüttner · Hans Källner · Albert Kesselring (Diamonds) · Friedrich Kirchner · Otto Kittel · Ewald von Kleist · Günther von Kluge · Otto von Knobelsdorff · Alfons König · Wolfgang Kretzschmar · Otto Kretschmer · Hans Kreysing · Hans Kroh · Walter Krüger · Otto Kumm · Ernst Kupfer · Friedrich Lang · Heinz-Georg Lemm · Helmut Lent (Diamonds) · Wolfgang Lüth (Diamonds) · Heinrich Freiherr von Lüttwitz · Smilo Freiherr von Lüttwitz · Günther Lützow · Hellmuth Mäder · Erich von Manstein · Hasso von Manteuffel (Diamonds) · Hans-Joachim Marseille (Diamonds) · Karl Mauss (Diamonds) · Johannes Mayer · Egon Mayer · Eugen Meindl · Kurt Meyer · Walter Model (Diamonds) · Werner Mölders (Diamonds) · Dietrich von Müller · Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller · Werner Mummert · Joachim Müncheberg · Walther Nehring · Hermann Niehoff · Horst Niemack · Theodor Nordmann · Walter Nowotny (Diamonds) · Hans von Obstfelder · Walter Oesau · Hermann von Oppeln-Bronikowski · Max-Hellmuth Ostermann · Joachim Peiper · Dietrich Peltz · Hans Philipp · Georg-Wilhelm Postel · Hermann Prieß · Josef Priller · Günther Rall · Hermann-Bernhard Ramcke (Diamonds) · Hermann Recknagel · Ernst-Wilhelm Reinert · Alfred-Hermann Reinhardt · Georg-Hans Reinhardt · Lothar Rendulic · Erwin Rommel (Diamonds) · Hans-Ulrich Rudel (Diamonds & Golden Oak Leaves) · Erich Rudorffer · Gerd von Rundstedt · Max Sachsenheimer · Dietrich von Saucken (Diamonds) · Heinrich Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein · Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer (Diamonds) · Fritz von Scholz Edler von Rarancze · Ferdinand Schörner (Diamonds) · Werner Schröer · Hinrich Schuldt · Adelbert Schulz (Diamonds) · Friedrich Schulz · Karl-Lothar Schulz · Gerhard Graf von Schwerin · Sylvester Stadler · Rainer Stahel · Leopold Steinbatz · Felix Steiner · Johannes Steinhoff · Hyazinth Graf Strachwitz von Gross-Zauche und Camminetz (Diamonds) · Werner Streib · Reinhard Suhren · Karl Thieme · Theodor Tolsdorff (Diamonds) · Erich Topp · Erich Walther · Wilhelm Wegener · Otto Weidinger · Helmuth Weidling · Maximilian Wengler · Wend von Wietersheim · Wolf-Dietrich Wilcke · Theodor Wisch · Günther-Eberhardt Wisliceny · Michael Wittmann · Josef Wurmheller · Isoroku Yamamoto · Werner Ziegler

in alphabetical order see also:List of Knight's Cross recipients

v • d • e First and last recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross

first 30 September 1939	Johannes Blaskowitz (Oak Leaves and Swords) • Fedor von Bock • Walther von Brauchitsch • Hermann Göring (Grand Cross of the Iron Cross) • Wilhelm Keitel • Albert Kesselring (Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds) • Günther von Kluge (Oak Leaves and Swords) • Georg von Küchler (Oak Leaves) • Wilhelm List • Alexander Löhr (Oak Leaves) • Erich Raeder • Walter von Reichenau • Gerd von Rundstedt (Oak Leaves and Swords)

last 17 June 1945	Georg-Wolfgang Feller

Großadmiral Karl Dönitz had ordered a cease of all promotions and awards as of 11 May 1945. Therefore Georg-Wolfgang Feller is a de facto but not de jure recipient.

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Gerd von Rundstedt

Contents

Early life

World War II

Operation Barbarossa

Western battlefield

After the war

Family

Summary of the military career

Dates of rank

Notable decorations

See also

References

Notes