Download Erich von Manstein

Erich von Manstein
Ablest of Hitler’s Generals
‘The confidence of the man in the ranks rests upon a man’s strength
of character.’
Erich von Manstein
A Life in Brief
Key Battles and Campaigns
1887, November 17
Born in Berlin, adopted by
childless Prussian noble family
Operation Case Red,
France, June 1940
Due to his differences
with Halder, Manstein
commands XXXVIII
Corps (part of Günther
von Kluge’s Fourth
Army) during the
invasion of France,
and is only involved in
Operation Case Red,
the second stage of
the campaign to take
France. His corps
spearheads the advance
from the River Somme
to the River Loire, and
is the first German unit
to cross the Seine.
1906
Commissioned as a Prussian
Guards officer
1913
Attends War Academy
1914, November
Severely wounded on Western
Front
1920
Company commander
1935
Head of Operations, Army
General Staff
1936
First Quartermaster, Army
General Staff
1939
Chief of Staff, Army Group South
1940
Chief of Staff, Army Group A
1941, June
Commander, LVI Corps
1941, September
Commander, Eleventh Army
Manstein was one of the key operational commanders
1942
of World War II, and an outstanding staff officer.
Commander, Army Group Don
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Richard the Lionheart
1943
However, he was not a frontline commander who
Commander, Army Group South
commanded loyalty and affection from his troops,
1944, March
and he shared the lack of strategic vision of many
1973, June 12
other German generals. His accomplishments as a
Dismissed by Hitler
Dies at Irschenhausen, Bavaria
commander are also often exaggerated, notably in his
The Crimea, September
1941–July 1942
Manstein ably
commands the
Eleventh Army during
the conquest of the
Crimea (September–
October 1941); only
the port-city of Sevastopol holds
out against the German onslaught.
Between December 1941 and April
1942 he defends German gains
against a surprise Soviet counteroffensive on the Kertsch Peninsula,
but the eastern Crimea is lost. He
is fortunate to keep his command
after this setback, and in May 1942
launches a swift counter-offensive,
which routs the Red Army and
own memoirs.
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recaptures the eastern Crimea in
just two weeks. In June Manstein
renews his assault on, and finally
conquers, Sevastopol. Hitler
rewards him by promoting him to
field marshal.
The Attempted Relief of Stalingrad,
December 1942
Manstein takes command of
Army Group Don and endeavours,
unsuccessfully, to rescue Friedrich
Paulus’s Sixth Army encircled at
Stalingrad, in Operation Winter
Storm. Fourth Panzer Army makes
some headway to the beleaguered
Axis forces, but is forced to
withdraw by enveloping Soviet
forces to the north.
The Battle of Kharkov,
February–March 1943
In a desperate effort to evade being
encircled and annihilated by the
Soviet advance on Rostov, Manstein
effects a strategic withdrawal from
the Caucasus into the eastern
Ukraine. On 21 February, Manstein
launches a stunning counteroffensive, spearheaded by the
Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler division,
that routs the Red Army. Kharkov
is recaptured on 14 March. Hitler
rewards Manstein with the Oak
Leaves for his Knight’s Cross.
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Manstein’s military career began in the Prussian
Guards. In 1913 he attended the War Academy for
provided unprecedented opportunity for promotion and
aspiring staff officers. Badly wounded in November
in July 1935 Manstein became Head of the Operations
1914, he served for the rest of World War I as an
Branch in the Army General Staff. In 1938 he received
operations officer. After Germany’s defeat he joined
a coveted field command of an infantry division, and
the Frontier Guard service before becoming a company
as war approached he became Chief of Staff of Army
commander in the interwar army. Hitler’s rise to power
Group South.
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CAMPAIGNS OF MANSTEIN
1939 – 1943
ARCTIC OCEAN
N
Narvik
Trondheim
NORWAY
FINLAND
SWEDEN
Gulf of
Bothnia
Lake
Ladoga
Bergen
and
Oslo
f
Gul
Stockholm
inl
of F
Leningrad
ESTONIA
North
Sea
R U S
LATVIA
Baltic
S ea
DENMARK
Copenhagen
U NITED
K I NGDOM
LITHUANIA
S
I
A
Smolensk
Russia
Minsk
S
D
AN
L
ER
London
Hamburg
TH
B E L A RU S
Berlin
NE
GERM A N Y
BELG.
POLAND
LUX.
Paris
KAZAKSTAN
Warsaw
Stalingrad
UKRAINE
Krakow
CZECH.
Caspian
Sea
SLOVAKIA
FRANCE
AUST R IA
SWITZ.
MOLDOVA
H U N G A RY
SLOVENIA
RO M A N IA
C ROAT IA
Sevastopol
Belgrade
BOSNIAHERZ.
I TA LY
S PA IN
Corsica
Rome
Adriatic
Sea
Black Sea
YUGOSLAVIA
BULG A R IA
MACE.
ALBANIA
Sardinia
T
U
R
K
E
Y
GREECE
SY R IA
Airborne
invasion
ALGERIA
TUNISIA
f
r
i
c
I R A Q
LEBANON
Mediterranean Sea
ISRAEL
a
JORDAN
L
I
B Y A
EGYPT
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S AU D I
ARABIA
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Cyprus
Crete
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Athens
Sicily
Heinz Guderian (1888–1954)
Guderian was a military theorist and self-proclaimed
Operation Barbarossa, the Axis invasion of the Soviet
father of the German armoured force of World War
Union. As his spearheads neared the outskirts of
II. In the 1930s he advocated the employment of
Moscow in early December, the advance stalled.
concentrated tank forces to restore offensive power
Driven back during the Soviet winter counter-
to the battlefield. He contributed to the creation
offensive, Guderian was subsequently dismissed by
of independent Panzer divisions and was a daring
Hitler on 26 December.
operational field commander in Germany’s brilliant
blitzkrieg victories early in the war.
In the wake of disastrous defeats at Stalingrad
and on the Don, Hitler recalled Guderian on 1 March
Guderian led the XIX Motorized Corps in the
1943 as Inspector General of Armoured Forces, in
1939 Polish campaign, crossing the Polish Corridor
an effort to revitalize the tank arm. Yet he proved
and advancing deep into the enemy rear. During
unable to reverse Germany’s mounting defeats.
May 1940 he effected the penetration through the
After the failed 20 July 1944 assassination plot on
Ardennes and forced the River Meuse, leading to the
Hitler, Guderian was elevated to acting chief of the
isolation and evacuation of the British Expeditionary
Army General Staff, where he attempted to halt the
Force from Dunkirk. He then led a Panzer group deep Soviet advance on Germany. He masterminded the
into the French rear in June 1940 to complete the
brief spoiling attack at Arnswalde in February 1945
defeat of France. During the summer of 1941 he led
that delayed the final Soviet offensive on Berlin.
the Second Panzer Group in dramatic encirclements
Increasing disagreements led the Führer to force
of Soviet forces at Minsk, Smolensk and Kiev during
convalescence leave on Guderian in mid March.
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Ardennes Forest
Bouillon
GUDERIAN
Charleville
Mézières
Fleigneux
Illy
St Menges
Iges
La Chapelle
Floing
Gaulier
Glaire
Donchery
Fenois
Marfée
Wood
Poix Terron
Singly
Omicourt
La Horgne
Connage
Bazeilles
C h ie r s
Chaumont
Chéhéry
Me
u se
Bulson
Omont
Chémery
Bouvellemont
Givonne
Wadelincourt
Thélonne
Montigny
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SEDAN
Balan
Raucourt
Mouzon
Maisoncelle
BATTLE OF
THE MEUSE
13–14 May 1940
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Stonne
Bar
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Flabas
FLAVIGNY
La Bagnolle
The Years of Conquest
Allied intentions of advancing into Belgium to thwart
In his role as Chief of Staff, Manstein helped devise the
a renewed Schlieffen Plan, leaving them exposed to
plan for a concentrated armoured thrust from Silesia
envelopment. However, Manstein made enemies while
into Poland and on to Warsaw (Operation Case White).
advancing his ideas: Halder struck back by posting
The invasion of Poland was launched on 1 September
him to command a second-wave infantry corps that
1939, and was a great success for the new blitzkrieg
only participated late in the campaign. Hitler, however,
tactics.
promoted Manstein to full general and awarded him
During spring 1940, Manstein, now Chief of
Staff of Army Group A, proffered a more audacious
the Knight’s Cross for devising the plan.
In June 1941 Manstein led a corps in the drive on
plan for the invasion of France than the original ‘Case
Leningrad during Operation Barbarossa, the German
Yellow’ proposed by Franz Halder, head of the Army
invasion of the Soviet Union. His success led to
General Staff. Halder’s plan essentially replicated
promotion in September to command the Eleventh
the failed Schlieffen Plan of 1914, which sought
Army, tasked with conquering the Crimea. His forces
to defeat the French Army quickly by an advance
broke through the Perekop Isthmus during October
through Belgium, before concentrating all resources
and by mid November had subdued the peninsula, with
on defeating Russia in the east. After intense debate,
the exception of the fortified port-city of Sevastopol.
and despite much opposition, a modified version
Manstein’s first attempt to capture Sevastopol failed,
of Manstein’s ‘cut of the sickle’ plan was adopted in
and he had to suspend his second in late December
February. Manstein envisaged concentrated armoured
when Soviet forces landed at Kertsch and recaptured
forces negotiating the hilly, forested Ardennes and
the Eastern Crimea. Caught unawares by the Soviet
forcing the River Meuse, thereby penetrating the Allied
counter-offensive, he was fortunate that the divisional
front and isolating the British Expeditionary Force
commander who failed to hold the isthmus became the
from the bulk of the French Army. His plan worked;
scapegoat.
it achieved strategic surprise, and correctly predicted
In May 1942 Manstein launched a new offensive
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Erwin Rommel (1891–1944)
Rommel was a dynamic and courageous leader who
In July 1943 Hitler appointed Rommel commander
was loved by his troops and admired by his enemies. In
of Army Group B, which assumed the defence of
1929 he became a military instructor, and his popular
northern France and Belgium in November. He
text Infantry Attacks! led to appointments as commander
energetically prepared to stop the Allies on the beaches
of Hitler’s personal escort in 1938 and the 7th Panzer
and annihilate them with a rapid armoured counter-
Division in 1940. Rommel led the latter with distinction
thrust. However, Rommel failed to repulse the June 1944
in the 1940 French campaign, penetrating the country’s
invasion and was seriously injured during an air attack.
defences and repulsing the Allied counterattack at Arras
The involvement of his staff in the 20 July assassination
during May, before advancing to Cherbourg in June. In
plot against Hitler placed him under suspicion. Hitler
February 1941 Hitler entrusted Rommel with a small
gave him the choice of being tried for treason or
force (which later became the Afrika Korps) to bolster
committing suicide. Rommel took his own life on 14
Italian forces in Libya. Rommel pursued an aggresive
October 1944, and was buried with full military honours.
defence that routed British and Commonwealth forces in
two major advances during 1941–42. He broke through
at Gazala in May 1942 and stormed Tobruk on 21 June
– a feat for which Hitler promoted him to field marshal
– before advancing to El Alamein. Montgomery’s Eighth
Army wore down Panzer Army Afrika during the Second
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Battle of El Alamein, while Rommel was on sick leave,
and then drove Axis forces back to Tunisia. Rommel
returned to thwart the Allied attempt to overrun Tunisia
during Operation Torch (November 1942), but could not
prevent the Axis collapse in Tunisia in May 1943.
GAZALA AND THE FALL
OF TOBRUK
26 May – 21 June 1942
M e d i t e r r a n e a n
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Sabratha
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Trento
Brescia
S e a
Tubruq
(Tobruk)
1 South
African
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Pavia
Allied front lines
Allied attack
Allied retreat
Al ’Adam
(El Adem)
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X
150
El Duda
Axis movements
Major battle site
Sidi Rezegh
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Bardia
Minefields
Sollum
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Pavia
N
XX
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Gazala
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Ariete
0
0
21
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X
Bi’r al Ghabi
(Bir el Gubi)
22
Gabr Saleh
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8
CUNNINGHAM
15
L
25 km
I
B
Y
A
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25 miles
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G
Y
P
T
‘The German
generals of this
war were the bestfinished product
of their profession
– anywhere.’
Basil Liddell Hart
that ejected the
Eastern Crimea within two weeks, paving
the way for a lavishly supported assault on Sevastopol.
interfered with his plans for a decisive assault on the
city.
The Tide Turns in the East
city, though, it being accomplished by overwhelming
On 21 November 1942 Hitler appointed Manstein to
firepower. Organized Soviet resistance ceased on 4 July:
command the newly formed Army Group Don, tasked
however, pockets remained for months after this and
with rescuing the encircled Sixth Army at Stalingrad.
the price of victory proved high. Hitler was pleased by
His relief effort came within 30 miles of the trapped
his success, and subsequently dispatched Manstein to
army, but Manstein waited too long and failed to
capture Leningrad, which had been under siege since
rescue it; part of it might possibly have escaped if he
September 1941. Here, he thwarted repeated Soviet
had ordered the army to break out earlier. Moreover,
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There was little finesse to the capture of the port-
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Red Army from the
attempts to relieve the city, but Soviet spoiling attacks
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The Battle
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Casualties:
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Casualties:
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Gerd von Rundstedt (1875–1953)
A staff officer throughout World War I, Rundstedt’s
increasingly backed Rommel in the controversy
willingness to serve as one of Hitler’s senior generals
over the counter-invasion strategy and dismissed
in the interwar years helped the Nazis win the loyalty
Rundstedt on 2 July 1944, following his failure
of the Prussian officer corps. Rundstedt retired after
to drive the Allies back into the sea at Normandy.
the 1938 annexation of the Sudetenland but Hitler
However, his seniority and respectability ensured that
recalled him as Commander of Army Group South
Hitler could never entirely dispose of his services.
for the Polish campaign. He then led Army Group
Rundstedt was appointed to head the honour court
A in the West, where he implemented the deep
that dismissed army officers complicit in the 20
penetration of the Ardennes, devised by his chief of
July assassination plot, and he was recalled as
staff Erich von Manstein. Hitler rewarded Rundstedt
Commander-in-Chief West on 4 September 1944. He
with promotion to field marshal and gave him
oversaw the December 1944 Ardennes offensive, but
command of Army Group South during Operation
increasingly became a mere conduit for the Führer’s
Barbarossa. Rundstedt’s retreat from Rostov, however,
orders. Hitler retired him permanently on 11 March
led to his dismissal on 1 December 1941.
1945 in the wake of capture of the bridge over the
In March 1942 Hitler appointed Rundstedt as
River Rhine at Remagen by US troops. Arrested in
Commander-in-Chief West, but the Führer’s distrust
May by US troops, he remained in Allied custody
of Rundstedt’s conservatism ultimately led him to
until 1949, but evaded war-crimes prosecution due to
appoint Erwin Rommel as his subordinate. Hitler
ill health. He died four years later in Hanover.
the Soviet thrust toward Rostov forced Manstein to
back beyond the River Dnieper. During February
abandon his relief effort and to affect a strategic retreat
1944 he rescued only some of the forces isolated in
from the Caucasus.
the Cherkassy Pocket. Disenchanted with Manstein,
During February 1943, Hitler gave Manstein
Hitler relieved him during late March, appeasing him
operational freedom to arrest the continuing Soviet
with the award of the Swords to his Knight’s Cross.
advance in the Ukraine. Conducting a delaying defence
Manstein anticipated being recalled and continued
on his threatened northern flank, he withdrew forces
to believe that his military genius could change the
from his southern front and launched a devastating
strategic situation sufficiently to allow a negotiated
counterattack northwards on 21 February that shattered
peace; however, he failed to see that the brutality of the
the Soviet South-Western Front and recaptured Kharkov
Nazi regime made political negotiation highly unlikely.
three weeks later, temporarily stabilizing the situation.
He was never recalled to service, and at war’s end was
Manstein styled this operational technique rochade,
arrested in Germany by British troops.
after the chess move where a player castles his king. It
was his greatest major battlefield accomplishment –yet
Later Years
he would never repeat this feat.
In 1949, having escaped the post-war Nuremberg trials,
Lacked strategic vision, Manstein believed he could
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Manstein was convicted of violations of the laws of
war by a British military tribunal in Germany, and he
operational counter-strikes. He supported Hitler’s ill-
served three years in prison. On his release, he became
conceived Operation Citadel offensive in July 1943 to
a military advisor to the West German government. In
pinch off and annihilate Soviet forces astride Kursk.
1955 he published Lost Victories, which would become
Thereafter, Manstein’s forces were steadily pushed
one of the most widely read World War II memoirs.
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turn around the war on the Eastern Front with similar
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