Background
Busch was born on 6 July 1885 at Essen in the Ruhr district of Germany.
Busch was born on 6 July 1885 at Essen in the Ruhr district of Germany.
In 1904, having graduated from the Gross Lichterfelde Cadet Academy, he joined the Imperial Army as a Fahnenjunker (officer cadet). He was initially posted to the Westphalian 13th Infantry Regiment but was later assigned to the 57th Infantry Regiment, in which he was commissioned a Leutnant (second lieutenant). In 1913, he was promoted to Oberleutnant (first lieutenant) and received further training at the War Academy.
Early life and career After the war, Busch remained in the army and was appointed Inspector of Transport Troops in 1925. He was promoted in 1930 to lieutenant-colonel and given command of the Infantry Regiment No. 9. World War II Busch served under Wilhelm List during the Invasion of Poland of 1939, and the following year he led the German Sixteenth Army during the Western Offensive.
He was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross by Hitler. Busch took part in Operation Barbarossa and on 8 September 1941 his 16th Army took Demyansk before taking part in the siege of Leningrad. Despite a counter-attack by the Red Army, Busch's troops held the line from Staraya Russa to Ostashkov.
Promoted to field marshal, Busch commanded Army Group Centre in 1943 and 1944 but after the disastrous defeat of June 1944, he was sacked by Hitler early in July 1944 and replaced by Field Marshal Walter Model. Busch was recalled in March 1945 when he became head of Army Group Northwest. Along with Kurt Student and his 1st Parachute Army, Busch had the task of trying to halt the advance of Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery's forces into Germany.
Busch surrendered to Montgomery on 3 May 1945, and died of heart failure in a prisoner of war camp in Aldershot, England, on 17 July 1945. Busch was temporarily buried in the Aldershot Military Cemetery between the graves of two German privates. His funeral, which was performed with little ceremony, was attended by Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt and eight other captured German generals.
His body was exhumed in 1963 and reburied in Cannock Chase German war cemetery in Staffordshire.
