Karl Rudolf Gerd Von Rundstedt

Background

Gerd von Rundstedt was born on December 12, 1875, in Aschersleben near Magdeburg, Germany. His father was a general, and his brother was a major.

Education

Rundstedt received all of his education in military schools, and in 1891 he entered the Prussian infantry.

Career

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 1940 his troops spearheaded the German offensive against France and helped force the surrender of British and French forces at Dunkirk.

He participated in the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941.

He overwhelmed the army of Marshal Semyon M. Budyenny on the southern flank of the Soviets and subsequently occupied the mineral-rich Ukraine.

Though at first successful, he was defeated at Rostov in November 1941.

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.

In this capacity Rundstedt prepared French defenses against an Allied invasion, which, however, he was unable to prevent.

Failing to halt the Allied landings in Normandy he was suspended in July 1944, but in September, as the Germans were driven back through France and Belgium into Germany, he was reinstated as commander of the German army.

Rundstedt planned the final German offensive in December 1944 that resulted in the Battle of the Bulge.

German advance units reached into France as far as the Meuse River before Allied forces regrouped.

The German thrust was halted and thrown back into Germany.

He 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.

References

• The Last Prussian: A Biography of Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt
• Rundstedt (Ballantine's illustrated history of the violent century. War leader book no. 25)