German Military Leaders/Nazi Era/Guderian

"Colonel General Heinz Guderian"

Guderian (pronounced goo-dair-ee-on) was born in the region then known as "West Prussia," which is now part of Poland. He served in World War One and remained in the Versailles Treaty-limited army after the war, where he eventually became involved with mobile warfare tactics, which included armored forces. It was in this field of mobile and armored warfare that Guderian made his lasting mark, as he read anything and everything he could lay his hands on about the subject. He developed theories of armored warfare and set them down in writing in a book in the 1930s. The German army used much of Guderian's thinking to organize their, then still to become famous, Panzer forces, along with much of his overall view of warfare, later dubbed "Blitzkrieg" ("lightning war").*

Guderian was able to implement some of his theories when he commanded a corps during the German invasion of Poland in 1939. By the spring of 1940, Guderian led the forces that broke through the French lines and drove to the English Channel, trapping the predominantly British forces at Dunkirk. When Hitler invaded the Soviet Union in the summer of 1941, Guderian commanded a force dominated by tanks and motorized infantry, and his units made dramatic advances in the push toward Moscow. Hitler ordered Guderian to halt his advance on the Soviet capitol, and to turn his forces southward to help capture Kiev in the Ukraine. This brought the general into conflict with Hitler, as he disagreed with Hitler's order, although he carried it out, and a huge German victory was scored at Kiev, but at the expense of time for the continued advance on Moscow. By the time the offensive resumed, winter was approaching, and the respite had given the Soviets time to bring in reinforcements. The German drive was halted just outside Moscow, and the Soviets launched an offensive of their own in the winter conditions. Guderian was dismissed by Hitler and sent home. He wasn't recalled to service until the spring of 1943, when he was made "Inspector General of Panzer Troops," where he developed tactics and helped in tank design. By this point, Guderian was deeply disappointed at how German armored divisions had been so watered down, although they could still pack a powerful punch.**

After the unsuccessful attempt on Hitler's life in July 1944, Guderian was made "Chief of the Army General Staff" (Chef des Generalstabs des Heeres) which had major responsibilities for the war against the Soviets, the "Eastern Front." It was during this time that Guderian got involved in several heated confrontations with Hitler,*** ending with his dismissal in March 1945, just prior to the final Soviet assault on Berlin. The general was taken into custody by the Americans in 1945 and held for a couple of years, but he was not put on trial, although there was evidence of war crimes committed in Poland and the Soviet Union under his command. This is not to defend Guderian, or any other German general for that matter, but the same could be said for just about all German military commanders under Hitler. It has to be stated for the record, however, Guderian did support Hitler and the Nazi system (although with some disagreements), and he did not support the military people involved in the plot to kill Hitler. Guderian suffered from heart problems and died in 1954.

* Part of Guderian's ideas involved the use of motorized infantry and motorized artillery to give support to advancing tanks.

** One of the criticisms of Hitler's handling of the military was that he loved to create new units, rather than keep existing, experienced units up to strength.

*** If I remember correctly, Guderian and others said that during one of these violent arguments, Hitler's face turned purple, he was so angry with Guderian. Such was the ferocious, furious Führer.

WORD HISTORY:
Out-This common word goes back to Indo European "ud," which meant "up, out." This gave its offspring, Old Germanic, "ut," which then gave Anglo-Saxon (Old English) "ut," which then later became "out." The verb form in Old English was "utian," and meant "drive out, expel." German has "aus"^ Low German "ut" (some Low dialects have "üt"), Dutch "uit," Frisian "út," Danish "ud," Icelandic "út," Norwegian and Swedish "ut."

^ One of the distinguishing features of High German came after the Germanic dialects that became English had already taken root in England, this being the "t" eventually becoming an "s." This sound shift did not occur in Low German, Dutch, Frisian or English, only in Old High German. The German "au" is pronounced like English "ou," or the "ow" in "how."