German Military Leaders/Nazi Era/Model

"Field Marshall Walter Model"

Model* was born in Saxony (Sachsen), although the area of his birth is now in Sachsen-Anhalt. He served in World War One, and he was retained by the army as an officer in the Versailles Treaty-limited army after the war. During the early years of World War Two, Model served in the campaigns in Poland, France and the Soviet Union. In the initial invasion of Russia, Model commanded a panzer division, which was much to his liking, since he had been heavily involved in the developing technologies of warfare. He was highly decorated, but in spite of the fact his hard charging manner in offense earned him these decorations, it was his prowess in defense for which he is most remembered, and it was some defensive battles in Russia that really made Hitler take notice of Model. After several promotions, Model was sent to lead the German forces in northern Russia, where Soviet forces had broken the siege of Leningrad and were advancing into Estonia. The front stabilized and Model was sent south to command forces in the northern Ukraine, where Soviet forces were also advancing. This area too was stabilized, and Model was put in charge of German forces in White Russia (now essentially "Belarus"), where a massive Soviet offensive had obliterated the German front line,** and had opened the way for a Soviet advance into Poland. With the help of hastily transferred units, even small ones, the front was put back together, and Model was sent westwards to help duplicate the same feat, as the German armies were in both retreat and disarray after the Allied breakout from Normandy. Some thought the war would be over by Christmas, but Model and Allied supply problems halted the German retreat, or perhaps more precisely, the Allied advance.***

In mid September 1944 the Allies carried out a large para drop behind the German lines in Holland. The operation aimed to secure important bridges for a simultaneous ground offensive that, the Allies hoped, would carry them right into northern Germany and perhaps end the war. The drop almost succeeded in capturing Model, whose headquarters, by coincidence, was nearby, but the Field Marshal escaped to command another day. The Allied plan failed, and the Germans won something of a victory, giving their troops a temporary boost in morale. Hitler wanted a major offensive mounted to turn the tide against the Allies, but Model was skeptical that such an attack could succeed, considering the tremendous losses suffered by the Germans over the summer on all fronts. He did his duty and carried out the attack, which came to be known as "The Battle of the Bulge." The defeat of this offensive brought the Allies into Germany itself, and Model's forces were encircled in the Ruhr industrial region, where Model was ordered by Hitler to hold on at all costs, and to destroy the infrastructure of the region; something Model chose NOT to do. Most of the German forces surrendered and Model committed suicide by shooting himself. Within a couple of weeks, the Germans signed the overall surrender and the war ended.

Model was a cigar smoking general known for leading from the front and bypassing his superiors to the point of insubordination. In these things, plus his "colorful language," he was sort of the German version of General Patton. Further, when Patton was low on infantry, anyone in sight might be ordered to get a rifle and go to the front, and this was also true of Model, who was much feared by rear area service troops for this reason. Model was outspoken, at times even to Hitler, but he was also considered too close to Hitler by some of the other generals. Like so many of the German military people during the war, Model was tarnished by atrocities committed in his areas of command, especially in Russia, and the Soviets wanted him put on trial after the war, but his suicide removed that option.

* Pronounced as if one syllable, with a long 'o,' "modl," not two distinct syllables, "mo-del."

** While badly outnumbered in men, tanks, artillery, and planes, the German situation during the Soviet offensive in White Russia in 1944 was made far worse by the "nutcase in chief," Hitler, who earlier had declared areas around certain cities in the region to be "fortified places" (Festerplätze), where any retreat was forbidden without his personal permission. Many German units collectively with tens of thousands of men were simply surrounded by the Soviets and destroyed.

*** The Allied advance had been so dramatic, their supplies could not keep up with their advancing units, as they were having to move those supplies all the way from Normandy to the front, which was moving further and further away.

WORD HISTORY:
Wont-Now not an overly common word, except in phrases like, "as I am wont to do," this word means "accustomed, by habit, be used to." It is closely related to "wean;" that is, "to grow accustomed to doing without something," originally used of a "baby being weaned from its mother's milk." The origins beyond Germanic are uncertain, and even the actual Old Germanic root is more than a bit confusing (it may actually be more specifically, West Germanic), but it "seems" to go back to "wunjanan," which meant "to dwell, to grow accustomed to a place by remaining there; thus reside or dwell there." This gave Anglo-Saxon (Old English) "wunian," with the same basic meaning, but with the 'grow accustomed to' element broadened beyond living space, and later the "dwell" notion died out in English. This then later became "wonen," and its past participle has come down to us a "wont." German has "wohnen" (to dwell, to reside) and "gewöhnen" (to get used to, become accustomed to); Low German Saxon has "wahnen" (reside, dwell); some Low German dialects have "wone," Dutch has "wonen" (dwell, reside); Frisian has "wenne" (become accustomed to), but the verb form with the "dwell, reside" meaning apparently has died out, but forms of the word survive, for instance, "went(e)," a noun, means "residence."