German Military Leaders/Nazi Era/Von Rundstedt

NOTE: As with the political leaders, these articles are not meant to provide comprehensive biographies, but rather some information I recall from my many years of study.

"Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt"

Von Rundstedt was from what is now the state of "Sachsen-Anhalt" (state capitol, Magdeburg), which lies somewhat southwest of Berlin in eastern Germany, and in von Rundstedt's time, it was a part of the German state of Prussia, within the German Empire (Reich). He came from a noble/aristocratic family; thus the "von" in his name. He joined the army, served in World War One and remained in the army, which was limited in size by the Versailles Treaty after the war.*

Von Rundstedt was never all that "taken with" Hitler, but like many Germans, he saw Germany's prestige being restored by Hitler, and let's face it, the desire to include "German areas," then outside of Germany, within Germany's borders became a potent issue. Hitler's successes made it difficult for opponents of the regime to gain supporters. Von Rundstedt was a general before Hitler came to power. Already in his mid 60s by the time the war started, von Rundstedt was a high level commander of German forces during the Polish campaign and then during the campaign against France. Hitler promoted him to field marshal after the German victory over France in 1940.

Von Rundstedt was highly respected within the German military and by the German public, but he was also noted for his sharp tongue, and his caustic remarks got him into trouble at times, but even then, Hitler would fire him, only to bring him back again. This first happened in Russia late in 1941, when von Rundstedt recommended the withdrawal of German forces to consolidate their positions for defense. "Withdrawal" was not a word Hitler ever wanted to hear, and von Rundstedt was relieved of his command of German forces in southern Russia. Just a few months later in the spring of 1942, Hitler recalled him and gave him command of all German forces in western Europe, a position he held until after the Allies invaded in Normandy during the "D-Day" operation. He was again relieved of his command by Hitler after answering a question as to what he thought should be done with, "Make peace you fools!" Just a month or two later Hitler reappointed him as the commander of German forces in western Europe, and he retained that position until about 6 or 7 weeks before the German surrender. What the Western Allies call the "Battle of the Bulge" was under von Rundstedt's overall supervision, but he had never favored this attack, especially with the unrealistic objectives set by Hitler (the main objective being for German forces to capture the Belgian port of Antwerp, during the winter).

While highly respected, even by the Allies, von Rundstedt was tainted by his association with Hitler. He was taken into custody by the Americans and was held in captivity until 1948 (his son died of throat cancer shortly before von Rundstedt's release). Plagued by heart problems from the early part of the war on, von Rundstedt died in 1953. There was controversy over the field marshal. Some felt he should have been tried for war crimes over involvement with Hitler's orders that excluded Soviet commissars from POW status, permitting them to be executed on the spot. Then there was an order excluding parachutists dropped behind German lines, but not involved in direct military operations; thus defining them essentially as saboteurs, and giving jurisdiction to the Gestapo, which should tell you what fate awaited them.

* Nobles and aristocrats made up the vast majority of officers in the German army back then, which is not surprising, due to the governance of Germany and its states by the nobility, with the Kaiser at the top, and simultaneously holding the title of "King of Prussia." After World War One, and the attempt at German democracy, the army remained in the hands of many men of noble/aristocratic birth, since they had the experience from the previous system. "If" democracy had flourished and continued, it is possible that time and a developing democratic tradition would have made the German officer corps far less class conscious as well. A good deal of this change happened under the Nazis, as aging officers began to retire, but then "political" considerations became important, and with the war, the officer corps necessarily expanded tremendously, which brought many non nobles to officer rank.

WORD HISTORY:
Field-This word goes back to Indo European "pel," with the notion of "flat land area." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "felduz," as the initial "p" became "f' in Germanic, as was common, and it still retained the same meaning, but which seems to have only continued into the West Germanic branch of Germanic. This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "feld," with the meaning "open flat land," and later, "land designated as pasture or for farming," along with the modern spelling. The "open land" notion also gave English "battlefield," which spawned a verb form with the meaning, "troops and military equipment sent into battle," as in "Our army was able to 'field' 10,000 men." This verb form came about in the 1500s. Common in the other West Germanic languages; that is, the closest relatives of English, German and Low German Saxon have "Feld," some Low German dialects have "felt," Frisian has "fjild," and Dutch has "veld." North Germanic Swedish has "fält" and Danish has "felt," but they were borrowed from German. Words related to "field" are widespread in the Germanic languages, which include English "fold," an obsolete term (not the same word as "fold," as in "fold your clothes"), but they don't trace back to the specific West Germanic form, and they mean/meant "land, earth." They do trace back to the same Indo European root, so the idea of "land" is present.