Heroes Against Hitler, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg

I first published this article on November 9, 2011.

"Colonel Claus Graf (=Count) von Stauffenberg"

The man who nearly killed Hitler was born in eastern Swabia, a part of Bavaria, although the German dialect (German: Schwäbisch or Swabian in English) is not Bavarian, but rather it is more closely related to Swiss German and Alsatian German, located in that same overall region. A devout Catholic, his religious beliefs may have had an influence on his later opposition to Hitler and the Nazis, although not all historians agree on that. His first love was the cavalry, and he became an officer, although by the mid to late 1930s, traditional horse cavalry were giving way to mechanized cavalry. Stauffenberg began to have serious doubts about Hitler when the Führer sent troops to occupy the remainder of Czechoslovakia in March 1939, after the little nation had ceded German populated regions to Germany just six months earlier. He served in the campaigns in Poland in September 1939 and in France in May-June 1940. Like many Germans, Stauffenberg favored the reclaiming of territories lost to Poland after World War One. During the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Stauffenberg served as a staff officer in the army high command, not in a field unit. He tried to help change or limit German ill treatment of Soviet civilians, including Jews, and Soviet prisoners of war in the early months of the German invasion, but the brutal and murderous policies pushed Stauffenberg to embrace other German officers in opposition to Hitler.

Early in 1943 Stauffenberg was sent to Tunisia in North Africa, where German and Italian forces, under the operational control of Field Marshal Rommel, were trying to prevent the total loss of North Africa to the Allies. Just a month before the final Axis surrender there, Stauffenberg was severely wounded, losing his right hand, two fingers on his left hand, and his left eye, over which he eventually wore a black patch. It took several months in the hospital and further convalescence at home before Stauffenberg was able to resume service, this time as a staff officer at the headquarters of the Ersatzheer (Replacement Army), which was located in Berlin.* The Replacement Army had a number of anti-Nazi conspirators and plans for a takeover of Germany were developed, but most were not put into operation, while others failed, or had to be changed due to important Nazi leaders not being present. Eventually Stauffenberg carried a bomb-laden briefcase into Hitler's headquarters in northeastern Germany. The briefcase was placed under the conference table, just a short distance from Hitler, and Stauffenberg excused himself by saying he had to make a phone call. Just a few minutes later the bomb exploded, but Hitler, though shaken and bruised, survived, as one of the officers had moved the briefcase to the other side of the table support, and thus further away from Hitler, with the table support deflecting some of the direct affects of the blast. Stauffenberg witnessed the explosion from a distance and managed to get through the headquarters' security, convinced Hitler was dead. He flew back to Berlin and found that plans for the takeover of the government had not really moved, as many conspirators were uncertain about Hitler's death. Word came that Hitler was very much alive and Colonel General Fromm, the commander of the Replacement Army, and aware of the plot,** now tried to save himself by having Stauffenberg and other conspirators arrested, tried and executed in the early morning hours of July 21, 1944. There is a memorial in the courtyard where Stauffenberg and the other plotters were executed. Its heading reads: "Here Died For Germany" ("Hier Starben Für Deutschland"), and then it lists the names of the executed men. These men and hundreds more were executed for the attempt to kill Hitler. They weren't perfect, and many had supported Hitler earlier, but they saw evil and tried to do stop it. That makes them heroes in my book.

The information I've provided here is very basic. There are numerous detailed books on the July 20 plot, as well as the overall German Resistance movement. A very good source, and one I used, is by German historian Joachim Fest, "Plotting Hitler's Death, The Story of the German Resistance," Metropolitan Books, New York, 1996, published in the original German as "Staatsstreich, Der Lange Weg zum 20. Juli," Berlin, 1994 (translation:. "Coup, The Long Way (or Path) to July 20")

For more, see my article in "The German Question" series on the plot:
http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2011/08/german-question-part-one-hundred-fifty_29.html

* The Replacement Army was in charge of inducting men into the army and then training and equipping them for service with units in the field. Germany was divided into numerous military districts (Wehrkreise), with various training units stationed in each district under the control of the Replacement Army. Collectively these units totaled many hundreds of thousands of men. A number of anti-Nazi conspirators were in high positions in the Replacement Army, and they planned to use these substantial forces to secure control of Germany by disarming SS units and other Nazi formations, if Hitler were arrested or killed.

** Fromm's depth of involvement in the plot has been a subject of debate (after all, he had some of the main conspirators killed), but by all accounts, he knew of the plot and did not report it. That certainly implicated him. The Gestapo investigation did not uncover direct evidence against Fromm, but he was removed from the army a couple of months later. Just two months before the war ended, Fromm was sentenced to death by the Nazi court and the sentence was carried out only days later (by firing squad). Even with the walls crashing down around them, the Nazis pursued their enemies at home.

WORD HISTORY:
My/Mine-"My" is simply a shortened form of "mine," which was used to show possession by being placed before nouns. Both go back to Indo European "meyn." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "minaz," which then gave Anglo-Saxon (Old English) "min" (long "i" sound). By the 1100s or early 1200s, the shortened form had developed as its own distinctive word to show possession, "mi," and later "my," although "min" (also "myn") stuck around for quite awhile for use before words beginning with a vowel; thus it is still found in old Bibles. Of course "mine" is still with us to show possession, but instead of showing possession before a noun, it comes afterward: "That is my book," but "That book is mine." Common throughout the other Germanic languages: West Frisian "myn," Dutch "mijn," German "mein," but in Bavarian dialect "mei," Low German Saxon "mien," Icelandic "minn," Swedish, Norwegian and Danish "min."

Heroes Against Hitler (Overview)

On July 20, 1944 the German Resistance nearly killed Adolf Hitler at his military headquarters near the city of Rastenburg, in the province of East Prussia in (then) northeastern Germany. After the war, East Prussia was divided between Poland and the U.S.S.R. In honor of those who attempted to rid the world of "the nutcase in chief," I'm republishing this article, which I first published on October 31, 2011 as part of a series "Heroes Against Hitler."  

"Heroes Against Hitler" Part One/"Overview"

In Hitler's Germany resistance to the government and to the Nazi Party was not easily accomplished, especially on an organized basis. A person confiding anti-Nazi feelings to anyone, even to a family member, could bring about their own arrest and imprisonment in a concentration camp, or even their own execution. The Gestapo (the secret police) had agents throughout society, and Nazi supporters were apt to report people of anti-Nazi sentiment to the police. Even citizens less than thrilled with the Nazis might report others for "inappropriate" remarks, simply out of fear of guilt by association. Much of the more serious resistance to Hitler came from within the ranks of the army. One reason for this was the army was such a respected institution in German society, even Hitler had to tread lightly where it was concerned, and it was several years into his rule before he really felt confident enough to try to dominate the army.*

With army leaders thus having a bit more freedom of expression than other segments of society, this provided a kernel of resistance to the Nazis. Further, many of the army's officers, especially the higher ranks, came from some part of the German nobility, a group never collectively quite as supportive of Hitler, with some members actually being hostile to the Nazis.** Initially though, the army was supportive of Hitler due to his desire to expand the army and to restore Germany's lost territories and position in Europe; however, as Hitler's policies became increasingly aggressive, many in the upper levels of the army began to worry that he would get Germany into a war with Britain and France, a war, they believed, Germany would lose. This was especially true over Czechoslovakia, but when Hitler came away with a settlement over the German areas of the little nation, without a war, the resistance within the army diminished. Other members of the army, and of the armed forces intelligence service, known as the "Abwehr," contained not only men concerned about Hitler getting Germany into a war, but these men were really more "anti-Nazis" in general; and thus they were opposed to the regime, including to its anti-Jewish policies.

Hitler's successes early in the war kept a lid on resistance, but the failure to capture Moscow in 1941, and most certainly the catastrophic defeat at Stalingrad in the winter of 1942/43, energized the German resistance, as many desperately wanted to save Germany from total defeat and annihilation as a matter of patriotism and morality.*** Various plans were developed, including one in 1943, where a bomb, disguised as a bottle of liquor in a box, was carried aboard Hitler's plane in Russia. The bomb failed to explode, seemingly because of the cold temperature in the cargo hold, and the supreme nutcase lived to bring death and destruction to millions more. Of course, the most famous attempt on Hitler's life came on July 20, 1944. That day Colonel Graf (Count) Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg attended a meeting at Hitler's military headquarters in a heavily forested area of East Prussia in northeastern Germany. Stauffenberg carried two bombs in his briefcase, but he was only able to activate one of the bombs due to time constraints and fear of discovery. Upon entering the meeting, Stauffenberg placed the briefcase beneath the conference table and told officers nearby he had a telephone call to make and that he would return shortly. One of the officers found the briefcase was in his way as he leaned over to see the maps spread out on the table. He moved the briefcase to the opposite side of the heavy table support; that is, AWAY from Hitler, who was not far away. This action undoubtedly saved Hitler's life, as the force of the explosion went in the opposite direction from the sturdy table support.

Next I'll do a little biography of some of the key members of the German resistance to Hitler. These men deserve our respect, as they tried to get that son-of-a-bitch, and they gave their lives in that effort. Understand, these men were NOT perfect and it took some of them quite some time to open their eyes to the evil doings of Hitler and the Nazi regime.

* The 1934 purge of the Storm Troopers by Hitler was largely (but not exclusively) an attempt to placate the army, which was uneasy over a possible takeover of the army by the Nazi Storm Trooper organization (commonly called the "SA," for "Sturmabteilung").

** There were Nazi Party members and supporters from the nobility, but I'm saying the overall support was less than from many other groups or segments in German society.

*** By this time there was general knowledge among many in the military of crimes committed in other countries, especially in the Soviet Union, against civilians, including Jews; thus many in the resistance not only wanted to save Germany from catastrophic defeat, but they also wanted to put a halt to the atrocities and to restore Germany's honor. (Note: Initially, removing Hitler in some way can be seen as the main basic objective, but as the military leaders learned of numerous atrocities, the realization developed that not only was it important to eliminate Hitler, but it was necessary to remove other Nazi leaders too; that is, that the government had to be taken over. Further, many of the plotters undoubtedly feared that the deteriorating war against the Soviet Union could bring communist domination of Germany and much of Europe, if the Russians weren't soon held back.)  

WORD HISTORY:
Boat-This word goes back to Indo European "bheid," which meant "to split," which by extension had the notion of "split wood into planks to make something, woodworking." This gave Old Germanic "bait(an)," which apparently meant "water going vessel made from planks." Now, it is "possible" this only remained, or took this semantic course, in North Germanic, and then it was borrowed into Old English,^ a West Germanic language, as apparently the other West Germanic languages, and even Old French, borrowed forms of "boat" from English, or perhaps from Old Norse; at least in some cases, with French, especially, being a likely candidate, as Old Norse speaking raiders, often called "Northmen," frequently landed along the coast of what is now France, eventually settling in one particular area thereafter named for them, "Normandy." Anyway, Old English had 'bat," with a long "a," with the meaning "boat." This then became "boot" with a long "o" sound, and then "bot," (also long "o") before the modern spelling. Low German "Boot" (long "o" sound) was likely borrowed from English (then it was borrowed by High German as modern "Boot," long 'o'), plus Dutch "boot" was probably borrowed from English. West Frisian has "boat," but this may have the same basic history as the English word, not because of the spelling, although Frisian is the closest living relative of English, along with some Low German dialects, but rather, like English, Frisian had much contact with Old Norse and the word likely came to Frisian by way of Old Norse. Forms of the word are common in the North Germanic languages, all directly from their Old Norse ancestor: Icelandic has "bátur," Norwegian has "båt," Swedish has "båt," and Danish has "båd."

^ Norse raiders harassed the English coast, even settling in some areas, and providing English with a reinforcing shot of Germanic vocabulary, although from the North Germanic branch. Old Norse had "beit," which meant "boat," an important word for a seafaring people. The Frisians also had much contact with Old Norse.

Heroes Against Hitler, Stauffenberg

"Colonel Claus Graf (=Count) von Stauffenberg"

This was first published 11/9/11, edited somewhat, with an additional photo, 7-20-22


The man who nearly killed Hitler was born in eastern Swabia, a part of Bavaria, although the German dialect is not Bavarian, but rather it is more closely related to Swiss German and Alsatian German, located in that same overall German-speaking region. A devout Catholic, his religious beliefs seem to have had an influence on his later opposition to Hitler and the Nazis, although not all historians agree on that. His first love was the cavalry, and he became an officer, although by the mid to late 1930s, traditional horse cavalry were giving way to mechanized cavalry. Stauffenberg began to have serious doubts about Hitler when the fanatical furious Führer sent troops to occupy the remainder of Czechoslovakia in March 1939, after the little nation had ceded German populated regions to Germany just six months earlier. Stauffenberg served in the campaigns in Poland in September 1939 and in France in May-June 1940. Like many Germans, Stauffenberg favored the reclaiming of territories lost to Poland after World War One. During the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Stauffenberg served as a staff officer in the army high command, not in a field unit. He tried to help change or limit German ill treatment of Soviet civilians, including Jews, and Soviet prisoners of war in the early months of the German invasion, but the brutal and murderous policies pushed Stauffenberg to embrace other German officers in opposition to Hitler.

Early in 1943 Stauffenberg was sent to Tunisia in North Africa, where German and Italian forces, under the operational control of Field Marshal Rommel, were trying to prevent the total loss of North Africa to the Allies. Just a month before the final Axis surrender there, Stauffenberg was severely wounded, losing his right hand, two fingers on his left hand, and his left eye, over which he eventually wore a black patch. It took several months in the hospital and further convalescence at home before Stauffenberg was able to resume service, this time as a staff officer at the headquarters of the Ersatzheer (Replacement Army), which was located in Berlin.* The Replacement Army had a number of anti-Nazi conspirators and plans for a takeover of Germany were developed, but most were not put into operation, while others failed, or had to be changed due to important Nazi leaders not being present. Eventually Stauffenberg carried a bomb-laden briefcase into Hitler's headquarters in northeastern Germany. The briefcase was placed under the conference table, just a short distance from Hitler, and Stauffenberg excused himself by saying he had to make a phone call. Just a few minutes later the bomb exploded, but Hitler, though shaken and bruised, survived, as one of the officers had moved the briefcase to the other side of the table support, and thus further away from Hitler. Stauffenberg witnessed the explosion and managed to get through the headquarters' security, convinced Hitler was dead. He flew back to Berlin and found that plans for the takeover of the government had not really moved, as many conspirators were uncertain about Hitler's death. Word came that Hitler was very much alive and Colonel General Fromm, the commander of the Replacement Army, and aware of the plot,** now tried to save himself by having Stauffenberg and other conspirators arrested, tried and executed in the early morning hours of July 21, 1944. There is a memorial in the courtyard where Stauffenberg and some of the other main plotters were executed. Its heading reads: "Here Died For Germany" ("Hier Starben Für Deutschland"), and then it lists the names of the executed men (see photo below). These men and hundreds more were executed for the attempt to kill Hitler. They weren't perfect, and many had supported Hitler earlier, but they saw evil and tried to stop it. That makes them heroes in my book.

For more, see my article in "The German Question" series on the plot:
http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2011/08/german-question-part-one-hundred-fifty_29.html

* The Replacement Army was in charge of inducting men into the army and then training and equipping them for service with units in the field. Germany was divided into numerous military districts (Wehrkreise), with various training units stationed in each district under the control of the Replacement Army. Collectively these units totaled many hundreds of thousands of men. A number of anti-Nazi conspirators were in high positions in the Replacement Army, and they planned to use these substantial forces to secure control of Germany by disarming SS units and other Nazi formations, if Hitler were arrested or killed.

** Fromm's depth of involvement in the plot has been a subject of debate (after all, he had some of the main conspirators killed), but by all accounts, he knew of the plot and did not report it. That certainly implicated him. The Gestapo investigation did not uncover direct evidence against Fromm, but he was removed from the army a couple of months later. Just two months before the war ended, Fromm was sentenced to death by the Nazi court and the sentence was carried out only days later (by firing squad). Even with the walls crashing down around them, the Nazis pursued their enemies. 

Unaltered photo of the plaque honoring some of the prominent leaders who tried to kill Hitler on July 20, 1944. It is mounted at the Bendler Block Memorial in Berlin, where these men were executed by the Nazis. 

 

WORD HISTORY:

My/Mine-"My" is simply a shortened form of "mine," which was used to show possession by being placed before nouns. Both go back to Indo European "meyn." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "minaz," which then gave Anglo-Saxon (Old English) "min" (long "i" sound). By the 1100s or early 1200s, the shortened form had developed as its own distinctive word to show possession, "mi," and later "my," although "min" (also "myn") stuck around for quite awhile for use before words beginning with a vowel; thus it is still found in old Bibles. Of course "mine" is still with us to show possession, but instead of showing possession before a noun, it comes afterward: "That is my book," but "That book is mine." By the way, some German dialects, like their English cousin, use a shortened form of "mein," as "mei," essentially pronounced like English "my." Common throughout the other Germanic languages: West Frisian "myn," Dutch "mijn," German "mein," but in Bavarian dialect "mei," Low German Saxon "mien," Icelandic "minn," Swedish, Norwegian and Danish "min."

German Military Leaders/Nazi Era/Canaris

"Admiral Wilhelm Canaris"

First, the Abwehr was the term used for the German military intelligence service of the Wehrmacht, the German armed forces.* Since military intelligence is clandestine by its very nature, anti-Nazi conspirators were able to remain concealed to a great extent from Nazi agents. That does not mean Abwehr personnel were above suspicion. There were a number of important men in the anti-Nazi resistance within the Abwehr, but this article is about the head of the intelligence branch. As I like to mention at times, these articles are brief and basic, but if something strikes your interest, please go to your local library and see what they have on the person or subject.

Admiral Wilhelm Canaris was born in what is now a part of Dortmund in the German state of Westfalen (Westphalia). He served in the German navy in World War One, and he later served in the navy again after the war, although he first became involved in rightwing paramilitary operations. Multilingual, including fluent English, Canaris had been temporarily involved in a small intelligence operation during the war, a field he again visited in the early 1930s, and indeed a bit later, Hitler appointed him as the head of the Abwehr. Like many of the upper level German military people, Canaris grew concerned about what seemed to be Hitler's intention to attack Czechoslovakia in 1938, and he contacted the British with the information in hopes of stiffening their resolve to oppose Hitler, and informed them too, of his desire to then lead anti-war and anti-Nazi forces to overthrow Hitler,** but the ceding of the German areas of Czechoslovakia to Hitler by the British and French boosted Hitler's popularity even more, and stopped the German resistance from taking action.

During the German invasion of Poland, Canaris learned about German atrocities against Polish Jews and other Polish civilians, which only heightened his desire to remove Hitler and the other Nazi leaders, but there was little he could do with Poland on the brink of defeat, and Hitler's popularity soaring. Canaris seems to have remained in contact with the British well into the war, but the secretive nature of the intelligence services of both countries, and the need to prevent the Nazis from finding out about his contacts, leaves much unclear, although Canaris had hopes of somehow getting rid of Hitler and then signing a peace deal with the Western Allies, through the British.*** Canaris had to play at being loyal to Hitler, while simultaneously trying to figure out how to remove him. This was a dangerous game, as Hitler's SS leaders tried to uncover the Abwehr chief's dealings with the British. All of the ins and outs were a prelude to the Cold War espionage/counterespionage. If you are interested in such things, there are several books on the subject and you will not be disappointed by the thrilling maneuvers of all parties involved.

Canaris was also fluent in Spanish and maintained contacts with General Franco's government during the war.**** "Supposedly" he even traveled to Spain for secret meetings with Allied agents, and he also helped shuttle some Jews and resistance people to freedom through that country.

The SD tried to keep tabs on Canaris and the Abwehr, and while there were strong suspicions about Canaris playing both sides, the SD could never come up with exact evidence against the admiral or others in the Abwehr. Nevertheless, the suspicions were enough, and Hitler dismissed Canaris in early 1944 and he was arrested, which kept him from participating in the bomb plot against Hitler in July 1944. The many arrests and interrogations of Canaris associates in the aftermath of the attempt on Hitler's life brought no true evidence against the wily admiral, but he was kept in prison in Berlin. In February of 1945 Canaris was sent to a concentration camp and was hanged there in April 1945, just two weeks before the camp was freed by American troops. During the Nuremberg Trials witnesses and evidence were presented demonstrating how Canaris had tried to oppose Hitler from his position as head of the Abwehr.

* Abwehr literally means "defense," but in this sense it was used with the notion of "information on other nations obtained for the defense of Germany." For those studying German, the noun is feminine; thus, "die Abwehr."

** The interesting thing about the possible German invasion of Czechoslovakia and the anti-war plotters is, Hitler certainly seems to have been bluffing about an attack on the Czechs to frighten Britain and France into giving him the German areas of Czechoslovakia. (Of course, what would have happened had he not gotten his way? Would he have attacked, lest he be seen as weak?) Canaris, and other plotters who contacted the British, only reinforced the idea of the possibility of a German attack, since they themselves believed Hitler was committed to such an attack. This truly DID scare the hell out of the British, who were far from ready for war, and prompted them to try to find a peaceful way out of the situation, rather than taking a hard line stance, as was desired by the German plotters. Thus Czechoslovakia's German areas became the bargaining chip and Hitler's acceptance of a discussion over the situation made him appear to be more moderate than the conspirators had indicated to the British. This made the British view future information from the conspirators with some amount of skepticism. Further, during the whole Czech crisis, the British had wondered how serious the conspirators really were about removing Hitler, or if they even had the capability of doing so. A valid question.

*** The Nazi SS had its own intelligence branch, the Sicherheitsdienst (commonly known by its initials "SD"), which was a rival to the Wehrmacht's Abwehr, and its leaders would have loved to discredit the Abwehr and to thus advance their own desire for the SD to become Germany's prime intelligence service.

**** General Franco, while a fascist-type dictator who had been helped into power by Mussolini and Hitler, kept a certain distance from the two fascist bigwigs, and he never committed Spain to the Axis side during the war, although attempts were made by both the Italians and Germans to get Spain into the war. Essentially the best he did was allow a Spanish division to be sent to Russia to fight the Soviets, but even then it went and fought as a part of the German army as the 250th Infantry Division, and it was also known as the "Blue Division," after the blue shirts worn by the Spanish Falange/Falangist Party. Franco was a tough negotiator, who was not convinced that it was in Spain's interest to enter the war on the Axis side. I don't recall the exact quote, but after a meeting with Franco, Hitler said something to the effect that he'd rather have a couple of teeth extracted than sit through another session with Franco.

WORD HISTORY:
With-This common word goes back to the Indo European root "wi," which had the notion of "apart, separate." This was expanded to "wi-tero," which emphasized the "separation," as being "more separate, more apart." This gave Old Germanic "withro," which meant "against, opposite" (the notion of "apart, separate" underlies "opposite, against"). This then gave Anglo-Saxon "with," along with the same meaning, but later the meaning began to change, probably influenced by its relative "vidh/vith," from North Germanic (Old Norse), which already had taken the semantic turn to association; that is, "along side, by, near," rather than "against, opposite," although the original meaning still survives in some compounds, like "withstand," "hold out determinedly against something." The meaning "near, along" continues to this day, and eventually replaced the original English word for "with," the now archaic "mid," although it is still in use in "midwife;" that is, "a woman who is 'with' a woman during childbirth" (close relatives German "mit" and Dutch "met" both mean "with" ). "With" has relatives in the other Germanic languages: German "wider" (=against), but German also has "wieder," Low German has "weder" and Dutch has "weer," all of which trace back to the same Germanic root, but they took a semantic turn later on and now mean "again." Danish has "ved" (=by, at), Swedish has "vid (=by, at), Icelandic has "við" (=by, with), and Norwegian has "ved" (=close to, near, at).

Hero Against Hitler: General Ludwig Beck

This was first published 11/4/11


"Heroes Against Hitler:" Ludwig Beck

One of the most important figures in the German resistance to Hitler was Colonel General Ludwig Beck. He was born in what is now a part of Wiesbaden in the German state of Hessen. Beck served in World War One and remained in the treaty-limited army after the war. At first Beck was favorable toward Hitler, whose plans to expand the army were seen by him as a positive sign in Germany's restoration from the defeat of 1918. He became Chief of the General Staff (Chef des Generalstabes),* and as such had knowledge of Hitler's various military plans. Beck was NOT antiwar, and he believed wars, although limited in size, would be impossible to avoid as Germany moved to regain its position within Europe. His differences with Hitler largely centered around his belief that Hitler was moving too fast, and that a Hitler-planned attack on Czechoslovakia in 1938 would bring Britain and France, and possibly the Soviet Union into a war against an unprepared Germany,** bringing her a devastating defeat,*** a view shared by other top generals, but not all. Beck worked for months trying to convince Hitler not to attack Czechoslovakia, seemingly believing Hitler had been influenced by other military advisers to attack Czechoslovakia. Such was Hitler's hold over the people around him, who wanted to believe mistakes were the fault of others, not the Führer. Beck, however, came to realize that Hitler was the main culprit, only bolstered in his beliefs by others. In the late summer of 1938, Beck resigned his position, and thus lost any influence over future military policies.

As Hitler pushed the question of Germans in Czechoslovakia to the front burner, Beck and other opponents of the regime wanted Britain and France to take a hard stand against Hitler's demands, and thus give the German resistance a chance to topple the Nazis from power. The opposite happened, as an agreement with Britain and France was signed in Munich giving Hitler control of the German areas of Czechoslovakia, and this diminished the immediate desire of many conspirators to unseat the Nazi government, as Hitler rose to new heights of popularity. Beck remained an active leader in trying to recruit opponents of the regime, which certainly took a turn in his direction with the severe losses suffered by German forces in Russia. It all ended with the bomb planted in Hitler's headquarters in East Prussia on July 20, 1944. The bomb exploded, but Hitler survived and the plot to take over the German government, with Beck as its temporary head, fell apart. Beck was taken into custody the same day by the head of the German Replacement Army ("Ersatzheer") and attempted to commit suicide, but only wounded himself. Another officer then finished the job. Beck and some other members of the resistance to the Nazis were given a memorial in Berlin, which still exists today. Beck is seen by many as the first major opponent of the Nazi regime and a sort of leader of the German resistance; after all, he was a high ranking general.

* The German General Staff was a group of select, highly dedicated, well trained professional officers who were experts in all aspects of warfare. They were noted for their detailed planning going well back into the 1800s, first as part of the Prussian army, and then in unified Germany from 1871, and it is largely due to this group that the German reputation for detail and efficiency in military matters developed. To many outsiders, they became the symbol of Prussian/German militarism, because their very lives were so devoted to military matters, and thus, war.

** Prominent British historian A.J.P. Taylor later essentially argued that Hitler's talk of war against Czechoslovakia was more of an act to get his way, and that his convincing performance made the western powers back down and give him the German areas of Czechoslovakia. Of course, other historians have argued that Hitler wanted such a war. Since Hitler didn't really have a single close friend to whom he confided his innermost thoughts, nor did he keep a diary to anyone's knowledge, I suppose we'll never really know for certain, and these are all academic arguments. After getting the agreement from Britain and France for Germany to receive the heavily German-populated Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia (the Czechs weren't even invited), Hitler did, at times, complain the agreement had deprived him of a war against Czechoslovakia. Whether this was talk for effect as a prelude to his next move is another historical debate.

*** The idea that Czechoslovakia would have fallen as easy prey to Hitler's forces is optimistic, in my opinion. The Czechs were well trained, equipped, and motivated, with formidable fortifications along their mainly mountainous borders with Germany (mountainous terrain gave them another advantage). Czech military equipment was so good, much of it was later used by the Germans to equip some units of their army, after all of Czechoslovakia was occupied by Hitler. This would have been far from a walk over, and had it taken place, it may have brought Hitler and his regime down.

WORD HISTORY:
Ship-The ultimate origins of this word are uncertain, although some tie it to an Indo European source, "skei(b)," that meant "cut, rip," and then Old Germanic used it with the idea being of a ship "cutting through the water, ripping up the water," or of, "cutting or ripping out logs to make floating vessels." The idea of a "water going vessel" does seem to come from Old Germanic, which had "skipam" or "skipan," with that meaning, "water going vessel." This then helped produce Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "scip," with the same meaning. The spelling "ship" has been around for many centuries in English. The verb form, "to ship," came from the noun in the latter part of the 1200s or the early 1300s. Common throughout the other Germanic languages: West Frisian "skip," German "Schiff," Low German "Schipp" (although some low dialects have "Schepp"), Dutch "schip," Norwegian and Icelandic "skip," Swedish "skepp," and Danish "skib." By the way, Old Italian borrowed the word as "scifo," meaning "small boat," from Old High German/Lombardic^ "skif/scif." This was borrowed into French as "esquif," "small open boat," and in the 1500s this then was borrowed into English as "skiff."

^ Lombardic was a Germanic language spoken by the Germanic tribe, the Lombards, who settled in northern Italy, and gave their name to the Italian region of "Lombardy" (Lombardia). A moment of silence, please, as Lombardic died out several centuries ago.

Heroes Against Hitler, Part One, Overview

This was first published 10/31/11


"Heroes Against Hitler" Part One/"Overview"

In Hitler's Germany resistance to the government and to the Nazi Party was not easily accomplished, especially on an organized basis. A person confiding anti-Nazi feelings to anyone, even to a family member, could bring about their arrest, imprisonment in a concentration camp, and even death. The Gestapo (the secret police) had agents throughout society, and Nazi supporters were apt to report people of anti-Nazi sentiment to the police. Even citizens less than thrilled with the Nazis might report others for "inappropriate" remarks, simply out of fear of guilt by association. Much of the resistance to Hitler came from within the ranks of the army. One reason for this was, the army was such a respected institution in German society, even Hitler had to tread lightly where it was concerned, and it was several years into his rule before he really felt confident enough to try to dominate the army.*

With army leaders thus having a bit more freedom of expression than other segments of society, this provided a kernel of resistance to the Nazis. Further, many of the army's officers, especially the higher ranks, came from some part of the German nobility, a group never collectively quite as supportive of Hitler, with some members actually being hostile to the Nazis.** Initially though, the army was supportive of Hitler due to his desire to expand the army and restore Germany's position in Europe; however, as Hitler's policies became increasingly aggressive, many in the upper levels of the army began to worry that he would get Germany into a war with Britain and France, a war, they believed, it would lose. This was especially true over Czechoslovakia, but when Hitler came away with a settlement over the German areas of the little nation, without a war, the resistance within the army diminished. Other members of the army, and of the armed forces intelligence service, known as the "Abwehr," contained not only men concerned about Hitler getting Germany into a war, but these men were really more "anti-Nazis," in general; and thus they were opposed to the regime, including its anti-Jewish policies.

Hitler's successes early in the war kept a lid on resistance, but the failure to capture Moscow in 1941, and most certainly the catastrophic defeat at Stalingrad in the winter of 1942/43, energized the German resistance, as many desperately wanted to save Germany from total defeat and annihilation as a matter of patriotism and morality.*** Various plans were developed, including one in 1943 where a bomb, disguised as a bottle of liquor in a box, was carried aboard Hitler's plane in Russia. The bomb failed to explode, seemingly because of the cold temperature in the cargo hold, and the supreme nutcase lived to bring death and destruction to millions more. Of course, the most famous attempt on Hitler's life came on July 20, 1944. That day Colonel Graf (Count) Schenk von Stauffenberg attended a meeting at Hitler's military headquarters in a heavily forested area of East Prussia in northeastern Germany. Stauffenberg carried two bombs in his briefcase, but he was only able to activate one of the bombs due to time constraints and fear of discovery. Upon entering the meeting, Stauffenberg placed the briefcase underneath the conference table and told officers nearby he had a telephone call to make and would return shortly. One of the officers found the briefcase was in his way as he leaned over to see the maps spread out on the table. He moved the briefcase to the opposite side of the heavy table support; that is, AWAY from Hitler, who was not far away. This action undoubtedly saved Hitler's life, as the force of the explosion went in the opposite direction from the table support.

Next I'll do a little biography of some of the key members of the German resistance to Hitler. These men deserve our utmost respect, as they tried to get that son-of-a-bitch, and they gave their lives in that effort.

* The 1934 purge of the Stormtroopers by Hitler was largely (but not exclusively) an attempt to placate the army, which was uneasy over a possible takeover of the army by the Nazi Stormtrooper organization (commonly called the "SA," for "Sturmabteilung").

** There were Nazi Party members and supporters from the nobility, but I'm saying the overall support was less than from many other groups in German society.

*** By this time there was general knowledge among many in the military of crimes committed in other countries, especially in the Soviet Union, against civilians, including Jews; thus many in the resistance not only wanted to save Germany from catastrophic defeat, but also wanted to restore its honor. (Note: Initially, removing Hitler in some way can be seen as the main basic objective, but as the military leaders learned of numerous atrocities, the realization developed that not only was it important to eliminate Hitler, but it was necessary to remove other Nazi leaders too; that is, that the government had to be taken over. Further, many of the plotters undoubtedly feared that the deteriorating war against the Soviet Union could bring communist domination of Germany and much of Europe, if the Russians weren't soon held back.)  

WORD HISTORY:
Boat-This word goes back to Indo European "bheid," which meant "to split," which by extension had the notion of "split wood into planks to make something, woodworking." This gave Old Germanic "bait(an)," which apparently meant "water going vessel made from planks." Now, it is "possible" this only remained, or took this semantic course, in North Germanic, and then was borrowed into Old English,^ a West Germanic language, as apparently the other West Germanic languages, and even Old French, borrowed forms of "boat" from English, although French may have borrowed the word from Old Norse, as Norse raiders, called "Northmen," frequently landed along the coast of what is now France, eventually settling in one particular area now named after them, "Normandy." Anyway, Old English had 'bat," with a long "a," with the meaning "boat." This then became "boot" with a long "o" sound, and then "bot," (also long "o") before the modern spelling. German and Low German "Boot" (long "o" sound), plus Dutch "boot" were borrowed from English. West Frisian has "boat," but this may have the same basic history as the English word, not because of the spelling, although Frisian is the closest living relative of English, along with some Low German dialects, but rather, like English, Frisian had much contact with Old Norse. Forms of the word are common in the North Germanic languages: Icelandic has "bátur," Norwegian has "båt," Swedish has "båt," and Danish has "båd."

^ Norse raiders harassed the English coast, even settling in some areas, and providing English with a reinforcing shot of Germanic vocabulary, although from the North Germanic branch. Old Norse had "beit," which meant "boat," an important word for a seafaring people. The Frisians also had much contact with Old Norse.

German Military Leaders/Nazi Era/Dönitz

"Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz"

Dönitz was born in Berlin and served in the German navy during World War One, including as the commander of a submarine (U-Boot*). Near the end of the war, his U-Boot was sunk and Dönitz was a taken prisoner. He remained in the treaty-restricted navy after the war, gradually moving up the ranks. By the mid 1930s, and with Hitler in power, the navy was once again developing and producing U-Boats, and Dönitz then served in that part of the navy. He believed any future war with Britain would require the Germans to greatly expand their fleet of submarines, and not their heavier surface fleet, and that a tight blockade of submarines around the British Isles to deprive the British of necessary supplies, including oil, would be more effective than trying to sink the whole British fleet. Traditionalist naval officers hated the idea, and Hitler, ever envious of Britain's fleet, chose an increased submarine fleet, but a major building program for powerful, but very expensive, battleships, like the famous "Bismarck," and even for aircraft carriers.** Dönitz became head of the limited submarine arm.

The German U-Boat arm was much feared by the Allies, and many ships with all sorts of cargo were sunk as they tried to make it to England. This aspect of the war was not without controversy, however, as the German navy practiced unrestricted submarine warfare against ships in certain zones, and that meant even ships of neutral countries, including the United States, which technically was neutral in the first two years of the war. Further, cargo and passenger ships of the Allies and then neutral America, were often armed, making the definition of what was "legal" a matter of perspective. (See further below)

In early 1943 Dönitz was named Commander-in-Chief of the German Navy (Oberbefehlshaber der Kriegsmarine) and promoted to Grand Admiral (Grossadmiral) by Hitler. By that time, German naval warfare was essentially limited to submarines, which was still quite potent. As the end of the war neared, Hitler, confined to his underground bunker in Berlin, named Dönitz as his successor in his last testament.*** The admiral set up a sort of "government" in the city of Flensburg, up near the Danish border (Denmark was then still under German occupation). It was this "government," represented by Colonel General Alfred Jodl, that learned and signed the Allied terms of surrender.

Dönitz was arrested and put on trial at Nuremberg as a major war criminal. The fact that Hitler had appointed him as his successor sure could not have done anything to help his case, but the charges against him had to do with conduct during the war, not his actions as Hitler's successor. The main charges, about unrestricted submarine warfare and of German submarine crews not always making efforts to save people from sinking ships, were heartily contested by his attorney, who introduced evidence the Allies had done the same things. Some Allied military people, perhaps fearful of their own reputations, actually supported Dönitz. In the end, the admiral was found guilty, but was only given ten years imprisonment, a sentence that drew protests from some Allied military people as too harsh. He was released in the mid 1950s and lived out his life in northern Germany, where he died in late 1980.

NOTE: There will be one more article on German military leaders of the Nazi era, before I move on to the Allies. The last article on the Germans will be "Heroes Against Hitler," about the valiant and dangerous efforts of German military officers to remove Hitler from power.


* The German word "Boot" is not pronounced as the English word, but like its English relative "boat," and "U-Boot" is just a shortened form of "Unterseeboot," or "under see boat." For those studying German, "Boot" is neuter; thus, "das Boot," just like the title of the famous movie.
** The beginning of the war in 1939 preempted the German naval build up, which was not scheduled for completion until the mid 1940s, and the aircraft carriers were not built.

*** Hitler named Dönitz as "Reichspräsident," which made him head of state and supreme commander of the armed forces (Wehrmacht). Joseph Goebbels, the famous Nazi propagandist, was named Reichskanzler (chancellor).

WORD HISTORY:
Sea-The origins of this word are uncertain outside of Germanic, as only the Germanic languages have forms that mean "body of water." Old Germanic had "saiwiz/saiwaz," which seems to have had the more general meaning "body of water." This gave Anglo-Saxon (Old English) "sae," which meant "sea or lake." This then became "see," before the modern spelling, and the more specific meaning "ocean." Seemingly only present in the Germanic languages, the close relatives of English have: German "See" (in the masculine form, "der See"=lake; in the feminine form, "die See"=sea), Low German "See," West Frisian "see," Dutch "zee," Icelandic "sær," Norwegian "sjø," Swedish "sjö," and Danish "sø."

German Military Leaders/Nazi Era/von Manstein

"Field Marshal Erich von Manstein"

If you have only had limited interest in World War Two, you may not have heard of, or recall the name of, Erich von Manstein, but he is generally considered to have been one of the best German generals of the war, and there are those who argue he was THE best German general. The future general was born in Berlin to a German general of "Germanized" Polish heritage, and his true family name was Lewinski, but he was adopted by family agreement by von Manstein relatives of his mother, who were childless.

He served in World War One and remained in the treaty-limited army after the war, eventually serving as an officer with the General Staff, a high-level part of the army where many of the theories about the strategy and tactics of warfare, as well as planning, were developed. He was a staff officer to General von Rundstedt (a future field marshal) during the war in Poland in 1939. With France and Britain at war with Germany, the Germans were trying to develop a plan to score a major victory in western Europe. Von Manstein came up with such a plan (with input from others), the essentials of which were adopted by Hitler and the German high command. The plan entailed German armored and mobile forces advancing through the rough and forested terrain of the Ardennes (principally in Belgium), where they were least expected, and then making a run for the English Channel, cutting off the main body of French and British troops to the north.* The plan worked, and France was knocked out of the war. Von Manstein's prestige soared.

During the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, von Manstein at first commanded a Panzer corps in the northern area of Russia. Later that year he took command of the German 11th Army in southern Russia and was given the task of capturing the Crimea, including the famous Black Sea naval base fortress of Sevastopol.** The siege of the fortress brought together some of the heaviest artillery pieces ever produced, including an 800 mm railway gun, "Heavy Gustav," sometimes referred to as "Dora" (although Dora was actually a second such gun not present in the Crimea). This gun was so huge, it required hundreds of men to assemble it at its firing sight (it traveled disassembled), hundreds more to prepare its firing sight, rail lines, and loading operation, plus a few hundred more men in anti-aircraft (Flak) units to protect it from air attack. It took upwards of an hour to load one of its huge shells for firing. Its shells came in two types, high explosive and armor piercing (for piercing armor-plated fortifications), with the shells weighing between 5 and 7 tons, the "smaller" capable of being hurled at targets nearly 30 miles away. Also available were 600 mm mortars. The barrage unleashed by the Germans against Sevastopol in 1942 was so intense, it was reported that many a Soviet defender experienced ruptured blood vessels from the concussion of the shells exploding so closely together. The fortress fell to von Manstein's troops, after which the general was transferred to northern Russia to prepare for the capture of Leningrad, which had been cut off for the better part of a year. The attack never took place, and von Manstein was sent south again in late 1942 to take command of German forces attempting to break through to the encircled German army in Stalingrad. The attack failed, certainly hindered by Hitler's refusal to allow the surrounded garrison to launch its own attack to link up with von Manstein's approaching forces, and the Germans inside the embattled city surrendered in the early part of 1943.

Von Manstein's skill at preventing a complete disaster along the southern German front during this time period is seen by many as one of his greatest achievements. A skillful counterattack by von Manstein in late February of 1943 inflicted a punishing defeat on the, up until then, victorious advancing Soviet forces, and the German situation stabilized, setting up a major showdown in the summer of 1943. Manstein preferred other options, but Hitler wanted a major assault to "clip off" a huge Soviet bulge in the front lines around the city of Kursk. It was during this battle that the famous German tank, the Panther, was first used, although experts warned the ferocious, furious Führer the tank still had "bugs" to be worked out. Von Manstein's attack on the southern part of the "bulge" was essentially successful, but the northern attack failed. This failure, along with the Allied invasion of Sicily at that time,*** brought failure to the German offensive, and spelled the end of major German offensive operations on the Eastern Front for the rest of the war. From then on for the Germans, it was a matter of delaying inevitable defeat. Von Manstein's forces continued to withdraw across the Ukraine, but inflicted heavy losses on the Soviets. The field marshal's strategic withdrawals and his desire for a professional military man to be put in charge of the Eastern Front, instead of Hitler, came into serious conflict with the ferocious, furious Führer, and Hitler relieved him of command in late March 1944, and he did not command again. While aware of the plot against Hitler by a number of military officers, he did not participate, but he also kept the plotters' secret.

Von Manstein surrendered to the British and was held for trial in the late 1940s; the trial was held in the British occupation zone of Germany. The "political situation" of those times,**** brought much support from western military and political leaders, including Field Marshal Montgomery and Winston Churchill, as it was primarily the Soviets who wanted von Manstein put on trial. The field marshal had signed or counter-signed various orders that were then used to suppress the civilian population, including Jews, in the Soviet Union, and von Manstein acknowledged such, but played down his actual enforcement of these policies. He was acquitted of many of the charges against him, but was given a prison sentence, which brought howls of protest from his supporters. The sentence was commuted and, in fact, he was released after only a few years. He then served as an advisor to the then West German Army. He was highly respected within the German military (both Nazi era and post-war era) and even by his former foes. He died in the early 1970s.

* It was through this same area in December 1944 that Hitler launched another major offensive, which came to be known as "The Battle of the Bulge."

** The Crimea and the fortress of Sevastopol became famous during the war in the mid 1800s there, as press coverage was extensive for those times. This was the war where Florence Nightengale became famous for nursing the wounded. It was also the war of the famous, "Charge of the Light Brigade."

*** The invasion of Sicily forced Hitler to withdraw several key units from Russia and send them to Italy.

**** Generally speaking, the increased tensions between the "West" and the Soviet Union, and its satellite states in eastern Europe, lessened interest among many (but not all) in western Europe and America about the Nazi past of many German military people, as the battle had by then become "the West versus Soviet Communism."

WORD HISTORY:
Maw-Once a common word for "stomach" in English for humans and beasts, it is now more of a dialect or archaic term for the same, often used in America (not sure about Britain) for a pig's stomach. I see it occasionally in a grocery store meat case usually labeled "pork maw" or "hog maw." Its origin is uncertain, and it "could" be a Germanic invention. Old Germanic had "mago," which meant "stomach." This gave Anglo-Saxon (Old English) "maga," which then became "mawe," before the modern spelling. The loss of the "g" is not unusual, as for instance "morning" was once spelled "morgen," as it still is in close relative German, but even in German the 'g' is not always very prominent, depending upon the speaker.^ Forms of "maw" are common in the other Germanic languages: West Frisian "mage," Dutch "maag," Low German Saxon "Maag," some Low German dialects "Moag," standard German "Magen," Icelandic "magi," Norwegian and Swedish "mage," and Danish "mave."

^ Many years ago during trips to Wiesbaden, I stayed at a hotel where the owner, upon entering the dining area during breakfast, would say to everyone, "Guten MorGen," with a very prominent "g." I always got kind of a kick out of that. That means "good morning," by the way.

German Military Leaders/Nazi Era/Rommel

"Field Marshal Erwin Rommel"

No doubt about it, this is the most famous German general of World War Two in western Europe and in the United States. Rommel was born in Württemberg, then a kingdom within the German Empire. As an officer in the Alpine troops in World War One, he served primarily in Italy, a country then allied with Britain and France. Rommel remained in the treaty-limited army after the war, where he developed many ideas about tactics for tanks and infantry, which he set down in writing in a couple of books, which became highly popular in military circles inside and outside of Germany.*

About a year before the invasion of Poland, Rommel was named commander of Hitler's personal escort battalion, an army unit which provided protection for Hitler in his military travels. During the war in Poland, Rommel, recently promoted to major-general (Generalmajor), commanded Hitler's military headquarters. When German forces launched their offensive in western Europe, Rommel was in command of a panzer division (the 7th), which was one of the units that helped break through Belgian and French lines to cut off British forces. What was to become Rommel's famed "lead from the front" style, started in this campaign, as he often personally led hard charging attacks that demoralized enemy troops. His division was dubbed "the Ghost Division," since Rommel pushed it so hard, it seemed to burst upon rear area enemy positions from nowhere. The downside was, he was so often right up front, he was out of communication with his command staff, as well as with his superiors.

By early 1941, the defeat of Mussolini's army in Libya (then an Italian colony) by British and Commonwealth forces, brought a German commitment of military forces to help their struggling ally avoid the entire loss of Libya.** Called the "German Africa Corps" (Deutsches Afrikakorps), the corps would become one of the most famous units of the war on any side. Rommel's take charge attitude and his ability to assess a situation to exploit enemy weaknesses, brought a surprise German-Italian offensive success just weeks after his arrival in Libya. The offensive carried the Axis forces back across Libya, clear to the Egyptian border, trapping some Allied forces in the port city of Tobruk. The Allies then launched an attack of their own which broke the siege of Tobruk and caused Rommel to retreat to his original starting point. This was not the end, however, as Rommel launched a new attack of his own in 1942, throwing the Allies back, capturing Tobruk, driving deep into Egypt, and threatening to capture the Suez Canal. Stiffening Allied resistance, lack of supplies and sheer exhaustion halted Rommel's offensive at the little railway station of El Alamein in Egypt. The capture of Tobruk brought Rommel promotion to field marshal by Hitler.

Rommel had met, and was befriended by, Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels in the late 1930s. The desert war captured the imagination of the German public and Goebbels made Rommel a household name throughout Germany and occupied Europe with many newsreels depicting the combat in North Africa. Rommel, by then dubbed "the Desert Fox" (Der Wüstenfuchs***), became a hero to many a German, and a much feared opponent among Allied troops, although the fear also had a certain admiration to it. One British commander was so alarmed by Rommel's reputation with British troops, that he ordered his commanders to quash Rommel's "bogeyman" image among their soldiers.

By late October of 1942, the Allied forces, now under the command of General Bernhard Montgomery, launched a devastating attack on the German-Italian positions in and around El Alamein. After terrible losses of men and equipment, and in spite of Hitler's order to hold his positions,**** Rommel ordered a retreat. Thousands of Axis prisoners were taken by the Allies. Meanwhile, the Americans and British forces landed troops in the French North African colonies of French Morocco and Algeria, which were far to the rear of Rommel's retreating army. Hitler and Mussolini rushed troops to Tunisia, another French colony sandwiched between Rommel's retreating forces in Libya and the Allied forces which had just landed. French resistance to the landings was relatively light, and the struggle then centered on Tunisia. While Rommel inflicted a punishing defeat on the Americans at a place called "Kasserine Pass" in February 1943, the German and Italian forces surrendered in May 1943. The war in North Africa was over.

Rommel was given command of some forces in Greece and then in northern Italy before being transferred to France to take command of the area seen as the most likely for the anticipated Allied invasion. He found the German fortifications wanting, and he immediately set upon a course to strengthen those defenses, especially along the beach areas, as he believed the Allied landing had to be crushed on the beaches as they attempted to land, not after they had already landed. This idea was not universally accepted among other German generals, including Field Marshal von Rundstedt, the overall commander of German forces in western Europe. Rommel wanted all sorts of mines and obstacles along the water's edge to hamper the landings, so that his forces could then finish off the survivors (he also had obstacles placed further inland to prohibit or hamper paratroop or glider landings). He also wanted German armored forces (the Panzer divisions) stationed close to the beaches so that they could quickly be dispatched to mount attacks on any Allied troops who made it ashore, before they could be reinforced. Other generals argued the armor should be kept further back until a definite location of the landings was determined. Remember, the Germans did not know exactly where the Allies would land in France. In the end, there was sort of a compromise, as one Panzer division, interestingly stationed in Normandy (which came to be the site of the invasion), was moved relatively close to the beaches, but others were kept further back. This was complicated by the fact that these divisions could not be committed to any attack without the direct personal permission of the fanatical, ferocious, furious Führer.

On June 6, 1944, the Allies landed in Normandy during a brief lull in a period of bad weather (rain, wind, choppy seas). Rommel was away in Germany for his wife's birthday, having been convinced the Allies would not dare to cross the English Channel under such weather conditions. While some German forces, especially in the area known as "Omaha Beach," put up stout resistance, with Rommel away, the German reaction to the invasion was (thankfully) slow to develop. Hitler and others believed the Normandy landings were a ruse to draw German forces there, to allow an easier major landing somewhat further north. With the Allies having gained a foothold in France, the battle became a slogging match for almost two months; the Germans trying to contain the Allies in Normandy. In mid July, Rommel's car was strafed by Allied aircraft, the car crashed and the field marshal was severely injured. This was the end of Rommel's days of command, as he was hospitalized for quite some time and then sent home to recuperate. Just three days after the strafing of Rommel's car, a bomb, planted by an army officer, Klaus von Stauffenberg, exploded in Hitler's military headquarters in northeastern Germany (Rastenburg, East Prussia). The fanatical, ferocious, furious Führer, now VERY furious, survived the attack, and the Gestapo sought out anyone involved in the slightest way in the plot. Under interrogation and torture, Rommel's name was mentioned a few times by officers in custody, and by October 1944, Hitler dispatched some army officers to Rommel's home in southwestern Germany, where the field marshal was convalescing. Rommel was given the choice of taking his own life, with protections for his wife and son, or of being arrested, put on trial, and then executed, with no protection for his family. He chose to die, and after just a short time to say goodbye to his wife and son, Rommel got into a car accompanied by the other officers. The car traveled a short distance and Rommel took poison. Hitler and the Nazis could ill afford the true story to come out about such a prominent general, so it was announced by the Nazi press that Rommel had died of his wounds. He was given full military honors, and Hitler did keep his word about Rommel's family.*****

After the war, Rommel was held in high regard, even by his former enemies. His eventual opposition to Hitler, which only came out after the war, only enhanced his stature. He is best remembered as "the Desert Fox," during the war in North Africa, a war, that while brutal like all war, was not consumed by hatred, ideology or racism, such as happened in the Soviet Union, especially. Rommel forbade the execution of any captured troops of Jewish heritage or of legitimate Allied commandos, which ran counter to Hitler's orders.

* If you've seen the movie "Patton," you may recall General Patton shouting, upon defeating Rommel's forces in one battle, "Rommel, you magnificent bastard, I read your book!!!" While this was only a scene in a movie, it has much truth in it, because many of the successful commanders of the war read the works of military men from other countries in an effort to learn anything and everything they could about strategy and tactics.

** Rommel and the German forces were actually under the overall command of the Italians, which caused some friction, especially due to Rommel's independent personality. In late 1941, a German command structure was implemented for southern Europe and North Africa under the command of Albert Kesselring, but North Africa remained under overall Italian command.

*** German "Wüste," meaning "desert, wasteland," is closely related to English "waste," which we also use in the context of "barren, desert" land in the compound "wasteland." For those studying German, the noun is feminine; thus, "die Wüste," but when combined with the masculine noun "Fuchs" (fox), it becomes "der Wüstenfuchs," as German compounds take the grammatical gender of the last word in compounds. Aren't you glad English gave up using gender a long time ago?

**** In typical Hitlerian nonsense, the fanatical, ferocious, furious Führer ended his order to Rommel to hold fast with, "Ihrer Truppe aber können Sie keinen anderen Weg zeigen als den zum Siege oder zum Tod." (You can but show your troops no other path than the one to victory or death.")

***** Rommel was never all that involved in the plot to actually kill Hitler. He wanted Hitler arrested and put on trial for Germans to see the criminality of the nutcase-in-chief, and so as not to make the fanatical, ferocious, furious Führer a martyr. The major plotters decided that a live Hitler, even one under arrest, would be too much of a threat to German unity, as fanatical Nazis would resist, possibly bringing about a civil war. They wanted and needed someone of Rommel's stature to aid them with the German public, once Hitler, and hopefully SS Chief Himmler, and or Hitler's designated successor, Hermann Göring, had been killed.

WORD HISTORY:
Arm (2)-This is the noun meaning "weapon," which is more commonly used in the plural, "arms." This goes back to Indo European "ar," which had the notion of "fit or join together." This gave its Latin offspring^ "arma," which meant "tools, tools of war; thus, 'weapons.' " Old French, a Latin-based language, had "armes," which was then borrowed into English with the same spelling during the early 1200s. It was a couple of hundred years before the English spelling "arms" developed. The verb form, meaning "to supply or equip with weapons," was borrowed in the 1200s from French "armer," which traces back to Latin "armare," a derived form of "arma," mentioned above. In English the verb was initially spelled "armen," before the modern spelling.

^ Latin is an Indo European language related to English, but further down the family tree, although English and many other non Latin-based languages have borrowed much vocabulary either directly from Latin or from one of the Latin-based languages; in the case of English, from French.

German Military Leaders/Nazi Era/Kesselring

"Field Marshal Albert Kesselring"

Kesselring was born in Lower Franconia (Unterfranken), now a part of Bavaria. German uses the name "Albert," but also the variant, "Albrecht," and I "believe" Kesselring used that second form. He served in World War One and remained in the treaty-restricted army after the war. Not long after Hitler became chancellor of Germany, Kesselring became involved in German aviation, then restricted by the Versailles Treaty to non military use, but in reality, this was evolving into the "Luftwaffe," or airforce, although it didn't come out from under cover until a couple of years later. He learned to fly during this period, when a middle-aged man, and he moved up through the ranks of the expanding Luftwaffe, serving in several different command positions.

The invasion of Poland in September 1939 found Kesselring as commander of a "Luftflotte"* (air fleet) supporting the German attack. He was then transferred to a similar command for the offensive in western Europe the following spring, the successful conclusion of which brought him promotion to field marshal. His air units were then committed to what became known as the "Battle of Britain," after which he and his units were transferred to Poland for the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, where they scored many victories over the Red Air Force during the drive toward Moscow.

The joint German-Italian military operations in North Africa in 1941 against the British and Commonwealth forces there had opened a whole new theater of operations in the Mediterranean area, and Kesselring was sent to assume the command of all German ground, air and naval forces in this southern theater in late 1941, and as such, he was Rommel's superior. Kesselring remained in command in southern Europe and the Mediterranean through the defeats in North Africa, the invasion of Sicily, and the invasion of Italy, although his strategic decisions and the tenacious defense put up by his forces earned him high marks, even among his Allied opponents.** In the fall of 1944, Kesselring was severely injured in an auto accident, which kept him out of service until early 1945. Hitler had such confidence in Kesselring, he pulled him out of Italy in the spring of 1945 and made him commander of the German forces in western Germany. When the Western Allies met the Soviets in eastern Germany, cutting the German forces in two, Kesselring was made commander of the forces in the southern part.

Kesselring surrendered to the Americans and later was put on trial for war crimes a couple of years later. During the German withdrawal up the boot of Italy, some Italians, encouraged by the Allies, joined a resistance movement and attacked German facilities and personnel. The Germans took reprisals, including the execution of prisoners and Jews.*** Jews were also used as forced labor to build German fortifications.**** Kesselring was found guilty and sentenced to death, but some Allied military leaders came to his defense, arguing that Kesselring had fought a tough, but fair, war. That seems to be the case, but remember, the charges against him were not about "battle crimes," but crimes committed behind the front lines, largely against Italian civilians. Eventually the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, but his supporters, many of them military people in Britain, continued to press for his early release, which happened in 1952 when he had throat cancer. He released a couple of books he had been working on during his imprisonment, and he argued that the average German soldier should not have been lumped in with true war criminals. He also said and wrote that his orders against Italian civilians were not war crimes, a position which was highly controversial, especially in Italy. Kesselring died in 1960 in the German state of Hessen, in western Germany.

* A German "Luftflotte" typically contained 500 to 1500 aircraft of all types, depending upon their mission.

** Kesselring's command was always secondary to the operations against the Soviet Union, which consumed huge amounts of men and resources, and then was later moved further down the list, as the Germans prepared for an Allied invasion of France.

*** While Italy is not a country many associate with Jews, due to its Catholic tradition, Rome especially had a Jewish population dating back many centuries.

**** To Kesselring's credit, he did not permit the destruction of many ancient Italian sites and artifacts, in fact, he went out of his way to have such things protected. Later, he generally did not accept Hitler's orders to destroy German infrastructure.

WORD HISTORY:
Arm (1)-This is the noun for the body part, although "arm," meaning "weapon," is from the same ancient source, but with a different history thereafter (more in the next installment). It goes back to Indo European "ar," which had the notion of "fit or join together." This then produced a variant, "arem/aram," with the meaning "arm," which has remained for all of these centuries, although this is not surprising for such a prominent body part. This gave its Old Germanic offspring "armaz, which in turn gave its offspring, Anglo-Saxon (Old English) "earm," and then the modern spelling. Common throughout the other Germanic languages: German and Low German "Arm," Dutch "arm," West Frisian "earm," Icelandic "armur," Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish "arm."

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."

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."

German Military Leaders/Nazi Era/Jodl

"Colonel General Alfred Jodl"

Jodl* was born in Würzburg, then part of Franken (Franconia), since the end of World War Two a part of Bavaria. The dialect is not Bavarian, but Frankish. He was an artillery officer prior to achieving his most noted position as Chief of the Operations Staff of the Armed Forces (Chef des Wehrmachtführungsstabes) in 1939, which did the military planning. Like much of the military, Jodl supported Hitler's prewar expansion of the armed forces, and his position put him in close contact with Hitler throughout the war. I can't recall the specifics, but Jodl had a disagreement with Hitler in 1942 over operations in the Soviet Union, in which he used Hitler's own words to support his position. Hitler denied ever having said whatever it was, and thereafter ordered a stenographer present to record every word. Hitler had a long memory about people who opposed him, and he was never as close with Jodl after this, although the general remained loyal to Hitler. Jodl was much more respected by his fellow generals than was Field Marshal Keitel, his nominal superior, "perhaps," at least in part, due to the just mentioned confrontation he had with Hitler, although he too was seen as too close to Hitler, but he was also seen as competent.

Jodl signed the the surrender on behalf of the German military and government at the Allied headquarters in Reims, France in May 1945.** Like Keitel, Jodl countersigned many orders issued by Hitler, and he was put on trial at Nuremberg, with the most serious charges against him relating to the Hitler orders about the execution of Soviet commissars and Allied commandos. He was found guilty, sentenced to death and hanged at Nuremberg in October 1946, his request for a firing squad having been denied.

* Pronounced pretty much like "yodel," a word borrowed from German for the sing-song warbling and calling of the mountaineers of Switzerland, Austria, and Bavaria.

** The Soviets required a separate signing two days later, and Field Marshal Keitel did the signing for Germany then.

WORD HISTORY:
By-This goes back to Indo European "ambhi," which meant "around." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "umbi," with the same basic meaning. Old Germanic's offspring, West Germanic (English is West Germanic), kept the base word,^ but also separated the second syllable, which then gave Anglo-Saxon (Old English) "be/bi," which meant "near, about, around," and should not be confused with the verb "to be." It eventually changed to "by" and has remained so for hundreds of years. Common in the other West Germanic languages, German has "bei" (pronounced like the English word), Dutch has "bij," West Frisian has "by," Low German has bi/by/bie (depending upon dialect). Swedish, a North Germanic language has "bi," which it borrowed from Low German.

^ Old English had "ymbe," meaning "around, about," which has survived as "umb(e)" in some dialects in England and Scotland.

German Military Leaders/Nazi Era/High Level Generals

"High Level Generals"

This article will consist more of a narrative about events during the pre-war Nazi era, with some info and comments about the German generals involved.

When Hitler was appointed chancellor in January 1933, he was NOT in charge of the German armed forces, then known as the Reichswehr. Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg was the legal supreme commander ("Oberste Befehlshaber") of the Reichswehr, by virtue of his position as the elected president of Germany. When von Hindenburg died in August 1934, with virtually all opposition silenced, Hitler abolished the elected presidency and combined its functions into the chancellorship, thus making him the new supreme commander of the Reichswehr, which he renamed the "Wehrmacht" within a short time. He appointed Werner von Blomberg, then a colonel general (Generaloberst),* as commander in chief of the Reichswehr (later called the Wehrmacht), and promoted him to field marshal the very next year. Von Blomberg was born in Pomerania, then a province in northern Germany, and a part of Prussia, but since the end of World War Two a part of Poland, and he came from the "army" branch of the Wehrmacht. He had been the Defense Minister (later renamed the "War Minister") from the early days of Hitler's chancellorship. The expansion of the German Wehrmacht was undertaken by von Blomberg with great vigor, and he was seen by many as too close to Hitler, who seemed to genuinely like him. Von Blomberg, however, was in the way of high ranking Nazi Hermann Göring, who wanted von Blomberg's position for himself. In early 1938, von Blomberg married, with both Hitler and Göring as witnesses. Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS and police, provided Göring with evidence of the young lady's past, construed to be prostitution, but to my knowledge, never proven. Göring went to Hitler with the evidence, presenting it to Hitler with the idea that a scandal had to be avoided, especially since Hitler had been a witness at the marriage. Hitler told von Blomberg to get an annulment, but he refused, instead choosing to resign his office. This all tied into a manufactured scandal, this time involving the commander in chief of the army (Oberbefehlshaber des Heeres) , Werner von Fritisch.

Von Fritsch was born just outside Düsseldorf, an area later incorporated into Düsseldorf proper. He was a "Freiherr," which equates to "baron." He was favorable toward Hitler and the Nazis early in Hitler's rule, and he was appointed commander in chief of the army a couple of years thereafter, and he was promoted to colonel general. Von Fritisch gradually grew skeptical of Hitler's aggressive foreign policy, fearing the Führer would get the country into war before it could fully prepare. As with von Blomberg and almost simultaneously with the accusations about von Blomberg's new wife, Göring and Himmler accused von Fritsch of homosexual activities (this was before the "gay" terminology). The general resigned, but chose to fight the matter in court, where he was acquitted! Still a supporter of Hitler, von Fritsch served in Poland during that campaign in 1939. Not long before it ended, von Fritsch was hit by Polish gunfire and killed. The belief by many is that he wanted to die in battle to restore his damaged honor.

These events involving von Blomberg and von Fritsch gave Hitler an opportunity to expand his own power within the German military, as the move to "nazify" the Wehrmacht accelerated. Hitler, the supreme commander, did away with the War Ministry and set up the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, the High Command of the Armed Forces. He appointed Wilhelm Keitel** as Chief (Chef) of the Wehrmacht. Keitel was born near Braunschweig (Brunswick) in northern Germany. He was never all that popular or respected by his fellow generals, since he rarely opposed Hitler, and some made a play on his name with the German word "Lakai," which means "lackey,"*** and is pronounced "lahki," with a long "i," calling him "Lakeitel." Even when he was not in agreement with Hitler, he always quickly gave in. Keitel signed off (literally) on Hitler's military policies, and he was tried at Nuremberg as a major war criminal,**** where he was convicted, sentenced to death and hanged in late 1946. He wrote his memoirs in prison during the last weeks of his life. Since Hitler assumed many of the functions of the commander in chief of the Wehrmacht, Keitel really operated more as Hitler's chief of staff. Overall, in my opinion, Keitel was pretty inconsequential, since he failed to influence Hitler on military matters and policies, especially given Keitel's position in the military hierarchy. I'm not saying that would have been easy to do. I guess you could say though, Keitel was consequential by being inconsequential.

After von Fritsch resigned as commander in chief of the army, Hitler appointed Walther von Brauchitisch, who had been born in Berlin, and was a long time friend of Keitel, to replace von Fritsch. He was promoted to colonel general by Hitler at that time, and to field marshal after the defeat of France in 1940. Like many of the generals, he wasn't totally committed to the Nazis, but he loved the idea of expansion of the military, particularly the army, and the increased prestige this expansion helped to give Germany. Von Brauchitsch was on the periphery of serious opposition to Hitler, but he could never bring himself to cross over and commit to the circle of army conspirators against the regime, and he was against killing Hitler. While the Germans inflicted serious defeats on the Soviets during the opening months of the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, by December they had failed to take Moscow or to bring about a collapse of the Soviet military. This brought severe criticism of von Brauchitsch from Hitler, as the Führer was never one to take responsibility for his own decisions. In the midst of a major Soviet counteroffensive, von Brauchitsch suffered a hear attack, and was relieved of his command in December 1941. This brought about more intervention by Hitler, as he named HIMSELF as the new commander in chief of the army. So now Hitler was the supreme commander of the armed forces, had assumed most of the functions of commander in chief of the armed forces, and was the commander in chief of the army. Von Brauchitsch was basically respected within the military, and he was given high marks for operational planning, but he just couldn't stand up to Hitler, or to fully join the other side and oppose the Führer. He was to be tried for war crimes (not as a major criminal, see note below), but for signing off on Hitler's various orders early in the war. He died before his trial was held in 1948.

* There is no such rank in the American military, and while the various general ranks don't completely correspond between the two countries, it is essentially equivalent to a four-star general, and a field marshal is equivalent to a five-star general.
** Pronounced as one syllable with a long "i" sound, "kitl," not like the actor Harvey Keitel, who pronounces it in two syllables as, "ki-tel."

*** Both the English and German words are borrowed from French "laquais."

**** The most famous Nuremberg Trials were those of the upper leadership of the Nazi Party, the German government, and the German military, and usually called the "trial of the major war criminals" (and there were some acquittals). Most of these leaders never pulled a trigger at an execution, dropped poison gas canisters into gas chambers in concentration camps, or worked slave laborers to death or near death, BUT they developed plans to implement some or all of these policies, making all of these things (and more) possible. There were also trials of people who operated below these top leaders, as well as perpetrators of specific crimes, but just because they weren't termed "major war criminals," doesn't lessen the crimes they were charged with.

WORD HISTORY:
See-This goes back to Indo European "sekw/sek," which meant "to see, to follow with the eyes, to notice." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "se(k)hwanan," which meant "to see." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "seon" ("to see") which then became "sen," and then "seen," before the modern spelling.^ Common throughout the other Germanic languages: German has "sehen," Low German Saxon "sehn," West Frisian "sjen," Dutch "zien," Swedish, Danish, Norwegian "se," Norwegian also has "sjå" in some dialects, and Icelandic "sjá." Just to further show the close relationship between English and German, both West Germanic languages, English has "saw" for the past tense form of "see," while German has "sah(en)."

^ The West Germanic languages typically used "n," "an," or "en" on the end of verbs in their infinitive forms; thus meaning "to" + whatever the action meaning was, in this case, "to see." As you can tell, the other West Germanic languages have more commonly retained that form through time.