Walther von Brauchitsch

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Walther von Brauchitsch : biography

4 October 1881 – 18 October 1948

Heinrich Alfred Hermann Walther von Brauchitsch (4 October 1881 – 18 October 1948) was a German field marshal and the Oberbefehlshaber des Heeres (Commander of the Heer (Army)) in the early years of World War II.

Early years

Brauchitsch was born in Berlin as the fifth son of a cavalry general. He attended the Französisches Gymnasium Berlin. Brauchitsch was commissioned in the Prussian Guard in 1900. By World War I, he was appointed to the General Staff. In 1910, he married Elizabeth von Karstedt, a wealthy heiress to in Pomerania.

Dates of rank

  • Leutnant – 22 March 1900
  • Oberleutnant – 18 October 1909
  • Hauptmann – 18 December 1913
  • Major – 15 July 1918
  • Oberstleutnant – 1 April 1925
  • Oberst – 1 April 1928
  • Generalmajor – 1 October 1931
  • Generalleutnant – 1 October 1933
  • General der Artillerie – 20 April 1936
  • Generaloberst – 4 February 1938
  • Generalfeldmarschall – 19 July 1940

Death

After the war, Brauchitsch was arrested and charged with war crimes, but died in Hamburg in 1948 before he could be prosecuted.

Brauchitsch was the uncle of Manfred von Brauchitsch, a 1930s Mercedes-Benz "Silver Arrow" Grand Prix driver, and Hans Bernd and Werner von Haeften, both members of the German resistance against Hitler. Brauchitsch was a strong admirer of Feldmarschall Helmuth von Moltke and used to linger in his former office that was made into a museum at a later date.

Wehrmacht

In 1933, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party came to power and began to expand the military. Brauchitsch was named Chief of the East Prussian Military District. His specialty was artillery. In 1937, he became commander of the Fourth Army Group.

Brauchitsch disliked or opposed much of the Nazi system, but also welcomed the Nazi policy of rearmament and was dazzled by Hitler’s personality. He became largely reliant on Hitler as political patron and even for financial help. In February 1938, in the middle of the Munich Crisis, Brauchitsch left his wife Elizabeth after 28 years. He wanted to marry Charlotte Rueffer (later married Schmidt), the daughter of a Silesian judge, and ardent admirer of the Nazis (Ulrich von Hassell—later part of the conspiracy against Hitler—described her as "a 200 percent rabid Nazi"). Hitler set aside his usual anti-divorce sentiments and encouraged Brauchitsch to divorce and remarry. Hitler even lent him 80,000 Reichsmarks, which he needed since the family wealth was all his wife’s. In the same month, Brauchitsch was appointed Oberbefehlshaber des Heeres (Commander of the Heer) as a replacement for General Werner von Fritsch, who had been dismissed on false charges of homosexuality, due to a name mistake. The true homosexual officer had the name Werner von FritzWilliam L Shierer, Rise and Fall of the third Reich. Part II. Chapter "Road to war" (1937) and the Blomberg incident (1938)

Brauchitsch resented the growing power of the SS, believing that they were attempting to replace the Wehrmacht as the official German armed forces. He had disagreements with Erich Koch, the Gauleiter of East Prussia, and Adolf Hitler had to resolve the dispute between the two.

Like General Ludwig Beck, Brauchitsch opposed Hitler’s annexation of Austria (the Anschluss) and Czechoslovakia (see Fall Grün), although he did not resist Hitler’s plans for war. He took no action when Beck asked him to persuade the whole General Staff to resign if Hitler proceeded in his invasion of Czechoslovakia.

In September 1938, a group of officers began plotting against Hitler and repeatedly tried to persuade Brauchitsch—as Commander of the Heer—to lead the anticipated coup, but the only assurance he gave them was: "I myself won’t do anything, but I won’t stop anyone else from acting." After the collapse of the 1938 coup attempt, Brauchitsch ignored all further appeals from Beck and the other plotters to use the army to overthrow Hitler before Germany was plunged into world war.