Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb
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Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb (September 5, 1876 - April 29, 1956) was a German field marshal during World War II.
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[edit] Youth
Born in Landsberg am Lech as Wilhelm Leeb, he joined the Bavarian Army in 1895 as an officer cadet. After being commissioned in the artillery, he served in China during the Boxer Rebellion. He later attended the Bavarian War Academy in Munich (1907 - 1909) and served on the General Staff in Berlin (1909 - 1911). Promoted to captain, he performed a tour of duty as a battery commander in the Bavarian 10th Field Artillery Regiment at Erlangen (1912 - 1913).
[edit] World War I and after
At the outbreak of World War I, Leeb was on the General Staff of the Bavarian First Army Corps. During the war, he served with the Bavarian 11th Infantry Division. Upon promotion to major, he was transferred to the Eastern Front in the summer of 1916. The following year, he was appointed to the staff of Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria. For his military achievements, Leeb was made Member of the Max-Joseph-Orden, the royal bavarian equivalent of the KBE, in 1916, meaning personal nobility and the addition of the title Ritter (knight) to his name.
After the war, von Leeb remained in the German Army. In 1923, he was involved in putting down the Nazi Beer Hall Putsch. He then commanded Wehrkreis VII, as a lieutenant-general, before the rise of Hitler and the Nazi Party.
[edit] World War II
Hitler was not fond of von Leeb due to his anti-Nazi attitudes and religious convictions and retired him in 1938 after promoting him to the rank of colonel general, but reactivated him in July, when Leeb was made commander of the 12. Army and took part in the occupation of the Sudetenland in 1938. Afterwards the general was pensioned off again.
In summer 1939 however, Leeb was called back into service again and promoted to the command of Army Group C. During the attack of France, his troops broke through the Maginot Line. For his role in this victory, von Leeb was promoted to the rank of field marshal (generalfeldmarschall) in July 1940, and awarded the Knight's Cross.
Now having Hitler's faith, von Leeb was given responsibility for the attack on the Soviet Union in the northwestern sector and command of Army Group North in Operation Barbarossa. Von Leeb was to destroy Soviet units in the Baltic area and capture all Soviet Baltic Sea naval bases as well as Leningrad by July 21, 1941.
When the invasion of the Soviet Union began on June 22, 1941, von Leeb's armies met with outstanding success against an overwhelmed Soviet force. By the end of September, his army had advanced 900 km into the Soviet Union and surrounded Leningrad but he failed to capture the great city.
[edit] The Defeat at Tikhvin
The turning point in the defeat of German attempt to capture Leningrad was the battle of Tikhvin in October-December 1941. At Tikhvin the Red Army for a first time in the WWII inflicted a large scale defeat on the Wehrmacht in the ground warfare. Encouraged by easy victories over the disorganized and poorly led Red Army at beginning of the war, Leeb rushed his armies to Tikhvin, a key city on the road to Leningrad in hope of quick conquest of Leningrad. The victory would allow Germans to shift a balk of the troops from the north to the German Army Group Center for a decisive battle of Moscow.
The Germans having a big superiority over Russians in the share numbers of their panzer troops, succeeded to capture Tikhvin on November 8, 1941. A newly appointed commander of the Soviet 4th Field Army Kirill Meretskov, applying active defense and constant counterattacks, bogged down Germans, then went on the offensive and on December 10, 1941 recaptured Tikhvin. In the midst of the battle Stavka ordered Kirill Meretskov to organize a new Volkhov Front. By December 30, 1941 Meretzkov had expelled Leeb's troops back to positions from which they began their Tikhvin offense. According to one of the leading historians of the Eastern Front David Glantz: "the concept of blitzkrieg failed for the first time in the Second World War... anticipating" the Soviet victory at Moscow. The battle at Tikhvin was also significant in its direct assistance to the Red Army in the battle of Moscow. Instead of sending troops from the Army Group North to Moscow, Germans were forced to reinforce their armies in the north with divisions from the Army Group Center as well as with other divisions which Germans initially planned to use at Moscow. David Glantz: "During this most critical period of the war, 32 percent of the Wehrmacht's forces, operating north of the Pripiat Marshes, including almost two full panzer groups, were tied down in combat along or adjacent to Tikhvin". The Wehrmacht lost 45,000 troops in the battle.
When von Leeb did not quickly capture Leningrad, Hitler impatiently commented: "Leeb is in a second childhood; he can't grasp and carry out my plan for the speedy capture of Leningrad. He fusses over his plan of assuming the defensive in the northwestern sector and wants a drive in the center on Moscow. He's obviously senile, he's lost his nerve, and like a true Catholic he wants to pray but not fight."
An old-school German general, von Leeb did not take well to having his command micro-managed by an armchair general, namely Hitler. It is misleading information in some works of popular history that Hitler fired Leeb. In January 1942, von Leeb asked to relieve him of his command. Hitler reluctantly agreed. It was officially announced that he had voluntarily stepped down due to illness not because of his defeat. Colonel-General Georg von Küchler assumed command of Army Group North. Von Leeb was never used again by Hitler.
[edit] Relations with Nazis
His attitude towards the Nazi regime is somehow ambivalent: In spite of his open contempt for Hitler and his parvenus he did accept a present of 250.000 Reichsmark for his 65th birthday in 1941. In 1944 the field marshal allowed the Nazi progaganda to use his popularity successfully when he was presented with a great Bavarian estate worth 638.000 Reichsmark. After the failed attempt to assassinate Hitler in 1944 (July 20 plot) Leeb sent an affirmation of loyalty to the dictator.
After the war, von Leeb was tried by a U.S. military tribunal in Nuremberg in the High Command Trial. Due to a confusion of documents he was found guilty on one of four charges and sentenced to three years imprisonment, but was released after the judgment because he had already spent more time in custody. He spent his last years in quiet existence with his family until his death in 1956.
[edit] Notes
- Note regarding personal names: Ritter is a title, translated approximately as Knight, not a first or middle name. There is no equivalent female form.
[edit] References
- David Glantz, "The Battle for Leningrad", 1941-1944, Lawrence, KS, 2002.
- Pavlov, Dmitri V. Leningrad 1941: The Blockade. Translated by John Clinton Adams. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1965.
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Werner von Blomberg | Fedor von Bock | Walther von Brauchitsch | Ernst Busch | Hermann Göring | Robert Ritter von Greim | Wilhelm Keitel | Albert Kesselring | Ewald von Kleist | Günther von Kluge | Georg von Küchler | Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb | Wilhelm List | Erich von Manstein |Erhard Milch | Walter Model | Friedrich Paulus | Walther von Reichenau | Wolfram von Richthofen | Erwin Rommel | Gerd von Rundstedt | Ferdinand Schörner | Hugo Sperrle | Maximilian von Weichs | Erwin von Witzleben |
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Honorary: Eduard von Böhm-Ermolli |
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