Field-Marshal General of Nazi Germany Walter von Reichenau was one of the few top Wehrmacht military officials who actively supported Nazism. In World War II, he was the commander of the 6th Army. It was he who with his troops took Paris in 1940, as well as Kiev and Kharkov in 1941.
Biography
Walter Reichenau was born on October 8, 1884 in Karlsruhe (German Empire). His father was a Prussian general. The Reichenau family had noble roots and was quite wealthy. In the XIX and in the first half of the XX century, she owned one of the largest furniture factories located in Germany.
In the late 1930s, the family decided to transfer it into the hands of the Nazis, who converted this enterprise into a military one and began to produce various kinds of equipment there for the army. When in 1945 the Allies began to bomb the city, the factory near Karlsruhe was completely destroyed, and with it the influence and wealth of the Reichenau family disappeared.
At the age of 18, young Walter decided that he would make a military career, and joined the army. At first he served in the 1st Prussian artillery regiment. Two years later he was promoted to lieutenant, and in 1912 he was promoted to lieutenant.
World War I
Before the war broke out, Walter von Reichenau was a student at the Berlin Military Academy, where all officers of the General Staff were trained. With the outbreak of hostilities on the Western Front, he had to return to his unit, where he served as adjutant to the regiment commander. A little later, he was transferred to the General Staff of the 47th Reserve Division.
Walter von Reichenau graduated from the First World War with the rank of captain, and for successful service he was awarded the Iron Cross of the I and II degrees, the Order of the Hohenzollern House and several more insignia. After that, he served in the General Staff of the military district, stationed in Münster, as well as the commander of a machine gun company. In 1923, already in the rank of major, he first visited England. Returning from there, he took up another staff post in Berlin, and from the end of 1927 he became commander of one of the Stuttgart communications battalions. Two years have not passed since that moment, as he becomes a lieutenant colonel.
Later, Reichenau will again go to England, but this time he will stay there for several months. At the end of 1929, he was recalled back to Berlin and appointed chief of staff, seconded to the communications inspector at the Reichswehr ministry. He held this position until February 1931, until he received an appointment to East Prussia. Exactly one year later, he receives another promotion and the rank of colonel.
Zealous Assistant to the Nazis
I must say that from the very beginning Reichenau was delighted with the ideas of National Socialism. In 1932, his uncle, a big admirer of Hitler, introduced his nephew to his nephew. He, in turn, recommends the future Fuhrer his boss, Werner von Blomberg.
A year later, on January 30, Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany. He immediately appointed Blomberg as Minister of War, and Reichenau, who introduced them, as head of one of the departments under the Ministry of the Reichswehr with the assignment of the next rank of Major General. Very quickly, he turned into a kind of connecting link between the Nazi bosses and the army.
At the beginning of 1933, the former commander of the German ground forces, Kurt von Hammerstein, resigned. Instead, Hitler proposed Reichenau, but for some reason Hindenburg decisively rejected her and gave this post to Werner von Fritsch.
"Night of the Long Knives"
So, Walter von Reichenau, whose biography, the beginning of his career and all his activities were closely connected with the Nazis from the very beginning, actively helped the future Fuhrer to seize power in the country. He understood that in the event of the collapse of the Nazi party, his own career would be over forever. Reichenau saw that the stormtrooper squads were becoming stronger, and the German generals were already preparing to speak out against both Rem and Hitler, so he hastened to make a deal with Goering and SS chief Himmler. They also did not intend to put up with the ever-growing power of the SA. After conferring with Hitler, the trinity decided that there was only one way out of the situation - to defeat the attack aircraft and kill Ernst Rem.
The plan for the elimination of CA was ready as soon as possible. The operation itself was given the name "Night of the Long Knives." As a result of the so-called purge, about 150 SA leaders were captured and soon shot. An interesting fact is that the army did not take part in this conflict, as it received a direct order: “Do not interfere!” And here Walter von Reichenau once again fulfilled his usual role as a liaison, but now between the SS and the army. In addition, it is reliably known that he was the one who supplied the Nazi fighters with weapons.
Promotion
Hitler came to power after the death of President Hindenburg. He immediately abolished this post, and he himself became known as the Reich Chancellor and Fuhrer of the Third Reich. All soldiers and officers were urgently brought to a new oath, the text for which was written by Reichenau himself. Prior to this, all the military pledged allegiance to the country and people, and now personally to the Führer. Such a text of the oath was not accidental, as it did not allow German officers to participate in any conspiracy against Hitler himself.
Seeing such zeal, the Fuhrer in the summer of 1935 represents Reichenau to the rank of Major General and appoints him commander of the 7th Military District. In 1938, his former chief Blomberg was removed from the post of commander in chief of the ground forces. In this situation, Reichenau did not even lift a finger in order to somehow help his old boss, since he himself had expected to take this post over time. In the meantime, this post was given to Walter von Brauchitsch, who had previously commanded the 4th Army Group.
I must say that she was not like the others, because, unlike them, she was not territorial, but mobile. It was the 4th Army Group that went under the command of Reichenau. Needless to say, this was a tremendous responsibility: in his hands concentrated all control over the already created German mobile forces, as well as the formation of new ones. Now the tank divisions commanded by Guderian and Goth were led by Reichenau, Walter von. The fascist leaders respected him and put him on a par with themselves.
Invasion of the USSR
In one article it is impossible to describe all the victories that were won by the German mobile divisions under the command of Walter von Reichenau at the beginning of World War II. However, his last campaign was an attack on the Soviet Union. His army was then renamed the 6th and now it was part of Army Group South under the command of Gerd von Rundstedt.
As you know, Reichenau with his troops participated in operations to seize Kiev, Kharkov, Belgorod, Kursk. In addition, he had a hand in the encirclement and subsequent liquidation of the Soviet troops trapped in the trap. After a failed operation near Moscow, Rundstedt was dismissed and Reichenau was appointed in his place, who managed to stop the winter offensive of the Soviet troops and remain in occupied positions until the middle of next year.
The death of the Nazi general
On one of the frosty January days of 1942, General Walter von Reichenau, as usual, went for a morning run. A little later, already in the officer’s cafeteria, he had an acute heart attack, as a result of which he lost consciousness. All the efforts of the doctors to bring him to their senses for five days were unsuccessful, therefore, on January 17, it was decided to send the field marshal to Leipzig by plane, tying him to a chair.
On the way, the aircraft crashed, and Reichenau, among other things, received a very serious head injury. However, in the evening he was still delivered to the Leipzig airfield, but it turned out that the 57-year-old Nazi general was already dead.
Historical portrait
What kind of man was Reichenau Walther von? “Military Opponents of Russia” is a book by Boris Frolov, where he tried to recreate historical portraits of the most famous Western military leaders who had fought against our country at one time. According to him, he was an energetic, decisive, cold-blooded and cruel man. His independent character and his own opinion on many strategic issues often annoyed Hitler.
His unjustified cruelty towards citizens of the Soviet Union left a black mark on his reputation. His terrible treatment of prisoners of war and civilians, as well as the fanatical zeal with which he carried out Hitler’s order “On Commissars,” speak for themselves. In the six months that his troops were in the USSR, about 1 million Soviet citizens died at their hands. Such military leaders as Reichenau and the like fully embody the most dangerous and inhuman regime, which is fascism.