German Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel (1882–1946), Adolf Hitler's senior military adviser during World War II, was convicted at the Nuremberg Trials in 1946 for a crime against humanity. What do we know about this man and how did it happen that, having risen to the head of the armed forces of Nazi Germany, he so ingloriously ended his journey?
Baby willie
On September 22, 1882, Wilhelm Johann Gustav Keitel was born in the small Helmscherod estate, which is located in the picturesque Harz Mountains of the province of Braunschweig in Northern Germany. The family of Karl Keitel and Apollonia Keitel, the parents of the future field marshal of Nazi Germany, was not very rich. Being engaged in agriculture all his life, Wilhelm's father was forced to pay creditors for the estate bought at one time by his father, Karl Keitel, royal adviser to the Northern District of Lower Saxony .
Wilhelm's parents played the wedding in 1881, and already in September of the following year their first-born Willy was born. Unfortunately, happiness did not last long, and at the age of 6, Wilhelm Keitel was orphaned. Apollonia, having given life in labor pains to Bodevin, the second son and future general, commander of the Wehrmacht's ground forces, died from infectious infection during childbirth.
Childhood and youth of V. Keitel
Until the age of 10, Willy was on the estate under the supervision of his father. School science was taught by home teachers who came specifically from Gottingen. Only in 1892, Wilhelm Keitel was accepted to study at the Royal Gymnasium of the city of Gottingen. The boy did not show any particular desire for study. School years passed sluggishly and without interest. All the thoughts of the future general were about a military career. He presented himself as a military commander on a dashing horse, to which hundreds of faithful fighters obeyed. William begged his father to send him to study in the cavalry corps.
However, the parent did not have sufficient funds to maintain the horse, and then it was decided to send the guy to the field artillery. So in 1900, Wilhelm Keitel became a volunteer of the Lower Saxon 46th Artillery Regiment, which was stationed near the family estate in Helmscherod. Having identified William for military service, Karl Keitel married A. Gregoire, a home school teacher of his youngest son, Bodevin.
Wilhelm Keitel: biography of a young officer
1901 - at the age of nineteen V. Keitel became a fan-cadet of the first division of the 46th artillery regiment in Wolfenbüttel.
1902 - after graduating from a military school in the city of Anklam, Wilhelm Keitel was promoted to lieutenant, and was appointed second assistant commander of the 2nd Braunschweig battery 46 artillery regiment. It is noteworthy that the next 3rd battery was commanded by the future Field Marshal Gunter von Kluge, famous for having delivered a speech to the Führer about the inhuman treatment of Soviet prisoners of war.
1904-1905 - training courses at the artillery and rifle school near the city of Yyuterbog, after which V. Keitel received the post of regimental adjutant and began to serve under the command of von Stolzenberg.
On April 18, 1909, the heart of the 27-year-old officer was conquered by the young Lisa Fontaine, the daughter of an industrialist and farmer from Hanover. Young people became spouses. In the family of William and Lisa, six children were born - three daughters and three sons. All the boys became military men, and William's daughters married officers of the Third Reich.
Continuation of the military career
The news of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, caught the Keitel couple in Switzerland, where a young couple spent their next vacation. Wilhelm was forced to interrupt his vacation and immediately go to the duty station.
In September 1914, Wilhelm Keitel received a severe shrapnel wound in his right forearm in Flanders. Returning from the hospital to the regiment, Keitel in October 1914 was promoted to captain and appointed battery commander of his 46th artillery regiment. Further advancement of a military officer through the ranks was very rapid.
In March 1915, Wilhelm Keitel (photos are presented in the review) was transferred to the General Staff of the 17th reserve corps. At the end of 1917, V. Keitel was appointed chief of the military operations department of the General Staff of the Marine Corps. During his service until 1915, for the good of Germany, Keitel was repeatedly awarded orders and medals, including the Iron Cross of two degrees.
Between First and Second
After the adoption of the new democratic constitution on July 31, 1919, the Weimar Republic with its army and navy was created at the National Constituent Assembly in Weimar. Keitel joins the ranks of the newly created army and receives the position of chief quartermaster of the army corps.
In 1923, after teaching at the cavalry school (a childhood dream came true), V. Keitel became a major. In subsequent years, he worked in the Ministry of Defense, was appointed deputy chief of staff for tactical training, and then - head of department of the Ministry of Defense. In the summer of 1931, Keitel visited the Soviet Union as part of the German delegation.
In 1935, as a major general, Wilhelm Keitel was appointed head of the German Armed Forces. After completing the entire career ladder, on February 4, 1938, Colonel General Wilhelm Keitel became the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of Germany.
Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel
V. Keitel received this high military rank for the successful Polish (in 1939) and French (in 1940) campaigns. It is noteworthy that he was an ardent opponent of the German attack on Poland and France, as well as the USSR, which was repeatedly told by Adolf Hitler. This is proved by historical documents. Twice V. Keitel, due to disagreement with the policy of his boss, resigned, but Hitler did not accept it.
Bloody orders
Nevertheless, Field Marshal remained faithful to the oath to the German people and his Fuhrer. On June 6, 1941, on the eve of World War II, he signed the “Order of the Commissioners”, which read: “All captured military commanders, political officers and citizens of Jewish nationality are subject to immediate liquidation, that is, execution on the spot.”
On September 16, 1941, the
Supreme Commander-in-Chief of Nazi Germany issued a decree according to which all hostages on the Eastern Front should be shot. By order of the field marshal, all captured pilots from the Normandy-Niemen air regiment were not prisoners of war and were subject to execution on the spot. Subsequently, at the Nuremberg trials in 1946, military prosecutors read out numerous decrees and orders, authored by Wilhelm Keitel. The execution of civilians, the shooting of communists and non-partisans, the liquidation of cities and villages in the occupied territories - all this was on the conscience of Field Marshal V. Keitel.
Unconditional Surrender Act
This legal document about peace with Germany was awaited by Soviet people for a long 1418 days. The people went to this great victory, pouring blood on their land, step by step, meter by meter, losing their husbands, wives, children, brothers and sisters. On May 8, 1945, this historic document was signed in the Karlshorst suburb of Berlin. On the Soviet side, the act was signed by Marshal G.K. Zhukov, on the German side - Wilhelm Keitel. The surrender is signed, from now on the world is no longer threatened by the brown plague.
The fate of a German officer
Germany above all! These were the last words spoken by V. Keitel with a noose around his neck. After signing the act of unconditional surrender of Germany on May 12, 1945, Field Marshal V. Keitel was taken into custody along with other war criminals of fascist Germany. Soon, the International Military Tribunal called to account all the minions of Adolf Hitler. They were charged with conspiracy against the world community, the preparation and conduct of hostilities in other countries, as well as crimes against humanity.
Field Marshal V. Keitel in court desperately made excuses and said that he carried out all orders on the personal orders of A. Hitler. However, this argument had no evidence in court, and on all counts he was found guilty.
On the morning of October 16, 1946, the German Foreign Minister, the Führer’s personal adviser on foreign policy, Joachim von Ribbentrop , was executed . The second on the scaffold with a proudly raised head Keitel ascended. The sentence over the German criminal was carried out. Field Marshal left after his soldiers.
Afterword
After the Nuremberg Tribunal, some war criminals began to analyze the causes of the defeat of the Third Reich, expressing their thoughts in memoirs and memoirs. Wilhelm Keitel was no exception. Quotes from his three books, written two weeks before the execution of the sentence, indicate that the field marshal remained a devoted and loyal soldier of his Fuhrer. Here is one of them: “I am a soldier! And for a soldier, an order is always an order. ”