Panzer Leader

by Heinz Guderian

  Schmidt, Ambassador, 365

  Schmitt, Minister, 452

  Schmundt, Colonel later General, 172, 174, 185, 189, 199, 261, 263–4, 272, 287–9, 295, 304, 308, 313, 340, 342, 345, 364, 452

  Schneider, Colonel, 192

  Schörner, General, later Col.-Gen., 316, 343, 352, 354–5, 366, 376, 394, 401

  Schroth, General, 148, 154, 345–6

  Schultz, General, 374

  Schwerin von Krosigk, Graf, 452–3

  Seeckt, Col. General von, 38, 457, 462

  Seiss-Inquart, 51

  Seldte, Minister, 452, 453

  Seydlitz, General von, 400

  Smigly-Rydz, Marshal, 438

  Smolensk, Capture of, 180

  Sodenstern, General von, 90

  Speer, Albert, 276–7, 282, 293–4, 298, 304, 306, 308–10, 313, 407, 422–4, 426, 453

  Speidel, General, 333

  Sperrle, General, later F.-M., 101, 104, 334

  Spitta, 113

  Spoleta, Duke of, 144

  Stalin, 85, 440

  Stauffenburg, Graf, 344, 345, 348

  Stemmermann, General, 258

  Stiotta, Major von, 91

  Stockhausen, General von, 146

  Stottmeister, Colonel, 22

  Strachwitz, Colonel Graf, 355

  Strauss, Col.-General, 65–6, 72, 272, 361

  Streich, General, 169–72

  Stüipnagel, Gen. Heinrich von, 349

  Stülpnagel, Lt.-Col. later Gen. Joachim von, 18, 25

  Stülpnagel, General Otto von, 24, 25

  Stumme, General, 330

  Stumpff, General, 76

  Stumpfl, General, 52

  Stutterheim, General von, 98, 100–1

  Theiss, Colonel, 53, 293

  Thilo, Lt.-Colonel, 360

  Thoma, General Ritter von, 180, 204, 209, 222

  Thomale, Colonel, later Gen., 292, 294, 306, 309, 339–40, 387, 408, 413

  Timoshenko, Marshal, 176, 218

  Todt, Dr., 136, 267, 277, 453

  Tolstoi, Count, 256–7

  Toppe, Colonel, 343

  Treskow, General von, 312, 345

  Tschammer und Osten, von, 450

  Tschischwitz, General von, 18–19, 21, 347

  Tuchel Heath, Battle of the, 71–3

  Tula, Battle of, 242–62

  Udet, General, 304

  Usinger, Colonel, 170–2

  Vaerst, Colonel von, 105

  Veiel, General, 49–51, 98, 110, 113, 127

  Verdun, Battle of, 22

  Viebirg, General, 146, 161

  Vietinghoff genannt Scheel, Gen. Frhr. von, 145, 149, 174, 180, 220, 222

  Volckheim, Lt., 20

  Vormann, General von, 355, 376

  Vörös, General, 368, 378, 399

  Wäger, Lt.-Colonel, 22

  Wagner, General, 343, 345

  Waldeck, Lt.-Col. Prince Max zu, 292

  Weber, Lieutenant, 128

  Weber, General Ritter von, 154, 158, 162, 178, 180

  Wechmar, Col. Frhr, von, 322

  Weichs, Gen. Frhr. von, later F.-M., 35, 36, 373, 403

  Weidling, General, 311

  Weisenberger, General, 242, 244, 247

  Weiss, Major, 287

  Weiss, Col.-Gen., 376, 400

  Weizenegger, Lt.-Col., 339

  Weizsåcker, von, 72

  Wenck, Major, later General, 23, 105, 110, 132–3, 343, 354, 384, 397, 409, 413–15, 421, 426

  Wendland, Lt.-Col., 343

  Wenig, Captain, 137

  Westphal, General, 385

  West Wall, 51

  Weber, General, 444

  Wietersheim, General von, 91, 106, 114, 118, 362

  Wiktorin, General, 68, 78, 129

  William I, Kaiser, 434

  Wilkins, von, 66

  Wilson, President, 432

  Wimmer, Captain, 18, 19

  Witzleben, F.-M. von, 348

  Wöhler, General, 386, 418

  Wolf, Major, 208

  Wöllwarth, Major Frhr. von, 292

  Xylander, General von, 386

  Yefremov, General, 239

  Zeitzler, Colonel, later General, 107, 275, 289, 306–7, 311, 323–4, 339–41

  Zhukov, Marshal, 407

  Zimmermann, Dr., 429

  1 There is no true English equivalent to the German military concept of which the adjective is operativ, and which might be described as lying mid-way between the tactical and the strategic. I have translated it as operational throughout this work.—Tr.

  2 The current English handbook on armoured fighting vehicles was translated into German and for many years served as the theoretical manual for our developing ideas.

  1 The new Chief of Staff to General Lutz was Colonel (later Field-Marshal) Paulus—who commanded the forces in the attack on Stalingrad in 1942, and was captured there.

  1 The numerals 1-10 refer to the remarks made by our adversaries in the Militär-Wissenschaftliche Rundschau (The Review of Military Science),1937, vol. 3, pp. 326, 362, 364, 368, 369, 372, 373, and 374. This publication was put out by the Army General Staff.

  1 Full generals in the German Army carried in their military title the arm of the service from which they originally came or, in arms more lately created, with which they were most closely connected: i.e. General of Infantry, General of Artillery, etc. This rank, though nominally equivalent to that of British general, was actually closer to that of British lieutenant-general. A German colonel-general was more nearly equivalent to a British full general.—Tr.

  1 Winston Churchill, The Second World War, vol. 1. The Gathering Storm, p. 242. Cassell and Co., Ltd., London, 1948.

  1 The railway authorities at Munich have been good enough to inform me that, according to the unanimous statements of employees engaged there at the time of the march into Austria, no special trains with military personnel or equipment left Germany for Vienna. In any case such a move would have required unified control of the German and Austrian railways, which at that time did not exist. On the day before the march in, the infantry divisions detrained in the frontier area near Berchtesgaden, Freilassing and Simbach, the empty trains returning immediately to Germany to pick up other units. On the second day of the operation troop trains could go as far as Salzburg; it was not until the third day that they could proceed all the way to Vienna.

  1 The divisional commander was mistaken in thinking that his troops were out of fuel. After regulating the fuel stocks in the hands of the troops it proved possible to continue the advance. One must always distrust the report of troop commanders: ‘We have no fuel.’ Generally they have. But if they become tired they lack fuel. That is a common experience of war with the forward troops. During the campaign in France there was no lack of fuel—good staff work can avoid this calamity. Later in the war we often had a real scarcity of fuel because of the destruction of our industry. But in 1940 it was only a question of transport and easy to solve.

  2 Spitta was the name of the Battalion Commander.

  1 Compare von Lossberg Im Wehrmachtsführungstab, page 81 (H. H. Nölke-Verlag, Hamburg).

  1 Quoted in English in the original.—Tr.

  1 The First General Staff Officer (I a) at a German headquarters held a position approximately equivalent to that of the General Staff Officer I (Operations) at a British headquarters.

  1 A German Armeegruppe was an ad hoc formation of varying size but generally larger than a corps and smaller than an army. In this case, of course, the Armeegruppe had the combat strength at least of a large army. The German for an army group is a Heeresgruppe.

  1 The strength of a Russian division was considerably less than that of the normal European division. The Germans therefore referred to them as Verbaende: this has been translated as ‘formations’ throughout.—Tr.

  1It granted Hitler the right to change laws by decree without discussion by the Reichstag.

  1 This tank, a product of Hitler’s imagination, was designed with the purpose of ramming enemy tanks or of bre
aking the walls of houses and other vertical obstacles.

  1 Brother of the Chief of the OKW.

  1 Ambassador on Special Mission, by the Rt. Hon. Sir Samuel Hoare, Viscount Temple-wood, pp. 190 and 191, Collins, London, 1946.

  1 Ambassador on Special Mission, by the Rt. Hon. Sir Samuel Hoare, Viscount Temple-wood, pp. 194 and 195, Collins, London, 1946.

  1 In this assignment of duties ‘armoured troops’ includes: tank troops, rifle components of panzer divisions (Panzergrenadiere), motorised infantry, armoured reconnaissance troops, anti-tank troops and heavy assault gun units.

  1 The previous (Motorised) Infantry Divisions had been partially re-equipped and renamed Panzergrenadier Divisions: they did not, however, normally contain a tank component, save when they were Waffen-SS Divisions.—Tr.

  1 These were half-tracked.

  1 The Hermann Goering Panzer Parachute Division was a very large armoured division formed of Luftwaffe personnel and controlled, except operationally, by the Luftwaffe. The Waffen-SS panzer divisions were also generally larger and more lavishly equipped than their army equivalents.—Tr.

  1 The ‘Security Service’ with many an atrocity to its discredit.—Tr.

  1 For my own efforts along these lines see p. 293.

  1 See footnote, p. 224.

  1 Compare Hans Speidel, Invasion, 1944, Rainer Wunderlich Verlag, Hermann Leins. Tübingen and Stuttgart, p. 71. ‘Also political considerations made it seem desirable to the Field-Marshal that reliable armoured units remain readily available against future events.’ Compare also Freiherr von Geyr, Invasion Without Laurels, in the Irish publication An Cosantoir, No. 1, 1950: ‘The 2nd Panzer Division (an Army, not an SS Unit) was held back by Rommel for some time, because in expectation of the “20th July Plot” to assassinate Hitler, he wished to have a “reliable” Army division available for any emergency. Although the situation at the front obliged him to commit the 2nd Panzers on the western sector of the battlefield, where it opposed the 1st U.S. Division, Rommel did manage to keep his 116th Panzer Division in reserve until the middle of July.’ And later: ‘His (Rommel’s) refusal may have had a political reason.’

  1 In The Unconquerables, by General Bor-Komorowski, published by The Reader’s Digest, February, 1946.

  1 From the Isar-Post, Nuremberg, 23rd February, 1946. (Dana.)

  1 The Sturmabteilungen, or Storm Troopers. Originally the Party’s para-military organisation, it had been superseded in this role by the SS after the murder of Roehm, on June 30th, 1934.—Tr.

  2 The so-called Siegfried Line along Germany’s western frontier.—Tr.

  1 These men fulfilled a function very similar to that of the political commissars previously attached to units and formations of the Soviet Army,—Tr.

  1 I am aware of Erich Kordt’s opinion, as given in his book Wahn und Wirklichkeit.

  1 Quoted during the Nuremberg process, 20th June, 1946.

  2 Quoted in the Nuremberg process, 20th June, 1946.

  1 Compare Marshal Smigly-Rydz’s statements at Danzig in the spring of 1939.

  2 See page 84.

  3 See Vol. II of Winston Churchill’s The Second World War.

  1 See page 117.

  1 The Sturmabteilungen, or Nazi Party storm troopers.—TV.

  1 See p. 413.

  1 See page 355.

  1 See pp. 293 and 324.

  1 Roughly, lieutenant-governors.—Tr.

  1 Schlieffen Gesammelte Schriften, Vol. II, p. 390; Gneisenau:Verlag E. S. Mittler u. S.

  1 In connection with the Corps Order for the attack across the Meuse it is to be noted that very careful training of the divisions prior to the opening of the Western Campaign greatly facilitated the issuing of the order. During the night 12th-13th May, 1940, the divisions issued orders to their unit commanders which began: “Attack in accordance with map exercise carried out on “It was only thanks to these very thorough preliminary studies that it proved possible to carry out the preparations for the attack in the very limited time available. Only minor alterations to the plan as laid down during the map exercise proved necessary.

  1 These two preliminary orders were based on the orders for the map exercise carried out in Koblenz. They served as directive until the final orders for the attack across the Meuse were issued.