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Erich
von Manstein Erich
von Manstein (November 24, 1887 - June 11, 1973) was a
general, and later a Field Marshal, in the German Army
during World War II. He was famous for repeatedly
standing up to Hitler on various issues, often with the
rest of the General Staff watching. Although this would
normally lead to his swift removal, Manstein was one of a
very few generals who had repeatedly proved themselves in
Hitler's eyes. Eventually even Hitler had enough of him,
and he was dismissed in 1944.
Manstein was born Erich von Lewinski in Berlin, the tenth
child of Prussian aristocrat and artillery general Eduard
von Lewinski. His parents died and he was adopted by his
uncle, General Georg von Manstein. His career in the
military was assured from birth. As a child he spent six
years in the cadet corps, and then joined the 3rd
Footguards in 1906 as ensign. In 1913 he entered the War
Academy and was promoted to Lieutenant in 1914.
When World War I started he served
briefly on the Western Front in Belgium, but was soon
sent to the Eastern Front in Poland. There he was wounded
in 1914 and returned to duty in 1915, promoted to Captain
and remained as staff officer until the end of the war in
1918. In 1918, he volunteered for the staff position in
Frontier Defence Force in Breslau (Wroclaw) and served
there until 1919.
He then took part in the process of creating the
Reichswehr. He was promoted Company commander in 1920,
and Corps Commander in 1922. In 1927 he was promoted
again to Major, and started serving with the General
Staff, visiting other countries to learn about their
military. In 1933 the Nazi party rose to power in
Germany, and von Manstein was promoted to Colonel in
1935, was posted to the General Staff. Considered to be
uncooperative by Hitler, he was later sent to Silesia as
commander of the 18th Division. During the invasion of
Poland he served as chief of staff to the Army Group
South under Gerd von Rundstedt.
In 1940 Manstein worked with Blumentritt and von Tresckow
to develop the plan to invade France. They suggested that
the army should attack through the wooded hills of the
Ardennes, where no one would expect it. Hitler originally
rejected the proposal, but he eventually approved of a
modified version, Fall Gelb, that later became known as
the Manstein Plan. Manstein was then sent back to Silesia
and did not take part in the operation until the final
stages when he served under Gunther von Kluge. The plan
was so successful that he was awarded the Knight's Cross
for planning it.
In February 1941, Manstein was appointed commander of the
56th Panzer Corps. He was involved in Operation
Barbarossa where he served under General Erich Hoepner.
Attacking on 22nd June 1941, Manstein advanced more than
100 miles in only two days and was able to seize the
importance bridges at Dvinsk. The following month he
captured Demyansk and Torzhok.
Manstein was appointed commander of 11th Army in
September 1941, and was given the task of conquering the
Crimea. The Red Army defended Sevastopol and this
important Black Sea naval base wasn't taken until July
1942. Promoted to field marshal, Manstein was sent to
capture Leningrad. This led to a series of bitter battles
and lost over 60,000 men over the next few months.
In November 1942, Adolf Hitler ordered Manstein to rescue
Fredrich Paulus's 6th Army during the Battle of
Stalingrad. Placed in charge of a hastily assembled group
of tired men and machines, he got his three panzer
divisions to within 35 miles of the city. A massive Red
Army attack at another point on the line forced him to
retreat to the Ukraine.
Manstein regrouped and the following year inflicted a
heavy defeat on the Soviets at Krasnograd. An estimated
23,000 Soviet soldiers were killed and a further 9,000
were captured. Manstein now went on to capture Kharkov
and Belgorod. In recognition for this action, he received
the Oak Leafs for his Knight's Cross in March 1943. von
Manstein then proposed an action for the summer to push
the Red Army into the Sea of Azov at Rostov, but Hitler
instead chose to back Operation Citadel and he was
ordered to Kursk.
After the failure of Citadel the Soviets counterattacked.
In September he withdrew to the west bank of the Dnieper
River, while inflicting heavy casualties on the Red Army.
From October to mid January of 1944,von Manstein
"stabilized" the situation but in late January
was forced to retreat further westwards by the a Soviet
offensive. In mid-February of 1944, von Manstein
disobeyed Hitler's order and ordered 11th and 42nd Corps
(consisting of 56,000 men in six divisions) of Army Group
South to breakout from the "Cherkassy Pocket",
which occurred on February 16/17th. Eventually, Hitler
accepted this action and ordered the breakout after it
already took place.
Manstein continued to argue with Hitler about overall
strategy and in March 1944 he was dismissed from office.
Nevertheless that same day he received the Swords for his
Oak Leaves, the highest German military honour. After his
dismissal he entered an eye clinic in Breslau,
recuperated near Dresden, and then retired. Although he
did not take part in the attempt to kill Hitler in July
1944, he was aware of it. In late January of 1945 he
collected his family from their homes in Liegnitz and
evacuated them to West Germany.
After the war Manstein was charged with war crimes. In
court Manstein argued that he was unaware that genocide
was taking place in territory under his control. However,
evidence was produced that Manstein had ordered that the
Jewish Bolshevik system be wiped out once and for all
although he requested that officers should not be present
during the killing of Jews.
Manstein was found guilty and he was sentenced to 18
years imprisonment. However, for medical reasons he was
freed on 6th May 1953. He then became an advisor to the
re-forming German Army, the Bundeswehr, and later moved
with his family to Bavaria. His war memoirs, Vereloren
Siege (Lost Victories), were published in Germany in
1955, and translated into English in 1958. Erich von
Manstein died in June 1973.
Text is available under
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