Erwin von Witzleben

[Frankfurter]

Here is a "new" Photo of Erwin von Witzleben. It must have been uploaded to wiki commons very recently. It was taken during the Olympic games, when Hitler visited the swim stadium. His long-stading enemy Witzleben had to accompany him as the then military commander of the Berlin area. The third VIP on the picture is Sepp Dietrich, then commander of Hitler´s "lifeguards".

Witzleben on the court after failed 20th July attempt... Open the image on other tab to see the full pic. From LIFE collection.

This photo has a wrong label. Beside von Witzleben it shows Berlin Stadtkommandant GL von Hase, not Stieff.

[Frankfurter]

The Field Marshal as OB West with the commander of the 15th army stationed in France, Generaloberst Haase. Taken in 1941, most likely in Paris.

Btw there was a good but short 4-page biography of von Witzleben (in German only) in "Militärgeschichte", issue 04/2007. Unfortunately its not directly downloadable on their website anymore, although later issues are.
For those interested: http://www.mgfa.de/html/publikationen_z ... 111035b3c9

[Frankfurter]

As the 2007 issues of "Militaergeschichte" (magazine from Militaergeschichtliches Forschungsamt/Bundeswehr) have been removed from their downloadpage very recently I want to post for those interested the biography of Erwin von Witzleben which I had mentioned in my last post (Source mentioned there). Sorry, its only in German. Page four in my next post.

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[Frankfurter]

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[AlifRafikKhan]

I wonder, why that von Witzleben hate Hitler and Nazi party so much, was there any personal reason or he share the same feeling like some of the generals in the early years of Nazi came to power, like Ludwig Beck or Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord? Usually, the infos about Hitler's resistance movement only mentioned the famous one (Stauffenberg, Goerdeler, etc.), at least in the internet...

[Frankfurter]

I wonder, why that von Witzleben hate Hitler and Nazi party so much, was there any personal reason or he share the same feeling like some of the generals in the early years of Nazi came to power, like Ludwig Beck or Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord?

Is it unknown, why exactly von Witzleben hated the Nazis from the beginning (if there was a specific, or even personally motivated reason). There was a lot to hate the Brownshirts anyway. I guess it was similar like the reasons von Hammerstein had, rude manners, proletaric, unshaven behavior, extremism. Its unlikely the rearmament of the castrated army was a reason, it can be expected he supported that like any officer.
During the Blomberg-Fritsch crisis in early 1938 he was not available for action, if I remember right he was sick then (he suffered regularly from stomach problems). When other critical officers approached him under the impact of rising war fears some months later, he said without hesitation "its clear what has to be done now" (quote from a book), meaning an overthrow of Hitler. Chamberlain´s and Daladier´s kneefall at Munich destroyed the plot at the last minute. Shortly after that he was reassigned to command at Frankfurt, too far away from Berlin for further direct action. He tried to take action again shortly before the attack on Poland, but his comrades in Berlin, like Halder, didnt want to. When one of Witzleben´s subordinate Generals, Groppe, wanted to stop an anti-Jewish demonstration even with using arms and got in trouble with the Nazis his chief supported him and prevented a court trial.
Witzleben had been one of the officers who openly protested against the murder of former chancellor von Schleicher in 1934, so his anger against the Nazis was right from the start.

[Roderick]

does anybody know where's the film of his execution?

regards,

Rod

[AlifRafikKhan]

Thank you Frankfurter. But if he'd been an ardent anti-Nazi from the beginning, why Hitler and his cronies didn't expelled him from his position like what had done to Blomberg or Fritsch (and they were cooperative with the Nazis!), rather he made Witzleben as Field Marshall and even gave him Knight's Cross?

[Frankfurter]

But if he'd been an ardent anti-Nazi from the beginning, why Hitler and his cronies didn't expelled him from his position like what had done to Blomberg or Fritsch (and they were cooperative with the Nazis!), rather he made Witzleben as Field Marshall and even gave him Knight's Cross

Until 1938 Hitler only influenced the very high positions of the Wehrmacht. Only after the sacking of Blomberg and Fritsch, when he became acting Commander-in-Chief, a number of mostly older generals critical to Hitler were didmissed (among them von Kluge and other famous leaders in WWII, I think von Leeb also). Blomberg and Fritsch, although at least the first very much supported the Nazis, despite what was told to the public were sacked mainly because they had objected Hitler in the famous small conference known from the Hoßbach protocol, when he told them that he wanted to wage war soon. Hitler saw that both, and especially Fritsch, were not reliable enough to lead the Army in action in the way he wanted. I think it was about this time, when Hitler said "what kind of generals are those who have to be kicked to wage war?" Certainly a considerable number would have liked to fight, but even many of those at least wanted to wait a few years longer.

Even after the Blmberg-Fritsch-crisis Hitler largely listened to the top generals if certain positions were to be assigned. Remember von Brauchitsch was the candidate of the Army, Hitler wanted Reichenau as OB. When he heard that the generalship dispised the Nazi Reichenau, Hitler immiadetely gave in.

That von Witzleben (and Halder, Hoepner and others) was his enemy was unknown to Hitler and the Gestapo, that he was no fan of him he knew though. Likely thats why von Witzleben was not assigned for duty in the East. Brauchitsch and Halder, Hitler-installed chiefs of the Army, were no Nazis in a true sense and certainly anything but Hitler´s friends. Brauchitsch was a rather weak character compromised by a large sum of money Hitler lend to him. Its mainly these faults which made him Hitler´s ideal tool for some time. It was in Halders and Brauchitschs own interest to keep conservative and critical officers in high positions. It was Halder and Witzleben with the knowledge of Brauchitsch who were the main driving forces in the plot of November 1938, the plot that had the best chances to have worked out - if not Chamberlain and Daladier would have given in to Hitler the day before the generals wanted to act! Witzleben even wanted to arrest Hitler personally, apparently not knowing the younger officers who were to acccompany him were dedicated to shoot the Führer down in any case.

If Hitler would have removed all generals not supporting the Nazis the 1939 Wehmacht would have been largely leaderless, similar to the beheaded Red Army of 1941. Even the former OB of the Army, the old Generaloberst von Hammerstein, retired since 1934 and the most wellknown Hitler enemy among the generalship, got a high post for a short time in 1939!

[Frankfurter]

does anybody know where's the film of his execution?
regards,
Rod

Unknown. Its not sure if the film still exists, and if, it must carry the imprint "Top secret".

[AlifRafikKhan]

Thank you very much Frankfurter for very detail explanation of Witzleben relation with Hitler...

[Frankfurter]

Thank you very much Frankfurter for very detail explanation of Witzleben relation with Hitler...

My pleasure.
let me add that its somewhat odd that there is no book biography of this courageous general so far.
There are some books about Beck, Fromm, Tresckow, Hammerstein-Equord, tons about Stauffenberg and a shipload about Rommel. Also books about lower-ranking members of the 20th July plot like Boeselager. About Witzleben - zero, despite that he was the highest-ranking and one of the longest standing, continous military resisters, who did not let himself blind by the Blitzkrieg successes.

[Frankfurter]

I found this interesting early photo of von Witzleben (when a Major or Oberstleutnant) accompanying Reichswehr General Heye. Photo must be from 1926-29 (Heye was promoted General in 1926, Generaloberst on Jan 1st 1930, Witzleben became Oberstleutnant in 1929).
Source: auction on http://www.epier.com

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[Cartaphilus]

Could anyone identify the last three ribbon of the lower bar? The first seems to be italian, but the other two...

[Michal78]

Here is one more portrait.
Michal