Sixteen years after the end of the Second World War, the german historian and political commentator Görlitz introduced the life of Marshal William Baldwin Johann Gustav Keitel, former chief of staff of the Wehrmacht high command.
Born in 1882 in Herschlod, near Bad Gandersheim, Lower Saxony, Germany, he had a stubborn personality, as was often found among the farmers of Lower Saxony. When the son of the wealthy farm owner graduated from high school in 1901 and entered Wolfenbüttel's Field Artillery Regiment 46th Regiment as a conscript,
When Gustav Keitel was a lieutenant aide-de-camp to the regiment, he fought in the battles of the Belgian fortress of Namur (which sits at the confluence of the Maas and Sambre rivers, the crossroads of Belgium, which has always been a battleground for soldiers) and the Marne Valley (a river in northern France, a tributary of the Seine).
He excelled in his performance and was awarded the Iron Cross of the First and Second Degrees (recipients of the Iron Cross generally wear copies obtained from the authorities, while the originals are preserved by the recipients to avoid damage on the battlefield. ）。 Although he was wounded, this did not prevent him from becoming commander of an artillery company in the winter of 1914.
William Baldwin John Gustav Keitel
In the spring of 1915, he was promoted to captain and transferred to the 10th Reserve Department of the Janissaries of the 2nd Army. At the time the army was fighting at Fori Hill and in 1916 took part in the Battle of Verdun (the most destructive and longest campaign of the First World War). From February 21, 1916 to December 19, Germany and France invested more than 100 divisions, killing more than 250,000 troops and wounding more than 500,000. ）。
In the same year Gustav Keitel was transferred to the division as Chief Staff Officer and was awarded the Royal Order of Hohenzollern (intended to reward officers who had distinguished themselves in battle and civilians who had made outstanding contributions to the Swabian line of the Hohenzollern family). In the last year of the war, he served as a staff officer for the Marine Corps in Flanders.
After the First World War, Gustav Keitel continued to serve in the military, serving in the following years as a force and staff member, and in October 1931 as colonel in the Organization Department of the Military Service of the Ministry of National Defence (the German Army Staff, which was re-renamed the Ministry of Defence after the War I due to the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles).
He was the most familiar with the various operational command levels and administrative structures of the Wehrmacht. He was promoted to major general in 1933 and was ordered to form the 22nd Wehrmacht Infantry Division in Bremen.
At the request of Army General Werner von Frich, Varna von Bühlenburg appointed Major General Graham as head of the Army Bureau of the Ministry of Defence in 1935, but Greim seemed reluctant to accept the appointment for fear of becoming involved in politics, and it was not until 9 September that he was persuaded to take up the post by Lisa.
Gestapo, a transliteration of the German abbreviation Gestapo for "State Secret Police", was controlled by the SS.
He was married to Werner von Fritch in 1938's "The Brunberg-Fritsch Affair" (Brenborg married the pornographic model Erna Gruhn, "Werner von Fritch is a homosexual"). There was also goodwill during the crisis, although there were differences of opinion between Büllenberg and Gustav Keitel, together with Werner von Fritsch and Ludwig Baker, on the supreme formation of the Wehrmacht.
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Before Admiral Werner von Fritsch was reinstated, the Mousse Fuehrer had taken supreme command of the three armies. The Imperial Military Department was also abolished and merged into the "Wehrmacht Command". General Gustav Keitel was appointed Chief of Staff of the Wehrmacht Command.
This staff officer, who had received a good education and had a profound theoretical foundation and rich practical experience, had leapt to the important position of "chief of staff of the Headquarters of the National Defense Forces," and he really had a sense of incompetence. The main reason was that he could not cope with and persuade the "devil's apostle" the mustachioed Fuehrer. Nevertheless, when the Moustache Fuehrer was determined to attack Poland.
Gustav Keitel, who had now been promoted to general, had no contact with the wave of resistance within the Army against the Moustache Führer. But he was also opposed to some of the mustachioed Fuehrer's intuitive decisions, but he still believed that the Mustache Fuehrer had the ability to judge and act independently on all militaryly necessary actions. But he always took obedience as his duty, although the behavior of the Mustache Fuehrer was very different from gustav Keitel's personal opinion.
German vehicles drive in occupied French towns
By the end of the Western Front, he had been promoted to field marshal.
At this time, the Mousse Fuehrer was determined to attack the eastern front. Marshal Gustav Keitel again disagreed. Based on his 1913 understanding of the Soviet Union, he proposed an opinion not to attack the Soviet Union. The Mousse Fuehrer paid neither attention to this opinion nor gustav Keitel's opinion, and not many people attached importance to such an opinion on not attacking the Soviet Union, and went through the motions.
From this point on he tried his best not to let the Moustache Fuehrer know something unpleasant enough to cause him unpleasantness. Therefore, when Admiral Erich Raeder, in a letter of opinion on 25 July 1941, proposed a military sweep in the Mediterranean region to cut off British ties with the Eastern Mediterranean and strengthen the fighting forces in North Africa, he proposed that the proposal be completely revised so as not to provoke displeasure to the Mustachioed Führer.
During the battle on the Eastern Front, Marshal Gustav Keitel single-mindedly supported the Moustache Fuehrer in seeking a scapegoat.
Gustav Keitel even helped the Mustache Fuehrer sentence many high-ranking officers to death for failing to obey the Orders of the Mustache Fuehrer and committing rebellion.
As a result, gustav Keitel had requested in early February 1944 that the commander of the garrison in Rivno (a city in northwestern Ukraine) be executed. He was opposed by the Chief of Staff of the German Army, General Kurt Zetzler, who represented the opinion that the local commanders must first be heard.
German Ukrainian SS soldiers shot and killed Jewish people in Poland.
But Imperial Marshal Hermann William Goering supported Gustav Keitel's request. It was only before the decision was decided that the Mousse Fuehrer ordered a military sentence, and after interrogation the guilt of Rivne's garrison commander was determined. Subsequently, a division commander in the Rofna area was sentenced to death. However, this sentence was not carried out, because Marshal Erich von Manstein also tried to protect the division commander's innocence.
When the Western Front collapsed in the summer of 1944, Gustav Keitel's weakness was already apparent. His absolute obedience also caused the war situation on the front line to become increasingly unfavorable. On 29 July, the Fuehrer of the Mousseach summoned Marshals Gerd von Lundstedt, Erwin Rommel and Hugo Speler, as well as Admiral Theodore Kranck and The armored corps superintendent Heinz Wilhelm Guderian, to a meeting in Berchtesgaden.
There Gerd von Lundstedt and Erwin Rommel had asked him to stop the war, because there was no hope of a turnaround.
After this meeting, Erwin Rommel spoke earnestly with Gustav Keitel and explained to him the hopelessness of the war. Erwin Rommel argued that the war (at least on the Western Front) must end quickly.
During World War II, two German soldiers took spoof photos in a makeshift toilet
Gustav Keitel promised to speak to the Mustache Fuehrer and, like Erwin Rommel, believed that there was no hope in the war. But he still believed that the "leader" had superior strategic and tactical judgment and command, and hoped that the Second World War would be a solution that would be won or lost.
Gustav Keitel was faithful until the day the Moustache Fuehrer committed suicide.
Captured on 13 May 1945, the field marshal was later sentenced to death at the European International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg on 1 October 1946 and formally executed on 16 October 1946. Until his last moments, he was not depressed. When he heard the verdict, he was also numb and expressionless. When he ascended to the gallows, his muscles trembled involuntarily.
What is shown in this last moment is that Gustav Keitel was naturally timid and afraid, especially since he had been subdued by the foolish magic of the Mustache Fuehrer. But this does not mean that he is cowardly and inferior in heart, because he does not fear to go to the gallows and die.
The German soldiers wanted to have fun, and they asked the three Soviet soldiers to dig their own pits for themselves to bury alive.
A humble article, the writing is immature, and I implore the officials to forgive or teach. Thank you!