** war and social upheaval: World War II -- biographies Hans Heinz Guderian








World War II Biographies: Heinz Guderian (Germany, 1888-1954)


Figure 1.--Here we see General and famed Panzer commander Heinz Guderian reviewing Hitler Youth boys on September 12, 1944. He is accompanied by HJ Leader Axmann. The Wehrmacht regarded the HJ as a useful trining and recruitmen arm. Hitler had made Guderian chief of staff of the army (Chef des Generalstabs des Heeres) (July 1944). This led to a long series of heated disputes with Hitler as to how to handel the disasterous hammer blows being inflicted by the Soviets and Western Allies. At the time this photograph was taken, the Soviets had destroyed Army Group Center and the Western Allies had destroyed Army Group West. This meant that the Allies were now on the borders of the Reich. One wonders what must have been on his mind as he visited with these boys. A commander as astute as Guderian had to know that the War was lost. He also knew about the crimes that had been committed in Germany's name. We wonder if he pondered on the fate of these boys if they became involved in a now futile War or what they faced after the War.

General Heinz Guderian was one of the most innovative and effective commander of World war II. He was the strongest advocate of Blitzkrrieg in the Wehrmacht before World War II. Blitzkrieg was the tactic of comined arms (ground and air attack). Fast motrized armored units with air support would break throuh weak ponts in the opposing defenses and then rampage through rear areas destoying command and control and cutting the front line off from reinforcement and supplies. Blitzkrieg was actually conceived by English tnk proponents, Liddell Hart and J. F. C. Fuller. It was Guderian who was able to put the theories into force. He explained his concepts in Achtung-Panzer! (1937). He impressed Hitler who made him the driving force in building the panzer units and that would bring decisive victories in Poland (September 1939) and France (May 1940). Guderian was also impressive during Barbarossa in the Soviet Union (June 1941). He commanded Panzergruppe 2 which played a key role in the great German victories. Hitler failed to take is advice about keeping focuded on Moscow. In horrible winter conditions Guederrian attempted to envelop Moscow, commanding the southern pincer force. but was stopped by Soviet resistance and the weather. Hitler releaved him from command (December 1941). He never achieved the rank of Field Marshal because of his disputes with Hitler. Hitler was forced to bring him back after the disaster at Stalingrad, but he never received another major combt command. Heated disputes with Hitler finally brought his final dimissal (March 1945).

Family

General Guderian was of Dutch descent. Originally the family name had been Goudriaan. His ancestors went with a group of Dutch (possibly Mennonites) settlers to the swampy area around Danzig (now Gdansk, Poland) to work in the Vistula (Wisla) Delta.

Childhood

Heinz was born in Kulm, West Prussia (1888). This is now oart of Poland. His parents were Friedrich and Clara (née Kirchhoff). It was a military family. His father and both grandfathers were Prussian officers. Heinz's childhood was in garrison towns surrounded by the military. The family friends and his childhoods fiends were in large measure military families.

Education


Cadet

Heinz enrolled at a military cadet school (1903). He would have been about 14 years old. He was a competent student, although he reportedly did poorly in his final exam.

The Army

Guderian entered the army as an officer cadet (1907). He assigned to the 10th Hanoverian Light Infantry Battalion coomanded by hus fatherr. He was promoed to second lieutenant (1908).

Family

He married Margarete Goerne with whom he had two sons, Heinz Günther (1914-2004) and Kurt (1918-84).

World War I

When Germany kaunched World War I, Guderian was serving as a communications officer and the commander of a radio station. It should be understood at the time that radio was a a new technology and not yet adopted fior caonbat. The Navy could use it, but not army combat units becuase the radio equiopment waslarge, heavy, and bulky. He was quickly promoted to first lieutenant. The early connection with radio, mhowever, would be a life changing experience and be a primary favtor in forming his cincepts about mobile warfre after the War. Guderian was placed un chgarge of signals intelligence for the Fouth Army on the Wesrern Friont (1915-16). He fought at the Battle of Verdun (1915-16) and was promoted to captain (1915). The caranage of Verson anbdtrncgh warfare was aklso a formative exoperience. He served with the 4th Infantry Division and was awared command of the Second Battalion of Infantry Regiment 14. Guderian was appointed to the General Staff Corps (1918). At the end if the War he was an operations officer in occupied Italy. He like many Germans way from the dettiotating Western Front, objected to the Armistice that ended the War. He believed thgat Germany should have continued the War. [Hargreaves 2009, p. 29.] This oriented him and other German officers toiward right-wing political parties.

Inter War Era

The intrer-war era would prove crucial to his career, especially his association with Oswald Lutz.

Blitzkrieg

General Heinz Guderian was one of the most innovative and effective commander of World war II. He was the strongest advocate of Blitzkrrieg in the Wehrmacht before World War II. Blitzkrieg was the tactic of comined arms (ground and air attack). Fast motrized armored units with air support would break throuh weak ponts in the opposing defenses and then rampage through rear areas destoying command and control and cutting the front line off from reinforcement and supplies. Blitzkrieg was actually conceived by English tnk proponents, Liddell Hart and J. F. C. Fuller. It was Guderian who was able to put the theories into force. He explained his concepts in Achtung-Panzer! (1937).

Hitler

He like many Whermacht officers were impressed Hitler who made him the driving force in building the Panzer units and that would bring the NAZIs the starteling victories in the early phase of World War II.

World War II

Guderian was the genius behind Blitzkrieg and one of the great commanders of World War II. It was Guderian's Panzers spearheaded the victories in Poland (September 1939) and France (May 1940). Guderian was also impressive during Barbarossa in the Soviet Union (June 1941). He commanded Panzergruppe 2 which played a key role in the great German victories during Barbarossa. Hitler failed to take is advice about keeping focused on Moscow. This may or not have been good advise, but as a result, the snows set in before the Panzers reached Moscow. In horrible winter conditions Guederian attempted to envelop Moscow, commanding the southern pincer force, but was stopped by Soviet resistance and the weather. The Red Army launhed a counterr-attack which badly damnaged the Ostheer. Hitler releaved him from command (December 1941). This was Hitler's best channce to win the War and it failed. Guderian never achieved the rank of Field Marshal because of his heated disputes with Hitler. He was not involved in the 1942 camapigns. Hitler was forced to bring him back after the disaster at Stalingrad, but he never received another major combat command. Blitzkrieg had worked in part because the Germnans had executed it brilliantly, but also because of the incopetence of the French (1940) and Soviet (1941) commanders. Once Germany's aopponents adopted similar tactics and the mnaterial superority of thee West set in, the War was lost. Nothing Guderian or the other Grerman commanders would do could reverse this. After the Bomb Plot (July 1944), Guderian along with Gerd von Rundstedt and Wilhelm Keitel oversaw the Army Court of Honour that turned the officers involved over to the NAZI kangaroo courts. In the final months of the War, Guderian was forced to issue absurd orders that Hitler demanded and who then catigated the generals for failure. Heated disputes with Hitler finally brought his final dimissal (March 1945). Guderian came the cloest to telling Hitler face to face that it was his orders that brought diaster and not dereliction of duty or incompetence on the part of the officers and men of the Whermacht. After a heated exchange in the Führerbunker, the two calmed down and Hitler ordered him to take a medical leave. Guderian wisely declined to tell him just where he was headed. [Ryan, p. 225-28.]

Post-War

Guderian wisely surrendered to the Americans afterb the War (May 10) He was not put on trial at the IMT Nuremberg trials. The Soviets abnd Poles wanted to try him as a war criminl. The United states refused to hand him over. At the time there was no documentatioin connecting him to the Holocaust. The Americans released him (1948). He retired to southern Bavaria, but not quietly. He began writing several books to add to Actung-Panzer written before the War. They included Panzer Leader (1950), and General Der Panzertruppen (1952). He died of a heart attack (1954). There is also Blitzkrieg in Their Own Words (2014). This is a collection of comments by the men who conducted Blitzkrieg inluding a forward from Guderian's writings. He was very much a NAZI, sometimes described as a moderate NAZI. He believed that the NAZIs were right on fundamental issues. It is unclaer where he stood on the Holocaust and other NAZI crimes. He must have known about them and took no steps to to prevent them. Whether it was his nationalism that led him to support the NAZIs or actual support for genocide, we are unsure. As far as we know, in his writings he did not comment on Jews and other NAZI ethnic targets. While much is made of his arguments with Hitler during the War, often forgotten is his close personal relationship with the Führer before the War. Guderian was a major figure after the War in perpetrating the Clean Wehrmacht myth along with Manstein and others. [Bartov, p. 165.]. He left a legacy as the father of Blitzkrieg, embellishing his role. And very much a German nationalist till the very end.

Sources

Bartov, Omer. "German Soldiers and the Holocaust: Historiography, Research and Implications," History and Memory Passing into History: Nazism and the Holocaust beyond Memory — In Honor of Saul Friedlander on His Sixty-Fifth Birthday Vol. 9, No. 1/2, (Fall 1997), pp. 162-88 .

Guderian, Heinz. Achtung-Panzer! (1937).

Hargreaves, Richard. Blitzkrieg w Polsce wrzesien 1939 [Blitzkrieg Unleashed: The German Invasion of Poland, 1939] (Warsaw: Bellona, 2009). .

Ryan, Cornelius. The Last Battle (Simon and Schuster: New York, 1966), 571p.






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Created: 12:47 AM 7/16/2007
Last updated: 3:32 AM 9/5/2021