FIVE
IN THE MID-1920S, GRAF VON STRACHWITZ, BORED WITH farm life, joined the 7th Reiter (Cavalry) Regiment as a reserve army captain, called Rittmeister in cavalry units. It was part of the 2nd Cavalry Division and was based in Breslau, the Silesian capital. His unit followed the traditions of the Imperial Army, which made it all the more attractive. It originally had the rather grandiose title of the “1st Silesian Life Guards Cuirassier Regiment The Great Elector” prior to World War I, when it was renamed with the more prosaic Reiterregiment 7.
Enlisting a little before him in the same regiment was Frederick von Mellenthin, a fellow Silesian who enlisted as a private in 1924. He rose to the rank of Generalmajor in World War II and was decorated with the Knight’s Cross.1 Another notable member was Rudolf Christoph Freiherr von Gersdorff, who also became a Generalmajor and awarded the Knight’s Cross. He became a hero of the German resistance and a major plotter against Hitler. Martin Unrein also belonged to the regiment, becoming a GeneralLieutenant and Knight’s Cross bearer; he served as the Regimental Adjutant in 1928. Overall it was a very conservative aristocratic unit, that was fully aware of its traditions and which tried to preserve all the old formalities of the Imperial Army. Graf von Strachwitz would have felt right at home in this atmosphere, which was probably strongly reminiscent of his former regiment the Garde du Corps.
The 2nd Cavalry Division itself was a bastion of the old guard and had as its commanders the cream of the aristocratic old school, such as Gerd von Rundstedt who reached the rank of Field Marshal under Hitler, and Ewald von Kleist, who was also created a field marshal and represented the very best and most honourable of the German officer corps. He was to command the panzer group to which the 16th Panzer Division and von Strachwitz were attached during Operation Barbarossa. He was also perhaps the only German Army commander who told the Gestapo, SS and SD unit commanders in his operational area to act correctly and treat the civilian population humanely. This they did, and over 800,000 Soviet Asians of various ethnic groups, including Cossacks, volunteered and fought for the Germans.2
As determined as some senior officers were to continue with cavalry divisions, events were slowly overtaking them. Colonel Heinz Guderian, later to be promoted to Colonel General, was heavily pushing for the establishment of panzer (armoured) divisions. He met stiff opposition from General Beck, the new chief of General Staff, whose attitude was neatly summed up when he said to Guderian, “No, no, I don’t want anything to do with you people [armoured troops]. You move too fast for me.”3
Despite this opposition, a Motorised Troop Command was established in June 1934 under the command of General Lutz, and on 15 October 1934, three panzer divisions were formed. These were the 1st Panzer Division under General Freiheer von Weichs, a future army group commander; the 2nd Panzer Division under Colonel Guderian, based at Wurzburg; and the 3rd Panzer Division under General Fessmann in Berlin. The armoured force displayed its power during manoeuvres in 1934, which Hyazinth von Strachwitz attended as an observer. It was not an outstanding success, but it was enough for the Graf. In the panzers he saw the future, the new cavalry. Over 300 Panzer Mark Is and a lesser number of Mark IIs, manoeuvring en masse made for an impressive and unforgettable sight. Unstoppable, they rolled forward, crushing obstacles, sweeping all before them, a mass of steel, seemingly invincible. It was heady stuff and von Strachwitz resolved to be part of this new armoured force. He could see that it was a breakthrough weapon par excellence, which could pursue a fleeing enemy, and rampage in its rear like the cavalry of old, and as the cavalry had been expected to perform, but failed to, in the last war.
Impressed as he was, he didn’t see the hidden flaw that lay at the heart of the panzer force. The tanks were obsolete. The Panzer Mark I was really a tankette with a crew of two and armed with two 7.9mm machine guns. It was little more than an armoured mobile pillbox. The larger Panzer II wasn’t much better with a three-man crew and one 20mm gun. Its success with the German Legion in the Spanish Civil War deluded the Germans into thinking it was suitable for use against other tanks. Both tanks were only effective when used in large numbers for shock effect, and then only if there was no significant opposition from larger enemy tanks or numbers of heavy antitank guns. Fortunately for the Germans their future enemies in the west, the British and French, had better and larger tanks, but used them in small units as infantry support vehicles. As for the Poles they just didn’t have sufficient quantities of light or medium tanks. So the German Panzer arm was successful due to the mistakes of its enemies, and the superiority of its tactics, rather than because of the inherent quality of its armoured fighting vehicles. The Germans would have a larger version, the Panzer Mark IV—with a five-man crew and 75mm short-barrelled gun—ready for the French campaign, but not in enough numbers to make any difference. Moreover the short-barrelled gun had a low velocity, meaning that its use as an antitank weapon was limited.
Still, these factors did not concern von Strachwitz at this particular moment, although they certainly would when he came face to face with the vastly superior Russian T-34. That lay in the future. For now all that mattered was joining the new cavalry, the tank arm. On returning to the 7th Cavalry he immediately applied for a transfer. It was a slow process, but to his great joy his application was eventually successful and he was posted to the newly formed 2nd Panzer Regiment of the 1st Panzer Division. Unfortunately the only position available was that of a supply officer, and it says a lot for both his determination and basic humility that he was prepared to accept it. He could work his way into commanding a tank company or operational unit from there. Interestingly, had von Strachwitz remained with the 7th Cavalry Regiment he would have automatically been transferred to the panzer arm when the cavalry regiments were absorbed by the newly formed 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 6th Panzer Regiments, but his experience then may have been totally different.
The 2nd Panzer Regiment was stationed at Eisenach, an industrial and garrison town with a long military history going back to before World War I. In the early to mid-1930s a large new base complex was constructed there, comprising several large three-story barracks, mess halls, a training building, officers’ mess, and administration buildings. The overall base commander was Colonel von Prittwitz Zu Gaffron, who would be killed leading the 15th Panzer Division at the battle of Tobruk in North Africa in 1941. The base was large, new and modern, and the Graf would have been more than impressed when he arrived in 1935. The 1st Panzer Division’s headquarters, artillery and signals were at Weimar, and the 1st Panzer Regiment was located at Erfurt. The two infantry regiments belonging to the division were quartered at Weimar and Langensalza respectively. An anti-tank battalion joined the division at Eisenach in 1936. It was equipped with the woefully inadequate 37mm anti-tank gun, which earned the nickname the “door knocker” when in Russia due to its failings.
The 1st Panzer Division’s tank company strength in 1935 was initially eight tanks, rising to a more acceptable 22 in 1936. However the companies were still equipped with the woefully inadequate Panzer I and II. Gunnery training was conducted at the Putlos gunnery range, company training at their home bases and regimental training at the Staumuchlen training grounds on the Seene. Supply officer though he may have been, the Graf nevertheless got involved in the platoon- and company-level training when he could. This required the good will of battalion and company commanders, but the Graf was determined and likeable enough to get their approval more often than not. His World War I Iron Crosses and aristocratic rank also gave him a certain cachet, which made his unofficial involvement a lot easier. In addition to this invaluable if unofficially sanctioned training, friendly contact in the officers’ casino (mess) would have enabled the Graf to add to his expanding body of knowledge about his new arm of service.
In 1936, production commenced on the new Panzer Mark III, which was to be the mainstay of the Panzer force for several years to come. It had a five-man crew, a 50mm main gun, and would go through several upgrades—mainly in gun calibre and armour—over the next few years. It was a vast improvement over the Panzer I and II, but was found to be virtually helpless against the Russian KV-1 and KV-2 heavy tanks and T-34 medium tank from 1941 onwards. The Panzer III could not destroy the KV-1 or KV-2 at any range, and had to get almost suicidally close to a T-34 to have any chance of success. Again the quality of the superior leadership, training, discipline and tactics were to make all the difference until larger German medium and heavy tanks came along.
The first major operation undertaken by the 1st Panzer Division was the 1938 occupation of the Sudetenland. This was a strip of territory along the border of the recently created country of Czechoslovakia, of about 31,000 square kilometres containing three million ethnic Germans. Hitler had demanded that the Czechs cede the territory to the German Reich. After a tense conference at Munich, Britain and France had pledged not to intervene, so Hitler marched his troops in, among them Graf von Strachwitz, taking part in his first foreign invasion.
However there was no opposition.4 On the contrary, the Sudetenlanders were ecstatic at the prospect of returning to the German fold. They had considered themselves second-class citizens in Czechoslovakia, and in many respects they were, so this was a homecoming for them. Graf von Strachwitz’s car, as with every other vehicle in the division, was bedecked with flowers on General Guderian’s orders,5 and he was enormously surprised and pleased at the rapturous welcome he received. Girls in national dress offered drinks and threw flowers, while others gaily waved swastika flags. It was clearly a triumph for Hitler, and if von Strachwitz had had any doubts over Hitler’s adventurous foreign policies, they would have been quickly, if only temporarily, dispelled by the welcoming crowd.
On his way, crossing the German-Czech border, von Strachwitz could not have failed to notice the extensive, but now redundant Czech frontier fortifications. They were extremely well built, with some considerable depth. Clearly a great deal of planning, expense, and work had gone into their construction. It was obviously designed not just to delay, but halt any German invasion. He might have grimly noted the price in blood that had now been spared. General Guderian also saw the defences and remarked how easily they could have been overcome. A classic difference in outlook between a General who just saw an objective that he knew could be taken and a junior officer who would have to take it, and pay the price in death or wounds in the process.
Later, an exultant Führer made his triumphant entry to the Sudetenland on a cold drizzly October day, and reviewed his troops, including the 1st Panzer Division. Hitler awarded all the participants with the Sudetenland Medal to commemorate the event. Panzerregiment 2 spent a quiet time in occupation duties based at Saatz and Kaaden, until 16 October 1938, when it returned to Eisenach. In the meantime, Poland was in the process of taking a slice of the disputed Texhen region of the now dismembered Czechoslovakia. That same year, 1st Panzer Division received its supply, medical, and repair units, all absolute necessities if the division was to go to war, and certainly an indicator that war could not be far off.
The following year, 1939, was to be momentous, with a long rollercoaster ride to war. With his eyes fixed firmly on Czechoslovakia’s industrial capacity, especially its well-developed armaments industry, Hitler marched into the remaining rump of the country. On 15 March he declared it to be the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Occupied they might have been, but the Czechs did not have to pay the same price as the Sudetenlanders, many thousands of whom were soon to be killed or injured fighting for the Reich they had just joined. Britain and France did nothing, not wishing to go to war over a fait accompli, using the Munich Agreement that Chamberlain had signed with Hitler to avoid any military involvement. The Allies claimed that they were not ready for war, needing time to rearm and prepare. Of course, had they refused Hitler the Sudetenland, and stood alongside the large, well-armed Czech army, behind its border fortifications, the outcome might have been very different.
Hitler, his thirst for territory still unquenched, forced Lithuania to hand over Memel—its only port—on 22 March. The excuse was once again that there were ethnic Germans living in the area. Lithuania, being too small to fight, caved in to Hitler’s demands. He also visited this city, giving what was for him, a very moderate speech. On 20 April, as part of 1st Panzer division, Graf von Strachwitz, took part in Hitler’s birthday parade in Berlin, a grand expression of Germany’s military might.
On 23–24 August the Soviet–German non-aggression pact was signed, surprising everyone, including the staunchly anti-communist Graf von Strachwitz. After all, one of the attractions of Hitler, and one reason that the Graf had joined the Nazi Party, was their uncompromising anti-bolshevism. Very few suspected that the pact was only agreed to by Hitler to gain time to defeat Poland without Russian interference. In fact a secret protocol was included for Russia to invade Poland from the east and allow for the eventual annexation of the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. The pact also meant that Hitler would only have to fight on the Western Front, giving him time to defeat France and Britain before turning on his real enemy, Russia. For his part Stalin was also playing for time, time that he needed to rearm and reorganise the Red Army before fighting Germany, which he fully expected to do before long. Time was all the more important for the Soviet dictator, for he had purged his officer corps in 1937, liquidating 35,000 of his finest officers. These included three of five marshals of the Soviet Union, 13 of 15 army commanders and over half his generals. At all levels from brigade commander upward, the leadership of the army was in a perilous state.
With Stalin ostensibly on side, Hitler could now turn to Poland. This was a long-term goal of both Hitler and the army. As early as 1920 General Hans von Seeckt, commander of the Troop Office declared, “Poland must be destroyed” and that Poland was Germany’s “mortal enemy.” An army document of March 1926 stated, “The return of the Polish Corridor and (eastern) Upper Silesia were principal goals of the German military.”6 Most Germans felt about eliminating the Polish Corridor separating Germany from East Prussia as the French did about recovering Alsace Lorraine. However, not all the military agreed with von Seeckt, as Guderian wrote in his memoirs: “We did not go light headedly to war and there was not one general who would not have advocated peace.”7 However there were very few generals who openly advocated peace, and despite their private reservations, if any, they were more concerned about the possible intervention of the British and French than about Poland or the criminal immorality of their actions. Von Strachwitz, for one, would certainly not have opposed the invasion of Poland. He had fought the Poles once already, and they were still just on the border, with their claims on Upper Silesia very much alive. The elimination of this threat, even if it was not an immediate one, would have been welcome to him.
Hitler did not feel he needed an excuse to invade, but for propaganda purposes the SS staged a fake attack on a German radio station at Gliewitz on 31 August, undertaken by German operatives wearing Polish uniforms. That it fooled no one except the German people was of no consequence.
At 4:45 a.m. on 1 September 1939, the aging German battleship Schleswig-Holstein opened fire on the Polish Westerplatte Fort in Danzig, the opening salvoes of what was to become World War II. Simultaneously, 62 German divisions, 1,850,000 men, 3,100 tanks, and 2,085 aircraft stormed across the border. Among them was the 1st Panzer Division, with Graf von Strachwitz serving as a supply officer. The division was in the XVI Panzer Corps which belonged to the Tenth Army under General von Reichenau, a committed Nazi. The Tenth Army was part of Army Group South commanded by General Gerd von Rundstedt, which also incorporated the Eighth Army under General Blaskowitz and the Fourteenth Army under Colonel General List. It also contained the Wehrmacht’s strongest armoured force with 2,000 tanks, mostly Panzer Is and IIs, and 800 armoured cars.
The 1st Panzer was particularly well equipped with armoured fighting vehicles, its Panzer Regiment under Colonel Karl Keltsch having 93 Panzer Is, 122 Panzer IIs, 26 Panzer IIIs with the factory paint barely dry, and 59 Panzer IVs. Including command tanks, which carried extra radios but little or no armament, the division had 309 tanks.8 Its tactics were soon to become familiar—heavy artillery and aircraft bombardment preceding massed tank attacks which were followed up by supporting infantry. The Polish infantry units—with very few anti-tank weapons and no aerial support—had no answer to this kind of assault and soon gave way.
Overall the Poles had seven frontline armies, with one army and miscellaneous units in reserve. They only had 660 tanks, of which 450 were tankettes, which were used in small packs for infantry support. In this way they were quickly overwhelmed. Their aircraft, mostly obsolete bi-planes, were largely destroyed on the ground. Where they did manage to take off, they bravely attacked, despite being outnumbered and outgunned. Many of their pilots took the opportunity to escape, reaching England from where they later took part in the Battle of Britain. The Poles were famed for their cavalry, of which they had 11 brigades, but contrary to popular belief they did not make suicidal attacks, sabres held bravely aloft, against German tanks. The only recorded instance of an attack against armour was when a Polish cavalry unit unexpectedly came up against a German armoured car column when, after a brief exchange of fire they quickly retreated.9
The 1st Panzer Division clashed with the Polish 7th Infantry Division, which fought bravely but, having little in the way of anti-tank guns, was overmatched. On 2 September near the village of Biala, 155mm howitzers of the Polish artillery destroyed three tanks, causing casualties among the crews. These were the division’s first armour casualties of the war. The division then fought near Czestoehowa and Piotrkov, and by the 7th had reached the vicinity of Jomazow. Air support was provided by the Luftwaffe’s VIII Fleigerkorps under General Major Wolfram von Richthofen, a relative of the famous World War I fighter ace, whose aircraft would support Graf von Strachwitz’s tanks at the battle of Stalingrad. Aircraft from JG102 stationed at the newly built airfield outside the Graf’s estate at Gross-Stein were also involved.
On 3 September Britain and France declared war on Germany. Graf von Strachwitz’s worst fears were now realised. He had fought against, and suffered defeat, at the hands of the Allies in World War I, and he now faced the same enemies for the second time. No matter what the confident young German soldiers thought, von Strachwitz knew better—a hard struggle and uncertain future awaited.
The Poles weren’t meekly rolling over. Despite being outnumbered and outgunned, they stood and fought. On 6 September two German Army Groups linked up at Lodz in the centre of Poland, trapping most of the Polish forces against the German border and cutting them off from supplies. The panzer divisions then struck, splitting the Polish forces into five separate pockets, in Pomerania, Pozan, Lodz, Krakow and Carpathia. With no hope of resupply or reinforcements, the Poles were forced to surrender. On 8 September the panzers were on the outskirts of Warsaw, having covered 180 kilometres in eight days.
At the battle of Kiennozia, 1st Panzer units attacked Polish screening forces, pushing them back until they reached well-prepared Polish positions. Both of the panzer regiments were dispersed during the attack, cut off from their supporting infantry and surrounded. A large number of German tanks were disabled, some by artillery fire, others through shedding tracks or mechanical failure. The panzer troops moved what tanks and men they could forward to provide cover for the tanks. This included the Graf, with his supply echelon fighting as infantry.
They had a bad and sleepless night as the Poles tried to infiltrate their positions. Firefights took place at close quarters with the Graf firing at the enemy gun flashes that seemed only metres away. Occasionally someone would cry out with pain, hit by random fire, the medics feeling their way around to find the wounded. Flares rained upwards, bursting in an eerie light, showing dark shadows of Polish troops closing in. Sustained fire brought them down, then darkness cloaked the scene once again. This went on repeatedly, with the Poles determined to finish the Germans off before daylight and possible relief. The Germans’ night fighting skills were poor, which resulted in unnecessary casualties, a lesson the Graf took on board for the future. Finally the Poles abandoned their infiltration attacks and brought forward their artillery as close as they dared. As dawn slowly crept over the lines, von Strachwitz and the other defenders, red-eyed and exhausted, gripped their weapons, waiting for the attack. Instead the Poles, using their artillery as anti-tank guns, began firing on the disabled tanks, destroying them one by one.
With daylight, German artillery intervened, laying down a curtain of fire, silencing the Polish guns. With their panzers up front, the Germans attacked back toward their own lines. Von Strachwitz found himself in the unfamiliar role of a panzer grenadier, attacking behind the tanks. He led his mixed group of supply clerks, cooks, drivers, and crews from disabled tanks, with a panache born of his old cavalry days, yelling and firing from the hip. The stunned Poles gave way and the Germans broke through safely to their supports. On 10 September Colonel Keltsch recommended Graf von Strachwitz for the Iron Cross (2nd Class), which would be worn as a clasp to the Iron Cross (2nd Class) he had earned in World War I.
Hard fighting followed in the Petrikan area with several Mark Is and Mark IIs and a more valuable Panzer IV destroyed, and several more temporarily disabled. A Polish regiment was routed and its Colonel and many of the men captured. As the Poles retreated they left many scattered units behind, and these soon became a problem for the advancing Germans. Many surrendered when they realized the hopelessness of reaching the safety of their own lines, while others fought on, ambushing couriers and small supply units, and had to be eliminated by a concerted effort.
Polish civilians also occasionally took part in the fighting as Alexander Stahlberg, a panzer division officer, recounts:
I was on my motorbike on the way to divisional headquarters. A crowd of German soldiers was standing in the middle of a village, gazing silently in one direction. I stopped and asked someone what was going on. “An execution,” came the answer. When the village was occupied, shots had been fired from an attic and there had been losses. The house had been stormed and two marksmen had been found in the attic. They had been wearing civilian clothes without insignia or armbands, their weapons and empty cartridge cases had been found: hunting guns, cases of shotgun cartridges. This was a clear infringement of the international rules of the Hague Convention on land warfare. The divisional court martial had met, the two Poles had confessed, and the sentence was now being carried out. I looked over the heads of the curious onlookers. At that moment the salvo from the firing squad cracked out: the first deaths I witnessed in the war.10
It is noteworthy that these Germans abided by the Hague Convention and convened a court-martial, which stands in sharp contrast to the actions of SS units in Poland, and both army and SS units in Russia later in the war, where partisans and innocent civilians were summarily executed.
The Polish army launched a major counterattack at Bzura and the 1st Panzer Division was involved in heavy fighting. Once more it suffered armoured losses including Panzer IIIs. The Germans surrounded the Poles at Bzura and closed in, while the Luftwaffe mercilessly battered them from the air.
The Poles withdrew for a last stand in the east of the country, but on 17 September Russia invaded Poland from the east with 1.5 million men and 6,000 tanks, forcing the gallant Poles to fight on two fronts. It was the death knell for their army. On 24 September Warsaw was bombed by massed aircraft, and the bombing continued until the city surrendered. The heart of the Polish capital was ripped apart. On the 27th, after 18 days of aerial and artillery bombardment, Warsaw surrendered. The 1st Panzer went on towards the demarcation line with the advancing Red Army, meeting little resistance as it did so. Isolated pockets continued to hold out, such as Polish Admiral Unrug’s garrison on the Hela Peninsula, which capitulated on 1 October, while the remaining Polish forces surrendered near Luch on the 3rd. The war cost the Poles 700,000 surrendered to the Germans and 200,000 to the Soviets, most of whom were sent to Siberia. Their exact number of dead is not known, but would have been close to 60,000. The Germans for their part lost 10,000 dead and, 30,000 wounded.
The Germans and Russians then dismembered Poland’s carcass between them. The Russians took a large swathe of mostly agricultural territory, but which included the important fortress city of Brest Litovsk which would cost the Germans much blood to take in 1941. Stalin then proceeded to round up any possible opponents and class enemies of his regime, which included the aristocracy, intelligentsia, businessmen, priests, government officials, politicians and officers—many of whom would be found buried in mass graves by the Germans at Katyn, after they invaded the Soviet Union. He also rounded up anyone who had served in the Polish Army during the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1920, and sent them to Siberia for a lingering death. Stalin had a long and bitter memory.
The Germans had begun engaging in atrocities much earlier. Virtually a few days after the invasion, Jews were rounded up, with some being summarily murdered, as were members of the Polish intelligentsia and ruling classes. The Poles were to be left as leaderless slaves, in the service of the Reich. General Blaskowitz, the commander of the Eighth Army, to his credit, protested, sending a memo of his objections to be forwarded to Hitler. The memorandum expressed his concerns about the shooting and arrests of Jews and Poles without due process. He was concerned about his soldiers’ discipline and morale after seeing these incidents (not the inherent criminality of the actions, but perhaps he thought citing these would be a waste of time). His efforts to stop them were unsuccessful, as the SS men involved claimed they were acting under Himmler’s orders. When Major Engel, Hitler’s army adjutant, handed the memo to Hitler, the Führer promptly launched into a tirade against the army in general, and Blaskowitz in particular, ranting that he would relieve Blaskowitz of his command.11
For von Strachwitz, without an operational command, and ostensibly ensconced in the rear area, there was—except in a few instances—very little fighting. However, in his own inimitable way he went off on his own to the front and often beyond, as the front was extremely fluid. He took great personal risks in doing this, often finding himself alone without help of any kind should he get himself into trouble, which on one occasion he did. Alone in his vehicle on a dirt road in a forest, he was fired upon by a sniper. He quickly piled out of his car, but as he was armed with only a pistol, he was not in a position to do much, besides which he couldn’t see his assailant. Tense moments passed. He made a move to the rear of the car when another shot rang out. There was still no sign of the enemy as the Graf anxiously looked through the trees. He waited for what seemed an eternity, then made a dash for the nearby trees behind him. Another shot rang out, but he made it safely to cover. He then decided on a flanking movement further along where he could cross the road and take his enemy by surprise in the rear. Movement had to be painfully slow but he eventually crossed, and then silently waited for any sign of movement. Nothing stirred. A half-hour ticked by. He rose to his feet and was about to move when the sound of a vehicle stopped him. A German light armoured car from his division drove up and stopped next to his car. Its commander was carelessly leaning out of the turret but he drew no fire, so von Strachwitz stepped out onto the road. Of the sniper there was no sign. His little adventure was over with his mysterious attacker simply vanishing.
This little episode didn’t stop his movements at, or near the front, as his insatiable curiosity and cavalry spirit meant that he couldn’t behave in any other way. These unofficial reconnaissance trips did have positive results, however, as he often spotted the enemy, sometimes coming under fire, and just as importantly found out where the enemy wasn’t, which proved useful in finding gaps in their lines. He also saw the shambolic agony of war. Smashed Polish supply columns, wrecked smouldering tanks, bloodied carcasses of dead horses, Polish and German dead, and the despairing, dusty columns of Polish prisoners of war, trudging despondently to the rear. Equally sad were the long columns of helpless refugees—old men, women and children, burdened by whatever possessions they could carry – seeking to escape the fighting and the advancing Germans.
His opinion that swift penetrating attacks to the enemy’s rear were vital for a panzer division, was now confirmed. This, coupled with surprise, and the shock of armoured attack, was the most effective way of waging war. He would further hone these lessons in France, and apply them with devastating effect in Russia.
NOTES
1. He is noted for his book Panzer Battles, first published in 1955, an excellent treatise on the war with Russia.
2. For this von Kleist was sentenced by the Soviets to 25 years’ imprisonment. He died in captivity while many generals who were really guilty lived in peaceful retirement.
3. General Heinz Guderian, Panzer Leader (Futura Publications, 1952), p.32.
4. Nor was there anyone to actively oppose the move on the German side, except for General Beck, who, honourable man that he was, resigned in protest. If he had hoped other generals would follow his example, he would have been sadly disappointed.
5. Guderian used this same tactic during the annexation of Austria in March 1938, asking for Hitler’s permission to do so again.
6. Alexander B. Rossino, Hitler Strikes Poland.
7. Heinz Guderian, Panzer Leader, p.66.
8. http://www.achtungpanzer.com/, excellent website dedicated to the German armoured force in WWII.
9. Perpetuating the myth of Polish sabres against German Panzers suited both the Poles and the Germans. For the Poles it was an example of raw but hopeless courage, and for the Germans, Polish officers’ ineptitude and disregard for their own men’s lives.
10. Alexander Stahlberg (trans. Patricia Crampton), Bounden Duty: The Memories of a German Officer 1932–45 (Brassey UK, 1990).
11. General Blaskowitz was relieved of his command on 29 May 1940 but later reinstated in command posts well below his abilities. He did however receive the Oak Leaves and Swords to the Knight’s Cross. He was put on trial at Nuremberg along with the entire German High Command but died, ostensibly by suicide (others assert he was murdered) while in captivity. Field Marshal von Kluge also protested but only verbally to Hitler’s adjutant Gerhard Engel. He told Engel, “There had been some very bad goings on in Poland and that he had to intervene personally on several occasions, for example in Modlin and Lublin.” Engel reported von Kluge’s comments to the Führer. Gerhard Engel, At the Heart of the Reich (Greenhill Books, 2005), p.113.