Walter Model

The Early Years

Otto Moritz Walter Model was born in January 1891, at Genthin in Saxony. He entered the army officer cadet school in Neisse in 1908, where he was an unexceptional student. Following his graduation he was commissioned as a Lieutenant into the 52nd Infantry Regiment in 1910. He made few friends among his fellow officers, and soon became known for his ambition, drive and blunt outspokenness.
When WWI began, the 52nd Regiment, formed part of the 5th Infantry Division, fighting on the Western Front. Model served as the adjutant of his Regiment's 1st Battalion. In May 1915 he was severely wounded near Arras and in October was awarded the Iron Cross, First Class. His actions brought him to the attention of his Divisional commander, who despite misgivings about his 'uncomfortable subordinate', recommended him for a posting to the General Staff.
Model sailed through the abbreviated staff officers course and returned to the 5th Division as adjutant of the 10th Infantry Brigade. This was followed by postings as a Company commander in both the 52nd Infantry and the 8th Life Grenadiers Regiments. He was promoted to Captain in November 1917 and in 1918 was assigned to the staff of the Guard Ersatz Division, which fought in the German Spring Offensive of that year. He ended the war with the 36th Reserve Division.
By the end of the war, Model had gained a reputation as a capable officer with great potential. Model generally kept away from politics in the chaotic period that marked the birth of the Weimar Republic, although as an army officer, he was involved in the bloody suppression of the 1920 communist uprising in the Ruhr.
In 1925 Model was posted to the 3rd Infantry Division, an elite formation, which was heavily involved in testing the new technical innovations of that era. From 1928, he lectured in tactics and war studies for the basic General Staff training course and in 1930 was transferred to the Training Branch of the Truppenamt. He became known both for his enthusiastic support for modernising the army and his complete lack of tact.
In 1938, he was promoted to Major General. Like many other army officers at the time, he was a supporter of the Nazi party and his time in Berlin brought him into contact with senior members of the regime, in particular with Joseph Goebbels and Hermann Göring. It was Goebbels who introduced him to Hitler, with whom he immediately found favor.
During the Polish campaign he served as Chief of Staff to the 4th Army Corps, which formed part of the southern attack force. Attached to 10th Army, it advanced from Upper Silesia and attacked Polish forces in the area of Radom.
During the French campaign he served as Chief of Staff to the 16th Army, following his promotion to Major General. The army, attached to Army Group A, burst through the Ardennes and then crossed the Meuse River at Sedan. The Army then fought through the Maginot Line and broke out in the direction of Verdun.
During this time Model also instituted a combined arms training program, where his men were thrown together in various ad-hoc groupings, regardless of their parent unit. Model thus anticipated by some months, the regular German use of kampfgruppen, or improvised Battlegroups. While this would become routine later on, it was a revolutionary practice in the Wehrmacht in late 1940 and early 1941.

Barbarossa Begins

For the invasion of Russia, Model was given command of the 3rd Panzer Division. He was incredibly successful in this post, renowned to have immense drive and energy. Model was very much a front line General and often visited his troops who believed he was lucky. However he was not always so popular with his peers and could be difficult both as a subordinate and superior. After the war Manteuffel said of him, 'Model was a very good tactician, better in defence than attack. He had a knack of gauging what his troops were capable of. But his manner was rough and his methods were often unorthodox. Model stood up to Hitler in a way that hardly anyone else dared and often refused to carry out orders with which he did not agree'.
His Division captured an important bridge over the River Desna at Novgorod. For his achievements he was awarded the Knights Cross. In September, the Division established a bridgehead over the Seym River and then broke out of the bridgehead, thrusting past Konotop, towards Romny. On the 15th of September, the Division joined up with elements of the 9th Panzer Division at the bridge at Sencha, helping to close a huge pocket around Russian forces in the area of Kiev.
As a result of these successes, Model was promoted to Lieutenant General in October and given command of the 41st Panzer Corps. The Corps, part of the 3rd Panzer Group, was located in the area of Kalinin. It was worn out, at the end of a long and tenuous supply line and the cold weather was starting to hamper German progress. Nevertheless by the 5th of December, the lead elements of his Panzer Corps had reached Iohnca, just 35km from Moscow.
In January 1942 he was given command of the 9th Army, which was occupying the Rzhev salient. Forces of the Kalinin Front had broken through the line and were threatening the Moscow-Smolensk railway, the main supply route for Army Group Centre. When Model arrived at his new HQ, he listened to his staff's grim briefing and then addressed them saying, 'the first thing we must do is close the gaps and cut off the supply of the Russian Divisions which have broken through.' He continued, 'then we will strike at the enemy's flank and catch him in a stranglehold.' His staff were stunned and one of them asked 'and what, Herr General, have you brought to achieve this?' Model calmly regarded his staff, then answered, 'myself!' and burst into laughter. With a great sense of relief, his staff joined in the laughter and a new spirit of optimism was born.
In February, following his promotion to Colonel General, he adopted aggressive tactics and immediately counterattacked, cutting off the Russian 29th and 39th Armies. In the ferocious battles that followed, he repelled several Russian attempts to relieve their trapped forces. He managed to hold both Sychevka and Rzhev, while regaining the initiative and reducing the pocket in a series of operations, which ended in July. For his achievements, he was awarded the Oak Leaves to his Knight's Cross. The Army eventually evacuated the salient during operation Buffalo in March 1943, as part of a general shortening of the line. The withdrawal was completed in two weeks, with minimal casualties or disruption. During the same month, he received the Swords to his Knight's Cross.
In 1943, Model was given command of five Corps for operation Citadel, the offensive against the Kursk salient. He repeatedly voiced his doubts about the possible success of the operation, citing the strength of the Russian defences. Tasked with commanding the northern pincer of the operation, advancing from the area of Bryansk, crossing the Oka River and then wheeling south towards Kursk. During the first day of the operation, his force managed to breach the first Russian defence belt and advance six miles across a twenty-mile front. However the following two days saw the attack slowed by fierce Russian opposition, suffering heavy losses. On the fifth day of the operation, Model's advance had been fought to a standstill.
Model had anticipated the possibility of a Russian attack into the Orel salient following the failure of Citadel. To prepare for such an eventuality, he had, without OKH's knowledge, constructed extensive defensive works to meet such an attack. The Russian counteroffensive, operation Kutuzov, opened on the 12th of July and was carried out by elements of the Central, Bryansk and Western Fronts. Stavka had expected it to take only two days to complete the operation and reach Orel. Again Model fought a hard defensive battle, which ended three weeks later with Model's orderly withdrawal from the salient.
After the loss of Orel, Model withdrew to the Dnepr as the Russians went on the offensive from Smolensk in the north, to Rostov in the south. He was relieved of command at the end of September and took the opportunity to go on three months leave in Dresden with his family. It was the last Christmas he would spend at home.
In January 1944, he was sent to command Army Group North, which two weeks earlier had seen its stranglehold on Leningrad broken by the Volkhov, Leningrad and 2nd Baltic Fronts. Model conducted a fighting withdrawal to the Panther Line. By March, the withdrawal was complete, despite heavy losses.
In March, he was promoted to Field Marshall, at 53, the youngest in the German Army. At the end of the month Model was placed in command of Army Group North Ukraine in Galicia, which was withdrawing under heavy pressure from Zhukov's 1st Ukrainian Front. By mid-April, Zhukov's advance had come to a halt. On the 28th of June, Model was sent to rescue Army Group Centre, which had been torn apart by Operation Bagration, the Russian offensive in Belorussia. The 9th and 4th Armies were trapped, and the Russians were on the verge of liberating Minsk. Despite the catastrophic situation, Model believed that he could still hold Minsk, but this would require 4th Army to break out of its pocket, and reinforcements to halt the Russian advance. The reinforcements in turn could only be obtained by shortening the line, but Hitler refused to sanction either 4th Army's escape or a general withdrawal until it was too late.
Minsk was liberated by elements of the 1st and 3rd Belorussian Fronts on the 3rd of July, but Model still hoped to re-establish the front to the west of the city, with the aid of units taken from Army Groups North and North Ukraine. However, this was not possible and Model had been driven out of Vilnius and Baranovichi by the 12th of July. At the same time, forces of the 1st Ukrainian Front and the 1st Belorussian Front's left wing opened up a new offensive against Army Group North Ukraine. The 1st Panzer Army managed to hold the line east of Lvov, but was forced to retreat, when the 4th Panzer Army became unable to stem the Russian penetrations of its front. Model finally stopped the advance just short of Warsaw, after Hitler consented to release four fresh panzer Divisions to him.

Moved to the West

In August 1944, Model was transferred to the Western Front to take command of Army Group B and also received the Diamonds to his Knight's Cross with Oakleaves and Swords. Model soon made his presence felt. During a tour of the front he met General Bayerlein, commander of the Panzer Lehr Division. Bayerlein told him that his Division was about to be pulled out of the line for a period of rest. Model replied sharply, 'my dear Bayerlein, in the east, our Divisions take their rest in the line! That's how things are going to be done here in the future!'
In September 1944, Model found himself at Oosterbeek, just a mile from the British airdrop. He marshaled the defence of the area, using the 9th SS Panzer Division to contain the British at Arnhem, while the 10th SS Panzer Division moved south to defend the bridge at Nijmegen.
In December 1944, Model was given responsibility for overseeing the Ardennes offensive. Although he felt the objectives of the offensive were over ambitious, he was obliged to carry it out. The Germans failed to capture the vital road junction at Bastogne and this combined with the poor weather and stubborn American defence slowed their advance. Starved of fuel and ammunition, the attack had ground to a halt by the 25th of December and was called off entireley on the 8th of January.
Following the collapse of the offensive, Model's Army Group was ordered by Hitler to fight on the west bank of the Rhine. He repeatedly asked Hitler for permission to withdraw his forces across to the eastern bank and prepare defences there, but Hitler stubbornly refused all his requests.
By the end of March, he could no longer prevent the relentless advance of the Americans and was gradually backed into the Ruhr. The American 1st and 9th Armies linked together at Lippstadt on the 1st of April, sealing Models Army Group in the Ruhr pocket. All effective resistance in the pocket ceased on the 18th of April and the forces in the pocket gradually surrendered over the next few days. While addressing his staff before dissolving his command he said, 'Has everything been done to justify our actions in the light of history? What can there be left for a commander in defeat?' Model decided to commit suicide, shooting himself in a wood near Duisberg, on the 21st of April. Model was convinced that the Americans would hand him over to the Russians, who regarded him as a war criminal.
Model was buried in the wood where he fell. In 1955 his son, Hansgeorg Model, guided by his father's former officers, recovered his father's body. Walter Model was reinterred in the Soldatenfriedhof Vossenack, a German military cemetery near the town of Vossenack in the Hürtgen Forest.