Erhard Raus

The Early Years

Erhard Franz Josef Raus was born in January 1889 at Wolfamitz in Austria. Following his education at the Brünn Cadet School, he was commissioned into the Austrian Army as a Second Lieutenant in 1912. During WWI he served on both the Italian and Russian fronts in command of mountain troops. Following the war he served in a number of assignments in Vienna, particularly as an instructor in the military school system. In 1936 he was promoted to Colonel and in 1938 he was posted to Rome as Austria's military attaché there.
Upon the annexation of Austria in 1938, the Austrian Army was absorbed into the German Army. Raus's first post in this new Army was as commander of Military Area 17, a post that he held until 1939. He then became Chief of Staff to the 17th Corps, where he remained until late in the year when he was given command of the 4th Motorized Infantry Regiment in the 6th Panzer Division. The Division was attached to the 41st Panzer Corps, which took part in the advance to the channel with Army Group A and helped to surround British forces at Dunkirk. It then took part in the drive south that broke the French.

Barbarossa Begins

In 1941, Raus was given command of the Division's 6th Motorized Brigade for the invasion of Russia. On the second day of the campaign, Raus's Kampfgruppe captured a bridge over the River Dubysa. During the drive towards Leningrad, his unit was one of the first to break through the Stalin Line and cross the Dvina River. In July, he managed to seize crossing points over the Luga River and then hold them against repeated enemy counter attacks.
At the beginning of September, Raus was promoted to Brigadier General. Later the same month, the Division attempted to break through the Leningrad line with an attack at Krasnogvardyesk. The attack succeeded and initiated a mass withdrawal of Russian forces in the area, leaving the approaches to Leningrad open.
But shortly after the conclusion of the battle at Krasnogvardyesk, the 41st Panzer Corps was ordered to move south, to assist Army Group Centres advance towards Moscow. When operation 'Typhoon' began, the Division made the initial deep penetration which lead to the encirclement of a large group of Russian forces in the Vyazma pocket.
On the 25th of November, Raus was given command of the Division for the final drive on Moscow. However, as the Division closed on the Russian capital, the advance began to slow in the terrible winter conditions. On the 5th of December, the Russian's unleashed their winter counter offensive and drove the Division back. The Division lost its last tank on the 10th and the harsh winter conditions coupled with the savage Russian counter attack threatened the destruction of the Division. To reduce the number of frostbite cases he ordered that emplacements be blown out of the frozen ground, that they were to be covered with timber and heated with fires. He intercepted groups that had become separated and formed reaction teams to close any Russian breakthroughs and kept the depleted Division in the line. It was during this difficult time that Raus earned his reputation amongst his troops, who said of him 'Raus zieht heraus,' which loosely translated means 'Raus pulls them through.'
In January 1942, the Division found itself holding the vital supply line of the Rzhev-Vyazma road, which was threatened by the presence of Russian forces. In February, Raus initiated a limited series of attacks to remove this threat, which he termed the 'snail offensive.' A rolling series of small unit actions drove the Russians from one village after another, eventually pushing them back some 25km. In March, he initiated a further series of attacks, which he labelled the 'scorpion offensive.' These were a succession of surprise attacks, where the point of the assault was constantly changed to maintain the element of surprise.
In April, the Division was pulled out of the line and returned to France for refitting. Raus used this time to train the Division hard, driving home all the lessons that had been learned during its time on the Eastern Front.

Eastward Once More

In November, the Division was ordered to join the 57th Panzer Corps and assist in the relief of the encircled 6th Army at Stalingrad. The Division travelled by train from France and went immediately into action on its arrival at Kotelnikovo. On the 12th of December, the Division led the drive towards Stalingrad, crossed the Aksay River and pushed back elements of the Russian 51st Army, inflicting heavy defeats as it advanced. The 51st Army had to be reinforced by elements of the 2nd Guards Army, in an effort to halt the advance of the Division. The Division defeated the main elements of this Army on the 21st of December, at Bolshaya Vasilevka on the Mushkova River. This was the point, just 35km from the Stalingrad pocket, where the Division was to join with elements of the 6th Army withdrawing from the city. However, Hitler had forbidden the 6th Army freedom of movement to make such a breakout and on the 23rd of December the Division was ordered to withdraw and strong Russian forces pursued it back in the direction of Kotelnikovo.
The Division moved to the area of the Lower Chir River, where the 1st Tank Army had broken through and captured the airfield at Tatsinskaya. Upon the Divisions arrival, Raus initiated a night attack at Maryevka, destroying the leading tank Corps and recapturing Tatsinskaya.
On the 1st of January 1943, Raus was promoted to Major General and given command of Corps Raus. His first task in this new role was to halt the drive of the 3rd Tank Army towards the Dnepr River bend. The Corps formed the left flank of the attack by the 1st SS Panzer Corps on Kharkov. Following the recapture of Kharkov, Raus's Corps was re-designated the 11th Corps and Raus was promoted to Lieutenant General on the 1st of May.
The Corps began to prepare for operation Citadel, the offensive against the Kursk salient. Raus again ensured that the time was well spent, carrying out extensive training in mine clearance and assault tactics. When the operation opened on the 5th of July, elements of his Corps, in support of the 3rd Panzer Corps, helped break through the initial Russian defence lines and close the exposed right flank. He skilfully used elements of the 7th Luftwaffe Flak Division to break up Russian armoured counter attacks and keep the 7th Guards Army at bay.
Following the failure of operation Citadel, Raus's Corps was called upon to carry out a series of difficult delaying actions in the Belgorod area during August. The Corps continued its delaying actions as it withdrew back towards the Donets River to the north of Kharkov. He spread the Corps in an arc around the city as it was attacked by elements of the 53rd, 67th, 7th Guards and 5th Guards Tank Armies. The Corps gradually withdrew to the outer defences of the city and in an effort to capture Kharkov, the 5th Guards Tank Army attacked Raus's open left flank. Raus managed to concentrate the 3rd Panzer and 2nd SS Panzer Divisions at that point and stall the Russian advance. However, German forces eventually abandoned Kharkov on the 28th of August and Raus was awarded the Oak Leaves to his Knights Cross for his efforts.
In November 1943, Raus was given command of the 4th Panzer Army. Despite the dire situation, using the 48th Panzer Corps, Raus launched a counter attack against elements of the 3rd Guards Tank Army near Fastov. He then restored the front, along the Korosten-Kiev rail line and moved over to the defensive, employing a series of blocking actions to blunt the Russian offensive to the west of Kiev. During five weeks of fighting the Army was forced back some 100km to the west, but Raus maintained a solid line of defence and wore down the offensive force of the Russians, despite their having a huge numerical and material advantage. Raus remained in command of 4th Panzer Army as it was gradually pushed back from the Ukraine towards the Carpathians. In April 1944, he conducted another staunch defensive action in the area of Lvov.
In May, Raus was given command of the 1st Panzer Army and in August he was promoted to the rank of General. At the end of August, he was transferred to Army Group Centre and given command of the 3rd Panzer Army, which had been badly mauled during operation Bagration. Raus organized a defensive belt, up to 50km in depth, in the area of Kussen in East Prussia. Just prior to the opening of the Russian assault, the forward positions were abandoned to avoid the artillery preparation, which would precede it. As the Russian infantry fought through the position and reached the real main defence line, they were halted. However the Russians employed masses of armour, which broke through the anti tank defences and thrust into the positions in depth where they were slowed. Once this was achieved, Raus initiated a counter attack against the flanks with his mobile reserves, cutting off the head of the Russian advance, which eventually withdrew.

The End in the East

On the 12th of February, Raus was relieved of command of the 3rd Panzer Army and transferred to Army Group Weichsel in Eastern Pomerania. He was tasked with holding a defensive front on the Oder River in the area of Kustrin, some 60km to the east of Berlin. Hitler had ordered that a counter attack be carried out by the 11th SS Panzer Army, in the area of Stargard. Raus argued strenuously with the Army Group commander, Heinrich Himmler as to the validity of the attack, which he predicted would fail. The attack did fail and on the 21st of February, Raus was ordered to take over the front and stabilize its situation in the face of a large Russian counter attack in Pomerania. Himmler recommended that Raus brief Hitler personally on the situation and he was summoned to Hitler's bunker in Berlin.
Raus was stunned by the appearance of Hitler, later stating, 'I faced a physically broken down, embittered and suspicious man, whom I hardly recognised. The knowledge that Hitler, now only a human wreck, held the fate of the German people in his hands alone, was a deep shock to me.' Heinz Guderian was present at the meeting and later recalled, 'Raus began by outlining the General situation and then proceeded to give an exact description, which showed that he knew every yard of his front and was capable of judging the value of every unit under his command. I was present while he spoke and found his exposition outstandingly articulate.'
However, Hitler was not as impressed as Guderian with Raus's briefing. As soon as Raus had left the room Hitler ranted, 'what a miserable speech! The man talked of nothing but details. He must be relived of his appointment at once!' Guderian attempted to defend Raus, but it was in vain. The following day he was relived of his command and placed onto the officers reserve pool. Raus later remarked wryly, 'that was the end of my forty years of service.'

The Post War Years

Fortunately, this allowed Raus to surrender to American forces and probably saved him from years in Russian captivity. During and after his time in captivity, Raus wrote a series of papers for the U.S. Army, which were later translated into books, entitled, 'The Anvil of War,' and 'Fighting in Hell - The German Ordeal on the Eastern Front'. A further book was also compiled, detailing various combat actions, entitled 'Panzers on the Eastern Front.'
Raus was released from captivity in 1948 and lived in Bad Gastein, where he died in April 1956. He was buried in his native Vienna.