Nazi Germany's finest operational strategist and the apex of the 'clean Wehrmacht' myth
"Preussische Feldmarschälle meutern nicht": "Prussian field marshals do not mutiny." With these words he explained why he did not join the 20 July 1944 plot on Hitler's life.
Erich von Manstein was a field marshal of Nazi Germany and widely regarded as the most dangerous operational mind on the Eastern Front. He devised the Ardennes flanking manoeuvre (the Sichelschnitt, or sickle cut) that broke France in 1940, captured the Crimea and Sevastopol in 1941–42, and in February–March 1943 executed the backhand-blow counteroffensive at Kharkov that restored the German southern front and created the Kursk salient. Relieved in March 1944 for disagreements with Hitler, he was convicted of war crimes by a British tribunal in 1949 and sentenced to 18 years (released 1953), then advised West Germany on rearming. His memoir Lost Victories narrated only his operational record, ignoring the Holocaust and Wehrmacht crimes, and became a cornerstone of the 'clean Wehrmacht' myth.
Career Timeline
- 1906Commissioned in the 3rd Prussian Foot Guards
- 1914–1918Served on both fronts as staff officer; ended war as captain
- 1920s–1935Reichswehr staff and command; War Ministry; major to colonel
- 1936Deputy Chief of Staff, Army General Staff (Generalmajor)
- 1939–1940Poland and France: Army Group South CoS, devised Sichelschnitt, XXXVIII Corps
- 1941–194211th Army: Crimea and Sevastopol; Generalfeldmarschall
- 1942–1944Army Group Don→South; Kharkov backhand blow, Kursk southern pincer; relieved March 1944
- 1949–195518 years for war crimes (released 1953); Lost Victories, West German advisor