German field marshal who commanded the Stalingrad offensive
In May 1941, days after Yugoslavia's surrender, he ordered reprisals killing one hundred Serbs for every German soldier wounded.
Maximilian von Weichs was a German professional officer shaped by the Bavarian and Reichswehr staff traditions who commanded corps and armies in Nazi Germany's wars of aggression. In 1942 he became commander of the newly formed Army Group B, placing the Sixth Army and Axis allies within the command structure of the southern offensive toward Stalingrad, where he advocated withdrawal after the encirclement but could not overcome Hitler's orders. He later commanded Army Group F and the German forces in the Balkans, where responsibility for reprisals against civilians and other war crimes was raised, and proceedings against him in the Hostages Trial were halted because of his failing health.
Also known as: Maximilian von Weichs an der Glonn
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1900Joined the Bavarian Army's 2nd Heavy Cavalry Regiment
- 1935Commanded the 1st Panzer Division
- 1937–1939Commander of XIII Army Corps and Military District XIII
- 1939–1942Commander of the 2nd Army
- 1942–1943Commander of Army Group B during the offensive toward Stalingrad
- 1943–1945Commander of Army Group F and OB Southeast
- 1947Released from the Hostages Trial proceedings on medical grounds
Related historical events
- 1938–1944.03Hungary on the Axis side: from the Vienna Awards to the DonCommander, Army Group BRefused to commit his reserve to support the Hungarians at the start of the Soviet offensive in January 1943.
- 1944.03–1945.02Hungary under German occupation: from Operation Margarethe to the siege of BudapestGerman field marshalDirected Operation Margarethe and reported that the occupation was going according to plan.
- 1942–1943Battle of StalingradArmy Group B commanderHe commanded Army Group B, overseeing Sixth Army's operations toward Stalingrad.
Building the Panzer Arm and Commanding the 1st Panzer Division (1933-1937)
While still in his interwar posts, Weichs took part in the early construction of Germany's armored arm when he was tasked with converting the 3rd Cavalry Division into a panzer formation. In 1935 the 1st Panzer Division was formed out of the 3rd Cavalry Division, and Weichs became its first commander. It was one of the first three panzer divisions established after Germany effectively discarded the military restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles. That the new formation had grown out of a cavalry division reflected the continuing influence of the cavalry elite within a modernizing German army, an elite to which Weichs, an aristocratic cavalry officer, himself belonged. The 1st Panzer Division paired a panzer brigade with a motorized infantry brigade and initially operated mainly Panzer I and Panzer II tanks. In the autumn of 1937 Weichs moved on to command XIII Army Corps, ending his panzer-division command, and he subsequently took part at corps level in the 1938 annexation of the Sudetenland and the 1939 occupation of the rest of Czechoslovakia. His experience in building armored formations formed the background to his later command of corps and field armies on the Polish, French and Soviet fronts.