Wehrmacht field marshal who directed the encirclement of Leningrad
In September 1941 he believed Leningrad was about to fall, but the city did not surrender.
Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb was a German field marshal and one of the Wehrmacht's senior operational commanders in the Second World War. In 1941 he led Army Group North through the Baltic states toward Leningrad, completing the land encirclement and directing the operational pressure that sustained it. Forces under his command committed crimes against civilians and cooperated with the SS in the murder of Jews. Convicted after the war in the High Command Trial for transmitting the Barbarossa Decree and its criminal application by subordinate units, he was sentenced to time served and released.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1895Entered the Bavarian Army
- 1914–1918Served on the Eastern Front and in the Serbian campaign during the First World War
- 1930–1933Commander of the 7th Division
- 1939–1941Commander of Army Group C
- 1941.06–1942.01Commander of Army Group North, directing the attack and encirclement of Leningrad
- 1948Convicted in the High Command Trial and released after a sentence of time served
Related historical events
- 1914–1918First World WarGerman-side Eastern Front servicemanHe served on the Eastern Front and in the Serbian campaign during the First World War.
- 1941–1945The Great Patriotic WarGerman Army Group North commanderIn 1941 he commanded Army Group North as it advanced through the Baltic states toward Leningrad.
- 1941–1944Siege of LeningradArmy Group North commanderHe commanded Army Group North, leading the offensive and the subsequent siege of Leningrad.
The Leningrad encirclement and policies toward civilians
During the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, Leeb commanded Army Group North in its advance through the Baltic states. Soviet resistance and the terrain around Lake Ilmen slowed the advance from early July. As his forces spread across several axes, Leeb estimated that he needed 35 divisions for his tasks but had only 26. German troops captured Chudovo on 20 August, severing the railway between Leningrad and Moscow, and reached the Neva on 30 August, cutting the last rail link into Leningrad. The city was encircled by 8 September, but Leeb recognized that he lacked the strength to capture it, and fighting continued along the front in October and November.
His command denied civilians a route out of the encircled city. Leeb ordered artillery to shoot civilians attempting to escape, so that they would be killed out of view of frontline infantry. The army group's war diary recorded in mid-November that artillery fire was preventing civilians from approaching German lines. Army Group North also engaged in widespread plunder of food as it advanced. On 16 August Leeb ordered troops to curb looting and property destruction that obstructed the exploitation of occupied territory. This was control intended to facilitate the use of occupied resources, not a policy to protect the population. Units under his command killed Romani people, handed others over to the Security Service, and participated in killing people with mental disabilities. In December 1941, with the consent of Eighteenth Army commander Georg von Küchler, Security Service personnel shot 240 patients in a psychiatric institution.