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A Flawed Genius: Field Marshal Walter Model, A Critical Biography
Walter Model ranks among the foremost commanders of the German Wehrmacht during World War Two. This is recognized by both German and foreign military historians. But Model was also one of the most brutal German Generals. Whenever he assumed a new command, he showered his staff officers with insults which hurt their dignity and led many of them to request their transfer. The higher Model rose in rank, the more offensive his behavior became.
In the first seven chapters, the author describes the successive stages of Walter Model's career, beginning with his youth and ending with his suicide on April 21, 1945, when he finally woke up to his errors, dissolved his Army Group in the Ruhr Pocket and told his soldiers that they were free to go home.
Walter Model had served with distinction as a junior officer during the First World War. In the Reichswehr and after 1935 in the Wehrmacht, his service altered between troop commands and increasingly important duties in the Generalstab. In March 1938, he reached General's rank with his promotion to Generalmajor.
During World War Two, Walter Model rose to the highest ranks. In the campaigns in Poland and France he was Chief of Staff of a Corps and later of an Army. His first troop command was a Panzer division during the initial phase of the war against Russia. In the winter of 1941 he rose to corps command, a few weeks later he became commander in chief of 9th Army. As of 1944 he assumed command of Army Groups. In the East, he commanded two of the three Army Groups simultaneously and was also responsible for coordination with the third Army Group, making him, in practice, Supreme Commander East. He was then named Supreme Commander West and commanded Army Group B until the end. Chapter eight is a detailed account of Model's active involvement in the worst war crimes. Chapter nine deals with Model's increasingly absurd orders of the day, some of which can cast doubt on his sanity. Chapter ten deals with courts martial convened by him and shows how he was part of the increasing perversion of military justice. The last chapter 'Conclusion' is an analysis of the many aspects of Model's personality.
Researched from a huge array of primary and secondary sources, 'A Flawed Genius' is destined to become the primary biography about Model, a most controversial and complex German military figure.
In the first seven chapters, the author describes the successive stages of Walter Model's career, beginning with his youth and ending with his suicide on April 21, 1945, when he finally woke up to his errors, dissolved his Army Group in the Ruhr Pocket and told his soldiers that they were free to go home.
Walter Model had served with distinction as a junior officer during the First World War. In the Reichswehr and after 1935 in the Wehrmacht, his service altered between troop commands and increasingly important duties in the Generalstab. In March 1938, he reached General's rank with his promotion to Generalmajor.
During World War Two, Walter Model rose to the highest ranks. In the campaigns in Poland and France he was Chief of Staff of a Corps and later of an Army. His first troop command was a Panzer division during the initial phase of the war against Russia. In the winter of 1941 he rose to corps command, a few weeks later he became commander in chief of 9th Army. As of 1944 he assumed command of Army Groups. In the East, he commanded two of the three Army Groups simultaneously and was also responsible for coordination with the third Army Group, making him, in practice, Supreme Commander East. He was then named Supreme Commander West and commanded Army Group B until the end. Chapter eight is a detailed account of Model's active involvement in the worst war crimes. Chapter nine deals with Model's increasingly absurd orders of the day, some of which can cast doubt on his sanity. Chapter ten deals with courts martial convened by him and shows how he was part of the increasing perversion of military justice. The last chapter 'Conclusion' is an analysis of the many aspects of Model's personality.
Researched from a huge array of primary and secondary sources, 'A Flawed Genius' is destined to become the primary biography about Model, a most controversial and complex German military figure.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 2010
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November 10, 2020
Marcel Stein's biography " A Flawed Genius: Field Marshal Walter Model, A Critical Biography" shows the tactical genius. But it is Stein's comprehensive overview of the writings of his contemporaries and the source material he culled through in the German military archives as well as the Russian sources which makes this work stand out. He casts a critical eye upon those writers who give a pass on the atrocities that the Wehrmacht was complicit in on both major fronts but with a special interest in the campaigns on the Eastern Front. The memoirs, both published and unpublished, of former German Field Marshals and lower ranked Generals, and general staff who served under Model give a glimpse of how the Field Marshal handled staff, his theater, and relationships both on the battle field and off.
What is shown that Field Marshal Model had to fight with forces that over time were depleted and in a no win situation. His relationships were fraught through his abrasive personality and the unnecessary harsh manner he treated staff and peers. While he was the most able defensive General that the Fuhrer had the strategic and tactical situations were unwinnable.
Stein devotes the last quarter of the book to the crimes against humanity that the Wehrmacht was part and parcel of through their blind devotion to the Fuhrer. He places Model as a prime example of the way Hitler was able to bind the Wehrmacht to his will. Through oaths and a flawed command training system that didn't allow for conscience to be a enlightening factor Model failed both himself and his nation. His actions in the last year of the war showed that he was a martinet to Hitler especially after the 20 July unsuccessful assassination by holding "Flying Courts Martials".
There is ample documentation that has disproved the revisionist historians and self serving memories of such Field Marshals and Generals like Von Manstein and Guderian. The Wehrmacht from the beginning and the top Generals were complicit through their orders that carried out the demands of Hitler because anti-Semitism was endemic in those top commanders training in General Staff School as well as civilian society. The SS Einstazgruppen and calvary units and Police units that operated in rear areas of each Army theatre were no "rogue" but had daily communiques sent to those commanders that listed body counts of "partisans, commissars, and Jews". Tens of thousands were killed by in Model's area of responsibility during the opening campaigns in the Soviet Union by all levels of the Wehrmacht, Police, and SS units. This continued throughout the war and Model's commands both in East and West Army Groups.
Highly recommended to read that is a thorough debunking of the Wehrmacht is "clean" during the Shoah. Marcel Stein has extensive sourcing that should be examined closely.
What is shown that Field Marshal Model had to fight with forces that over time were depleted and in a no win situation. His relationships were fraught through his abrasive personality and the unnecessary harsh manner he treated staff and peers. While he was the most able defensive General that the Fuhrer had the strategic and tactical situations were unwinnable.
Stein devotes the last quarter of the book to the crimes against humanity that the Wehrmacht was part and parcel of through their blind devotion to the Fuhrer. He places Model as a prime example of the way Hitler was able to bind the Wehrmacht to his will. Through oaths and a flawed command training system that didn't allow for conscience to be a enlightening factor Model failed both himself and his nation. His actions in the last year of the war showed that he was a martinet to Hitler especially after the 20 July unsuccessful assassination by holding "Flying Courts Martials".
There is ample documentation that has disproved the revisionist historians and self serving memories of such Field Marshals and Generals like Von Manstein and Guderian. The Wehrmacht from the beginning and the top Generals were complicit through their orders that carried out the demands of Hitler because anti-Semitism was endemic in those top commanders training in General Staff School as well as civilian society. The SS Einstazgruppen and calvary units and Police units that operated in rear areas of each Army theatre were no "rogue" but had daily communiques sent to those commanders that listed body counts of "partisans, commissars, and Jews". Tens of thousands were killed by in Model's area of responsibility during the opening campaigns in the Soviet Union by all levels of the Wehrmacht, Police, and SS units. This continued throughout the war and Model's commands both in East and West Army Groups.
Highly recommended to read that is a thorough debunking of the Wehrmacht is "clean" during the Shoah. Marcel Stein has extensive sourcing that should be examined closely.
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