Walther von Brauchitsch

Walther Heinrich Alfred Hermann von Brauchitsch (4 October 1881 – 18 October 1948) was a German Generalfeldmarschall (Field Marshal) and Commander-in-Chief (Oberbefehlshaber) of the German Army during the first two years of World War II. Born into an aristocratic military family, he entered army service in 1901. During World War I, he served with distinction on the corps-level and division-level staff on the Western Front.

After the 1933 Nazi seizure of power, Walther von Brauchitsch was put in charge of Wehrkreis I, the military district for East Prussia. During this period, he borrowed immense sums of money from Adolf Hitler and ultimately became dependent on his financial help. By 4 February 1938, Brauchitsch was named Commander-in-Chief of the German Army. In this capacity, he oversaw the successful German invasions of Poland, Western Europe, Yugoslavia, and Greece. For his part in the Battle of France, he became one of twelve generals promoted to field marshal.

On 22 June 1941, Field Marshal Brauchitsch oversaw the launch of Operation Barbarossa, Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union. Despite initially presiding over a series of military victories, his forces were ultimately thrown back by a massive Soviet counteroffensive in December at the Battle of Moscow, thereby causing Barbarossa to end in failure. Enraged by this defeat, Hitler fired Brauchitsch from his command of the German Army. Thereafter, he spent the rest of the war in enforced retirement. Following the war's end, Brauchitsch was arrested on charges of war crimes, but he died of pneumonia in 1948 before he could be prosecuted.