HITLER’S MARSHALS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20639, 20 August 1941, Page 5

HITLER’S MARSHALS

EASTERN COMMANDS NAPOLEONIC EXAMPLE LONDON, Aug. 13. Hitler is following the Napoleonic precedent by appointing marshals in some numbers. No fewer than five were mentioned in a German review of the Russian campaign, says Captain Cyril Falls, military correspondent of The Times. Field-Marshal Ritter von Leeb, who confronts Marshal Voroshilov in the northern sector, is a Bavarian, who was ennobled for distinguished conduct in the field in the last war when a major-general on the general staff in 1918. Victim of Purge After long service on the staff of the Reichswehr he fell a victim to Hitler’s purge of the higher commissioned officers in 1938, and was placed on thfe retired list, but returned to the army on the outbreak of war. He commanded an army group of 30 divisions that attacked Belgium and Holland last year. Facing Marshal Timoshenko on the centre front is Field-Marshal von Bock,’ who commanded one of the armies that invaded Austria in 1938, and an army group that occupied Czechoslovakia. In France, Bock commanded one of the armies that held the Somme-Aisne line against a French counter-attack. Field-Marshal von Kluge, who commanded an army in Flanders, and Field-Marshal Kesselring, who commands the Luftwaffe, are both under his orders in this sector. Returned From Retirement In the south field, Marshal von Runstedt, who confronts Marshal Budenny, returned from retirement at the outbreak of war. A Prussian who commanded an army group against the Poles, he was placed in charge of a great attack by 50 divisions in France when the prmies broke through the Ardennes and Meuse lines. Field-Marshal von Reichenau, who is on the Ukrainian front, is very much a political general. A fervent Nazi since 1927 and a strong advocate of military training and athletic sports, he was a no mean athlete himself when younger.

Monocled, a good linguist, and an assiduous attendant at party rallies, he has kept himself before Hitler’s and the party’s eye. He commanded the Munich military district in 1932, and led armies against Poland and the Low Countries. Some Germans believe that he is the most brilliant soldier of all.