World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseWalther Heinrich Alfred Hermann von Brauchitsch was born in Berlin, Germany in 1881 to cavalry general Bernhard Eduard von Brauchitsch and his wife Charlotte Bertha von Gordon. His interest in politics led to his father enrolling him at the Französisches Gymnasium Berlin, but upon graduation, he would follow the family military tradition by joining the military academy in Potsdam, Germany in 1895. He transferred to the Royal Prussian Main Cadet Institute (Preußische Hauptkadettenanstalt) in Groß-Lichterfelde near Berlin. As a student near the top of his class, he was chosen by Empress Augusta Victoria, consort of Emperor Wilhelm II, as a page. Upon graduation in 1900, he was commissioned as a lieutenant into the infantry of the German military. He was later transferred to the less physically demanding artillery due to health reasons. He later joined the General Staff office in Berlin, where he was promoted to first lieutenant in 1909. He married Elizabeth von Karstedt in 1910; they would have two sons and a daughter together. During WW1, he was with the 34th Infantry Division and the Guards Reserve Corps, and participated in a number of battles. He was awarded the Iron Cross 1st Class and the House Order of the Hohenzollern. He rose to the rank of major by the end of WW1. He remained in the German military after WW1, initially attached to the General Staff, was transferred to the 2nd Artillery Regiment in 1920, and was assigned to the Artillery Department of Ministry of Reichswehr in 1921 where he developed new artillery doctrine based on his WW1 experience. In 1925, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel. In Nov 1927, he was made Chief of Staff of the 6th Infantry Division based in Münster, Germany. He was promoted to the rank of colonel in 1928, and was placed in charge of the German Army's Training Department. In Oct 1931, he was promoted to the rank of major general. In Feb 1933, after the Nazi Party came to power, he was made the commanding officer of the East Prussian Military District (Wehrkreis I) and Chief of the 1st Division based in Königsberg, Germany. In Oct 1933, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general. In Jun 1935, he was made the commanding officer of the 1st Army Corps. In 1936, he was promoted to the rank of general of the artillery. In Feb 1938, he was promoted to the rank of colonel general and succeeded Werner von Fritsch as the Commander-in-Chief of the Army by appointment of Adolf Hitler. He had a friendly relationship with Hitler, who recommended him to divorce his wife and marry his mistress Charlotte Rueffer, and lending him large sums of money. He personally opposed Hitler's transgressions in Austria and Czechoslovakia, but remained quiet. In Apr 1939, he was awarded the Golden Party Badge by Hitler. In May 1939, he inspected the Italian military installations in Libya and in La Spezia, Italy.

ww2dbaseThe European War of WW2 began in Sep 1939, and Brauchitsch oversaw most of the plans in the German conquest of Poland. He supported harsh measures to suppress the Polish people as means to secure Polish land for Germany. In early Nov 1939, he began speaking with Chief of the General Staff Franz Halder on the possibility of overthrowing Hitler should Hitler insist on invading France later that month, something Brauchitsch and Halder considered to be a doomed venture. During a meeting on 5 Nov 1939, Brauchitsch voiced the Army's recommendation against invading France, which angered Hitler, but two days later Hitler would order the postponement of an invasion of France, which removed the primary motivation for Halder and Brauchitsch's plans for mutiny. Although he initially had no faith in the invasion plan for France drafted by General Erich von Manstein, Manstein managed to gain Hitler's personal approval for the plan, which forced Brauchitsch to carry out. Brauchitsch ultimately saw the potentials for the plan, and carried it out successfully. For his role in leading the German Army in the victory over France, he was promoted to the rank of field marshal in Jul 1940. In Apr 1941, he played a leading role in the German successes in Yugoslavia and Greece. In Jun 1941, he again played a key leading role in the invasion of the one-time German ally, the Soviet Union. Similar to his sentiment after the conquest of Poland, he supported the government policies that imposed harsh, often deadly, suppression against the conquered peoples. He showed signs of deteriorating health during the start of the Battle of Moscow, and Germany's inability to take the Soviet capital only added stress. He suffered a heart attack in Nov 1941, and was informed that he suffered from a incurable heart disease. As the German troops began to fall back from Moscow, Hitler placed on him the blame of defeat, and thus dismissed him as Commander-in-Chief of the German Army on 19 Dec 1941. Transferred to the reserve, he moved to the Brdy mountains southwest of Prague, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, ie. occupied Czechoslovakia, and played no further roles in the war. After the failed 20 July plot, he made a rare public statement condemning the attempt; he later revealed to Halder that he was forced to make such a statement in order to save a relative's life.

ww2dbaseAfter the war, Brauchitsch was arrested by the British on war crimes committed during the German invasion of the Soviet Union. He was imprisoned in Camp 198 in Bridgend, Wales, United Kingdom until he was brought to Germany for trial. He passed away from bronchial pneumonia in the British Military Hospital Hamburg (now Bundeswehrkrankenhaus Hamburg) in Germany in Oct 1948 before his trial began.

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