Gustav Anton von Wietersheim

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Gustav Anton von Wietersheim
11 February 1884–25 April 1974
Place of birth Breslau
Place of death Wallersberg bei Bonn
Allegiance Flag of German Empire German Empire (to 1918)
Flag of Germany Weimar Republic (to 1933)
Flag of Nazi Germany Nazi Germany
Service/branch Heer
Years of service 1902-1942
Rank General der Infanterie
Commands held 29th Infantry Division (Motorized), 1936-1938; XIV Panzer Corps ("Panzercorps Wietersheim"), 1938-1942; Chief of Staff, Second Army Group, 1939
Battles/wars World War I, World War II, Invasion of Poland, Battle of France, Stalingrad
Awards Knight's Cross, Ehrenkreuz fur Frontkämpfer, 1914 Iron Cross I & II Class, 1939 Clip to the 1914 Iron Cross I & II Class, Wehrmacht-Dienstauszeichnungen (Service Honors)

Gustav Anton von Wietersheim (11 February 1884 – 25 April 1974) was a German general in the Wehrmacht Heer during World War I and World War II. He led the XIV Panzer Corps (also called "Panzercorps Wietersheim") from its creation in 1938 until September 24, 1942 during the Battle of Stalingrad.

Contents

[edit] Early history, World War I, and Reichswehr

[edit] Pre-war conflict with Hitler

Wietersheim was an officer in the category of the "old school," i.e. he had attained rank and influence as a staff officer and department head in the Reichswehr (the very selective 100,000-man army Germany was allowed by the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles) during the Weimar period prior to Hitler's rise to power. During the rise of Nazism in the 1930s, his place in the military hierarchy also preceded political change. Wietersheim reached the grade of oberst, the highest field rank (equivalent to a full colonel), by 1932, the year before Adolf Hitler was elected Chancellor of Germany. Two years later, he was promoted to generalmajor, a year before to the 1935 announcement of the Wehrmacht and subsequent large-scale German rearmament. As a result, though the development of Germany's new "war machine" certainly led to Wietersheim's later (mostly successful) career as a combat commander, he owed less of his overall professional success in the inter-war military establishment directly to the political success of the Nazi Party and Hitler himself. In consequence, Wietersheim's relationship with Hitler was not based primarily on personal indebtedness as was the case with many of Hitler's generals, especially after the Blomberg-Fritsch Affair in early 1938. This lack of personal commitment to the Party system and, in addition, his pre-WWII experience in the predominantly defense-oriented Reichswehr, meant that Wietersheim and Hitler were often in open disagreement over the latter's characteristically incautious military strategy (and later, at Stalingrad, tactics as well).

On two occasions prior to the war Wietersheim criticized Hitler's plans of action during meetings with the Supreme Commander, first in August 1938, between the Anschluss of Germany and Austria and the Invasion of Czechoslovakia, and second in August 1939, just prior to the Invasion of Poland.

[edit] Poland, France, and Russia

[edit] Stalingrad

Early in the battle, Wietersheim used his tanks to protect the advance from the Don River to the Volga, which was criticized for being an inappropriate use of an armored formation.[1] Soon after, having encountered exceptionally strong resistance from Red Army troops, he suggested a partial withdrawal to the Don, due to high casualties among his troops in the salient north of Stalingrad, just to the west of the Volga. Deemed acts of incompetence and defeatism, he was relieved of command by the head of the German Sixth Army, Friedrich Paulus, and subsequently dismissed by Hitler.

[edit] Post-war

[edit] Dates of rank

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