Field Marshal Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb

Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb (September 5, 1876 - April 29, 1956) was a German field marshal during World War II. public domain This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... September 5 is the 248th day of the year (249th in leap years). ... 1876 is a leap year starting on Saturday. ... April 29 is the 119th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (120th in leap years). ... 1956 was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Note: This article is about the military usage of the word marshal. For other usages, see the end of this article. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km (over 11 miles) into the air. ...

Born in Landsberg, he joined the Imperial German Army in 1895 as an officer cadet. After being commissioned in the artillery he served in China during the Boxer Rebellion. He later attended the Bavarian War Academy in Munich (1907-09) and served on the General Staff in Berlin (1909-11). Promoted to captain, he did a tour of duty as a battery commander in the Bavarian 10th Field Artillery Regiment at Erlangen (1912-13). At the outbreak of World War I Leeb was on the General Staff of the Bavarian Army Corps. During the war he served with the Bavarian 11th Infantry Division on the Western Front. Upon promotion to major, he was transferred to the Eastern Front in the summer of 1916. The following year he was appointed to the staff of Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria. After the war Leeb remained in the German Army. In 1923, he was involved in putting down the Beer Hall Putsch. He then commanded Germany's Seventh Military District as a lieutenant general before the rise of Hitler and the Nazi Party. This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The term German Empire (Deutsches Reich) commonly refers to Germany, from its consolidation as a unified nation-state on January 18, 1871, until the abdication of Kaiser (Emperor) Wilhelm II on November 9, 1918. ... 1895 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Boxer forces in Tianjin The Boxer Rebellion (Traditional Chinese: 義和團起義; Simplified Chinese: 义和团起义; pinyin: ) was an uprising against Western commercial and political influence in China during the final years of the 19th century. ... With an area of 70,553 km² (27,241 square miles) and 12. ... Munich: Frauenkirche and Town Hall steeple Munich (German: München (pronounced listen) is the state capital of the German Bundesland of Bavaria. ... 1907 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... 1909 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... 1911 is a common year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar). ... Captain is both a nautical term and a military rank. ... Erlangen is a German city in Middle Franconia. ... 1912 is a leap year starting on Monday. ... 1913 is a common year starting on Wednesday. ... Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ... Insignia of an 0-4 in the U.S. Armed Forces In the US Army, Air Force, Marine Corps and the British Army, a major is a commissioned officer superior to a captain and inferior to a lieutenant colonel. ... 1916 is a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar) Events January-February January 1 -The first successful blood transfusion using blood that had been stored and cooled. ... Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria or Crown Prince Rupert of Bavaria (German: Kronprinz Rupprecht von Bayern) (18 May 1869- 2 August 1955) Rupprecht was the son of Louis III, the last King of Bavaria. ... 1923 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Beer Hall Putsch occurred in the evening of Thursday, November 8 to early afternoon of Friday, November 9, 1923 when the nascent Nazi partys Führer Adolf Hitler, the popular World War I General Erich Ludendorff, and other leaders of the Kampfbund, unsuccessfully tried to gain power in Munich... Lieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. ... Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (April 20, 1889 – April 30, 1945, standard German pronunciation in the IPA) was the Führer (leader) of the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi Party) and of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. ... The Nazi swastika symbol The National Socialist German Workers Party ( German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei), better known as the NSDAP or the Nazi Party was a political party that was led to power in Germany by Adolf Hitler in 1933. ...

Hitler was not fond of Leeb due to his anti-Nazi attitudes and religious convictions. However, due to his outstanding credentials, Hitler made him commander of the Second Army Group and he took part in the occupation of Sudetenland in 1938. The Nazi party used a right-facing swastika as their symbol and the red and black colors were said to represent Blut und Boden (blood and soil). ... Sudetenland (Sudety in Czech) was the name used in 1938–45 for the region inhabited mostly by Sudeten Germans (German: Sudetendeutsche, Czech: Sudetští Němci) in the various places of Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia. ... 1938 was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Hitler promoted Leeb to the commander of Army Group C and his troops were responsible for breaking through the Maginot Line in France. For his role in this victory Leeb was promoted to the rank of Field Marshal (Generalfeldmarschall) in July 1940, along with receiving the Iron Cross. Maginot Line fortification, 2002 The Maginot Line was a line of concrete fortifications, tank obstacles, machine gun posts and other defenses which France constructed along her borders with Germany and with Italy in the wake of World War I. Generally the term describes either the entire system or just the... Note: This article is about the military usage of the word marshal. For other usages, see the end of this article. ... Generalfeldmarschall (General Field Marshal, usually translated simply as Field Marshal, and sometimes written only as Feldmarschall) was a rank in the armies of several German states and also of the Holy Roman Empire and Austrian Empire which could be granted to active officers only in wartime. ... 1940 was a leap year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Iron Cross (German: Eisernes Kreuz) is a military decoration of Germany which was established by King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia and first awarded on 10 March 1813. ...

Leeb, now having Hitler's faith, was responsible for carrying out the attack on the Soviet Union in the northwestern sector and von Leeb was put in command of Army Group North in Operation Barbarossa. Leeb was to destroy Soviet units in the Baltic area, capture all Soviet naval bases on the Baltic, and Leningrad by July 21, 1941. Army Group North (Heeresgruppe Nord in German) was a high level command grouping of military units operating for Germany during World War II. The army group coordinated the operations of attached army corps, reserve formations, and direct-reporting units. ... Original German plan Operation Barbarossa (Unternehmen Barbarossa) was the German codename for Nazi Germanys invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II, which commenced on June 22, 1941. ... Red Army flag The short forms Red Army and RKKA refer to the Workers and Peasants Red Army, (Рабоче-Крестьянская Красная Армия - Raboche-Krestyanskaya Krasnaya Armiya in Russian), the armed forces organised by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War in 1918. ... The Baltic Sea The Baltic region (sometimes briefly The Baltics) is an ambiguous term used to denominate an arbitrary region connected to the Baltic Sea (also called The Baltics). ... The Baltic Sea is located in Northern Europe, bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Eastern Europe and Central Europe, and the Danish islands. ... Saint Petersburg (Russian: Санкт-Петербу́рг, English transliteration: Sankt-Peterburg), colloquially known as Питер (transliterated Piter), formerly known as Leningrad (Ленингра́д, 1924–1991) and Petrograd (Петрогра́д, 1914–1924), is a city located in Northwestern Russia on the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea. ... July 21 is the 202nd day (203rd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 163 days remaining. ... 1941 was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

When the invasion of the Soviet Union began on June 22, 1941, Leeb's armies met with outstanding success against an overwhelmed Soviet force. By the end of September his army had advanced 900 km into the Soviet Union and had surrounded Leningrad. Hitler, however, was not pleased and said of the Field Marshal, "Leeb is in a second childhood; he can't grasp and carry out my plan for the speedy capture of Leningrad. He fusses over his plan of assuming the defensive in the northwestern sector and wants a drive in the center on Moscow. He's obviously senile, he's lost his nerve, and like a true Catholic he wants to pray but not fight." In December 1941 Leeb was relieved of his command and it was officially announced that he had stepped down voluntarily due to illness. Colonel General Georg von Küchler assumed command of Army Group North. June 22 is the 173rd day of the year (174th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 192 days remaining. ... 1941 was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Moscow (Russian/Cyrillic: Москва́, pronunciation: Moskvá) is the capital of Russia, located on the river Moskva, and encompassing 1097. ... Colonel General is a senior military rank which is used in some of the world’s militaries. ... Field Marshal Georg von Küchler Georg Karl Friedrich Wilhelm von Küchler (May 30, 1881 _ May 25, 1968) was a German field marshal during World War II. Born in Philippsruhe castle near Hanau, Küchler led the German 18th Army in 1940 in the invasion of neutral Holland...

After the war, von Leeb was tried by a U.S. military tribunal in Nuremberg in the High Command Trial. He was found guilty on one of four charges and sentenced to three years imprisonment, but was released after the judgment because he had already spent more time in custody. Wikiquote has a collection of quotations by or about: United States Wikinews has news related to this article: United States United States government Official website of the United States government - Gateway to governmental sites White House - Official site of the US President Senate. ... Chief prosecutor Telford Taylor opens the prosecution case in the Krupp Trial The Subsequent Nuremberg Trials (or, more formally, the Trials of War Criminals before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals (NMT)) were a series of twelve U.S. military trials for war crimes against surviving members of the military, political, and... Nuremberg coat of arms Location of Nuremberg Nuremberg (German: Nürnberg) is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. ... The High Command Trial (or, officially, The United States of America vs. ...

Notes

• Note regarding personal names: Ritter is a title, usually translated Knight, not a first or middle name.

Ritter (German for Rider) is the lowest-ranking title of lower nobility in German-speaking areas, considered equal to the title Knight. ...

References

• Pavlov, Dmitri V. Leningrad 1941: The Blockade. Translated by John Clinton Adams. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1965.