Walther Model: Encyclopedia - Walther Model

Walther Model

Otto Moritz Walter Model (IPA /'mo:dəl/) (January 24, 1891–April 21, 1945) was a German general, and later a Field Marshal, during World War II. He was noted for his defensive skills, and was nicknamed "Hitler's fireman".

Model served as an infantry officer in World War I. During the Polish and French campaigns in 1939 and 1940 he served as a corps and army chief of staff. In the Russian campaign from 1941 until 1944 he served in succession as a division, corps, and army commander. In January 1944 Model was assigned as commander in chief of Army Group North on the Eastern Front. In mid-August 1944 he was transferred to the west as Commander in Chief West and concurrently as commander in chief of Army Group B. Upon Rundstedt's return as Commander in Chief West in early September 1944, Model retained command of Army Group B, a post he kept until the final dissolution of Army Group B in April 1945. Aware that he would be tried for war crimes, he committed suicide before capture on 21 April 1945. He is buried in the German military cemetery "Soldatenfriedhof Vossenack", located near the town of Vossenack, Germany.

Werner von Blomberg | Hermann Göring | Walther von Brauchitsch | Albert Kesselring | Wilhelm Keitel | Günther von Kluge | Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb | Fedor von Bock | Wilhelm List | Erwin von Witzleben | Walther von Reichenau | Erhard Milch | Hugo Sperrle | Gerd von Rundstedt | Erwin Rommel | Georg von Küchler | Erich von Manstein | Friedrich Paulus | Ewald von Kleist | Maximilian von Weichs | Ernst Busch | Wolfram von Richthofen | Walther Model | Ferdinand Schörner | Robert Ritter von Greim

Honorary: Eduard von Böhm-Ermolli

Erich Raeder | Karl Dönitz

Werner Mölders | Adolf Galland | Gordon Gollob | Hans-Joachim Marseille | Hermann Graf | Erwin Rommel | Wolfgang Luth | Walter Nowotny | Adelbert Schulz | Hans-Ulrich Rudel | Hyazinth Graf von Strachwitz | Herbert Otto Gille | Hans-Valentin Hube | Albert Kesselring | Helmut Lent | Sepp Dietrich | Walther Model | Erich Hartmann | Hermann Balck | Gerhard Ramcke | Wolfgang Schnaufer | Albrecht Brandi | Ferdinand Schörner | Hasso von Manteuffel | Theodor Tolsdorff | Karl Mauss | Dietrich von Saucken

Categories: 1891 births | 1945 deaths | Field Marshals of Nazi Germany | Firearm deaths | Suicides | German World War II people

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Walther Model", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki