Wilhelm Ritter Von Leeb

Vocation

German Field Marshal during World War II. Hitler was not fond of von Leeb because of the general's anti-Nazi attitudes, and retired von Leeb in 1938 after promoting him to the rank of colonel general. But von Leeb was recalled to duty in July of the same year and made commander of the Twelfth Army, which took part in the occupation of the Sudetenland. Afterwards, he was pensioned off again. In the summer of 1939, von Leeb was again called back into service and given command of Army Group C. Before the Battle of France, von Leeb was the only German general to oppose the offensive through the (neutral) low countries, especially Belgium, on moral grounds. During that battle, his troops broke through the Maginot Line. For his role in this victory, von Leeb was promoted to the rank of Field Marshal (Generalfeldmarschall) in July 1940 and awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Now having Hitler's confidence, von Leeb was given command of Army Group North and responsibility for the northern sector in Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union. Von Leeb was to destroy the Soviet units in the Baltic region and capture all Soviet naval bases on the Baltic Sea. When the invasion began on June 22, 1941, von Leeb's armies met with outstanding success against an overwhelmed Soviet force. By the end of September, his army had advanced 900 kilometers into the Soviet Union and surrounded Leningrad, though he failed to capture the city. An old-school German general, von Leeb did not take well to having his command managed from afar by Hitler, whom he considered an armchair general. In January, 1942, von Leeb asked Hitler to relieve him of his command, and Hitler complied. It was officially announced that von Leeb had stepped down due to illness, not because of his defeat.Colonel-General Georg von Küchler assumed command of Army Group North, and Hitler never employed von Leeb again. After the war, von Leeb was tried by an American military tribunal in Nuremberg in the High Command Trial. Due to a confusion of documents, von Leeb was found guilty on one of four charges and sentenced to three years imprisonment; but he was released after the judgment because he had already spent more time in custody. He spent his last years living quietly with his family. Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb died in Füssen on 29 April 1956, following a heart attack. Link to Wikipedia biography