Walter Model Military person

Otto Moritz Walter Model (24 January 1891 – 21 April 1945) was a German general and later field marshal during World War II. He is noted for his defensive battles in the latter half of the war, mostly on the Eastern Front but also in the west, and for his close association with Adolf Hitler and Nazism. He has been called the Wehrmacht's best defensive tactician. Although he was a hard-driving, aggressive panzer commander early in the war, Model became best known as a practitioner of defensive warfare. His success at the head of the 9th army in the defensive battles of 1941–1942 determined his future career path. Model first came to Hitler's attention before World War II, but their relationship did not become especially close until 1942. His tenacious style of fighting and aggressive personality won him plaudits from Hitler, who considered him one of his best field commanders and repeatedly tasked him with retrieving desperate situations. However, their relationship had broken down by the end of the war, after Model was defeated at the Battle of the Bulge. Model was considered a thorough and competent leader but was known to "demand too much, and that too quickly", accepting no excuses for failure from either his own men or those who outranked him. His troops were said to have "suffered under his too-frequent absences and erratic, inconsistent demands", for he frequently lost sight of what was or was not practically possible. Yet his dislike of bureaucracy and his crude speech often made him well liked by many under his command.

Personal facts

Walter Model
Alias (AKA)Model Walter
Birth dateJanuary 24, 1891
Birth place
German Empire , Genthin , Province of Saxony
Date of deathApril 21, 1945
Place of death
Germany , Duisburg
Resting place
Hürtgenwald

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Military person

allegiance
* Nazi Germany
* Weimar Republic (to 1933)
* German Empire (to 1918)
award
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
Iron Cross
military operations
Operation Barbarossa
Eastern Front (World War II)
Western Front (World War II)
Battle of Arras (1914)
Operation Bagration
Battle of Hürtgen Forest
Battle of Kursk
Battle of the Bulge
Invasion of Normandy
Operation Market Garden
World War II
World War I
Battle of Moscow
Battles of Rzhev
Ruhr Pocket
Battle of Narva (1944)
military command
* Army Group North (January 1944)
* 3rd Panzer Division (November 1940)
* Army Group B (August 1944)
* Army Group Centre (June 1944)
* Army Group North Ukraine (March 1944)
* Ninth Army (January 1942)
* OB West (August–September 1944)
* XLI Panzer Corps (October 1941)
service start1910
service end1945

Walter Model on Wikipedia

External resources

  1. http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/milimprov/fm.htm