Product Code Database
Siegmund Wilhelm Walther List (14 May 1880 – 17 August 1971) was a German Generalfeldmarschall (Field marshal) of the Wehrmacht during World War II.
List was a professional soldier in the Bavarian Army and served as a staff officer on the Western Front during World War I. List was a leading military training official of the Reichswehr in the interwar period. List commanded the 14th Army of the Wehrmacht in the invasion of Poland in 1939 and the 12th Army in the invasion of France in 1940 for which he was promoted to Field Marshal. List successfully commanded the 12th Army in the Balkans Campaign including the invasion of Yugoslavia and invasion of Greece in April 1941, overseeing anti-partisan operations until his resignation that October. List was appointed commander of Army Group A on the Eastern Front in July 1942, responsible for the main thrust towards the Caucasus during Case Blue. List's military and political disagreements with Adolf Hitler led to him being removed of his command and forced into retirement in September 1942.
List was tried in the Hostages Trial where he was convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity for mass killings of civilians in Yugoslavia and sentenced to life imprisonment. List was released early in 1952 for poor health and died in 1971.
List served in World War I at the front line as a staff officer of infantry regiments, where one of his subordinates was then-Corporal Adolf Hitler. List served in the II Royal Bavarian Corps until the winter of 1915, when he fell seriously ill and had to undergo an operation. After recovering he was assigned to Army Detachment C until 1917 when he was transferred to the 8th Bavarian Reserve Division. For his services during the war, he was awarded both classes of the Iron Cross, the Knight's Cross of the House Order of Hohenzollern with Swords, the Military Merit Order of Bavaria IV Class with Swords and Crown, the Knight's Cross of the Friedrich Order and the Wound Badge in Black. He was awarded the Military Merit Cross III Class with War Decoration from Austria-Hungary and the Knight's Cross of the Order of Military Merit from Bulgaria.
On 1 October 1933, List was appointed commander of Wehrkreis IV (Dresden) and commander of the 4th Division in Dresden. Two years later, on 1 October 1935, he was appointed General of the Infantry and was now Commanding General of the IV Army Corps. In February 1938, List took over the position of Commander-in-Chief of Army Group Command 2 in Kassel. On 1 April 1938, after the Anschluss, List was appointed Commander-in-Chief of Army Group Command 5 in Vienna, with the task of integrating the Austrian Federal Army into the Wehrmacht. On 1 April 1939, he was promoted to generaloberst.
After this successful campaign, List was among the twelve generals that Hitler promoted to Field Marshal during the 1940 Field Marshal Ceremony. In early 1941, German troops were being steadily massed on the Eastern Front in preparation for the German invasion of the Soviet Union. The OKW believed that before the invasion could be launched it would be necessary to eliminate the possibility of interference from Greece by militarily subduing this country. In an operation codenamed Operation Marita, List was delegated to negotiate with the Bulgarian Army's General Staff, and a secret agreement was signed allowing the free passage of German troops through Bulgarian territory. On the night of 28/29 February 1941, German troops (including List who now commanded the 12th Army) took up positions in Bulgaria, which the next day joined the Tripartite Pact.
List resigned as chief of the 12th Army in October 1941 due to illness. In early 1942, he undertook an inspection tour of German-occupied Norway at Hitler's request to determine the country's preparedness for a potential British landing. List's open distaste for Nazism had already caused him to fall out of favour with Hitler, who did not want to give him a new command and only reconsidered at the insistence of various officers in the Wehrmacht leadership.
target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> Wayback Machine: List explained to Jodl that he did not have enough forces to break through the Soviet lines to capture Grozny, and also believed that it was still possible to capture Grozny if all the other attacks were suspended and his army group was given priority in supplies and reinforcements. Jodl subsequently agreed with List and he relayed this information to Hitler, who became furious.Archived at Ghostarchive and the
target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> Wayback Machine: Hitler relieved List of his command on 9 September when he proposed moving some stalled spearhead units to another, less advanced portion of the front to assist in destroying stubborn Soviet forces. Hitler placed himself in command of Army Group via the OKH, stating that "Field Marshal List led sluggishly", until he appointed Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist as commander on 22 November 1942.
List never returned to active duty and spent the rest of the war at his home in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, where he was arrested by the American occupation force in May 1945.
On 31 January 1951, the US High Commissioner John J. McCloy rejected a request for clemency for List. McCloy justified the decision by arguing List had approved anti-partisan tactics and operations that were excessively brutal to be justifiable. Additionally, McCloy stated troops under his command had been involved in the Final Solution in Yugoslavia unrelated to their military duties.
List was released from Landsberg Prison in December 1952, having served four years, officially compassionate release because of ill health. However, he returned to his home in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and lived for another 19 years, dying on 17 August 1971 at the age of 91.
|
|
