German Army generals of World War II

Carl-Heinrich_von_Stülpnagel

Carl-Heinrich Rudolf Wilhelm von Stülpnagel (2 January 1886 – 30 August 1944) was a German general in the Wehrmacht during World War II who was an army level commander. While serving as military commander of German-occupied France and as commander of the 17th Army in the Soviet Union during Operation Barbarossa. Stülpnagel participated in German war crimes, including authorising reprisal operations against civilian population and cooperating with the Einsatzgruppen in their mass murder of Jews. He was a member of the 20 July Plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, being in charge of the conspirators' actions in France. After the failure of the plot, he was recalled to Berlin and attempted to commit suicide en route, but failed. Tried on 30 August 1944, he was convicted of treason and executed on the same day.

Gerd-Paul_von_Below

Gerd-Paul Valerian Georg Heinrich von Below (30 November 1892 – 8 December 1953) was a general in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Below surrendered to the Soviet troops in May 1945 and died in captivity in 1953.

Rudolf_Peschel

Rudolf Peschel (21 April 1894 – 30 June 1944) was a general in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Peschel was killed in action on 30 June 1944 during the Vitebsk–Orsha Offensive.

Erich_Buschenhagen

Erich Buschenhagen (December 8, 1895 – September 13, 1994) was a German general in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany who commanded the LII Corps during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves. Buschenhagen surrendered to the Soviet forces in August 1944, after the Jassy–Kishinev Offensive (August 1944) and was held in the Soviet Union as a war criminal until October 1955.

Walther_Wenck

Walther Wenck (German: [ˈvaltɐ ˈvɛŋk]) (18 September 1900 – 1 May 1982) was a German officer and industrialist. He was the youngest General of the branch (General der Truppengattung) in the German Army and a staff officer during World War II. At the end of the war, he commanded the German Twelfth Army that took part in the Battle of Berlin. Wenck left the military after surrendering to the Allies. He was asked to become Inspector General of the Bundeswehr as West Germany was re-arming in 1957, but declined to take the post when conditions he set were not met, such as the Inspector General being the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, not just an administrative leader.
Historians consider Wenck a capable commander and a brilliant improviser, although incapable of the impossible task he was given of saving Berlin in 1945.

Friedrich_Olbricht

Friedrich Olbricht (4 October 1888 – 21 July 1944) was a German general during World War II. He is known for being one of the plotters involved in the 20 July Plot, an attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler in 1944.
Olbricht was a senior staff officer, with the rank of lieutenant general. He was secretly in contact with most of the leaders of the resistance. They briefed him on their various plots and he placed sympathetic officers in key positions. Olbricht quietly encouraged field commanders to support the resistance. By late 1943, his office was the centre of Resistance plotting, under Claus von Stauffenberg. Had the 20 July plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler been successful, Olbricht would have assumed the position of minister of war in a post-Nazi regime.

Ludwig_Cruwell

Ludwig Crüwell (20 March 1892 – 25 September 1958) was a German army general who served in the Afrika Korps of Nazi Germany during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves. Crüwell surrendered to the British forces on 29 May 1942 and was interned at Trent Park, the British camp for high-ranking POW where his conversations were subject to covert surveillance.

Rudolf_Schmundt

Rudolf Schmundt (13 August 1896 – 1 October 1944) was a German officer and adjutant to Adolf Hitler. Between 1942 and 1944, he was chief of the German Army Personnel Office. Schmundt was injured during the 20 July 1944 assassination attempt on Hitler and died a few months later from his wounds.