Heinz Guderian (17 June 1888 – 14 May 1954) was a Generaloberst of Nazi Germany who was well-known for his work Achtung Panzer! (1937) and his command of panzers during World War II. He was appointed and dismissed from posts several times due to arguments with Adolf Hitler and other generals, but his career saw great victories such as the Invasion of Poland in 1939 and the Battle of Smolensk in 1941 as well as close defeats such as the Battle of Moscow in 1941 and Operation Spring Awakening in 1945.
Biography[]
Heinz Guderian was born on 17 June 1888 in Kulm, West Prussia, German Empire, and he entered the Imperial German Army in 1907. While serving in World War I, he often disagreed with his superiors, and in 1918 he was among several German soldiers that disagreed with the armistice with the Entente Powers. In 1919, he was among the 4,000 imperial German officers who was selected to lead the greatly-reduced Reichswehr (which was limited to 100,000 troops) after the Treaty of Versailles, and he served in the Freikorps against the Soviet Union during the Russian Civil War's spillover in Germany. Guderian served with the "Iron Division" in Lithuania and Latvia alongside the White Army, but the anti-Slavic attitude of the Freikorps led to the failure of cooperation with the Whites. In 1931, he became a Lieutenant-Colonel of Nazi Germany and was appointed Chief-of-Staff of the Inspectorate of Motorized Troops, becoming fluent in English and French and authoring works such as Achtung Panzer! (1937) on armored warfare.
World War II[]
Guerian speaking with another officer
In 1939, Guderian took command of a corps consisting of armored units and motorized infantry, leading it during the initial invasion of Poland in World War II. At the Battle of Winza and the Battle of Kobryn, Guderian's tactics of armored assault provided Germany with two victories, and in 1940 he trapped the Allied Powers' forces on the English Channel shore in the Battle of France after launching an armored offensive through the Ardennes. In 1941, Guderian was given command of the Second Panzer Army during Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union, and his panzer army penetrated up to the capital of Moscow. However, he was dismissed following the defeat at the Battle of Moscow, and he was dismissed, becoming Inspector-General of Armored Troops as a desk job. In early 1945, he was briefly given command of Operation Spring Awakening in Hungary, but it was turned back by the Red Army and Guderian was once more dismissed. From 1945 to 1948 he was a prisoner-of-war of the United States, and after the war he spoke with British war veterans about the battles that he fought against them. He helped in creating the Bundeswehr of West Germany, and he died at the age of 65 in 1954.