Maximilian von Weichs (12 November 1881 – 27 September 1954) was the commander of the Army Group South from July 1942 to 12 February 1943, succeeding Fedor von Bock and preceding Erich von Manstein.
Biography[]
Maximilian von Weichs was born on 12 November 1881 in Dessau, Duchy of Anhalt, German Empire. He entered the Bavarian cavalry in 1900 and fought in World War I, and he worked in the Reichswehr during the Interwar Years. In 1939, he was given his own army corps during the German invasion of Poland at the start of World War II, and his corps took part in the Balkans campaign and Operation Barbarossa in 1941. That year, he led the German 2nd Army during the Battle of Kiev and the Battle of Smolensk, and in 1942 he led Army Group B during the Battle of Stalingrad before being promoted to Field Marshal in February 1943. In late 1944, von Weichs oversaw the German retreat from the Balkans while leading Army Group F, and on 25 March 1945 he retired as Nazi Germany fell apart. He was arrested by the United States in late 1945 after the end of the war, but illness prevented him from being tried for war crimes such as the suppression of partisans. He died near Bonn, West Germany in 1954.