Walther Wenck (18 September 1900 – 1 May 1982) was a General der Panzertruppe of Nazi Germany's Wehrmacht during World War II.
Biography[]
Walther Wenck was born on 18 September 1900 in Wittenberg, Saxony-Anhalt, German Empire. He joined the Freikorps in 1919 and the Reichswehr in 1920, and he served as chief of operations of the 1st Panzer Division from 1939 to 1942. Wenck would serve on the staff of several Axis formations during the war with the Soviet Union, and he served as chief of staff of the LVII Armeekorps, Romanian Third Army, the German 6th Army, the 1st Panzer Army, and Army Group South Ukraine. Heinz Guderian was able to convince Adolf Hitler to put him on the staff of Army Group Vistula, and he masterminded the failed Operation Solstice attack against the Red Army in 1945. On 10 April 1945, he was given command of the German Twelfth Army during the defense of Berlin from the Soviets, and he failed in relieving the city. His forces withdrew towards Potsdam, and he opened a corridor for German troops to escape west to surrender to the Allied Powers instead of the Soviets, knowing that they would be abused in Soviet prison camps. Wenck was released by the US Army in 1947, and he died in a car crash in Bad Rothenfelde on 1 May 1982.