Wilhelm List

Wilhelm List
Birth date	14 May 1880(1880-05-14)
Death date	17 August 1971 (aged 91)
Place of death	Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Bavaria, West Germany
Resting place	Munich Forest Cemetery (Waldfriedhof)
Allegiance	Kingdom of Bavaria German Empire Weimar Republic National Socialist Germany
Service/branch	Royal Bavarian Army Imperial German Army Reichswehr Heer
Years of service	1898–1942/45
Rank	Generalfeldmarschall
Commands held	Army Group Command 2 Army Group Command 5 14th Army 12th Army Army Group A
Battles/wars	World War I World War II Poland Campaign Battle of France Balkans Campaign Case Blue
Awards	Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
Relations	∞ 1911 Hedwig Kleinschroth

Wilhelm Siegmund Walther List (sometimes also Siegmund/Sigmund Wilhelm Walther; 14 May 1880 – 17 August 1971) was a German officer of the Bavarian Army, the Imperial German Army, the Reichswehr and the Wehrmacht, finally Generalfeldmarschall (Field Marshall) and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross in World War II.

Life

Generalmajor List, 1931

Walther von Brauchitsch visited the former Theresian Military Academy, now war school, on 21 June 1938; from left: Major General Bernhard Waber (bent over the display case in the Hall of Honor of the Military Academy), General Wilhelm List (partially obscured), Generaloberst von Brauchitsch (smiling), Karl Moyses (2 m tall), Richard Ruoff and Fritz Brand.

Wilhelm List and Franz Halder

List was born in Oberkirchberg near Ulm in 1880. At the age of ten, List came with his parents from Württemberg to Munich in Bavaria, where he attended the Luitpoldgymnasium and achieved his Abitur. He achieved very good grades in math, German, physics, history, and sports, but he was less adept at French, Greek, and Latin, although his grades were "sufficient" (genügend). On 15 July 1898, he entered the Bavarian Army in 1898 as an officer candidate of the independent Pioneer Detachment in Munich, the later 3rd Pioneer Battalion (1 April 1900). In 1900, he was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant. In 1901 and 1902, he was assigned twice to the heavy cavalry to take part in exercises, and on 1 October 1902, he was commanded to the artillery and engineering school for two years. On 1 October 1904, he became Adjutant of the 3rd Pioneer Battalion. On 1 October 1908, he began his career in the General Staff with his command to the War Academy in Munich. On 6 August 1911, he received permission to marry.

After successfully completing the academy on 30 September 1911, he served as a platoon commander in the 1st Infantry Regiment, served on a probationary basis in the General Staff, and as a company commander in the 1st Pioneer Battalion. On 19 March 1914, Captain List transferred from the Pioniere to the Central Office of the Royal Bavarian General Staff in Munich. He served as a staff officer in World War I, being wounded in December 1915.

After the war, List stayed in the Reichswehr and most of his assignments were as an administrator. In 1926, he was transferred to the RWM and became head of the training department in 1927. As such, he also took part in official trips abroad, for example to Finland, Hungary and Sweden.

On 16 January with effect from 1 February 1930, he was appointed commander of the Infantry School in Dresden. On 1 October 1933, he was appointed commander of the 4th Division. On 14 June 1935, he was appointed commanding general of the General Command IV Army Corps. On 4 February 1938, he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the (Army) Group Command 2 in Kassel and on 25 March with effect from 1 April 1938, after the Anschluss of Austria, of the new Army Group Command 5 in Vienna. As such, he was made responsible for integrating the Austrian Bundesheer into the Wehrmacht. Heinrich-Hermann von Hülsen served as his adjutant until May 1938.

During 1939, List commanded the German 14th Army in the Poland Campaign. From 1939 to 1941, he commanded the German 12th Army in France and Greece. During 1941, he was Commander-in-Chief South-East. In June 1942, he became Commander-in-Chief of Army Group A on the Eastern Front in the Soviet Union.

WWII

Poland 1939

It was List's task to advance his army into southern Poland immediately on the outbreak of hostilities, to form the extreme southern wing of an encircling manoevre carried out by the German forces aimed at trapping the Polish field army in the general region of Warsaw. He fulfilled this mission, meeting advance elements of the German XIX Panzer Corps under the command of General Guderian a short distance south of Brest-Litovsk, on September 17, 1939.

Following the conclusion of the fighting in Poland, which was accelerated by the occupation of the eastern part of the country by Soviet forces, as agreed to in the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, List and his army remained posted as occupying forces on Polish territory. List was promoted to Field-Marshal on the conclusion of the campaign. In early 1941 German troops were being steadily amassed on the Eastern frontier of the Third Reich; in preparation, as is now known, for Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union. OKW believed that before Barbarossa could be launched it would be necessary to eliminate the possibility of interference from Greece by militarily subduing this country, in an operation code-named Operation Marita. Field-Marshal List was delegated to negotiate with the Bulgarian General Staff, and a secret agreement was signed allowing the free passage of German troops through Bulgarian territory. On the night of February 28, 1941 German troops, including List who now commanded the 12th army, took up positions in Bulgaria, which the next day joined the Tripartite Pact.

Greece 1941

The Balkans Campaign started on April 6, 1941. The 12th army, commanded by List, consisted of four armoured divisions and eleven motorised infantry divisions, and totally over-matched the defending forces. Belgrade was occupied by German forces on April 13, 1941, and Athens on April 27, 1941. The Balkan interlude ended with the evacuation of British forces on April 28, 1941.

Caucasus campaign and dismissal

On 30 May with effect from 26 June 1942, List took command of Army Group A in Poltawa, newly formed from the split of Army Group South during the Germans' summer offensive named Case Blue. A previously ordered transfer to the leadership reserve has become null and void. His orders were to take Rostov and then advance into the Caucasus as far as Baku to capture the oil-rich region. German forces made good progress for two months, advancing almost to Grozny, about 650 kilometers from Rostov.

However, by the end of August their advance had grounded to halt, chiefly due to critical shortages of fuel and ammunition as the army group outran its supply lines. Russian resistance had also stiffened considerably, and matters were made worse for the Germans by the removal in mid-August of most Luftwaffe combat units to the north to support to the Sixth Army's drive on Stalingrad.

Hitler was angered by the loss of momentum, and when List proposed moving some stalled spearhead units to another, less advanced portion of the front to assist in destroying stubborn Russian forces, Hitler relieved him of command on 17 September with effect from 10 September 1942 and placed himself in charge of Army Group A. List was placed at personal disposal of the Führer. List spent the rest of the war at his home and never returned to active duty, but was not officially retired either.

Imprisonment and trial

List was imprisoned by the allies after the war and was charged with alleged war crimes in the Nuremberg show trials. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in February 1948. In December 1952, List was released from prison, officially due to ill health. On 19 October 1963, he was awarded honorary membership of the Clausewitz Society.

Family

Wilhelm was the son of the Protestant general practitioner Dr. med. Walther List (1853–1907), also a Oberstabsarzt (= Major) of the Bavarian Army, and his Catholic wife Christine, née Schorn (1845–1937). His mother volunteered for duty in a military hospital during WWI and received the King Ludwig Cross on 7 January 1916. Wilhelm had at least two siblings: Elisabeth (b. 1870) and Andreas (b. 1872).

Marriage

On 2 October 1911 in Kitzingen am Main, 1st Lieutenant List married his fiancée Hedwig Karoline Ernestine Kleinschroth (b. 3 May 1886; d. 1971), daughter of economics councilor (Ökonomierat) and brewery owner Adam Kleinschroth (1851–1940) and his wife, Henriette, née Roth. They would have three children:

• Walter Christian Adam (b. 19 January 1913 in Munich)
• Ruth Henriette Elisabeth (b. 27 April 1914); ∞ Gruber
• Gabriele Frieda Auguste Hedwig "Hedda" (b. 16 June 1916); ∞ Lwowski

Memberships (excerpt)

• 16 March 1900 Support association for the surviving dependents of officers, medical officers and senior officials of the Royal Bavarian Army
• January 1939 Board of Trustees of the German-Japanese Society in Vienna

Promotions

• 15 July 1898 Zweijährig-Freiwilliger und Fahnenjunker (Two-year volunteer and Officer Candidate)
• 11 October 1898 Fahnenjunker-Unteroffizier (Officer Candidate with Corporal/NCO/Junior Sergeant rank)
• 8 February 1899 Fähnrich (Officer Cadet)
• 7 March 1900 Leutnant (2nd Lieutenant)
• 9 March 1908 Oberleutnant (1st Lieutenant)
• 22 February 1913 Hauptmann (Captain) without Patent
  • 31 March 1916 received Patent from 20 October 1914 (15a)
• 19 August 1919 Major without Patent
  • 26 September 1919 received Patent from 20 September 1918 (8)
• 1 October 1923 Oberstleutnant (Lieutenant Colonel)
  • 17 March 1924 received new Rank Seniority (RDA) from 15 November 1922 (6a)
• 1 March 1927 Oberst (Colonel)
• 1 November 1930 Generalmajor (Major General)
• 1 October 1932 Generalleutnant (Lieutenant General)
• 1 October 1935 General der Infanterie (General of the Infantry)
• 31 March 1939 Generaloberst with effect from 1 April 1939
• 19 July 1940 Generalfeldmarschall

Awards and decorations

• Anniversary Medal for the Army 1905 (Prinzregent-Luitpold Jubiläumsmedaille für die Armee 1905) on 12 March 1905
• Japanese Order of the Rising Sun, 6th Class on 29 September 1908
• Iron Cross (1914) 2nd and 1st Class
  • 2nd Class on 14 September 1914
  • 1st Class on 17 August 1915
• Military Merit Order (Bavaria), 4th Class with Swords (BMV4⚔/BM4⚔) on 11 November 1914
• Friedrich Order, Knight's Cross 2nd Class with Swords (WF3b⚔) on 20 April 1917
• Austrian Military Merit Cross, 3rd Class with War Decoration (ÖM3K) on 8 August 1917
• House Order of Hohenzollern, Knight's Cross with Swords (HOH3⚔) on 20 September 1917
• Crown to his Military Merit Order (Bavaria), 4th Class with Swords (BMV4⚔mKr/BM4⚔mKr) on 8 April 1918
• Bavarian Long Service Cross (Königlich Bayerisches Dienstauszeichnungskreuz), II. Class for 24 years (BDK2/BD2) on 23 May 1918 (war years were counted double by the Bavarians)
• Order of Military Merit (Bulgaria), Knight's Cross (BO5) in August 1918
• Wound Badge (1918) in Black
• Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918 with Swords on 13 December 1934
• Wehrmacht Long Service Award (Wehrmacht-Dienstauszeichnung), 4th to 1st Class with Oak Leaves
  • 1st Class for 25 years on 2 October 1936
  • Oak Leaves for 40 years on 12 September 1939
• Order of the Crown of Italy, Knight Grand Cross on 24 September 1937
• Hungarian Order of Merit, Grand Cross on 21 August 1938 (permission to accept and wear on 26 September 1938)
  • On the occasion of the visit of the Regent Admiral Horthy to Vienna.
• Anschluss Medal on 19 June 1939
• Sudetenland Medal with the “Prague Castle” clasp
• Repetition Clasp 1939 to the Iron Cross 1914, 2nd and 1st Class
  • 2nd Class on 16 September 1939
  • 1st Class on 29 September 1939
• Knights Cross of the Iron Cross on 30 September 1939 as Generaloberst and Commander-in-Chief of the 14. Armee

Writings

• Studie über den Generalstab des Deutschen Heeres, Landsberg am Lech 1949

Gallery

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Sources

• German Federal Archives: BArch PERS 6/10 and PERS 6/300146