Ewald von Kleist

Hallo!

Karl and I have been discussing many issues about this excellent commander.

One, is that Karl has got the stripes he used in 1905 as a cavalry officer. (I smell envy...)

Another is that: Do you know he knew Winston Churchill?

He travelled to Great Britain in 1936 or 1937 and met Churchill at his house to warn him of Hitler's crazy policies and to tell him how the officers felt about it. He could have been considered a traitor... but he was not.

Now, I will give you my opinion about this excellent officer and I hope to read yours later.

I think he was a very professional soldier from the old school who actually modernised his mind. He became from an infantry man to an armour man within months!

For the risky assualt on France, General der Artillerie Franz Halder needed a conservative officer, like him to take control of the young and impetuous generals; specially Guderian. So a Panzergruppe was created and Von Kleist, without armour experience was put in charge. During the invasion Guderian fought a lot with Von Kleist because Von Kleist was too careful. Von Kleist did not stop bothering him until Guderian finally accepted to stay in a Headquarters instead of the frontline. But Guderian did it just because he thought that it would give him more freedom of action. He did what he wanted, anyway...

But later, In the Balcans, Von Kleist showed himself as a good armour officer and later in the Soviet Union with his 4. Panzergruppe. He captured Rostov and made other incredible things. That's why he replaced Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm List as commander of Army Sub Group A in the Caucasus and later became a field marshall.

 

Well said Friedrich. This proves you did some very good research on him. I have been very curious about him myself and had planned on researching about him.

Im just as curious to know more of his ww1 experiances. I feel the need to know more especially when he was a Rittmeister in the 5th Uhlan Kavalerie Regiment--since as you kindly pointed out--I have a mint set of his Rittmeisters Shoulderboards.

 

Hallo!

Here you can see a very good photograph of the good cavalry officer. He was 62 when he was promoted to field marshall.

http://www.islandfarm.fsnet.co.uk/Generalfeldmarschall%20Paul%20Ludwig%20Ewald%20von%20Kleist.htm

 

Thanks for this info, now I can date his Rittmeisters boards to exactly 1915.

Rittmeister in 1914.

 

It's interesting how difficult it is to research von Kleist. Having been reading quite a lot about the Eastern Front lately, his name is mentioned a great deal. Yet, apart from some rather patchy internet sites, there is no biography ( that I'm aware of....).

So far, I've found that he's mentioned in Samuel W. Mitcham's 'Hitler's Generals' ( but for some reason I'm not a great fan of the author ). He is quoted extensively in Liddell Hart's The Other Side Of The Hill / The German Generals Talk. Apparently, he's also in The Nuremburg Interviews, a copy of which I have on order.

Ironically, one of the best sources I've found is a magazine article, 'Ewald von Kleist, Un Panzergeneral de la Vielle Ecole' in Armes et Militaria #158, Sept. 1998. This has a splendid selection of photos and maps.

The search continues ; maybe there's an academic out there beavering away on the definitive biography ......

 

Finally - thanks to a very efficient and helpful US dealer - obtained a copy of C R Davis' 'von Kleist - From Hussar To Panzer Marshal' published in Houston, Texas in 1979. This softback book is so far the only book in English dedicated to this important German officer. It basically synthesizes information from other scattered sources (especially Liddell Hart ) but it has a very large selection of private photos from von Kleist's own album which is in a private collection in the USA. I now also have 'The Nuremberg Interviews' by Goldensohn/Gellately.

And, certainly for the time being, that's about all there is............................................

 

What exactly was Von Kleist tried for? Was there evidence of was crimes?