1940 Field Marshal Ceremony

German military promotion ceremony January 2023 right|thumb|300px|Adolf Hitler posing with his field marshals at the ceremony. Hermann Göring is wearing the white uniform. The 1940 field marshal ceremony was a promotion ceremony held at the Kroll Opera House in Berlin in which Adolf Hitler promoted twelve generals to the rank of Generalfeldmarschall ("field marshal") on 19 July 1940. It was the first occasion in World War II that Hitler appointed field marshals due to military achievements. The prestigious rank of field marshal had been banned after World War I. As part of German rearmament, the rank was revived. Hitler promoted twelve selected generals to field marshal during the ceremony in Berlin for their role in the swift victory in the Battle of France and to raise morale. The ceremony highlighted the power and prestige of the Wehrmacht; France was considered to have had the strongest army in Europe, yet had been humiliatingly defeated in just six weeks. During the same ceremony, Hermann Göring, already Generalfeldmarschall since 1938, was promoted to the rank, newly created especially for him, of Reichsmarschall ('Imperial Marshal'). Field marshal Generalfeldmarschall thumb|250px|right|A field marshal's baton of the Wehrmacht After World War I, the prestigious rank of field marshal was banned in the Weimar Republic, alongside other restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles. After Hitler and the Nazi Party came to national power in January 1933, they began an expansion of the military; it was part of Hitler's desire to restore the army's power and prestige.Weinberg 1970 26–27 In 1936, he revived the rank of field marshal. It was the highest and most prestigious military rank in Germany, originally only for the use of War Minister and Commander-in-Chief Werner von Blomberg.Hakim 1995 100–104 The traditional attribute distinguishing a German field marshal was an ornately decorated baton.Alford 2003 66–67 More tangible benefits included a yearly salary of 36,000 Reichsmarks for life (a Field Marshal was deemed never to retire, but to remain permanently on active duty) and all earnings being exempt from income tax.Snyder 1994 111 Ceremony Battle of France thumb|100px|Shoulder strap rank insignia of a field marshal in 1940 Flushed with enthusiasm by the swift defeat of the French Army, considered to have been the strongest in Europe,Rees 2012 and the Low Countries in June 1940, Hitler wanted to mark the occasion with a grand promotion ceremony.Mitcham 2009 24 He also hoped the promotions would strengthen his influence over the traditional German General Staff.Snyder 1994 111–112 The twelve generals chosen for promotion, who all had played an important role in the victory, were (with the position they occupied during the Battle of France): thumb|100px|Shoulder strap rank insignia of a reichs marshal in 1940 Portrait Name(Lifespan) Position Ref. References 65px Colonel GeneralWalther von Brauchitsch(1881–1948) Commander-in-Chief of the Army Snyder 1994 111–112 65px Colonel GeneralFedor von Bock(1880–1945) Commander of Army Group B Turney 1971 6 65px General of the AviatorsAlbert Kesselring(1885–1960) Commander of Air Fleet 2 Snyder 1994 112 65px Colonel GeneralWilhelm Keitel(1882–1946) Commander in Chief of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht(De facto Minister of War) Sandler 2002 455 65px Colonel GeneralGünther von Kluge(1882–1944) Commander of the 4th Army Moczarski 1981 226–234 65px Colonel GeneralWilhelm Ritter von Leeb(1876–1956) Commander of Army Group C 65px Colonel GeneralWilhelm List(1880–1971) Commander of the 12th Army Snyder 1994 111–112 65px Colonel GeneralErhard Milch(1892–1972) Chief Under-Secretary of State in the Reich Aviation Ministry(De facto Air Force High Command) Snyder 1994 229 65px Field MarshalHermann Göring(1893–1946) Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force 65px Colonel GeneralWalter von Reichenau(1884–1942) Commander of the 6th Army Biesinger 2006 619 65px Colonel GeneralGerd von Rundstedt(1875–1953) Commander of Army Group A Mackenzie 2014 17 65px General of the AviatorsHugo Sperrle(1885–1953) Commander of Air Fleet 3 Snyder 1994 112 65px Colonel GeneralErwin von Witzleben(1881–1944) Commander of the 1st Army Mitcham 2009a 1–2 In particular, all army group commanders were promoted to Field Marshal. In the case of Kesselring and Sperrle, the rank of Colonel General was bypassed.Snyder 1994 111–112 The commanders-in-chief of the navy and air force, Erich Raeder and Göring respectively, were not promoted to Field Marshal because they already held the rank (or its equivalent Grand Admiral respectively). Given that Field Marshal was no longer as exceptional a rank as it was before, Göring, to satisfy his thirst for prestige, was promoted to the specially created rank of Reichsmarschall. This made Göring the senior officer of the military, without, however, making him an actual superior of the army and navy. It also underscored his status as Hitler's designated successor. He was the only person awarded this rank during the Nazi era, and it was abolished after the fall of the Nazi regime.Snyder 1994 112, 123, 285Manvell 2011 245 On 19 July 1940, Hitler summoned the generals to a ceremony in Berlin's Kroll Opera House (which housed the Reichstag after the Reichstag fire).Deighton 2008 7–9Evans 2008 122–123Mitcham 2009 24 After a speech regarding a peace proposal directed at Britain, Hitler personally rewarded his generals with their expensively decorated batons,Alford 2003 66–67Deighton 2008 7–9 and thanked them for their contributions to the victory.Dear Foot 2005 322Ellis 1993 94 The ceremony was the first occasion Hitler appointed field marshals due to military achievements and was celebrated like no other promotion ceremony in Germany.Mitcham 2009 24Tague 2011 150 The remaining five years of the war saw an additional twelve promotions, most of which were without ceremony, such as Friedrich Paulus's promotion, which was conferred over the radio by Hitler.Snyder 1994 112Beevor 1998 381 Paulus incident In deciding to promote Paulus during the Battle of Stalingrad, Hitler noted that there was no known record of a Prussian or German field marshal ever having surrendered. The implication was clear: Paulus was to commit suicide. If Paulus surrendered, Hitler implied he would shame Germany's military history. Paulus, nevertheless, surrendered to Soviet forces on 31 January 1943, the day after he was promoted.Snyder 1994 112 Aftermath All of the generals promoted went on to achieve further success in their careers during the early years of victory which the German military obtained in the Second World War. Brauchitsch, Bock, Kesselring, Keitel, Leeb, List, Reichenau, Rundstedt, and Göring would all play decisive and important roles in the German-led Axis invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941.Grazhdan 2011 Sperrle spent the rest of the war in semi-retirement, based with his unit in France.Williamson 2006 46 Milch was transferred to the production department and was responsible for aircraft production until the end of the war. Following his avid extermination of Jews in the autumn of 1941 (Severity Order, Babi Yar), Reichenau died on 14 January 1942. In 1943, after a series of German defeats on the Eastern Front, and the Allied invasion of Italy, the German military lost all initiative.Rees 2012 Hitler's leadership became increasingly disconnected from reality as the war turned against Germany, with the military's defensive strategies often hindered by his slow decision making and frequent directives to hold untenable positions.Rees 2012 His response to the worsening war situation was to unceremoniously sack general after general, a routine which ultimately affected the field marshals promoted at the ceremony.Rees 2012 Witzleben and Kluge were both involved in the 20 July plot to assassinate Hitler. After it became clear that the assassination attempt had failed, Kluge committed suicide by taking cyanide poison on 17 August 1944.Moczarski 1981 226–234 Witzleben was to have become Commander-in-Chief of the Wehrmacht if the attempt had succeeded. He was arrested, stripped of his rank and expelled from the army so that he could be tried in a civilian court, and sentenced to death; the execution was carried out on 8 August 1944.Snyder 1994 382 On 4 May 1945, less than a week before Nazi Germany surrendered, Bock died of wounds inflicted the day before by a strafing RNZAF fighter-bomber. See also Bribery of senior Wehrmacht officers List of Nazi Party leaders and officials List of German field marshals Footnotes 30em References 30em Sources 30em Alford Kenneth D. Nazi Plunder: Great Treasure Stories of World War II Da Capo Press 2003 978-0306812415 Beevor Antony Antony Beevor Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege, 1942–43 Viking Press 1998 978-0-670-87095-0 registration https://archive.org/details/stalingrad00beev Biesinger Joseph A. Germany: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present Facts on File 2006 978-0816045211 registration https://archive.org/details/germanyreference0000bies Dear I.C.B. I. C. B. Dear M.R.D. Foot M. R. D. Foot The Oxford Companion to World War II 2005 1995 Oxford University Press 978-0-19-280666-6 Deighton Len Len Deighton Fighter: The True Story of the Battle of Britain Random House 2008 978-1-84595-106-1 Ellis John World War II Databook: The Essential Facts and Figures for All the Combatants 1993 Aurum 1-85410-254-0 Evans Richard J. The Third Reich at War 2008 Penguin Group 978-0-14-311671-4 Forczyk Robert Manstein: Leadership – Strategy – Conflict Osprey 2010 978-1-84603-221-9 Fellgiebel Walther-Peer Walther-Peer Fellgiebel Die Trager Des Ritterkreuzes Des Eisernen Kreuzes, 1939–1945 Podzun-Pallas 2000 978-3-7909-0284-6 Hakim Joy A History of Us: War, Peace and all that Jazz Oxford University Press 1995 0-19-509514-6 Knopp, Guido 1998 Hitler's Warriors: Manstein The Strategist http://www.hulu.com/hitlers-warriors 23 July 2014 ZDF Knopp 1998 https://web.archive.org/web/20180710012610/https://www.hulu.com/hitlers-warriors 10 July 2018 dead Grazhdan, Anna 2011 Soviet Storm: World War II in the East Channel One Russia. Retrieved 7 November 2014 Grazhdan 2011 Rees, Laurence 2012 The Dark Charisma of Adolf Hitler https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01p01pm 30 June 2014 BBC Rees 2012 Manvell Roger Goering Skyhorse 2011 1962 978-1-61608-109-6 Mackenzie Simon P. The Second World War in Europe: Second Edition Routledge Publishing 2014 978-1317864714 Melvin Mungo Mungo Melvin Manstein: Hitler's Greatest General 2010 Weidenfeld & Nicolson 978-0-297-84561-4 Mitcham Samuel Jr. Men of Barbarossa – Battles and Leaders of the German Invasion of Russia, 1941 Casemate Books 2009 978-193-514-9156 Moczarski Kazimierz Kazimierz Moczarski Conversations With an Executioner Prentice-Hall 1981 0-13-171918-1 Mitcham Samuel Jr. Defenders of Fortress Europe: The Untold Story of the German Officers During the Allied Invasion Potomac Books Inc. 2009a 978-1597972741 Sandler Stanley Ground Warfare: An International Encyclopedia, Bind 1 ABC-Clio 2002 978-1576073445 Snyder Louis Encyclopedia of the Third Reich 1994 1976 Da Capo Press 978-1-56924-917-8 Turney Alfred W. Disaster at Moscow: von Bock's Campaigns 1941–42 Cassell & Co 1971 0-826-3-01-673 Tague James E. The Last Field Marshal Author Solutions 2011 978-145-683-185-1 Williamson Gordon German Commanders of World War II Osprey Publishing 2006 1-84176-597-X Weinberg Gerhard Gerhard Weinberg The Foreign Policy of Hitler's Germany Diplomatic Revolution in Europe 1933–36 University of Chicago 1970 978-0-226-88509-4 Field Marshal Ceremony Category:Military history of Germany during World War II Field Marshal Ceremony