Ernst Busch (officer)

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Field Marshal General Ernst Busch (1940)

Ernst Wilhelm Bernhard Busch (born July 6, 1885 in Essen-Steele , Rhine Province ; † July 17, 1945 in Aldershot , Hampshire , United Kingdom ) was a German officer , most recently Field Marshal General in World War II . He was one of Hitler's most loyal supporters in the German generals and was jointly responsible for the collapse of Army Group Center during the Soviet summer offensive, Operation Bagration .

biography

Ernst Busch was the son of the director of the royal orphanage of the Fürstin-Franziska-Christine-Stiftung Essen-Steele, Wilhelm Ernst Busch. He began his military career at the age of twelve when he entered the Bensberg cadet institute in 1897 . In 1901 he moved to the Prussian main cadet institute in Groß-Lichterfelde , where he graduated from high school in 1904 and was then accepted into the Prussian army as an ensign . After his promotion he was transferred to the infantry regiment "Herwarth von Bittenfeld" (1st Westphalian) No. 13 to Münster in Westphalia . The following year he was promoted to lieutenant . In 1908 Busch was transferred to the Infantry Regiment "Duke Ferdinand von Braunschweig" (8th Westphalian) No. 57 in Wesel , where he served until 1913. On June 16, 1913, he was promoted to lieutenant and transferred to the Kassel War School , where he worked as an inspection officer.

First World War

With the outbreak of the First World War , Busch was transferred as a company commander to the infantry regiment "Vogel von Falckenstein" (7th Westphalian) No. 56 , with which he was deployed on the German western front for almost the entire First World War. He participated in the following battles:

In 1915 he was promoted to captain and in the course of 1916 he was deployed as battalion commander. Due to its military successes Busch in 1918 with the Order of le Mérite Pour excellent. He was wounded three times during the war. (May 21, 1915, March 10, 1917, October 23, 1917). On September 7, 1918 he took over a company of the regiment z. b. V. "von Möller", with whom he returned to the German Empire.

His status as a highly decorated veteran of the First World War later earned Busch great recognition from Adolf Hitler.

Weimar Republic

In the chaotic period after the Compiègne armistice, Busch, who had returned to the 56th Infantry Regiment in December 1918, remained in this unit until August of the following year. He then had various short-term assignments before he became company commander in the 18th Infantry Regiment with the formation of the 100,000-man army on October 1, 1920 . Then he came to the staff of the 6th Division in Munster . In 1924 he was transferred to the staff of Reichswehr Group Command I and promoted to major on April 1, 1925 . In October 1925 he became inspector of the transport troops in the Reichswehr Ministry . In 1928, Busch was transferred to the 2nd Division in Stettin , where he was assigned to the division staff as the first general staff officer (Ia).

On February 1, 1930, Busch was promoted to lieutenant colonel and was appointed battalion commander in the 9th Prussian Infantry Regiment . In 1932, Busch was finally commander of the regiment and on October 1, 1932, he was appointed colonel .

Busch was a supporter of National Socialism even before Adolf Hitler came to power.

time of the nationalsocialism

On September 1, 1935, Busch was appointed major general and commander of the 23rd Infantry Division . On October 1, 1937, he was promoted to lieutenant general . During the Blomberg-Fritsch crisis in late January and early February 1938, he was clearly on Hitler's side and was therefore promoted to general of the infantry that same month and deployed as commanding general of the VIII Army Corps and commander in military district VIII in Breslau . In the summer of 1938, at the general meeting on August 4, 1938, together with Walter von Reichenau, he turned against the chief of staff, Ludwig Beck , when he misrepresented Hitler's aggressive policy towards Czechoslovakia (→ Sudeten crisis ). In general, Busch, along with Walter von Reichenau, Wilhelm Keitel and Alfred Jodl, was one of the most loyal supporters of Hitler in the German generals and was in full agreement with the plans to attack Poland.

Busch was a critic of the armored troops developed by Heinz Guderian as an independent type of weapon, because although he recognized the possibilities of motorization, he insisted on the decisive role of the infantry and only allowed tanks to play a supporting role in battle. He combined this view with social Darwinist ideas. In a paper published by Busch in 1937, the battlefield should be the place where the selection should take place:

“The war of the future will be a total war , a war that will exploit the three dimensions - land, water, air - a people's war, with all political, scientific and psychological forces [... It goes without saying] that in Future wars without the participation of mechanized and motorized units and also without general use of the engine are unthinkable. [...] The zone of attack, in which the infantryman will bear the brunt of the battle in the war of the future, is at the same time the zone of victory or death. [...] Only combat natures, independent, decisive, tough and tough, can meet the demands placed on the infantryman. "

Second World War

During the attack on Poland , Busch captured Kraków with the VIII Army Corps and advanced as far as Lemberg (now Ukraine, Polish 1918–1939 ). He then received the supreme command of the newly established 16th Army . With this he was in the Western campaign on the left wing of the Army Group A used. On May 26, 1940, he was awarded the Knight's Cross for his leadership . On July 19, 1940, he was promoted to Colonel General . Until May 1941 Busch remained with the 16th Army in France.

Commander of the 16th Army in the German-Soviet War

With the beginning of the German-Soviet War , Busch's 16th Army was part of the southern wing of Army Group North . In the second week of August 1941, the 16th Army captured Staraya Russa south of Lake Ilmen , where they ran the risk of being surrounded by the Soviet 38th Army. That's why the LVI had to. Motorized Army Corps under the command of Erich von Manstein cancel its advance on Leningrad in order to crush the 38th Soviet Army.

During the Soviet winter offensive that began on January 8, 1942, five armies of the Soviet Northwest Front broke through the defensive positions of the 16th Army between Lake Seligersee and Lake Ilmen. In accordance with Adolf Hitler's instructions, Busch ordered his corps commanders to hold onto their positions, although this was practically impossible due to the unfavorable balance of forces in combination with the weather conditions at temperatures of -40 degrees. As a result of Busch's halt order, 5,500 German soldiers were trapped in the city of Cholm on January 28, 1942 (→ Battle of Cholm ) and the II Army Corps on February 8, 1942 in the Demyansk area (→ Kesselschlacht von Demyansk ). The connection to Army Group Center was completely lost and the 290th Infantry Division was almost completely wiped out near Demyansk. Busch was fortunate that, after their breakthrough, the Soviet units pushed forward in a southerly direction towards the rear of Army Group Center, where they were from XXXXI. German Army Corps under the command of Lieutenant General Walter Model .

Colonel-General Georg von Küchler was so dissatisfied with Busch's leadership performance that he and the Chief of Staff Franz Halder tried to get Hitler removed from his command. Here Busch again benefited from his unconditional loyalty to Hitler. Hitler settled the dispute and, deprived of his independent command, Busch was able to remain in command of the 16th Army.

The 16th Army was strengthened in the spring, so that in April 1942 the demyansk pocket could be relieved and in May 1942 the crew of Kholm was also freed from the Soviet embrace. From the summer of 1942 until January 1944, the Soviet attacks concentrated on the 18th Army further north, which maintained the Leningrad blockade (→ First Ladoga Battle , → Second Ladoga Battle , → Third Ladoga Battle ). Busch's army concentrated on defensive battles near Demyansk and Staraya Russa, so that the colonel general did not have to cope with a critical situation for the time being. Despite his mediocre performance as commander of the 16th Army, he was promoted as a favorite of Adolf Hitler on February 1, 1943 together with Ewald von Kleist and Maximilian von Weichs to field marshal . In August 1943, Busch received the oak leaves for the Knight's Cross.

After the commander-in-chief of Army Group Center Günther von Kluge was seriously injured in a car accident on October 12, 1943, Hitler gave Busch command of the Army Group.

Commander of Army Group Center

The tasks of an Army Group Commander overwhelmed Busch. He hadn't really proven himself and was aware of it. He tended to rely on Hitler's assessments of the situation. In Busch's opinion, Hitler's instructions had to be followed. According to the US-American historian Earl Ziemke , the headquarters of Army Group Center under Busch became an "unimaginative tool that merely passed on orders from the Führer."

Busch was subordinate to Colonel General Georg-Hans Reinhardt (3rd Panzer Army), Colonel General Gotthard Heinrici ( 4th Army ) and Colonel General Walter Weiß ( 2nd Army ) experienced commanders. Therefore, in the winter of 1943/44 it was possible to essentially hold the positions of Army Group Center. Only the loss of the Newel railway junction was a more serious setback. But in comparison to the territorial losses of the other two German Army Groups, the withdrawal of Army Group Center was minimal. During the so-called taxiway battles near Vitebsk and Orsha, which lasted from January 1944 to March 1944, the front of Army Group Center could be held. Busch contributed little to this success, which was intensely exploited by the Nazi propaganda in the spring of 1944.

Due to misinformation from the Foreign Army East Department , Busch allowed his army group to be stripped of almost all mobile and armored units with the exception of the 20th Panzer Division in the spring of 1944 . His subordinate army commanders were aware of the untenability of the promontory occupied by the army group; therefore they tried several times to persuade Busch to obtain a retreat permit from Hitler. At first Busch gave in and had a chordal position erected on his own initiative, which considerably shortened the front line of the army group. When he tried to get a withdrawal permit from Hitler at a meeting on May 20, 1944, the latter asked whether Busch was now also one of the generals “who look backwards.” Deeply struck, Busch refrained from his plans to withdraw and continued despite them energetic protests from his army commanders. Instead, the “ fixed places ” defined by Hitler in Vitebsk, Orsha, Mogilew and Bobruisk were further fortified.

Army Group Center was unable to cope with the Soviet summer offensive , which was conducted with far superior forces and which began on the third anniversary of the German attack on June 22, 1944, and the front line was torn up on the second day of the offensive. The rigid defense tactics of the "fixed places" prescribed by Hitler did not correspond to the asymmetrical balance of power between the German and Soviet armed forces. Busch gave the OKH only incomplete information about the actual situation of the Army Group and initially prohibited any retreat movements. It was not until June 26 that he flew to Hitler's Obersalzberg to obtain approval for a more flexible warfare. Hitler refused Busch's requests again, but understood for the first time that the Army Group was heading for a catastrophe.

From June 27th, Busch no longer had any overview of the actual situation; on the morning of June 28th, 1944, he again asked the OKH by telephone to release the "permanent positions" Bobruisk and Mogilew. In both places, however, the destruction of large corps units was already inevitable. Busch was dismissed as Commander in Chief and replaced on the evening of June 28 by Field Marshal Walter Model . He felt this dismissal as a personal offense, as he had always faithfully followed Adolf Hitler's orders. Busch therefore left his post on June 29th without instructing Model on the current situation, which he was only vaguely aware of. Because of his dependent actions, he was largely responsible for the collapse of Army Group Center.

Final phase of the Third Reich

After this defeat, Busch's military career seemed to be over. He withdrew to Silesia and later to Ostbevern . Now his loyalty to Hitler saved him from a possible court martial. Regardless of this, the catastrophic demise of Army Group Center, which he contributed to, gnawed at his psyche. In July 1944, he was described as broken and depressed. Rumors soon began circulating that he had committed suicide. On the advice of Colonel General Guderian, who had been appointed Chief of the Army General Staff after the assassination attempt on July 20, 1944 , Hitler Busch gave the funeral speech for General of the Infantry Rudolf Schmundt , who died as a result of the assassination on October 1, 1944 .

In March 1945, Busch took over Army Group H as Commander-in-Chief, which was renamed Army Group Northwest shortly afterwards. As the successor to Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz , who was promoted to “Head of State” and Commander-in-Chief of the Wehrmacht after Hitler's death , Busch was still “Commander-in-Chief North” (i.e. commander of all remaining troops in northern Germany) in the last days of the war. At the beginning of May 1945, Busch's headquarters were near Flensburg in Kollerup , about ten kilometers from Flensburg - Mürwik , where the last Reich government under Karl Dönitz had settled. After the partial capitulation in the northwest , which was signed on May 4th by General Admiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg , after authorization by Dönitz, to the British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery in the Lüneburg Heath , Busch also surrendered to the Allies.

Captivity and death

His grave in the German military cemetery at Cannock Chase

After his capture on May 23, 1945 Busch was after England brought and there in the camp Aldershot in the county of Hampshire interned. There he died as a broken man on July 17th of the same year of angina pectoris . He was buried without ceremony at the German war cemetery at Cannock Chase .

Awards (selection)

literature

Web links

Commons : Ernst Busch (Field Marshal)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hürter: Hitler's Heerführer , p. 622.
  2. ↑ a b c d Ueberschär: Hitler's military elite , p. 20.
  3. ↑ a b Hürter: Hitler's Heerführer , p. 342.
  4. ^ Hürter: Hitler's Heerführer , p. 623.
  5. ↑ Busch, Rolle der Infanterie , pp. 11–26.
  6. ↑ a b c Ueberschär: Hitler's military elite , p. 21.
  7. ^ Sven Felix Kellerhoff: Second World War: Hitler stopped the replacement of this incompetent general. In: welt.de . February 2, 2017. Retrieved February 24, 2017 .
  8. ↑ a b Ueberschär: Hitler's military elite , p. 22.
  9. ↑ David M. Glantz: The Failures of Historiography: Forgotten Battles of the German-Soviet War (1941-1945) , (accessed September 12, 2010).
  10. ↑ a b Görlitz: Model , pp. 177-181.
  11. ^ Hermann Gackenholz : On the collapse of Army Group Middle in the summer of 1944 . in: Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte 3/1955, pp. 317–333 (based on the war diary of Army Group Center written by Gackenholz from 1943 to 1945 ).
  12. ^ Ernst Klee: Das Personenlexikon zum Third Reich, Verlagsgruppe Weltbild GmbH, licensed edition, Augsburg, 2008, p. 87
  13. ↑ Heinz Jensen: The red "Wanderer" seats from Kollerup in: Yearbook of the Heimatverein der Landschaft fishing, Sörup 2017, page 171 f.
  14. ↑ Brett-Smith: Hitler's Generals, p. 197.
  15. ↑ Also on the following orders Johannes Hürter : Hitler's Army Leader. The German Supreme Commanders in the War against the Soviet Union 1941/42 , Oldenbourg, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-486-57982-6 , p. 623 (accessed from De Gruyter Online).
personal data
SURNAME Busch, Ernst
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Busch, Ernst Wilhelm Bernhard (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German officer, most recently Field Marshal General in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH July 6, 1885
PLACE OF BIRTH Steele at dinner
DATE OF DEATH July 17, 1945
Place of death Aldershot , Nottinghamshire , England