Home > Erwin von Witzleben

He served as a junior officer in the First World War, and won the Iron Cross. Erwin von Witzleben was forced into early retirement after he critized Adolf Hitler's persecution of Werner von Fisch , and the Night of the Long Knives.

At the start of the Second World War he was recalled, and placed in charge of the German First Army , which tasked with invading France in May 1940. He then became a Field Marshal. In 1942, after Operation Barbarossa, he was again critical of the government, and was retired again. In 1944 he was arrested for involvement in Claus von StauffenbergCount Claus Philip Maria Schenk von Stauffenberg ( November 15, 1907 — July 20, 1944) was a German aristocrat and army colonel during World War II. He was one of the leading figures of the July 20 Plot against Adolf Hitler. Military career Stauffenberg wa's plot to kill Hitler, and was executed on August 8.