Kleist, Ewald von

Coming from an aristocratic Prussian clan . He entered the military service in March 1900, as a fan-junker (candidate for officer) in the 3rd artillery regiment. In August 1901 he was promoted to lieutenant. Since 1904 - adjutant of the battalion. In the years 1910-13 (lieutenant) he studied at the military academy. From December 1911 to March 1914 he served in the 10th hussar regiment. He was promoted to captain , appointed squadron commander of the 1st Hussar Regiment.

From August 1914 to October 1915 he commanded a reserve battalion of the 1st Hussar Regiment (the "Black Hussars"). He took part in the battle of Tannenberg . In October 1914 he was awarded the Iron Cross of the 2nd class, in January 1915 - the 1st class.

Since October 1915, at headquarters posts of the division and corps level. Since August 1917 - chief of the operational department of the headquarters of the Guards Cavalry Division, then in the same position in 1918 in the 225th Infantry Division, from September 1918 - beginning. operas. Headquarters Division of the 7th Army Corps. He was awarded three more German orders.

In 1919, a member of the freikor . As part of the Iron Division, he takes part in battles in Estonia and Latvia, first against the Communists, then against the armies of these countries. Commander of the German forces during the Battle of Cesis.

After the war, Captain Kleist continued to serve in the Reichswehr on staff and command posts. Since October 1929 - Colonel. In 1931 - commander of the 9th Infantry Regiment, in 1932-1933 he commanded the 2nd Cavalry Division (major general, from October 1933 - lieutenant general). In 1933-1935, at the headquarters and command posts of the 8th Military District (Breslau). In 1935-1938, the commander of the 8th Military District and the 8th Army Corps . In August 1936 he received the rank of cavalry general.

In February 1938, he was dismissed due to disagreements with the Nazi leadership. He was again called up for service in August 1939 and was appointed commander of the 22nd Army Corps (motorized) .

At the head of the corps took part in the invasion of Poland . Awarded the Iron Crosses (rewarding).

During the French campaign, he commanded the Kleist tank group , which included five of the ten tank divisions that Germany had. Thus, Kleist actually became the commander of the first tank army in history.

In accordance with Manstein’s plan, Kleist’s tank group overcame the impassable Ardennes mountains , broke through the front on the river. Maas and, after a quick roundabout maneuver, pressed the Anglo-French troops to the sea in the Dunkirk area. Only Hitler's order to suspend the offensive (the so-called " stop order ") prevented a complete rout and allowed the British to evacuate their units across the English Channel . In total , about 200 thousand British and 100 thousand French soldiers and officers were evacuated .

Kleist was awarded the Knight's Cross (No. 15) and promoted to colonel general .

In April 1941, the Kleist tank group was sent to Yugoslavia and Greece .

Uman and Kiev

In the initial period of the invasion of the USSR , the 1st Panzer Group was included in Army Group South and advanced north of Lviv towards Rivne . July 10, the group occupied Zhytomyr , located 150 km from Kiev . Then, turning south, Kleist joined forces with the 17th Army , encircling a large group of troops of the Southern and Southwestern Fronts of the Red Army in the Uman region (See. “ Battle of Uman ”).

In mid-August 1941, Kleist’s group took over the Dnieper in the Dnepropetrovsk region, creating a threat to Donbass . At the same time, units of the 17th Army crossed the Dnieper at Kremenchug . On September 10, Kleist took the Kremechug bridgehead near the 17th Army. The next morning, the 1st Panzer, having launched an offensive from the bridgehead, broke through the defenses of the Soviet 38th Army and launched an offensive to the north. This sudden breakthrough took the Soviet command by surprise. In the first 12 hours, Kleist’s tanks traveled 70 km, and near Romny , 200 km east of Kiev, joined the units of the 2nd tank group under the command of Guderian . Thus Kleist and Guderian made the largest encirclement in the history of wars: 5 Soviet armies appeared in a cauldron near Kiev . September 26, the battle ended. More than 600 thousand soldiers and officers of the Red Army were captured ^[1] .

Rostov-on-Don

After the capture of Kiev, the Kleist group (from that moment it became known as the 1st Panzer Army ) moved to Rostov - the main goal of its campaign in 1941. Forcing the Soviet units on the Dnieper to retreat to Zaporozhye , Kleist’s army advanced east and then turned south, entering the rear of the 18th Army of the Southern Front , which threatened the forces of the 11th Army of Manstein from the east. On October 5, parts of Kleist reached the Sea of ​​Azov near Berdyansk , thus encircling the main forces of the 18th Army, concentrated at c. Chernihivka . As a result of the battle that ended on October 10 , the 18th Army suffered heavy losses. About 100 thousand people were captured. The commander of the army, Lieutenant General A.K. Smirnov, died.

Kleist’s army continued eastward along the coast of the Sea of ​​Azov: on October 17, Taganrog was taken, and on October 28, the Germans reached the Mius River, the last water barrier in front of Rostov. The approaching autumn thaw and the depletion of fuel reserves forced Kleist to delay progress ^[2] .

The commander of the South group Gerd von Rundstedt believed that on the eve of the Russian winter the offensive should not be continued ^[3] , but Hitler insisted, and on November 17 Kleist’s tanks moved to Rostov.

However, on the same day, Soviet troops launched an offensive against the left flank of Kleist, starting the Rostov offensive operation under the command of Marshal S.K. Timoshenko . A few days later, Kleist’s tank corps broke the Soviet defenses and on the night of November 20, the 1st SS division burst into the city.

Rostov was not just a large city with a half million population, it opened the way to the Kuban , to the oil fields of the Caucasus and further to Transcaucasia and Iran . Therefore, one could expect attempts by the Red Army to return the city. The left flank of Kleist’s army was dangerously exposed, but assistance from the command, according to P. Carell, was not followed ^{[2] [4]} . However, the chief of the General Staff of the ground forces Franz Halder directly points out that 4 divisions were sent to help Kleist at once ^[5] In addition, because of the early frosts, ice had risen earlier than usual on the Don, and on November 25, Soviet troops attacked from the south, advancing along the ice of a frozen river. After a stubborn and bloody battle on November 28, German troops left the city.

Rundstedt requested Hitler's permission to withdraw troops for the winter to the natural line of defense on the river. Mius , but did not receive permission. However, Rundstedt gave the order to withdraw. On the same day Hitler removed him from command of the South group and appointed Walter von Reichenau as the new commander. However, upon arriving at the site, Reichenau confirmed the retreat order. Rostov remained Soviet until July 1942.

Kharkov

In May 1942, the 1st Panzer Army took part in repelling the Soviet offensive near Kharkov (Operation Fredericus).

Offensive in the Caucasus

After the fall of Kharkov , the 1st Panzer Army was included in the newly formed Army Group "A" (commander Field Marshal Liszt ). Kleist’s army covered the flank of the 17th army from the north during the latter’s offensive on Rostov . The city was taken on July 24th . Group A crossed the Don and launched an offensive in the Caucasus . (See Battle for the Caucasus )

In an effort to accelerate progress in the Transcaucasus, on September 9, Hitler removed Liszt and took command of Group A. However, having not achieved success, on November 21 transferred the command to Kleist. At the same time, the command of the 1st Panzer passed to General Mackensen . Thus, under the command of Kleist were the 1st Panzer Army and the 17th Army.

Kuban line

At the end of November 1942, Soviet troops completed the encirclement of the 6th Army near Stalingrad , which put Kleist's group in a difficult position. The main forces of Group A were located in the foothills of the North Caucasus . Thus, the units of the Red Army located in the Stalingrad region turned out to be much closer to Rostov-on-Don , through which the group’s only communication with the rest of the Eastern Front passed. It was necessary to leave the Caucasus quickly, but Hitler did not give an order to retreat until December 27.

To imagine the complexity of the task, you need to remember that at the time the retreat began, the advanced units of the 1st Tank Army were on the Terek River , 600 km from Rostov. On January 20, 1943, during the operation "Small Saturn" , units of the Red Army approached Rostov from the south to a distance of less than 50 km (see front position - winter map 1942-43 ), but were stopped by the reserve of the 4th Panzer Army of Manstein. Stubborn battles on the outskirts of Rostov lasted for three weeks. Parts of Manstein still managed to contain the onslaught of the Red Army, as a result of which the 1st tank crossed the Don and escaped encirclement.

The 17th Army left strongholds in the Caucasus and, under constant pressure from the Red Army (the 44th , 56th , 18th , 37th , 9th , 58th and 44th Soviet armies) occupied the line of defense on the Taman Peninsula ("Kuban Line"). The defense of the Kuban line continued until the end of August 1943, when the general offensive of the Red Army in Ukraine created a threat to the Crimean isthmuses. Further, it was impossible to delay retreat, and on September 3, 1943, Hitler ordered the withdrawal of troops from the Kuban. Evacuation continued until October 9th. Despite all the efforts of the Red Army to prevent this, 260 thousand soldiers, 70 thousand horses, all equipment, artillery and food supplies were transported to the Crimea through the Kerch Strait . It was necessary to leave only forage for horses ^[4] . The troops withdrawn from Taman were sent to defend the Perekop Isthmus.

On February 1, 1943, Kleist was promoted to the rank of Field Marshal.

After the assassination attempt on Hitler on July 20, 1944, the Gestapo was arrested. Kleist was accused of knowing the existence of the conspiracy and did not report it. However, he was then released. On April 25, 1945, he was arrested by American troops and taken to London, as a witness he was involved in the work of the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg.

In September 1946 he was transferred to Yugoslavia and in August 1948 he was sentenced by the Yugoslav people's court to 15 years of hard labor. In March 1949, transferred to the USSR. He was held in the MGB internal prison, Butyrskaya and Lefortovo prisons, and then in the Vladimir prison . On February 21, 1952, the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR sentenced him to 25 years in prison camps. According to the prisoner's record card, he died in prison from mitral valve insufficiency . Burial place at the old Prince Vladimir Cemetery, behind the prison wall.

• 2nd Class Iron Cross (October 4, 1914) ( Kingdom of Prussia )
• 1st Class Iron Cross (January 27, 1915)
• Order of Merit of the 4th class ( Kingdom of Bavaria )
• Hamburg Hanseatic Cross
• 3rd Class Military Merit Cross ( Austria-Hungary )
• Honorary Cross of the First World War 1914/1918 with swords (1934)
• Medal “For the length of service in the Wehrmacht” from 4th to 1st grade (October 2, 1936)
• Buckle to the Iron Cross 2nd class (September 17, 1939)
• Buckle to the Iron Cross 1st class (September 27, 1939)
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
  • Knight's Cross (No. 15) (May 15, 1940)
  • Oak Leaves (No. 72) (February 17, 1942)
  • Swords (No. 60) (March 30, 1944)
• Medal "For the Winter Campaign in the East 1941/42"
• Grand Cross of the Order of Merit with swords (May 13, 1941) ( Kingdom of Hungary )
• Order of Mihai the Brave ( Kingdom of Romania )
  • 3rd grade (July 6, 1942)
  • 2nd class (October 6, 1942)
  • 1st grade (October 6, 1942)
• Commander's Cross of the Savoy Military Order (July 30, 1942) ( Kingdom of Italy )
• Mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht (April 10, 1941, April 13, 1941, August 26, 1941, August 27, 1941, October 11, 1941, October 12, 1941, November 22, 1941, May 30, 1942, August 19, 1943 and October 9, 1943)

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• Биография Эвальда фон Клейста на сайте «Хронос»
• Досье на сайте «Axis Biographical Research» (англ.)
• Биография Эвальда фон Клейста на сайте www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de (нем.)
• Краткая биографическая справка на сайте немецкого исторического музея (нем.)
• Kleist, von, Paul Ludwig Ewald