The End

SPEER, ALBERT (1905–81): Reich Minister for Armaments and War Production; Reich Minister of Industry and Production in the Donitz government.

STUCKART, WILHELM (1902–53): SS-Obergruppenfuhrer; State Secretary in the Reich Ministry of the Interior; Reich Minister of the Interior in the Donitz government.

Provincial

GIESLER, PAUL (1895–1945): Gauleiter of Munich-Upper Bavaria.

GREISER, ARTHUR (1897–1946): Gauleiter of Reichsgau Wartheland.

GROHE, JOSEF (1902–88): Gauleiter of Cologne-Aachen.

HANKE, KARL (1903–45): Gauleiter of Lower Silesia.

HOFER, FRANZ (1902–75): Gauleiter of the Tyrol.

HOLZ, KARL (1895–1945): Gauleiter of Franconia.

KOCH, ERICH (1896–1986): Gauleiter of East Prussia.

RUCKDESCHEL, LUDWIG (1907–86): Gauleiter of Bayreuth, April–May 1945.

WACHTLER, FRITZ (1891–1945): Gauleiter of Bayreuth until April 1945.

WAHL, KARL (1892–1981): Gauleiter of Swabia.

MILITARY LEADERSHIP

BLASKOWITZ, JOHANNES, Colonel-General (1883–1948): Commander-in-Chief of Army Group G, May– September 1944, then December 1944–January 1945; Commander-in-Chief of Army Group H, January–April 1945.

DIETRICH, SEPP, SS-Oberstgruppenfuhrer and Colonel-General of the Waffen-SS (1892–1966): Commander of the 6th SS-Panzer Army, October 1944–May 1945.

DONITZ, KARL, Grand-Admiral (1891–1980): Commander-in-Chief of the Navy; Reich President following Hitler’s death.

GUDERIAN, HEINZ, Colonel-General (1888–1954): Chief of the Army General Staff, July 1944–March 1945

HARPE, JOSEF, Colonel-General (1887–1968): Commander-in-Chief of Army Group A, September 1944– January 1945; Commander of the 5th Panzer Army, March–April 1945.

HAUSSER, PAUL, SS-Oberstgruppenfuhrer and Colonel-General of the Waffen-SS (1880–1972): Commander- in-Chief of Army Group G, January–April 1945.

HEINRICI, GOTTHARD, Colonel-General (1886–1971): Commander of the 1st Panzer Army, August 1944– March 1945; Commander-in-Chief of Army Group Vistula, March–April 1945.

HO?BACH, FRIEDRICH, General (1894–1980): Commander of the 4th Army, July 1944–January 1945.

JODL, ALFRED, Colonel-General (1890–1946): Chief of the Wehrmacht Operations Staff in the High Command of the Wehrmacht.

KEITEL, WILHELM, Field-Marshal (1882–1946): head of the High Command of the Wehrmacht.

KESSELRING, ALBERT, Field-Marshal (1885–1960): Commander-in-Chief South to March 1945; Commander- in-Chief West, March–April 1945.

MANTEUFFEL, H1 VON, General of the Panzer Troops (1897–1978): Commander of the 5th Panzer Army, September 1944–March 1945; Commander of the 3rd Panzer Army, March–May 1945.

MODEL, WALTER, Field-Marshal (1891–1945): Commander-in-Chief Army Group Centre, June–August 1944; Commander-in-Chief West, August–September 1944; Commander-in-Chief of Army Group B, September 1944–April 1945.

REINHARDT, GEORG-HANS, Colonel-General (1887–1963): Commander-in-Chief Army Group Centre, August 1944–January 1945.

RENDULIC, LOTHAR, Colonel-General (1887–1971): Commander-in-Chief Army Group Courland, January 1945, March–April 1945; Commander-in-Chief Army Group North, January–March 1945; Commander-in-Chief Army Group South (renamed ‘Ostmark’ at end of April), April–May 1945.

RUNDSTEDT, GERD VON, Field-Marshal (1875–1953): Commander-in-Chief West, September 1944–March 1945.

SCHORNER, FERDINAND, Colonel-General, from 5 April 1945 Field-Marshal (1892–1973): Commander-in- Chief Army Group North, July 1944–January 1945; Commander-in-Chief Army Group Centre January–May 1945.

VIETINGHOFF-Scheel, HEINRICH VON, Colonel-General (1887–1952): Commander-in-Chief Army Group Courland, January–March 1945; Commander-in-Chief South, March–May 1945.

WOLFF, KARL, SS-Obergruppenfuhrer, General of the Waffen-SS (1900–84): from July 1944 Plenipotentiary General of the German Wehrmacht in Italy.

Illustrations

 

^{The ‘quadrumvirate’ of Nazi grandees: (above) Martin Bormann (left), Heinrich Himmler (right); (below) Joseph Goebbels (left), Albert Speer (right).}

 

^{Captured German prisoners near Falaise in early September 1944.}

^{German civilians leaving Aachen on 19 October 1944, two days before the city fell to the Americans.}

 

^{Military leaders: (above) Wilhelm Keitel (left), Alfred Jodl (right); (below) Heinz Guderian (left), Karl Donitz (right).}

 

^{The rural population digging a defensive trench near Tilsit in September 1944.}

^{Erich Koch, Gauleiter of East Prussia, inspects food provisions in his province, August 1944.}

^{German soldiers viewing corpses in Nemmersdorf (East Prussia) following Soviet atrocities during the Red Army’s incursion in October 1944.}

^{After initial successes, the Germans are forced to retreat during the Ardennes offensive in December 1944.}

 

^{Front commanders: (above) Walter Model (left), Georg-Hans Reinhardt (right); (below) Ferdinand Schorner (left), Gotthard Heinrici (right).}

 

^{Ill-equipped Volkssturm men on the eastern front in October 1944.}