Walter Warlimont (3 October 1894 – 9 October 1976) was a German
staff officer
A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military un ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. He served as deputy chief of the Operations Staff, one of departments in the
''Oberkommando der Wehrmacht'' (OKW), the Armed Forces High Command. Following the war, Warlimont was convicted in the
High Command Trial and sentenced to life imprisonment as a
war criminal. He was released in 1954.
World War I and inter-war years
Warlimont was born in
Osnabrück
Osnabrück (; wep, Ossenbrügge; archaic ''Osnaburg'') is a city in the German state of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the river Hase in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest. With a population ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. In June 1914, just before the start of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, he was commissioned as a
second lieutenant
Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank.
Australia
The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...
in the 10th Prussian Foot Artillery Regiment based in
Alsace
Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...
. During the war, he served as an artillery officer and battery commander in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
and later in
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
. In late 1918, he served in General
Ludwig Maercker
Georg Ludwig Rudolf Maercker (21 September 1865 in Baldenburg – 31 December 1924 in Dresden) was a German general of World War I.
Following the Armistice of 1918 that saw the end of fighting and of the Bolshevik revolution that led to the cre ...
's
Freikorps
(, "Free Corps" or "Volunteer Corps") were irregular German and other European military volunteer units, or paramilitary, that existed from the 18th to the early 20th centuries. They effectively fought as mercenary or private armies, regar ...
Jäger rifle corps.
In the inter-war years, Warlimont served in various military roles. In 1922, he served in the 6th Artillery Regiment and in 1927, as a captain, he was the second adjutant to General
Werner von Blomberg
Werner Eduard Fritz von Blomberg (2 September 1878 – 13 March 1946) was a German General Staff officer and the first Minister of War in Adolf Hitler's government. After serving on the Western Front in World War I, Blomberg was appointed chi ...
, chief of the
Truppenamt
The ''Truppenamt'' or was the cover organisation for the German General Staff from 1919 through until 1935 when the General Staff of the German Army (''Heer'') was re-created. This subterfuge was deemed necessary in order for Germany to be seen ...
, the covert German General Staff. In May 1929, Warlimont was attached to the
U.S. Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...
for a year to study American industrial mobilization theory during wartime. This led to his service between 1930 and 1933 as a major on the staff of the Industrial Mobilization Section of the German Defence Ministry. He became the Section's chief in 1935.
Between August and November 1936, following the outbreak of the
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...
, Warlimont served as the Reich War Minister (
OKH
The (; abbreviated OKH) was the high command of the Army of Nazi Germany. It was founded in 1935 as part of Adolf Hitler's rearmament of Germany. OKH was ''de facto'' the most important unit within the German war planning until the defeat at ...
General Staff)'s
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...
Plenipotentiary
A ''plenipotentiary'' (from the Latin ''plenus'' "full" and ''potens'' "powerful") is a diplomat who has full powers—authorization to sign a treaty or convention on behalf of his or her sovereign. When used as a noun more generally, the word ...
Delegate to the government of Spanish General
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War ...
in
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
. Reich War Minister
Werner von Blomberg
Werner Eduard Fritz von Blomberg (2 September 1878 – 13 March 1946) was a German General Staff officer and the first Minister of War in Adolf Hitler's government. After serving on the Western Front in World War I, Blomberg was appointed chi ...
directed Warlimont to coordinate German aid in support of Franco's battle against the Spanish government forces.
In 1937, he wrote the ''Warlimont Memorandum'' calling for the reorganisation of the German armed forces under one staff unit and one supreme commander. The plan was to limit the power of the high officer caste in favour of
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
. On the basis of this memorandum, Hitler developed the ''
Oberkommando der Wehrmacht'' (High command of the armed forces), with Hitler as supreme commander. Warlimont was rewarded in 1939 with a post as deputy to General
Alfred Jodl
Alfred Josef Ferdinand Jodl (; 10 May 1890 – 16 October 1946) was a German ''Generaloberst'' who served as the chief of the Operations Staff of the '' Oberkommando der Wehrmacht'' – the German Armed Forces High Command – throughout World ...
. In 1938 he was promoted to colonel and became commander of the 26th Artillery Regiment.
World War II
In late 1938, Warlimont became Senior Operations Staff Officer to General
Wilhelm Keitel
Wilhelm Bodewin Johann Gustav Keitel (; 22 September 188216 October 1946) was a German field marshal and war criminal who held office as chief of the '' Oberkommando der Wehrmacht'' (OKW), the high command of Nazi Germany's Armed Forces, duri ...
. This was a coveted position, and so between September 1939 and September 1944 he served as Deputy Chief of the Operations Staff (''Wehrmachtführungsstab'': WFSt: Armed Forces Operations Staff). General Jodl was his superior officer, who served as Chief of the Operations Staff, which was responsible for all strategic, executive and war-operations planning.
While serving on this military operations planning staff, in early 1939 he assisted in developing some of the German military invasion plans of Poland. On 1 September 1939, German military forces invaded Poland, thereby starting World War II.
1940 saw his promotion to ''Generalmajor'', and he assisted in developing the invasion plans of France. During the
Battle of France
The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the Nazi Germany, German invasion of French Third Rep ...
, on June 14, 1940, Warlimont, in an audacious move, asked the pilot of his personal
Fieseler Storch
The Fieseler Fi 156 ''Storch'' (, "stork") was a German liaison aircraft built by Fieseler before and during World War II. Production continued in other countries into the 1950s for the private market. It was notable for its excellent short fiel ...
to land on the
Place de la Concorde
The Place de la Concorde () is one of the major public squares in Paris, France. Measuring in area, it is the largest square in the French capital. It is located in the city's eighth arrondissement, at the eastern end of the Champs-Élysées.
...
in central Paris. In 1941, he continued to assist in developing invasion operations into Russia. This earned his promotion to ''Generalleutnant'' in 1942.
His meteoric advancement in rank almost sputtered out on 3 November 1942 when he was relieved of his job after a junior subordinate failed to process a message from Field Marshal
Erwin Rommel
Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel () (15 November 1891 – 14 October 1944) was a German field marshal during World War II. Popularly known as the Desert Fox (, ), he served in the ''Wehrmacht'' (armed forces) of Nazi Germany, as well as servi ...
sufficiently promptly. However, only five days later he was recalled to duty to visit the French
Vichy Government
Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its terr ...
in France to coordinate the defense of their colonial territories from possible occupation by the Allies.
In February 1943, Warlimont travelled to
Tunis
''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois
, population_note =
, population_urban =
, population_metro = 2658816
, population_density_km2 =
, timezone1 = CET
, utc_offset1 ...
to confer with
Rommel
Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel () (15 November 1891 – 14 October 1944) was a German field marshal during World War II. Popularly known as the Desert Fox (, ), he served in the ''Wehrmacht'' (armed forces) of Nazi Germany, as well as servi ...
as to whether or not the Germans should abandon
North Africa
North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...
.
In early 1944, Warlimont was promoted to ''
General der Artillerie
General der Artillerie ( en: General of the artillery) may mean:
1. A rank of three-star general, comparable to modern armed forces OF-8 grade, in the Imperial German Army and its contingency armies of Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony and Württemberg. ...
''. As Deputy Chief of the Armed Forces Operations Staff, he continued to give almost daily briefings to Hitler regarding the status of German military operations.
On
D-Day
The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...
, when the Allies invaded
Normandy
Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...
, France, Warlimont telephoned Jodl to request that the German tanks in Normandy should be released to attack the Allied invaders. Jodl responded that he did not want to make that decision; they would have to wait until Hitler awoke. Once Hitler awoke and authorised the release of the tanks for a counter-attack, it was too late to blunt the successful Allied invasion. The following day, Hitler sent Warlimont to inspect the German defences in
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
.
On 20 July 1944, Warlimont was wounded during the
assassination bombing against Hitler in a war-briefing building in
Rastenburg. He suffered a mild head concussion. Later in the day, he telephoned Field Marshal
Günther von Kluge
Günther Adolf Ferdinand von Kluge (30 October 1882 – 19 August 1944) was a German field marshal during World War II who held commands on both the Eastern and Western Fronts. He commanded the 4th Army of the Wehrmacht during the invasion o ...
and convinced him that Hitler was alive; this prompted Kluge not to continue in the anti-Hitler coup. Even though Warlimont was wounded alongside Hitler, he was wrongly suspected of having been involved in the anti-Hitler conspiracy. In spite of this, he belatedly received the special
20th of July Wound Badge, which was awarded only to those few wounded or killed in the 20 July explosion.
On 22 July, Warlimont travelled to France to meet with Field Marshal Rommel (who had been wounded a week earlier by an Allied aeroplane attack), and Rommel's naval aide Vice Admiral
Friedrich Ruge
Friedrich Oskar Ruge (24 December 1894 – 3 July 1985) was an officer in the German Navy and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross of Nazi Germany. He served as the first commander (Inspector of the Navy) of the post-war German Navy ...
, to discuss the deteriorating battlefield situation in Normandy.
Even though Hitler (in
Wolfsschanze
The ''Wolf's Lair'' (german: Wolfsschanze; pl, Wilczy Szaniec) served as Adolf Hitler's first Eastern Front military headquarters in World War II.
The headquarters was located in the Masurian woods, near the small village of Görlitz in Ostp ...
) ordered Warlimont to travel to Paris on 1 August to study the German military situation there with Field Marshal von Kluge, Hitler thought that Warlimont might have been involved in the conspiracy to have him assassinated (an action which Warlimont denied). On 2 August, Warlimont met outside Paris with General
Günther Blumentritt
Günther Blumentritt (10 February 1892 – 12 October 1967) was an officer in World War I, who became a Staff Officer under the Weimar Republic and went on to serve as a general for Nazi Germany during World War II. He served throughout the war, ...
and advised him that Hitler wanted the Germans to regain the offensive initiative against the Allies through
Operation Lüttich
Operation Lüttich (7–13 August 1944) was the codename of the Nazi German counter-attack during the Battle of Normandy, which occurred near U.S. positions near Mortain, in northwestern France. ''Lüttich'' is the German name for the city of Liè ...
. Later, Warlimont urged General
Heinrich Eberbach
Heinrich Eberbach (24 November 1895 – 13 July 1992) was a German general during World War II who commanded the 5th Panzer Army during the Allied invasion of Normandy. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves o ...
to continue his attacks in the
Falaise pocket region. Although all the German generals informed Warlimont that they believed the attack would fail, he cabled Hitler that the generals were "confident of success".
At Warlimont's request, due to his dizzy spells resulting from the 20 July assassination bombing against Hitler, he was transferred and retired to the OKH Command Pool (the ''
Führerreserve
The (“Leaders Reserve” or "Reserve for Leaders") was set up in the German Armed Forces during World War II in 1939 as a pool of temporarily unoccupied high-ranking military officers awaiting new assignments. The various military branches and ...
''), and was not further employed during the war.
Trial and conviction
![Walter-Warlimont](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/Walter-Warlimont.jpg)
In October 1948, Warlimont was tried before a United States military tribunal in the
High Command Trial, part of the
Subsequent Nuremberg Trials
The subsequent Nuremberg trials were a series of 12 military tribunals for war crimes against members of the leadership of Nazi Germany between December 1946 and April 1949. They followed the first and best-known Nuremberg trial before the Int ...
. He was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment, in part for his responsibility for drafting the
Barbarossa Jurisdiction Order which allowed the murder of civilians on the pretext of counteracting partisan activity. He also signed the
order to execute Russian political Commissars on sight.
His sentence was reviewed by the "
Peck Panel
David W. Peck (December 3, 1902 – August 23, 1990) was an American jurist. From 1947 to 1957, he was Presiding Justice of the Appellate Division, First Department in New York, and in that time took a leading role in the reform of judiciary of ...
", which made a more lenient recommendation. This leniency was heavily criticized by
Robert R. Bowie who stated: "they
Hermann_Reinecke">Reinecke,_ Hermann_Reinecke">Reinecke,_Georg_von_Kuechler">Kuechler_and_Warlimont.html" ;"title="Georg_von_Kuechler.html" ;"title="Hermann_Reinecke.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Hermann Reinecke">Reinecke, Georg von Kuechler">Kuechler and Warlimont">Georg_von_Kuechler.html" ;"title="Hermann_Reinecke.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Hermann Reinecke">Reinecke, Georg von Kuechler">Kuechler and Warlimontwere all directly implicated in the program which encompassed the murder of commandos, commissars and captured allied airmen as well as in brutal mistreatment of prisoners of war". His sentence was commuted to 18 years in 1951. He was released in June 1954.
Personal life
Walter Warlimont was a son of Louis Warlimont (1857-1923) and Anna Rinck (1860-1931). His parents came from Eupen, today part of the German-speaking Community of Belgium, and migrated to Osnabrück. His father was a bookselling, bookseller and antiquarian.
In 1927 Walter Warlimont married Anita von Kleydorff (1899–1987), daughter of Franz Egenieff
Franz Egenieff (born Marian Eberhard Franz Emil von Kleydorff; 31 May 1874 – 11 June 1949) was a German opera singer and actor.
Egenieff was born in Niederwalluf, Walluf, Hesse, Germany and died at age 75 in Tegernsee, Bavaria, Germany. He was ...
or Marian Eberhard Franz Emil von Kleydorff, a son of Prince Emil zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg
Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg was one of several imperial counties and later principalities ruled by the House of Sayn-Wittgenstein.
Most of the former county is located in the present district of Siegen-Wittgenstein (in the modern state of North ...
and US-born Paula Busch, a niece of Adolphus Busch
Adolphus Busch (10 July 1839 – 10 October 1913) was the German-born co-founder of Anheuser-Busch with his father-in-law, Eberhard Anheuser. He introduced numerous innovations, building the success of the company in the late 19th and early 20 ...
.
In 1962, Warlimont wrote ''Inside Hitler's Headquarters 1939–1945''. He died in 1976 in Kreuth
Kreuth is a municipality and a village in the district of Miesbach in Bavaria in Germany.
Schloss Ringberg
During the days of Bavarian monarchy, the castle Ringberg was owned by the dukes of Bavaria. It was donated to the Max Planck Society in 19 ...
near the Tegernsee
Tegernsee is a town in the Miesbach district of Bavaria, Germany. It is located on the shore of Lake Tegernsee, which is 747 m (2,451 ft) above sea level. A spa town, it is surrounded by an alpine landscape of Upper Bavaria, and has an e ...
.
See also
*Commando Order
The Commando Order () was issued by the OKW, the high command of the German armed forces, on 18 October 1942. This order stated that all Allies of World War II, Allied commandos captured in Europe and Africa should be summary execution, summarily ...
*Commissar Order
The Commissar Order (german: Kommissarbefehl) was an order issued by the German High Command (Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, OKW) on 6 June 1941 before Operation Barbarossa. Its official name was Guidelines for the Treatment of Political Commissars ...
References
* ''Hitler's Generals: Authoritative Portraits of the Men Who Waged Hitler's War'', edited by Correlli Barnett
Correlli Douglas Barnett CBE FRHistS FRSL FRSA (28 June 1927 – 10 July 2022) was an English military historian, who also wrote works of economic history, particularly on the United Kingdom's post-war "industrial decline".
Early life
Barnett ...
.
*
* "The Decision in the Mediterranean 1942" by Gen. W. Warlimont in ''The Decisive Battles of WWII: The German View'', edited by H. A. Jacobsen (1965).
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Warlimont, Walter
1894 births
1976 deaths
German Army personnel of World War I
German people convicted of crimes against humanity
German people of the Spanish Civil War
German prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment
People convicted by the United States Nuremberg Military Tribunals
Military personnel from Osnabrück
People from the Province of Hanover
Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by the United States military
Prussian Army personnel
Recipients of the Order of Michael the Brave
German Army officers of World War II
Generals of Artillery (Wehrmacht)
Recipients of the Knights Cross of the War Merit Cross
Reichswehr personnel
20th-century Freikorps personnel