Since speaking of birth, let's say that the brauchitsch family belongs to Ned Schlesian's old aristocracy. According to available historical records, this family existed in Bom, Poland in the middle of13rd century. However, due to the mixed languages in this area at that time, there were many variants of the name Brauchitsch, such as Bruchacz, Bruchuits, Brauchits, Prachwitz, Brauchschicsz and so on.
124 1 On April 9th, the brauchitsch family officially moved from German territory to Polish territory. At that time, their settlement was named Brauchitschdorf, 1259 on February 7th, that is, Brauchischvillage, just like our Li Jiacun and Zhangjiatun, but the king at that time was named more formally.
However, due to the decline of his family and repeated setbacks in aristocratic competition, his family's territory was recovered in 1636. By the end of 17, the family itself had fallen apart and gone their separate ways. Walter is the sixth of seven children in the family. His father is bernhard, a cavalry general of the Royal Army, and his mother is geb. Von Gordon). Although there are still many soldiers at home, since my grandfather Adolf's generation, many relatives are regular jurists or lawyers. Among them, the most painful and unfair thing for the whole family is that the old seven Max1886-1918 died in the front on the eve of the end of World War I.
Next, let's talk about brauchitsch's youth education. When I went to school, I just caught up with the experimental stage of 1877 Prussian army reform, so Little Walter studied one year earlier than others. He went to Voranstalten when he was 14 years old, and then he was successfully admitted to Gross-Lichtfeld, the general school in Berlin. What's more, our young Walter's school, Grossridgefield, was the top military school in the world at that time. This school has also produced many famous generals, including guderian, Ron Stedt and Branberg. This school enrolls 15-year-old boys, most of whom come from aristocratic families, with a four-year schooling. Students who go in have to go through all kinds of hard tests and layers of screening to exercise their perseverance and loyalty, and only 20% are left when they graduate. Little Walter is one of these graduates.
At that time, 17-year-old Walter passed the alternate officer exam with the excellent result of Grosley-Hearfield. In April of the same year 1, he was selected as Selekta (the name of each elite class in the school). Let me explain a little here that this selleck Tower is not accessible to ordinary people. Not only are there no non-noble members, but the requirements for academic performance and military training are super high. Therefore, about 60 to 80 people are selected for each session, and only about 40 people can persist in graduation. In Walter's class, 47 young officers graduated smoothly, and he is one of them.
In addition, all students from the elite of Selekata can be sent to the palace as royal attendants or private guards. Our Walter also served as Queen Victoria's personal attendant and had many contacts with the violent German emperor William II. In a football match on the court, Blauchitz, as a defender, raised his foot to clear the way. As a result, he kicked William II in the stomach, so he got two big slaps! (William II, he is nothing but tyrannical violence. What makes people angry is the scum of the Hohensolen family. It is unforgivable to hit a child. I love Walter very much. Being a bodyguard is not easy. He put up with it when he was a child. Of course, it didn't really affect anything, but it made Walter hate him all his life. To be sure, he is definitely not a royalist. Next, let's briefly talk about an important turning point in Walter's military career.
After graduating from the military school, he was assigned to the second lieutenant of the musket regiment of Queen Elizabeth's third bodyguard. Because their team is marked with a crown, everyone calls them crowned donkeys.
This unit is an infantry regiment. Walter fell behind in the second long journey, because his feet were flat, so he couldn't take part in this kind of operation. I can't help it. He was transferred to the artillery. It plays a major role in the development of 88 mm caliber artillery as anti-tank weapon and air defense weapon, and even becomes an artillery general. From a simple infantry officer to an artillery, Walter was completely self-taught. After struggling for four months, his superior commented: We have to admit that Blacic fully meets the requirements of being an artillery officer, so we suggest staying on. 1906, blauchic became the adjutant of the artillery battalion. 1909 served as adjutant of the 3rd Guards Field Artillery Corps in April, and was promoted to lieutenant six months later. 191kloc-0/0 In February, Blaucci, who was studying in the military academy, married Elizabeth von Casterd, who was born in a famous family. 19 12, brauchitsch graduated from the Military Academy and was assigned to the German General Staff. The following year, he was promoted to captain.
19 14 when the first world war broke out, as a staff officer of the German General Staff, Blauch had been doing his duty in the western front throughout the war. During World War I, Walter had only three months of continuous command experience in the front line, and most of the time he participated in staff planning at the headquarters. However, this does not mean that he has no combat experience. On the contrary, in many cases, he personally went to the front line to convey orders or on behalf of the General Staff to inspect the situation on the spot. 19 18 After the defeat of Germany, Blacic was promoted to major and won the hohenzollern Medal, which was naturally accepted by the German army with a population of 65,438+one million.
Blaucci is smart, quick-witted and cool-headed. Anyone who has had close friends with him admires him How important his work is, or how much his superiors attach importance to his ability, we can easily see from a very simple example: 19 19, when everyone was worried about whether he could stay in the army, Walter was promoted to major at the beginning of this year and officially became a general staff officer at the school level.
Like many middle-ranking officers at that time, he always stopped at this rank. But unlike others, he has been working at the army headquarters in Berlin.
1925 sheng is in charge of the military intelligence supervision bureau.
1927, he took over Wehrkreis VI Muenster, the German Fourth Military Region. His successor was keitel keitel, who later took charge of OKW.
Brauchitsch and keitel are not necessarily friends, but they can be said to be younger generations who respect each other. Why do you want to mention such a sentence here? Mainly because keitel also commented on Blaucci in his autobiography. At the same time, in the contradiction between the commander-in-chief of the army and the head of state, only keitel can handle it in Blauchitz, so they have a good relationship.
1928, brauchitsch was promoted to colonel, and was transferred back to the army headquarters to take charge of the T4 Army Construction Bureau.
1931September, he visited the then military partner, the Soviet union, together with paulus and Hadeler. Because the German tanks were all developed by the Soviet Union at that time, brauchitsch was promoted to the rank of general at least one month after he returned to China. The Soviet Union's visit more or less influenced his later idea of supporting guderian.
193 1 At the end of the year, brauchitsch became the director of the army artillery. It should also be mentioned here that from 1936 to 1939, that is, at the beginning of World War II, there were a large group of artillery representatives at the top of the German army. Walter doesn't really count, because he was transferred from the third infantry regiment to the artillery regiment because he couldn't walk fast with his feet flat.
1935, brauchitsch became the commander-in-chief of the East Prussia Military Region, the most important first military region in German military circles. It should also be emphasized that the East Prussia Military Region, which was isolated at that time, was the most vigilant area among the Germans. Moreover, this position has always been regarded as an important exercise place for the promotion of senior generals, so the intention of those who come over after the military upper-level training is quite obvious. His three divisions are among the best. 1. Instrburg branch, 1 1. Allen Stein, 2 1. Tissue elbow.
In addition, Koch Koch, the regional leader of the Nazi Party in East Prussia at that time, repeatedly challenged to take over the task of "protecting" the region, but no one expected that brauchitsch, who had just taken office at that time, had no face at all. To give a concrete example: at that time, brauchitsch refused to invite the activities of party figures in any public places in the local area; And when the stormtroopers and the SS asked for arms, they didn't give them any money. Because of this boycott, brauchitsch was even accused to the top of the army, and even the Fuehrer knew it.
Perhaps to reward his resistance, or to get rid of him intentionally, brauchitsch was transferred to the Leipzig Military Region, which was in charge of establishing armored forces at that time, and served as the commander at 1937.
In the so-called crisis between Bloomberg and Fletcher, that is, the battle for the commander-in-chief of the army, Blauch won the championship as a dark horse. This history is described in detail in keitel's autobiography, and the specific process is still true after reference, so I won't comment in detail.
However, it is precisely because1938,65438+Blacic did not report that any senior leaders came to Berlin by train from Leipzig on June 29th, and after keitel personally received a meeting with Hitler from the Chancellery, almost all the soldiers thought that Blacic had betrayed the German army and got this position, but this was obviously not the case.
Clarification on betraying the German army
In the process of selecting the next army commander-in-chief, Hitler's original words were as follows: Reich Nau is too politicized to be accommodating. Brauchitsch fought many wars in East Prussia and Koch, so he is not completely loyal politically, but he is definitely an expert in military affairs. Personally, I prefer Baker, which can be said to be Slifen's successor.
Opinions in the army are similar. For example, Rangstedt, a veteran of the German army at that time, said to Lao Xi: Reich Nau had too many opposing voices in the army; Brauchitsch's ability is obvious, but he has almost no political experience; Personally, I prefer Admiral Polk.
So since brauchitsch is a dark horse, of course, everyone wants to know how he won. This problem may really have to be explained by Lao Xi himself, otherwise it is really hard to say. Hehe, I know many friends here must stand up and shout: he has received money, his divorce support and so on, anyway, he has been bought!
I thought so a year ago, but the problem is that I saw a special investigation and found that it really can't be so simple.
First of all, whose mouth does this theory of being bought come from? The first person to say this publicly should be the nephew of the wronged commander-in-chief Fritsch. 1940, he said this in a salon in Berlin: after brauchitsch took office, he didn't clean up the stolen goods framed by his predecessor first, and even became less courageous with the money given by others.
Although this nephew is also in the banking system, it is doubtful whether he has the ability and level to understand such a problem. And he didn't say what money it was and what it was used for, so this source is not very reliable.
Secondly, how much did brauchitsch collect?
Most of the stories are: Hitler gave about 250,000 Reich marks as a one-time aid when Blacic divorced, and at the same time paid his ex-wife 1, 200- 1, 500 RM as alimony subsidy every month. 1, there was a big reward after he was awarded the marshal in 1940.
Then we might as well find the receipt as usual.
/kloc-in the autumn of 0/940, the then Minister of Finance Ramo allocated a sum of money from the special plan small treasury managed by Lao Xi. All marshals received 4000 imperial marks at the same time, and they were all good, and all marshals received the same monthly allowance, which means no one is special. The only special possibility is brumberg, the former imperial defense minister. Although he is a "retired" marshal, his subsidy bonus is also on the list of later winners.
During Blaucci's divorce, his second wife Charlotte paid his ex-wife Elizabeth a divorce property worth 25,000 imperial marks. Among them, 5000 imperial marks are the deposits of two people in the same account, so they are directly separated. At the same time, Charlotte gave 5000 cash and 15000 Deutsche Mark securities. These are all harvested by the signature of the witnesses at the scene.
In other words, it may be the legendary 250,000 imperial marks, just the result of 25,000 marks with one more zero.
Let's talk about divorce allowance. At that time, according to the provisions of the marriage law, the marshal-level alimony was 700 imperial marks, but is there any legendary extra subsidy? This does exist! But instead of 1200- 1500 marks, it is 800 marks, and the transfer is made to 1 945 May1with the receipt.
To sum up, the answer is yes, regardless of whether brauchitsch has received financial assistance. However, it is far from the outside rumors. Isn't it a bit demeaning to accuse him of selling the German army to the Nazis with so little money?
In addition, when brauchitsch took office, Hitler asked to promote some loyal generals and middle-level officers (about 20) in the German army, but what was the result?
During the promotion of 1938, some posts that should have been replaced were still replaced, and almost all the important posts from 1939 to 1940 were occupied by military "old people" without exception, and no new faces were seen. In other words, this reason is not sufficient. The real reason may be difficult to explore so far.