Capt A A JILLANI explores the enigma of Battle of RUHR

The Riddle of the Ruhr Pocket-1945

An open letter to Brigadier HANSGEORG MODEL of the Bundeswehr

FIRST LETTER

My dear Brigadegeneral,

The Background

The military historians in their zest to idolize and glamorize the popular war heroes such as Rommel & Guderian have failed to depict certain other figures in their true colours. History has been rather unfair and unkind to the memory of your father Field-Marshal Walter Model who may be described as the most effective of all Hitler’s Generals and the dominating personality of the Wehrmacht during the second half of World War II. He was the real Warlord of the Russian front where he served continuously for more than three years in each and every sector with great distinction. He was given only the most difficult and dangerous assignments. There was a recognized pattern in the Wehrmacht from 1943 onwards that whenever and wherever there was a major crisis at Army Group level then Field-Marshal Walter Model invariably arrived on the scene to handle the situation. Within a brief span of one year he had on different occasions relieved four senior Army Group commanders (Field-Marshals) who had for one reason or the other fallen into disfavour. It was as commander of the 9th Army in Operation ‘BARBAROSSA’ that your father first attracted Hitler’s attention by his expertise in flexible defence tactics.

In October 1943 Army Group North was being threatened with encirclement in the Baltic area and Field-Marshal Walter Model was designated as the new Army Group commander to relieve the faltering Field-Marshal Georg Von Kuchler who was retired from service. Your father lost no time in gradually extricating the German forces from a dangerous predicament and he displayed remarkable skill in conducting a smooth withdrawal back to the Panther Line (the East Wall). By March 1944 Hitler had resolved to relieve/retire the brilliant Field-Marshal Erich Von Manstein who was commanding Army Group South in the North Ukraine and accordingly he was summoned to the Fuehrer’s Field HQ for the golden hand-shake. Hitler thanked him for his long services and awarded him the Swords and Oakleaves to the Knight’s Cross. Manstein recalls that while taking leave of Hitler for the last time he noticed Field-Marshal Walter Model waiting in the ante-room to receive his new appointment orders. The next day Model arrived on the scene to take over this Army Group in North Ukraine where he effectively succeeded in blunting the Russian advance to the Carpathian mountain passes. By June 1944 a major crisis was brewing at Army Group Centre due to one of Hitler’s ‘hold at all costs’ orders which was being faithfully implemented by the pro-Nazi Army Group commander Field-Marshal Ernst Busch. This resulted in the loss of more than 300,000 German troops at the battle of V1 TEBS K-MINSK which was the largest numerical defeat suffered by the Germans on the eastern front — a greater disaster than even STALINGRAD. The ever obedient Busch was made the scapegoat and retired in disgrace as Field-Marshal Walter Model was once again switched to take over this shattered Army Group. It is no exaggeration to say that there was more gap than front because the 4th & 9th Armies had been virtually annihilated. If Colonel-General Josef Sepp Dietrich was regarded as Hitler’s main offensive strike it was Field-Marshal Walter Model who had established himself as Hitler's main defensive shield. By August 1944 the great architect of the Russian campaign had created and stabilized a new eastern front for the Reich, but suddenly he was whisked away to tackle the greatest challenge of his career as the new commander of Army Group ‘B’ in the West. To sum up his character in a few words — he was energetic, innovative and courageous.

The Prelude

The first commander of this Army Group had been the flamboyant Field-Marshal Erwin Rommel who was knocked out of the war one month earlier due to grievous injuries sustained in enemy air action. His seasoned successor from the Russian front was the aristocratic Field-Marshal Hans von Kluge who was now deeply implicated in the July bomb plot. By this time the Allied invasion armies had broken out in strength at AVRANCHES and the jaws of the FALAISE-ARGENTAN gap were closing on the battered remnants of Army Group ‘B’. When Field-Marshal Walter Model arrived at LA ROCHE GUYON unannounced and unexpected with a personal letter of appointment from Hitler, the battle of NORMANDY was already lost and the Army Group HQ was infected with the anti-Hitler conspiracy. History should not absolve Field-Marshal Erwin Rommel of his responsibility for an inept role of the entirely battle fit German Panzer command. By converting part of it into mobile coastal pillboxes and having another part follow hesitatingly in penny-packets he wasted the concentrated force. After handing over command of the Army Group to your father the gallant and battle-scarred von Kluge (a one time trusted favourite of the Fuchrer) took his own life rather than face the wrath and disgrace of the People’s Court. Meanwhile, the energetic Model displayed his customary skill in mastering a critical situation, and within a few days he extricated the main German forces from the shrinking FALAISE pocket. Thereafter he organized a smooth withdrawal behind the Seine and subsequently back to the West Wall for the defence of the Reich Frontiers.

History has conveniently skipped over the fact that it was your father on the spot who so quickly masterminded and executed the great defensive triumph at ARNHEM whereby the British 1st Airborne Division was decimated and “the bridge too far” remained in German hands. This was Field-Marshal Walter Model’s last victory on the battlefield and a major disaster for the enemy forces. The brilliant counter-stroke in the Ardennes during December 1944 has been wrongly referred to by several historians as ‘Rundstedt’s Last Offensive’ which is a cruel distortion of the true facts. The aging and tired Field-Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt played no role in this major operation and he himself admitted that as C in C West the only authority vested in him was to change the sentries on guard duty at the gate of his HQ. It was Field-Marshal Walter Model who was in overall command of the 5th and 6th Panzer armies operating in the Ardennes offensive. Here was a superb example of the surprise element in warfare which completely unbalanced the Allied war strategy and thwarted any possibility of Montgomery’s boast that the war would be over by Xmas 1944. The thrust of Sepp Dietrich’s Panzer spearheads was blunted just short of the Meuse only due to the sheer weight in numbers and the superiority of the Allied war machinery. The unequal struggle petered out early in the New Year (1945) and the valiant Field-Marshal Walter Model fell back to the defences of the Siegfried Line licking his grievous wounds of 103,000 casualties in the Ardennes. If Colonel-General Josef Sepp Dietrich and earned the accolades as Hitler’s Gladiator then your father had fulfilled his role as Hitler’s Fireman.

The Ruhr Pocket

While Stalin’s hordes were ravaging the eastern territories of the Reich, it was on 1 April 1945 that Field-Marshal Walter Model’s Army Group ‘B’ was encircled inside the Ruhr pocket with all escape routes sealed. One of the great imponderable of World War II is the conduct of your father during the last campaign of his career. His final heroic stand for the Fatherland is clouded by several big question-marks which the military historians have failed to analyze. You and I know his style of operational command which was so consistently brilliant during his command of Army Groups North, Centre and South on the Russian front. He had already earned wide recognition as the master of flexible defence and he always displayed a remarkable knack of being able to scrape up reserves in emergency. Looking back to that period of his career it is evident that he did not conduct the battle of the Ruhr with his usual energy and skill. One gathers the impression that the dynamic Field-Marshal Walter Model seemed to be seized by a strange sense of apathy and an almost fatalistic attitude.

It is a great irony of Fate that Hitler’s Fireman himself in the end fell victim to one of Hitler’s fanatic OKW decrees to ‘hold the ground at all costs’ which Model had generally enforced during his long service on the Russian front. With 15 Divisions of the 5th Panzer Army and the 15th Army comprising just over 300,000 troops he was ordered to stand fast in the Ruhr and to hold every inch of ground. He did make one feeble attempt to have this ‘stand fast’ order relaxed by approaching his new C in C Field-Marshal Albert Kesselring who contended that he had no authority to revoke the Fuehrer’s directive. The indomitable Field-Marshal Walter Model — the seasoned veteran who had fought his way out of many a tight corner — was now finally trapped in his own backyard!

The Un-answered Questions

The news soon spread like wild-fire. The gallant and courageous hero of the Russian campaign was finally encircled in the Ruhr pocket to fight his last battle for defending the main industrial zone of the Reich. To this day there are some critical questions regarding his conduct of the operations which remain un-answered. I would request you, Brigadegeneral Sir, to throw some light on this aspect of his career which the military historians have failed to clarify.

(a)        Why did he locate his HQ on the extreme right wing of the battle area from where he could not effectively direct the left wing of his Army Group which was to face the main thrust of the enemy onslaught?

(b)        Why did he reject General von Zangen’s request to reinforce the Allied bridgeheads at REMAGEN bridgehead before the US 9th Army captured this valuable prize intact on 7 March 1945?

(c)        Why did he fail to launch prompt counter-attacks against the Allied bridgeheads at REMAGEN and WESSEL? Eventually his belated and half-hearted counter-attacks were not as powerful as they could have been.

(d)        There had been several occasions in RUSSIA when your father had ignored Hitler’s “stand fast” orders and his disobedience was subsequently condoned or overlooked. Although Hitler could not tolerate Manstein’s outspoken criticism yet he always swallowed the bitter pills of Model’s independent actions. Why then did your father not avail of his considerable personal influence with Hitler to have the “stand fast; orders rescinded in the Ruhr? He did not even make an effort inspite of the fact that Hitler generally yielded to him — if not to others.

(e)        Why did he issue orders for demobilizing/releasing the older men and the young boys thus depleting his dwindling strength? In BERLIN the recruitment of the Volksturm (young boys) to defend the Fatherland was then in full swing.

(f)         On several occasions during the battle for the Ruhr your father was up at the front lines deliberately exposing himself to enemy fire. One wonders whether he drew inspiration from his old Army C in C Colonel-General Werner von Fristsch who intentionally went up to the front lines in the 1939 POLAND campaign to be killed in action.

The Plausible Explanations

Whatever history may or may not say about Field-Marshal Walter Model it is reasonable to assume that according to his own lights he acted in the interests of his country, especially when his loyalty was beyond question. At the eleventh hour the supreme Warlord of the Russian front had been called upon to face the most challenging crisis of his career by holding the western frontiers of the crumbling Reich. Here in the Ruhr pocket this was not the same Field-Marshal Walter Model who had so devotedly and so energetically bounced from sector to sector all over the Russian front to repulse the enemy. One may speculate as to the reasons which numbed the will-power and sapped the vitality of this hardened warrior. That is why I am requesting you, Brigadegeneral Sir, to help me solve these puzzles so that the historical record may be set straight.

I have given considerable thought to your father’s predicament during the closing days of his life inside the Ruhr pocket, and even thought the military historians have failed to offer any satisfactory explanations yet I would venture to from my own conclusions which exonerate your father from any lapse of duty to his own conscience:

(a)        His two distinguished predecessors in command of Army Group ‘B’ (Field-Marshals Erwin Rommel and Hans von Kluge) had both displayed the personal courage to take their own lives rather than faced disgrace and dishonour to the uniform of a German Field-Marshal. By their personal examples they had set the patterns for others to follow.

(b)        The stark reality had finally dawned on your father that the war was lost and the Fuehrer’s directive was merely prolonging the unequal struggle at tremendous cost in human lives and material. The town and the countryside were being devastated to such an extent that a homeless population would be faced with misery and starvation.

Colonel-General Dietrich von Cholititz had defied Hitler’s instructions for the destruction of PARIS and now in the interest of future survival Field-Marshal Walter Model had decided to ignore Hitler’s ‘scorched earth’ directive for the destruction of the Ruhr factories and industries. He could not and would not denude the Fatherland of the future means for sustenance, and his actions indicate that he made every effort to preserve these valuable installations intact.

(d)        Your father was obsessed with a mission to vindicate the stain and dishonour of Field-Marshal Friedrich Paulus who surrendered the entire 6th Army at STALINGRAD and himself went into captivity.

(e)            Perhaps the overriding and the decisive factor for his final act was that he had so faithfully and so obediently implemented the Fuehrer’s “scorched earth” policy on a large scale in RUSSIA, and it was no secret that his name was high on the Russian list of war criminals. His dying words also seem to indicate that such apprehension was weighing heavily on his troubled mind.

The Aftermath

The battle of the Ruhr pocket may be described as the worst operations ever conducted by Field-Marshal Walter Model, the renowned and undisputed exponent of flexible defence. His conduct inside the Ruhr pocket is one of the most intriguing episodes during the dying days of World War II. His superior Officer Field-Marshal Albert Kesselring (C in C West) had this to say in his Memoirs:

‘Field-Marshal Walter Model was a brave and dashing soldier who laid down his life for his country and I shall always remember him. But even to this day the operations of Army Group ‘B’ inside the Ruhr pocket remain incomprehensible to me’.

The bitter struggle for the Ruhr pocket dragged on for three weeks during which period your father remained steadfast and loyal to the extent that he refused to consider American surrender proposals.

It was only when his guns had fired the last rounds of ammunition and the medical supplies were exhausted that Field-Marshal Walter Model had no alternative but to disband the Army Group. He had fought to the bitter end and he could be rest assured that his place in history had been secured in the ranks of honour. As the guns fell silent he and his staff were little more than hunted fugitives amidst the ruins of the Reich industrial area. His dying words leave no doubt about his professional integrity and his apprehensions:

“Now my hour has come. A German Field-Marshal does not become POW. Anything is preferable to falling into Russian captivity”.

The Fuehrer had played his last trump card in the shape of Field-Marshal Walter Model. On 21 April 1945 near the smouldering ruins of DUISBURG he fired a single bullet into his head. It was the first time ever that Hitler’s Fireman had failed to rise to the occasion and was himself engulfed by the flames.

Capt. (Retd) A A Jilani

Brigadegeneral Hansgeorge Model Kellergasse 49

D-5308 Rheinbach-Wormesdorf

WEST GERMANY

SECOND LETTER

My dear Brigadegeneral,

From my point of view 17 August 1944 was the most important and significant date because it marked the turning point in your father’s career. It is necessary that we should try to recapture all the vents of that day.

Your father had been summoned to RASTENBURG by the Fuehrer but he was not aware of the reasons. He arrived there from the Russian front and it was the normal custom that the Herresgruppe Commanders report to Keitel. But your father was informed that the Herresgruppe Commanders report to Marshal Mannerhaim of FINLAND who was also at RASTENBURG on that day. So General Walter Warlimont went to the Fuehrer’s bunker to report the arrival of your father. The Fuehrer’s eyes lit up at the mention of your father’s name and he personally came outside to greet your father with lot of regard and gratitude. It was a beautiful sunny day and they stood outside under a tree. The Fuehrer expressed his great admiration for your father’s brilliant reconstruction of the Eastern front and especially congratulated him for his successful counter-attack at PRAGA. Jodl and Heinz Guderian also came and joined the group and they felt inferiority complex in the presence of your father.

The Fuehrer invited your father to have lunch. Field-Marshal Mannerheim sat on one side of the Fuehrer and your father sat on the other side. Throughout the lunch the Fuehrer was constantly discussing the eastern front with your father and enquiring about all the details.

By August 17, 1944 Generallfeldmarschall Walter Model had come to be regarded as the unofficial Commander-in-Chief of the Russian front which he had shaped and stabilized. He was also recognized as Germany’s most capable battle commander and the most trusted right-hand man of the Fuehrer.

After lunch the Fuehrer decorated your father with the coveted Diamonds to his Knight’s Cross, the highest gallantry award of the Wehrmacht. Field-Marshal Mannerheim was also to receive a high German award and the Fuehrer delegated this duty to Keitel because he had some very important matters to discuss with your father.

The Fuehrer invited your father to his bunker for a private talk and then disclosed the astonishing news about the suspected treachery of von Kluge. He was lamenting the failure of the counter-attack from MORTAIN to close the AVRANCHES gap and told your father that the attack failed “Because von Kluge wanted it to fail”.

Then the Fuehrer informed your father of the SECRET decision to appoint him as the new OB WEST and Commander of Herresgruppe B to replace von Kluge. These were the orders which the Fuehrer issued to your father:

“You will build up a new western front as far forward of the Seine-Yonne line as possible using the Divisions which will be gradually evacuated from southern France. The V-1 rocket launching sites must be protected and held at all cost even if it means converting them into fortresses”.

The Fuehrer then informed your father that Oberstleutnant Caesar von Hofacker had been interrogated by the Gestapo and he had implicated Generalfeldmarschall von Kluge as one of the conspirators of the 20 July bomb plot. He directed your father to root out all the disloyal elements and hand them over to the Gestapo.

Then the Fuehrer discussed the possibility of having to withdraw the Armeegruppe HQ behind the Seine and he gave permission for your father to use the Fuehrer’s Command Post at MARGIVAL (which was normally reserved for Hitler’s visits).

Then the Fuehrer confided in your father that about two years ago he had intended to replace Keitel with Kesselring and Jodl with Friendrich Paulus, but he was unable to spare them from their field commands. He was full of regard and praise for Kesselring but he crushed Paulus as a traitor to his country.

Then the Fuehrer mentioned that von Kluge had been worn out and exhausted by having to perform two roles as OB WEST and Commander Herresgruppe B. Now he wanted your father to concentrate on the field command and he suggested that von Rundstedt may be recalled to resume his position as OB WEST. The Fuehrer asked for your father’s views on this proposal and your father expressed his willingness to serve under von Rundstedt providing he has a free hand with the operations of Armeegruppe B.

The Fuehrer then sent for Jodl and instructed him to secretly arrange a special plane to fly your father to PARIS. Then he handed over a sealed envelope to your father instructing him to deliver it to von Kluge by hand. Your father left RASTENBURG late in the afternoon.

On arrival at PARIS he was received by General Gunther Blumentritt who had simply been informed to receive “the Fuehrer’s special emissary”. General Blumentritt was surprised to see Generalfeldmarschall Walter Model from the eastern front. He proposed to take your father to St Germain but your father directed him to proceed first to La Roche Guyon so that he could meet von Kluge.

Von Kluge was certainly surprised and also alarmed by the sudden arrival of your father who handed over the sealed letter from the Fuehrer. Your father probably remained silent as von Kluge read the letter. That night your father dined alone with von Kluge and he was reminiscing about the days of 1942-43 when von Kluge was Commander of Herresgruppe Mitte in RUSSIA and your father served under his command. They both talked about operation Citadel. As a gesture of his regard and comradeship your father discreetly alerted von Kluge to the dangers which lay ahead on account of his name having been implicated in the July bomb plot. Your father took his former superior officer into confidence.

These are the brief details which are known to me, but we have to dig much deeper and fill in all the blanks. I think it is necessary to reconstruct the entire events of that day — 17 August 1944. Perhaps we should try and trace Oberstleutnant von Kluge.

I have got a picture of your father taken during the ARNHEM campaign 1944. He is seen talking to Paratroop General Eugen Meindl and also in the picture is SS-S Sturmbannfuehrer Heinrich Springer who was First Ordnance Officer on your father’s Staff right upto the end of the war. Please let me know if you have got this photograph in your Archives or should I send it to you?

With profound regards,

Hauptmann a.D A A Jilani

Brigadier Hansgeorg Model Kellergasse 49

5308 Rheinbach 4

WEST GERMANY