Our enemies. Wilhelm Keitel

There is practically no documentary evidence left about Keitel’s attitude to the revolution of 1918, the fall of the empire and Wilhelm II. Along with the disdainful review of the Kaiser by Lisa Keitel, whose views were in tune with her husband’s political views, all that is known for certain is that in Keitel’s office in the Reichswehr administration, in a place of honor there was a photograph of the Crown Prince with a dedicatory inscription. Most likely, his attitude to the events did not differ from the attitude of tens of thousands of officers and millions of front-line soldiers, for whom the Kaiser had long since turned into some kind of imaginary quantity - a symbol, but not a personality. All of Germany perceived the revolutionary events of the late 20s as a natural disaster, a steppe fire...

Keitel hesitated, doubted and hated along with the nation, remaining an officer with honor...

In Nuremberg he said that he had always remained a soldier - under the Kaiser, under Ebert, under Hindenburg and under Hitler...

From 1925 to 1933, excluding a short assignment to Minden, where Keitel commanded a division of the 6th Artillery Regiment, he served in the organizational department of the Reichswehr ground forces, becoming the head of the sector, and in 1930 - the head of the department. The first theoretical developments of Keitel and his like-minded Oberst Geyer on the restructuring of the armed forces date back to the same period of service. Lieutenant General Wetzel, the head of the department (the unofficial general staff), involved Keitel in developing operational plans for the combat use of the 100,000-strong Reichswehr and the formation of some kind of reserve units.

One can argue endlessly about the merits and demerits of the future OKW chief of staff, but no one has the right to deny the obvious: in the dispute with General Beck and his concept of an enormously bloated ground army, historical truth was on the side of Keitel, Blomberg and Jodl with their idea of ​​three proportionally developed components Wehrmacht - army, air force and naval forces.

The problem of relationships with Hitler, the guilt and responsibility of a soldier are topics for a separate discussion, especially since they are exhaustively covered in the “last word” of the defendant Keitel at the end of the book. Unfortunately, Wilhelm Keitel turned out to be a man with a “state” type of thinking: he believed Reich Chancellor Brüning, and later Papen. The National Socialists, led by Hitler, never inspired his trust, but he believed that only a strong government could lead Germany out of a crisis that had lasted for decades.

Keitel in the mirror of opinions

The ambiguity of the personality of the Field Marshal of the Third Reich gave rise to a lot of speculative opinions and contradictory judgments about his genius and stubbornness, servility and uncompromisingness, loyalty and treachery...

The British military historian Wheeler-Bennett, in his widely known study “Nemesis of Power,” published in London in 1953, collected all the righteous and unjust accusations made against Keitel at the Nuremberg trial. The result was that “Keitel is a hidden Nazi; an unknown and untalented Württemberg officer; ambitious but lacking ability; loyal, but spineless..."

American Douglas Kelly, a psychiatrist at Nuremberg prison, in his book “22 Men Around Hitler,” describes Keitel as “a typical Prussian junker and Prussian general, whose ancestors wore the uniforms of the Prussian Guard for over 100 years and owned large plots of land.” Kelly, apparently, was not familiar with the works of Wheeler-Bennett, so he endowed the field marshal with “a high intellect, although somewhat less versatile than that of Jodl...”

The equally respected Anglo-Saxon military historian Gordon A. Craig, in his book The Prussian-German Army 1640–1645 A State within a State,” without further ado, calls Keitel “a man without character and an admirer of the Fuhrer.”

Karl Hensel, one of the public German defenders in Nuremberg, an experienced and gifted journalist, author of the book “The Court Retires to Deliberate,” saw in Keitel “a typical German general, without a glimmer of thought behind the thick vaults of the cranium, whose essence can only be explained by the costs of education in cadet corps..."

In numerous memoirs, interviews and studies, almost all senior officers of the Third Reich expressed their opinion about Keitel: Field Marshal Manstein, Oberst General Halder, Infantry General Dr. Erfurt... None of them denies the outstanding organizational talent of the OKW Chief of Staff, but all in one his voice is called a “convenient subordinate” - a “working animal,” as Halder puts it.

Historical parallels are inevitable, but almost always incorrect - different times, different morals, different circumstances and people. One of the most hackneyed comparisons is the historical fates of Marshals Keitel and Berthier. Let me briefly remind you: Berthier Louis Alexandre - Marshal of Emperor Napoleon I, Vice-Constable of France, Prince of Neuchâtel, Prince of Wagram, Duke of Valangens. After abdication and exile to the island of Elba, Napoleon Bonaparte renounced his master and swore allegiance to Louis XVIII, but committed suicide during the “100 days” either out of repentance or out of fear... Field Marshal Keitel showed his attitude to the problem of officer duty, responsibility of a commander and a statesman in a conversation with Dr. Nelte, in preparing the latter for the cross-examination of prosecution witnesses:

"…Suicide! In my thoughts I held a gun in my hand many times, but then I forbade myself to even think about it. As recent events have shown, such a solution to the issue could not change anything, much less improve it. All my adult life I have honestly represented our armed forces and always defended the interests of the Wehrmacht. I would not like to finally be accused of desertion and cowardice...

As a German officer, I consider it my natural duty to bear responsibility for everything I have done, even if these actions were committed in good faith... It does not matter whether it is guilt or a tragic coincidence. Top management does not have the right to shirk responsibility for its own mistakes and delusions - otherwise the soldiers and non-commissioned officers of the front line will have to answer for everything. And that would be not only wrong, but also unworthy..."

Wilhelm Keitel - father

field mail (France), 1.9.1914

With God's help, the second great battle of St. Quentin was left behind. Three days of continuous attacks, the fighting only stopped at night, for several hours. German weapons have won a great victory - the Frenchman retreats to Paris. During these weeks we have achieved a lot and experienced a lot. In the battle of Namur, on Sunday 23.8, we could not get out of the trenches for 9 hours and suffered heavy losses due to the enemy's superiority in artillery. The weather is magnificent. I often think about you and about the rich harvest that you will reap despite the lack of workers and horses...

Lisa Keitel - mothers

Wolfenbüttel, 10/11/1914

...Serious events are brewing. Wilhelm learned about this in Hanover and has high hopes for the future. If only Holland had declared war on England! The brainless Belgian king succumbs to the persuasion of the British and gives the order to protect the capital, despite the hopeless situation...

Father-in-law, field mail

Fresnes, 10 km north of Reims, 10/13/1914

I savored with pleasure one of your cigars, which I gratefully discovered upon returning to the regiment... The enemy shoots day and night, but after 4 weeks I got used to it again...

This publication provides historical portraits of the most famous military leaders of the West who fought against Russia in the Patriotic War of 1812 and the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. In general historical works there are references to all these figures, but nothing more. Therefore, both specialist historians and a wide range of readers will undoubtedly be interested in learning more about the life and activities of Napoleon’s marshals and military leaders of the Third Reich. The final part presents the commanders of the Great French Revolution, who fought for new ideals and brought liberation from feudal oppression to the people.

First of all, each character is shown as a military leader with all his advantages and disadvantages, his role and place in history are determined, and the qualities of the commander as a person are revealed.

Keitel Wilhelm Bodevin Johann Gustav

German military leader Keitel Wilhelm Bodevin Johann Gustav (09/22/1882, Helmsherode, Brunswick, - 10/16/1946, Nuremberg), Field Marshal (1940). Farmer's son.

He began his military service in 1901 as an applicant for officer rank (Fanen-Junker) in the 46th Artillery Regiment of the Kaiser's Army. In 1902 he was promoted to officer (junior lieutenant). In 1906 he graduated from the school of artillery instructors and received the rank of lieutenant. From 1908 he held the position of regimental adjutant, chief lieutenant (1910). In 1914, he entered the course for officers of the General Staff of the Reserve, but due to the outbreak of the First World War, their graduation was carried out ahead of schedule. Participant of the First World War on the Western Front. In the autumn of 1914 he was wounded, captain (October 1914). Upon recovery, he returned to his 46th artillery regiment and was given command of an artillery battery (November 1914). In March 1915, he was appointed to the post of General Staff officer at the headquarters of the 15th Army Reserve Corps, then (from 1917) at the headquarters of the 199th Infantry Division. Since December 1917, head of the operations department of the Marine Corps headquarters in Flanders. He finished the war with the rank of captain. Awarded the Iron Cross 2nd and 1st class.

After the defeat of Germany in the First World War and the demobilization of the Kaiser's army, he was left to serve in the Reichswehr - the army of the Weimar Republic (1919). In 1919, he served at the headquarters of the Volunteer Corps on the German-Polish border, then was an instructor at the cavalry school in Hanover (1920-1923) and a staff officer of the 6th Artillery Regiment (1923-1925), major (1923). In 1925 he was transferred to the Organizational Directorate of the War Ministry (under this and several other departments the secret General Staff was then hidden, which Germany was prohibited from having by the Versailles Peace Treaty of 1919). During his 2 years of work at the War Ministry, Keitel became close to W. von Blomberg, W. von Fritsch, W. von Brauchitsch and other future leaders of the Wehrmacht, which subsequently played an important role in his promotion. He has proven himself to be a reliable and thorough staff worker. In 1927-1929 he commanded a division in the 6th Artillery Regiment (mandatory 2-year internship for General Staff officers). In 1929 he returned to the War Ministry and was appointed head of the Organizational Directorate, lieutenant colonel (1929). In 1931, as part of the Reichswehr military delegation, he visited the Soviet Union. Brauchitsch was also part of this delegation with him. In the same year he was promoted to colonel. Among the employees of the War Ministry, Keitel stood out for his great efficiency, bordering on fanaticism, which brought him to complete exhaustion and a heart attack complicated by pneumonia (1932).

The Nazis came to power (January 1933) at one of the mountain resorts in the Sudetenland, where he underwent a rehabilitation course after hospitalization. Being an apolitical campaigner, Keitel reacted to this event with complete indifference. The fact is that governments in the Weimar Republic changed quite often, but everything in the state remained the same, and in any case this did not in any way affect the state of affairs in the army, everything went on as usual. So there was no need to worry about the next change of cabinet.

Returning to his official duties, Keitel met the new Reich Chancellor A. Hitler in July 1933 and immediately became his ardent supporter. Keitel was completely satisfied with Hitler's program aimed at restoring Germany's military power. Soon Keitel was promoted to the post of deputy (infantry) commander of the 3rd Infantry Division, stationed in Berlin and its environs (1933). This division was then commanded by General W. von Fritsch, an old acquaintance of Keitel. At the beginning of 1934 he was replaced by General E. von Witzleben. In July 1934, Keitel was appointed commander of the newly formed 12th Infantry Division (Schwerin) and promoted to major general. But at this time his father dies, and Keitel, having inherited the family farm, decides to retire and take up farming. When Keitel’s resignation report landed on the desk of Army Commander-in-Chief Fritsch, he summoned him and persuaded him to remain in military service, promising him a brilliant career and offering him a choice of any of the newly formed divisions. Keitel could not resist such a prospect and agreed to be appointed commander of the 22nd Infantry Division (Bremen). This division was part of the 6th Military District, which was then commanded by General G. von Kluge.

On October 1, 1935, on the recommendation of Fritsch, War Minister Blomberg appointed Keitel head of the Military Directorate of the War Ministry (the main structural part of the ministry). In this post, Keitel replaced General W. von Reichenau, who was essentially the Deputy Minister of War and the fourth most important person in the German military leadership. In Keitel’s rapid career advancement, which began with the Nazis coming to power, the decisive role was played by the patronage of the Minister of War W. von Blomberg, with whom he had known since the First World War, and the Army Commander-in-Chief W. von Fritsch. In 1936, Keitel received the rank of lieutenant general, and in 1937 he was promoted to artillery general.

Having taken a key position in the War Ministry, Keitel made active efforts to reorganize the management of the armed forces, with the goal of uniting the leadership of all branches of the armed forces and branches of the armed forces in a single structure. However, this was sharply opposed by the Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces, Fritsch, the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, Raeder, and especially the Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force, G. Goering, who saw Keitel’s idea as an infringement of their prerogatives. Keitel was unable to overcome their resistance, especially since he did not receive appropriate support from the Minister of War. Keitel's relationship with Blomberg, despite their long acquaintance, remained purely official, even after they became related (Keitel's son married Blomberg's daughter). Unquestioningly obeying his boss, Keitel earned the reputation of a puppet of the Minister of War. But, apparently, not everything was so simple in their relationship. After Blomberg got into trouble in January 1938 for marrying a former prostitute, Keitel did not lift a finger to somehow protect his boss and relative. Moreover, either through thoughtlessness or intentionally (this still remains a mystery), he contributed to the downfall of his boss. When he had in his possession compromising materials on Blomberg’s wife, received from the police, he could not find anything better than to transfer them to the worst enemy of Field Marshal G. Goering, although the chief of the Berlin police who handed him the dossier on Frau Blomberg (he wanted to transfer it personally to Blomberg, but he was not there, and he addressed this delicate question to Deputy Minister Keitel, hoping that he would hand over the dossier to its intended purpose), noticing Keitel’s hesitation, he very transparently hinted to him about the possibility of destroying the incriminating evidence. Having received the dossier, Goering used it to bring down the Minister of War, for whose position he had long been aspiring. When Hitler said goodbye to the retired Field Marshal Blomberg, he asked him who could lead the armed forces after him. He found it difficult to answer. Then the Fuhrer asked who his deputy was. “Keitel,” came the answer, “but there is no question of using him, since he is just the one who runs my office.” “This is the kind of person I need!” - Hitler exclaimed joyfully and on the same day (January 27, 1938) signed an order appointing Keitel to the newly established post of Chief of Staff of the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces - Oberkommando der Wermacht (OKW). On February 4, 1938, the leadership of the armed forces (Wehrmacht) was reorganized. Hitler himself took over the post of Supreme Commander. Under him, a working body was created - the OKW, headed by Keitel. However, the OKW, as further developments showed, never became the supreme governing body of the armed forces, but turned into a typical military chancellery of Hitler. Keitel quickly came to terms with this and never pretended to do more, although sometimes at first he tried to show his character. So, when a week after Blomberg’s resignation it was the turn of Fritsch, the commander-in-chief of the ground forces, and Hitler wanted to appoint General Reichenau in his place, Keitel resolutely opposed this. Having led the general opposition together with General G. von Rundstedt, he achieved the appointment of his protégé, General W. von Brauchitsch, to this post. He then appointed his nominees to a number of other important positions. So, in particular, his brother Colonel B. Keitel took the post of head of the personnel department of the ground forces (OKH) and soon became a general; Major R. Schmundt became Hitler's personal military adjutant, etc. Keitel himself received the rank of colonel general in 1938.

Keitel tried to create a genuine high command, to which all branches of the armed forces would be subordinate, but again encountered stubborn resistance from Goering and Raeder, who declared that they would accept and carry out only those orders that came personally from the Fuhrer. And Goering openly told Keitel that he didn’t care who signed the order on behalf of the Fuhrer - a colonel general or a corporal, only Hitler’s personal signature mattered to him, and he “didn’t care about everything else.”

With the outbreak of World War II, all operational work was concentrated in the General Staff of the Army (OKH). The only operation that was planned and carried out by the OKW was the operation to capture Denmark and Norway in the spring of 1940. Under the influence of Brauchitsch and the Chief of the General Staff of the Army, General F. Halder, Keitel opposed the start of the French Campaign in the winter of 1939/40, which led Hitler to indescribable anger. Having lost control of himself, the Fuhrer accused Keitel of allegedly joining a general’s conspiracy directed against him, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. Not expecting such a violent reaction from Hitler, Keitel immediately resigned, but was refused. “You don’t have to take everything so personally,” said Hitler, who had recovered from his fit of rage, conciliatoryly. After this incident, Keitel made a vow to himself - never again to challenge the decisions of his Fuhrer. But the start of the French campaign, under pressure from the generals, was nevertheless postponed to the spring of 1940. After its victorious completion, Keitel, on behalf of Hitler, negotiated the surrender of France. The act of surrender was signed in the same place and in the same carriage in which in November 1918 the French Marshal Foch, on behalf of the victors, dictated his terms to defeated Germany. Now Germany, led by Adolf Hitler, has taken revenge for the humiliation it suffered 21 years ago. And even more than that. As is known, in 1918 Germany was not occupied by Entente troops and the banners of the winners were not hoisted over Berlin, which had been brought to its knees. Now, in the summer of 1940, the situation was completely different - most of France was occupied by German troops, a banner with a swastika fluttered victoriously over defeated Paris, and the remnants of the completely defeated British divisions barely took their feet to the metropolis. The triumph of German weapons was complete. And the procedure of surrender, humiliating for the French, was masterfully carried out by Hitler’s envoy Wilhelm Keitel. The shame of Germany 21 years ago was avenged. Hitler and his generals were delighted. Germany rejoiced. Keitel was awarded the Knight's Cross. On July 19, 1940, among 12 other senior military leaders of the Third Reich, Keitel received a field marshal's baton from Hitler's hands.

In the summer of 1940, along with a number of other senior military leaders, Keitel spoke out against war with the Soviet Union. And again, Hitler, who had fallen into a terrible rage, gave him a stormy scolding. The deeply offended field marshal suggested that the Fuhrer find another OKW chief of staff, on whose opinion he could completely rely. Hitler completely lost his temper, shouting in rage that there was no question of any resignation. “Keitel will not leave his post,” shouted the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, “as long as the Fuhrer needs him!”

With the outbreak of the war, the leadership of military operations on the Eastern Front, as had previously been the case in Poland, France, and the Balkans, was headed by the General Staff of the Ground Forces, and the OKW was left with only the leadership of secondary theaters of military operations. In 1941, these included only the North African theater of operations, where E. Rommel did not particularly take into account the opinion of the OKW. But it is impossible to say that Keitel had nothing to do with the course of the armed struggle on the Eastern Front. Under his leadership, a number of directives and orders were developed and issued, according to which Nazi troops during the Second World War en masse committed war crimes and crimes against humanity wherever a German soldier set foot. In particular, he authorized mass terror, the unpunished extermination of prisoners of war and civilians in the occupied territories of the Soviet Union. In May 1941, Keitel signed the infamous order “On Commissars,” according to which German soldiers were obliged to shoot captured Red Army political workers on the spot without any trial or investigation. In July 1941, he signed an order giving Reichsführer SS G. Himmler unlimited powers to carry out a “racial program” in the East. The whole world learned what a “racial program” was in the fall of 1939, when a directive was issued, signed by Hitler and Keitel, in which the army and SS troops in Poland were ordered to destroy all Jews, intellectuals, priests and aristocrats.

In September 1942, Keitel again fell into disgrace with Hitler for daring to stand up for Field Marshal List. This disgrace lasted for several months, when the Fuhrer did not even shake hands with his chief military adviser.

In December 1942, Keitel signed an order in which the troops were allowed to use any means and methods of action in the fight against the partisans, if only this would contribute to the success of the German army. It was especially emphasized that no exceptions should be allowed even for women and children. “Any manifestation of pity is a crime against the people of Germany,” the order read. Keitel also put his signature on Hitler’s notorious order “Darkness and Fog,” according to which the Nazi troops were ordered to pursue a policy of intimidation in the occupied territories. Trying to then justify his complicity in this war crime at the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg, Keitel could only say: “Such was the will of the Fuhrer.” He also approved the decision of the Nazi leadership, which called on the German population to deal with captured Allied pilots on the spot, adding: “I am against the judicial procedure, it does not work.” Keitel did not object to Hitler even when the Gestapo threw German generals behind bars or summarily executed them simply because they failed to carry out obviously impossible orders. Keitel's signature is also on the order, which ordered the immediate destruction of Allied commandos captured behind German lines. Unconditionally supported Hitler's order - “Stand to the last.” Thanks to this, he managed to retain his position, but for the German army this resulted in a number of disasters (at Stalingrad, in North Africa, Crimea, Right Bank Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic States, Normandy, East Prussia, etc.).

At critical moments, when Hitler had to face disputes with the commanders of army groups, he, as a rule, having exhausted all his arguments, turned to the OKW chief of staff for support, being confident that he would always come to his aid. With such support, Hitler usually won any argument... and lost on the battlefield.

During the assassination attempt on July 20, 1944, Keitel stood next to Hitler. As soon as he came to his senses after the explosion, he immediately rushed to Hitler shouting: “My Fuhrer, you are alive!”, and then almost dragged him to the medical unit on himself. After this, Keitel earned the special favor of his Fuhrer. He took decisive and tough measures to suppress the conspiracy, many of whose participants were arrested on his orders.

He was a member of the military court (“court of honor”), which dismissed from the army 11 generals and 44 officers who were to one degree or another involved in the conspiracy or simply knew about it. One of the initiators of the suicide of Field Marshal E. Rommel, who was especially hated by him, who was offered a choice between voluntary death or a military trial with a predetermined outcome and, in addition, imprisonment of his family in a concentration camp. Rommel chose the former.

When the Allied troops entered Germany, Keitel issued an order, also signed by Himmler, according to which cities that were important transport hubs were to be held by troops to the last man. Any commander who failed to carry out this order was subject to execution.

During the Battle of Berlin, he decided to stay in the capital with Hitler and share his fate, but the Fuhrer ordered the OKW to leave the city in order to organize the approach of reserves to help the Berlin garrison. Keitel failed to fulfill this last order of his Fuhrer.

After Hitler's suicide, his successor K. Dönitz removed Keitel from the post of chief of OKW headquarters, appointing his deputy, Colonel General A. Jodl, to this post. But Keitel, although without a position, remained at the headquarters of the new head of state. He was the only one of Hitler's field marshals there.

On May 8, 1945, on behalf of Doenitz, he led the German delegation that signed the act of surrender of Germany in Berlin. Together with him, this document was signed by Admiral General G. von Friedeburg (from the Navy) and Colonel General G. Stumpf (from the Air Force).

On May 12, 1945, Keitel was arrested in Flensburg, where Doenitz's headquarters and government were located, by American authorities.

Among other major war criminals, he was brought before the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg. He based his defense on the fact that he only followed Hitler’s orders and never made independent decisions. He remained loyal to Hitler and, unlike many other defendants, did not try to play around and evade responsibility by shifting the blame to others; he answered the court’s questions clearly and honestly. He was found guilty of numerous military crimes, as well as the gravest crimes against peace and humanity, and was sentenced to capital punishment - death by hanging. The court did not find any mitigating circumstances against him. Keitel's request as a military man to replace the gallows with execution was rejected. Executed by court order on the night of October 16, 1946 in Nuremberg prison. While the Nuremberg trials were going on, Keitel wrote his memoirs in prison, in which he tried to whitewash himself. However, he did not have time to complete them.

Like all Hitler's field marshals, Keitel was a career officer in the Kaiser's army, who began his military service long before the First World War. I went through it all from beginning to end, holding various staff and command positions. After the defeat of Germany in the First World War and the liquidation of the Kaiser's army, he continued to serve in the Reichswehr among the few of its officers. Despite the fact that promotion in the 100,000-strong Reichswehr was very slow, Keitel still managed to make a fairly successful military career in the army of the Weimar Republic. In just 10 years, he went from a modest riding instructor at a cavalry school to the head of the leading department of the War Ministry.

By the time Hitler came to power, Keitel had the rank of colonel, and a year later he became a general, and after another 6 years, without conducting a single military operation and without winning a single battle, he became a field marshal general. A phenomenal career for a man whose entire command experience in a combat situation consisted of only a 4-month command of an artillery battery, and even then during the First World War. True, in fairness it should be noted that Keitel himself never considered himself worthy of his position - chief of staff of the OKW. In this regard, it is necessary to turn to his memoirs, which, despite all their bias, are still of some interest. So in them the author makes one of the very interesting remarks: “Why did the generals, who so vehemently branded me as a dumb and incompetent person, an obedient pawn, fail to remove me from business? After all, it was not at all difficult for individuals who knew how to stand up for themselves. The reason was that none of them wanted to be in my place, since they all understood that anyone in my position was sooner or later doomed to turn into the same pawn as I was.” In this Keitel was certainly right. Despite the universal hatred of those around him and their ardent desire to see him removed, none of the generals and field marshals would like to be in his place. Only such a mediocre and servile person as Keitel was could have held out in this position under Hitler for so long (more than 7 years).

Keitel threw in his lot with the Nazis only after they came to power and since then served them not out of fear, but out of conscience. He was known as an ardent Nazi, although he was not formally a member of the NSDAP. “Deep down, I was Adolf Hitler’s faithful squire,” he admitted during one of the interrogations after the war, “and according to my political convictions, I was on the side of National Socialism.” Keitel blindly obeyed Hitler and was one of the people closest to him; he sincerely believed in the genius and infallibility of his Fuhrer. Only through him did Hitler receive all the reports from the field. Over his many years of service, Keitel developed the habit of unquestioningly obeying any authority. He combined obedience and servility with a rather mediocre mind. He more than compensated for his lack of special talents with enviable hard work, and he often succeeded. He worked until exhaustion and at the same time smoked a lot. He had to pay for this with his health - a general disorder of the nervous system and a whole bunch of other diseases had repeatedly failed him for a long time.

At the same time, Keitel was endowed with great ambition, but by no means talent. Possessing a certain amount of natural insight, he, however, lacked the depth of mind and the outstanding qualities necessary for a major military leader. As one of the Western historians very figuratively put it, if Keitel had had the chance to serve under General Hans von Seeckt (commander of the Reichswehr in 1920-1926), it is unlikely that he would have been able to rise above the major.

Tall, large, fit, with sharply defined facial features, Keitel looked very impressive. Outwardly, he gave the impression of being a model warrior - a Prussian, a bearer of the invincible and unbending Prussian spirit. But this was, so to speak, an external picture. His character was far from matching his appearance. He lacked toughness. Essentially, he was a man whose distinguishing feature was his astonishing lack of character. In his groveling before Hitler, he reached the point that any critical remark addressed to the Fuhrer he adored, no matter who it came from, meant in his eyes apostasy, bordering on high treason. And it is no coincidence that Keitel, respected in the past among the army, over time turned into an odious person, despised by many. Even the generals behind his back called him nothing more than “Lakeitel” or “Nodding Donkey.” At the same time, Keitel, despite his seemingly very high position in the military hierarchy of the Third Reich, had practically no influence on Hitler when making strategic decisions, not to mention military-political ones. When one of the military leaders once asked him how the relationship was developing between Hitler and the OKW, Keitel muttered irritably in response: “I have no idea. He doesn't tell me anything. Yes, he spits on me!”

Once a good staff worker, a diligent General Staff officer, a capable military administrator, Keitel under Hitler turned into the most ordinary military official, an obedient executor of the will of the fascist dictator and an accomplice in all his crimes. But Keitel's subordinate role does not at all mitigate his guilt. As the Nuremberg Tribunal stated: “Orders from above, even for a soldier, cannot be considered a mitigating circumstance when crimes as horrendous as these have been committed knowingly and ruthlessly.” It was based on these criteria that the Court of Nations in Nuremberg paid tribute to the activities of Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel during the Second World War. His sentence was harsh but fair. This Nazi field marshal ended his life path shamefully - on the gallows. This was the price he had to pay for his servility to Hitler. Keitel had three sons of officers who also took part in World War II. The youngest of them, 22-year-old Lieutenant G. Keitel, died in 1941 on the Eastern Front.

Wilhelm Bodevin Johann Gustav Keitel(German) Wilhelm Bodewin Johann Gustav Keitel; September 22, Helmscherode, Duchy of Brunswick (now Lower Saxony) - October 16, Nuremberg, Bavaria) - German military leader, head of the High Command of the Wehrmacht (German Armed Forces) - OKW (-), Field Marshal General (). He signed the Act of Surrender of Germany, indicating the complete and unconditional defeat of Germany in the Great Patriotic War and the Second World War in Europe. He was accused of crimes against humanity by the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg and, as one of the main war criminals of the Wehrmacht, was executed by hanging on October 16, 1946.

Biography

Wilhelm was born on the wealthy estate of Helmscherode (near Gandersheim, Duchy of Brunswick) in the family of landowner Karl Wilhelm August Louis Keitel (1854-1934) and Apollonia Keitel, née Vissering (1855-1888). The estate was purchased by his grandfather, district royal councilor Karl Wilhelm Ernst Keitel in 1871. For a long time, the Keitels had to pay off creditors and therefore the family lived poorly. His parents got married in September 1881, and in September of the following year their first-born Wilhelm was born. When he was 6 years old, Apollonia died of puerperal fever, giving birth to her second son, Bodevin Keitel, who in the future also became a military leader.

Until the age of 9, young Wilhelm studied with home teachers, and at Easter 1892 his father sent him to the Royal Gymnasium of Göttingen (now the Max Planck Gymnasium). Wilhelm studied averagely, not standing out from other students. While studying at the gymnasium, he dreamed of becoming an officer. He wanted to serve in the cavalry, but he could not afford the maintenance of a horse, and he had to join the field artillery. At Easter 1900, his father enlisted him in the 46th Lower Saxon Artillery Regiment, stationed in Wolfenbüttel and Celle, in relative proximity to Helmscherode. As a volunteer, Keitel had privileges: compulsory service lasted not 3 years, but a year, and the volunteer could choose the type of military service and place of service. However, he had to live on personal funds, and not on government funds. Soon after this, William's father married for the second time to Anne Grégoire, Bodevin's home teacher.

In October 1935, on the recommendation of the commander of the ground forces, Colonel General Werner von Fritsch, Keitel was appointed head of the armed forces department (German: Wehrmachtamt). From January 1, 1936 - Lieutenant General, from August 1937 - General of Artillery.

On February 4, 1938, Keitel headed the High Command of the Wehrmacht (German Armed Forces) - OKW. Since November 1938 - Colonel General.

During World War II

Keitel signs the act of unconditional surrender.

On July 20, 1944, he attended a meeting at Wolfschanz and was concussed when a bomb planted by the organizers of the assassination attempt on Hitler exploded. Having regained consciousness, he was the first to rush to the wounded Hitler, picked him up and led him out of the room, after which he actively participated in the suppression of the “Plot of July 20” and participated in the meetings of the Court of Honor, which handed over many senior officers, including Field Marshal von Witzleben, to the “People's Judicial ward."

On the night of 8–9 May 1945, Keitel signed the repeated act of German surrender.

After the war

Four days after Germany's surrender, Keitel was arrested and soon appeared before the International Military Tribunal, where he was charged with conspiracy against peace, preparation and waging of war, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The tribunal rejected Keitel's lawyer's arguments that he was merely following Hitler's orders and found him guilty on all charges. Keitel himself responded like this:

Polar assessments, judgments and opinions accompanied Keitel's officer career throughout his life. What can you say about this? In his own words, he was not “a quiet, sneaky or prude.” The only hobby and passion of his entire life were thoroughbred horses, jokes about horses, stud auctions, buying, selling - in general, everything that was connected with these noble animals. He was fond of hunting, since nearby in Hedwigsburg lived a passionate admirer of the “man’s sport”, a distant relative of the Keitels, Fritz von Kaufmann, and his friend Wilhelm Wrede on the Steinl estate near Ringelsheim.

Keitel danced beautifully and always opened balls at the court of Prince Regent Albrecht of Prussia in the Brunswick Palace. He was not distinguished by puritanism, he could hit on the person he liked, but he was an implacable opponent of debauchery and carelessness in financial matters. In the fall of 1906, Lieutenant Keitel accompanied his childhood friend Felix Bürkner to the Military Cavalry Academy, which stood out from other military educational institutions due to the freedom of morals that reigned there, with the strictest parting words:

"No gambling and no love stories..."

With sincere bewilderment and even disgust, he listened to the sad story of his friend, an officer of the hussar regiment, and, shocked by what happened, he wrote in his diary:

“...The unfortunate man married a merchant from Linden, got into debt and was forced to flee shame to America.”

During Keitel’s service in Hanover, a “cavalry scandal” erupted when, during a special investigation, it turned out that exactly a third of the cadets played gambling prohibited by a special decree, the officers were mired in debt... Military discipline fell into complete decline... After the Kaiser’s intervention, all “disgraced honor uniform" were expelled from the army in disgrace. Keitel simply refused to understand such excesses. There were jokes about his morbid scrupulousness. In 1934–1935 Keitel commanded a division in Bremen. When going to an official reception, he called a company car, but if his wife was also invited, then she got there... by tram. Keitel considered it incorrect to “ride” his wife in the command vehicle.

Keitel's diaries describe in detail the life of a garrison lieutenant - the barracks, shooting practice, maneuvers, officer steeplechases and, of course, autumn horse hunting. Another thing is surprising: against the backdrop of carefully painted pictures of the regimented life of a soldier, there is not even a hint of the existence of any hobbies and passions that go beyond the scope of purely official duties. It is also difficult to judge the young man’s reading range, since, apart from programmatic methodological literature on military affairs, his notes do not even mention literary works that were popular at that time. Discussions about politics first appear on the pages of the diary in 1913 - the last pre-war year. Apparently, the point is not only that the notes represented a kind of sketch plan for the field marshal’s future memoirs, written later, in captivity, in 1945, in his own words, “to escape from gloomy thoughts and kill time...”. Most likely, these problems really did not interest him much. He was “burning” in the service, and there were still horses, hunting, and agricultural exhibitions in Hanover and Helmscherode. And in this sense, he was no different from many officers who came from a “soil” environment.

Meanwhile, the service went on as usual, and soon the command paid attention to the executive and capable young commander. In 1904–1905 Keitel successfully completed a one-year course at the artillery and rifle school in Jüterbog. In order to encourage academic success, the management of the educational institution petitioned for the transfer of Lieutenant Keitel, among the best graduates of the course, to the training regiment of the artillery school, and he had to make a lot of efforts to stay in Wolfenbüttel and not lose contact with his father and the estate.

In 1908, after a severe injury (double fracture of the pelvis) received during an officer's horse riding competition - while overcoming an obstacle, the horse fell right on him - the question arose about Keitel's transfer to the inspectorate of military schools. The only precondition was that the applicant had no family. Keitel reported to the regimental commander Oberst Stolzenberg that he was engaged and was going to enter into a legal marriage. Oberst Stolzenberg, an excellent officer, a tough and demanding commander, appointed the lieutenant as regimental adjutant. It is curious that just a few days before this appointment, during regimental shooting practice, enraged by the commander’s constant nagging, Keitel defiantly threw field binoculars at Stolzenberg’s feet, making it clear that he refused to see anything else in the future. Perhaps the Oberst understood such a tone better than unquestioning obedience.

Before this appointment, Keitel had never encountered such strictness and exactingness from the command. For the first time in his life, he had to deal with office work and spend so much time at a desk. The duties of the regimental adjutant included working with the personal files of privates and officers, monitoring the conduct of mobilization activities, and much more.

On April 18, 1909, the wedding ceremony of Lieutenant Keitel and Lise Fontaine, daughter of the industrialist and landowner Armand Fontaine, took place. The father-in-law, the owner of the Wülfel estate, which later became part of the city limits of Hanover, the owner of a brewery, was much richer than his son-in-law. However, he could hardly even dream of a better match for his daughter, a half-bred German, who became related to a “Prussian” lieutenant. Fontaine, a gallant gentleman, a passionate hunter and an excellent marksman, was doubly happy to discover a kindred spirit in his officer-in-law. Keitel knew a lot about good tobacco and was not averse to downing a glass or two of good old wine...

In the notes, Keitel talks in detail about how he met his future bride and wife in the house of his relative Vissering in Hanover; how long he doubted whether his chosen one would feel at ease in a squalid rural environment; will he be able to match Lisa’s level and satisfy her rich spiritual needs...

Lisa Fontaine, an icon-painting beauty with ideal proportions of face and figure, as if she had stepped out of the paintings of old Florentine masters, received an excellent education at home, was fond of literature, music, painting, theater... Outwardly cold and arrogant, she was more restrained and less sentimental in nature than Wilhelm Keitel. In a certain sense, Lisa was the complete opposite of her husband. As a rule, in such marriages life partners complement each other - the Keitels were no exception. Hand in hand they went through all the storms and hardships of the century, and in post-war Germany everyone was shocked by the inner dignity and pride with which the widow bore her heavy cross in life.

Along with the new adjutant position came an increased sense of internal self-discipline and civic responsibility - no matter how pompous it may sound. Keitel's letters from the pre-war years are more rational and less emotional. During training shooting in Altengrabow in the spring of 1910, the young officer was made an indelible impression by his acquaintance with the artillery inspector, General von Gallwitz. Gallwitz, an outstanding strategist and experienced commander - after the end of the war, many predicted a brilliant political career for him - turned out to be one of the few senior officers of pre-war Germany mentioned by Keitel in his notes. Under the influence of Galwitz, the young officer for the first time thought about the need for a radical reform of artillery - equipping divisions with a large number of light field howitzers, increasing the saturation of ammunition and the formation of artillery escort divisions in infantry units: everything, the need for which was later confirmed by the course of the 1st World War.

Wilhelm Keitel was born on September 22, 1882 in the family of hereditary landowners Karl Wilhelm August Louis Keitel and Apollonia Keitel-Vissering. The future field marshal spent his childhood on the 650-acre family estate of Helmscherode, located in the western part of the Duchy of Brunswick. The family lived very modestly, barely paying off the estate purchased in 1871 by Wilhelm's grandfather Karl Keitel. Wilhelm was the first child in the family. When he was six years old, his brother Bodevin Keitel, also a famous military leader, was born. During childbirth, the mother, Apollonia Keitel, died from an infectious infection. Until the age of nine, Wilhelm studied under the supervision of home teachers, dreaming of becoming a farmer, like all his ancestors. But in 1892, his father sent him to the Royal Gymnasium of Göttingen. Here he first thinks about a military career. Since it was very expensive to maintain a horse, Wilhelm chose field artillery. Having graduated from Göttingen with average grades, in the early spring of 1901 he entered the 46th Lower Saxon Artillery Regiment as a volunteer. At the same time, his father marries one of Wilhelm's former home teachers, Anna Gregoire.

Hitler (right) with Field Marshals Keitel (center) and Wilhelm von Leeb (to the right of Hitler out of frame, visible in other versions of this photo) studies a map in the process of preparing a plan for an attack on the USSR - “Barbarossa”. On the left in the background is Hitler's adjutant Nicholas von Below.

Initially, Wilhelm Keitel served as an officer candidate in the first battery of the artillery regiment. But in August 1902 he graduated from military school, was promoted to lieutenant and transferred to the second battery. The third battery at this time was led by Gunther von Kluge, who immediately became the sworn enemy of young Keitel. Kluge considered Keitel an “absolute zero,” and he responded by calling him an “arrogant upstart.” In 1905, Wilhelm completed courses at the Jüterbog Artillery and Rifle School, after which in 1908 regimental commander von Stolzenberg appointed him regimental adjutant. In the spring of 1909, Keitel married the daughter of a wealthy landowner and industrialist Armand Fontaine, Lise Fontaine. In the future they had three daughters and three sons. All sons became military men. It should be noted that Lisa always played the main role in the family. Despite Keitel’s desire to return to his native estate in Helmsherode and settle there, which never left Keitel’s entire life, she passionately desired her husband’s further advancement up the career ladder. In 1910, Keitel became chief lieutenant.

When the First World War began, Keitel and his family were on vacation in Switzerland. He ended up on the Western Front in the 46th Artillery Regiment and participated in battles until a grenade fragment broke his right forearm in Flanders in September. For his bravery he was awarded the Iron Crosses of the first and second degrees. From the hospital he returned to the regiment as a captain. In the spring of 1915, Keitel was appointed to the General Staff and transferred to the reserve corps. Keitel's career begins to take off rapidly. In 1916, he was already the head of the operational department of the headquarters of the nineteenth reserve division. At the end of 1917, Wilhelm found himself at the Berlin General Staff, as head of the operational department of the Marine Corps headquarters in Flanders.

After the end of the war, under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, the General Staff of the German Army was dissolved. Keitel, with the rank of captain, joins the army of the Weimar Republic, where he works as a tactics instructor at a cavalry school. In 1923 he was promoted to major, and in 1925 transferred to the Ministry of Defense. In 1927, he joined the sixth artillery regiment as commander of the eleventh battalion and in 1929 became an oberst-lieutenant (lieutenant colonel). In 1929, Keitel returned to the Ministry of Defense again, but as head of the organizational department.

From left to right: Rudolph Hess, Joachim Von Ribbentrop, Hermann Goering, Wilhelm Keitel in front of the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg

In the summer of 1931, Keitel traveled around the USSR as part of a German military delegation. The country impresses him with its size and capabilities. When Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933, Keitel was appointed infantry commander. In 1934, Wilhelm's father dies, and he seriously decides to leave the army. However, his wife managed to insist on continuing his service, and Keitel gave in to her. At the end of 1934 he took command of the 22nd Bremen Infantry Division. Keitel did a great job of forming a new combat-ready division, despite the fact that this had a negative impact on his health. By 1935, he had become a complete neurasthenic and smoked a lot. I was treated for a long time for thrombophlebitis in my right leg. Subsequently, almost all the formations in which he participated in the creation were destroyed at Stalingrad. In 1935, Keitel was asked to head the armed forces department. He could not decide on this on his own, but his wife again intervened, forcing Wilhelm to agree. The year 1938 was especially lucky for him. In January, the eldest son, a cavalry lieutenant, proposed to one of the daughters of the German Minister of War Werner von Blomberg. And in February, Keitel became the head of the established Supreme High Command of the Wehrmacht (OKW). Why did Hitler entrust him with this position? Most likely, because Wilhelm could even then unquestioningly carry out any of his orders.

General Walter Warlimont would later write: “Keitel was sincerely convinced that his appointment required him to identify himself with the wishes and instructions of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, even in cases where he personally did not agree with them, and to honestly convey them to the attention of all subordinates.”

Chief of Staff of the Supreme High Command of the German Armed Forces Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, Reich Minister of the Imperial Air Ministry Hermann Goering, Adolf Hitler and Head of the NSDAP Party Chancellery, Hitler's closest ally Martin Bormann. The photo was taken after the most famous assassination attempt on Hitler - he is rubbing his hand, which was damaged in the explosion.

By Wilhelm's decision, the OKW was divided into three parts: the operations department of Alfred Jodl, the intelligence and counterintelligence department or Abwehr of Wilhelm Canaris, and the economic department of Georg Thomas. All three departments had rivals in other departments and services of the “Third Reich”, such as the Army General Staff, the Department of Foreign Affairs, and the Security Service. OKW never worked the way Keitel wanted. The departments did not interact with each other, the number of problems and tasks only grew. The only successful military operation coordinated by the OKW was Weserubung - the occupation of Norway and Denmark, which took 43 days. After Germany's victory over France in the summer of 1940, the Fuhrer became generous and made him a field marshal. Throughout August, Keitel prepared a plan to invade England called "Sea Lion", which was never implemented because Hitler decided to attack the Soviet Union. Frightened, Keitel drew up a document in which he expressed all his objections to this matter and his proposal for resignation. It is not known what the enraged Fuhrer told him, but after that Keitel completely trusted Hitler, turning into his obedient puppet. When, at the beginning of 1941, Hitler decided to completely exterminate the Russian people, Keitel issued the well-known orders for the unconditional extermination of Soviet political workers and the transfer of all power in the occupied East into the hands of Himmler, which was the prologue to genocide. Subsequently, Hitler issued a series of orders designed to break the will of our people. For example, for every German soldier killed in the occupied rear, it was necessary to destroy from 50 to 100 Soviet people. Each of these documents bore Keitel's signature. Completely devoted to the Fuhrer, Wilhelm was exactly the kind of person Hitler tolerated in his circle. Keitel completely lost the respect of his military colleagues; many officers called him a “lackeytel.” When on July 20, 1944, a bomb planted by Colonel Stauffenberg exploded in the “Wolfsschanze” - “Wolf’s Lair”, the OKW chief was shell-shocked and stunned. But a moment later, shouting: “My Fuhrer! Are you alive? ”, already raised Hitler, who suffered much less than the others. After carrying out the operation to suppress the coup, Keitel showed no compassion for the officers involved, many of whom were his friends. In the last days of the war, in the battle for Berlin, Keitel completely lost his sense of reality. He blamed all the military leaders and refused to accept the fact that Germany had lost the war. However, on May 8, 1945, Wilhelm had to sign the act of surrender of Germany. He did this in full dress uniform, with a marshal's baton in his hand.

Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel goes to the signing of the Act of Unconditional Surrender of Germany

He then went to Flensburg-Mürwik, where he was arrested four days later by the British military police. The International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg accused him of conspiracy against peace, committing war crimes and crimes against humanity. Keitel answered all questions directly and agreed only that he was carrying out Hitler's will. However, the tribunal found him guilty on all counts. He was denied execution. On October 16, 1946, immediately after Ribbentrop's execution, Wilhelm Keitel was hanged.

Having climbed the scaffold himself, Keitel said: “I ask Almighty God to be merciful to the people of Germany. More than two million German soldiers died for their fatherland before me. I am coming for my sons - in the name of Germany."

Obviously, the field marshal naively believed that for the last eight years, by conscientiously obeying the Fuhrer, he was fulfilling the will of the entire German people. He completely destroyed the entire Prussian officer corps, definitely not wanting it.

Already with a noose around his neck, Wilhelm shouted: “Deutschland uber alles!” - "Germany above all".

The body of the executed German field marshal Wilhelm Keitel (Wilhelm Bodewin Gustav Keitel, 1882-1946)

BO, Igor Sulimov