Hermann Hoth conflict World War I
Hermann Hoth (12 April 1885 – 25 January 1971) was a German army commander, war criminal, and author. He served as a high-ranking panzer commander in the Wehrmacht during World War II, playing a prominent role in the Battle of France and on the Eastern Front. Contemporaries and later historians consider Hoth one of the most talented armoured warfare commanders of the war. He was a strong believer in Nazism, and units under his command committed several war crimes including the murder of prisoners of war and civilians.
Born in Prussia, Hoth embarked on a career as a military officer early in his youth. After graduating from the Royal Prussian Military Academy, he slowly rose in the ranks of the Imperial German Army. Hoth mainly served in various staff positions in World War I, and after the conflict's conclusion continued to do so in the armed forces of the newly formed Weimar Republic. Following Hitler's seizure of control in Germany, Hoth began to rapidly rise in the ranks and became known as a proponent of motorization in the Wehrmacht.
When World War II broke out, Hoth successfully led the XV Army Corps during the German invasions of Poland and France. He commanded the 3rd Panzer Group during Operation Barbarossa in 1941, a position in which he assisted in the destruction of several Soviet armies. From October 1941, Hoth headed the 17th Army, a period during which he advocated for a war of annihilation against the Soviet Union, the merciless destruction of partisans, and the murder of Jews. In the Wehrmacht's 1942 summer offensive, Hoth led the 4th Panzer Army and took part in the Battle of Stalingrad. When the German 6th Army was encircled at Stalingrad in November 1942, Hoth's army group made an unsuccessful relief attempt. Afterwards, Hoth was involved in the Third Battle of Kharkov as well as the Battle of Kursk, while increasingly suffering from near-burnout. He led the German defense in eastern Ukraine during the Battle of the Dnieper, but was sacked by Adolf Hitler due to the surprise Soviet reconquest of Kiev in November 1943. For the rest of the war, he was mostly relegated to powerless positions.
After the war, Hoth was convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the High Command Trial, mainly regarding his implementation of the criminal Commissar Order and the mistreatment of POWs as well as civilians. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison, but released on parole in 1954. Hoth subsequently became an author, writing about armoured warfare, the development of West Germany's military, and in support of the myth of the clean Wehrmacht.Early life
Early career
Born on 14 April 1885 in Neuruppin, Hoth grew up in Demmin which like Neuruppin was located in Prussia. His parents were Hermann Hoth, a Prussian staff officer surgeon, and Margarethe Hoth (née Hübener). He attended the Gymnasium in Demmin from 1894 to 1896, followed by the Cadet Corps at Potsdam, and the Preußische Hauptkadettenanstalt (Royal Prussian Military Academy) from 1900 to 1904. During his preparation and training to become an officer, Hoth developed what he later recognised was a strong authority bias, something that he did never entirely discard even after the conclusion of his education. The educators at the Cadet Corps also instilled monarchism and the rejection of social democracy in Hoth. He was commissioned as a Leutnant in the Prussian Army in 1903, but his rise in the ranks was slow. He attended the Prussian Staff College from 1910 to 1913, where he learned Russian, and was appointed Oberleutnant in 1912 and Hauptmann in 1914. At this point, he was working at the German General Staff. His first son, Hans Joachim, was born in 1913.Hoth spent almost all of World War I as a staff officer on higher headquarters and only four weeks on the front line. As a result of his skill in Russian, he was assigned to the 8th Army on the Eastern Front in August 1914. In this role, he witnessed the 1914 Russian invasion of East Prussia. This campaign left a deep impact on Hoth, as he saw the Russians waging war with what he regarded as "bestial cruelty". He served under Generalfeldmarschall Paul von Hindenburg during this period, including during the Battle of Tannenberg, and came to greatly admire his superior. In June 1916, he was moved to the Western Front. During the war, Hoth held positions at the German General Staff, various armies, and units, including the Luftstreitkräfte (air arm of the Imperial German Army). He was awarded both classes of the Iron Cross during the war.When Germany surrendered in 1918 amid growing internal turmoil, Hoth felt more loyalty to Hindenburg than the newly formed democratic government in Berlin. In the German Revolution of 1918–1919, Hoth served as a Reichswehr officer and helped to put down left-wing uprisings at Halle. This period hardened his hatred for any form of Communism. Hoth also believed that the failure of the right-wing Kapp Putsch proved that the military had to prevent its misuse in politics. He also married Lola Schubering in 1918. Hoth's second son, Hermann, was born in 1923.He remained in the Reichswehr (the armed forces of the Weimar Republic) in the interwar period, serving at the organization department of the General Staff. He was promoted to Major in 1924. Three years later, Hoth was sent to the Soviet Union as part of secret military cooperation missions. In 1929, he was promoted to Oberstleutnant.
battle warfare struggle fighting combat