Claim: Gerd von Rundstedt was a Field Marshal.

Karl Rudolf Gerd von Rundstedt -LRB- 12 December 1875 -- 24 February 1953 -RRB- was a Field Marshal in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II .   Born into a Prussian family with a long military tradition , Rundstedt entered the Prussian Army in 1892 . During World War I , he served mainly as a staff officer . In the inter-war years , he continued his military career , reaching the rank of Colonel General -LRB- Generaloberst -RRB- before retiring in 1938 .   He was recalled at the beginning of World War II as commander of Army Group South in the invasion of Poland . He commanded Army Group A during the Battle of France , and was promoted to the rank of Field Marshal in 1940 . In the invasion of the Soviet Union , he commanded Army Group South , responsible for the largest encirclement in history , the Battle of Kiev , as well as the largest mass killing of the Holocaust to that date , at Babi Yar . He was relieved of command in December 1941 , but was recalled in 1942 and appointed Commander-in-Chief in the West .   He was dismissed after the German defeat in Normandy in July 1944 , but was again recalled as Commander-in-Chief in the West in September , holding this post until his final dismissal by Adolf Hitler in March 1945 . Rundstedt was aware of the various plots to depose Hitler , but refused to support them . After the war , he was charged with war crimes , but did not face trial due to his age and poor health . He was released in 1949 , and died in 1953 .