page_title: Walter Model
section_title: Suicide
hierarchical_section_title: Walter Model / World War II / Suicide
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Der Grabstein Nummer 1074 auf dem Soldatenfriedhof Vossenack trägt einen prominenten Namen: Hier ruht Walter Model. Português: Pedra do túmulo de Walter Model no Cemitério dos Soldados em Vossenack. A pedra do túmulo nº 1074 no Cemitério dos Soldados em Vossenack, Alemanha traz um proeminente nome: Aqui repousa o general-de-campo Walter Model em meio aos seus companheiros
context_page_description: Otto Moritz Walter Model was a German field marshal during World War II. Although he was a hard-driving, aggressive panzer commander early in the war, Model became best known as a practitioner of defensive warfare. His relative success as commander of the Ninth Army in the retreats of 1941–1942 determined his future career path. He has been called the Third Reich's best defensive tactical commander.
  Model first came to Hitler's attention before World War II, but their relationship did not become especially close until 1942. His tenacious style of fighting and loyalty to the Nazi regime won him plaudits from Hitler, who considered him one of his best field commanders and repeatedly sent him to salvage apparently desperate situations on the Eastern Front. Their relationship broke down by the end of the war after the German defeat at the Battle of the Bulge. In the aftermath of the encirclement and defeat of Army Group B at the Ruhr Pocket, Model committed suicide on 21 April 1945.
context_section_description: Model's decision ended the war for his men, but he  had little desire to witness the aftermath of defeat. He said to his staff before dissolving his command: "Has everything been done to justify our actions in the light of history? What can there be left for a commander in defeat? In antiquity they took poison". His decision to commit suicide was sealed when he learned that the Soviets had indicted him for war crimes, specifically the deaths of 577,000 people in concentration camps in Latvia and the deportation of 175,000 others as slave labor. These acts were committed by the SS and there is no evidence he was aware of them. He shot himself in the head in a forest on 21 April 1945. The site of the event, between Duisburg and the village of Lintorf, is today part of the city of Ratingen.
  Model was buried by his men where he died. In 1955, his son, Hansgeorg Model had Model's remains recovered from its field grave and organized a reburial in the Soldatenfriedhof Vossenack, a German military cemetery in the Hürtgen Forest.
caption: Model's grave at the military cemetery near Vossenack
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