Erich von Manstein Erich von Manstein ( 24 November 1887 – 9 June 1973 ) was one of the most prominent commanders of the " Wehrmacht " , Nazi Germany ' s armed forces during World War II . Attaining the rank of " Generalfeldmarschall " ( Field Marshal ) , he was held in high esteem as one of Germany ' s best military strategists and field commanders . Born into an aristocratic Prussia n family with a long history of military service , Manstein joined the army at a young age and saw service on several fronts during World War I . He had risen to the rank of captain by the end of the war and was active in the inter - war period helping Germany rebuild her armed forces . During the invasion of Poland at the outbreak of World War II , he was serving as Chief of Staff to Gerd von Rundstedt ' s Army Group South . He was one of the planners of " Fall Gelb " ( Case Yellow ) , an offensive through the Ardennes during the invasion of France in 1940 . Attaining the rank of general at the end of the campaign , he was active in the invasion of the Soviet Union and the Siege of Sevastopol and was promoted to Field Marshal in August 1942 . Germany ' s fortunes in the war began to take an unfavourable turn after the disastrous Battle of Stalingrad , where Manstein commanded a failed relief effort . He was one of the primary commanders at the Battle of Kursk , one of the last major battles of the war and one of the largest battles in history . His ongoing disagreements with Hitler over the conduct of the war led to his dismissal in March 1944 . He never obtained another command and was taken prisoner by the British in August 1945 , several months after Germany ' s defeat . Manstein gave testimony at the main Nuremberg Trials of war criminals in August 1946 , and prepared a paper that , along with his later memoirs , helped contribute to the myth of a " clean Wehrmacht " — the myth that the German armed forces were not culpable for the atrocities of the Holocaust . In 1949 he was tried in Hamburg for war crimes and was convicted on nine of seventeen counts , including the poor treatment of prisoners of war and failing to protect civilian lives in his sphere of operations . His sentence of eighteen years in prison was later reduced to twelve , and he served only four years before being released in 1953 . As a military advisor to the West German government in the mid - 1950s , he helped re - establish the armed forces . His successful memoir , " Verlorene Siege " ( 1955 ) , translated into English as " Lost Victories " , was highly critical of Hitler ' s leadership , and focused strictly on the military aspects of the war , ignoring the political and ethical context . Manstein died in Munich in 1973 . Early life . He was born Fritz Erich Georg Eduard von Lewinski in Berlin , the tenth son of a Prussia n aristocrat and artillery general , Eduard von Lewinski ( 1829 – 1906 ) , and Helene von Sperling ( 1847 – 1910 ) . His father ' s family had Polish ancestry , and was entitled to use the Brochwicz coat of arms ( Brochwicz III ) . Hedwig von Sperling ( 1852 – 1925 ) , Helene ' s younger sister , was married to Lieutenant General Georg von Manstein ( 1844 – 1913 ) ; the couple was unable to have children , so they adopted Erich . They had previously adopted Erich ' s cousin Martha , the daughter of Helene and Hedwig ' s deceased brother . Manstein ' s biological and adoptive fathers were both Prussian generals , as were his mother ' s brother and both his grandfathers ( one of them , Albrecht Gustav von Manstein , had led a corps in the Franco - Prussian War of 1870 – 71 ) . Sixteen relatives on each side of his family were military officers , many of whom rose to the rank of general . Paul von Hindenburg , the future " Generalfeldmarschall " and President of Germany , was his uncle ; Hindenburg ' s wife , Gertrud , was Hedwig and Helene ' s sister . He attended the Imperial " Lyzeum " , a Catholic " Gymnasium " in Strasbourg ( 1894 – 99 ) . After six years in the cadet corps ( 1900 – 1906 ) in Plön and Groß - Lichterfelde , he joined the Third Foot Guards Regiment ( " Garde zu Fuß " ) in March 1906 as an ensign . He was promoted to lieutenant in January 1907 and entered the three - year officer ' s training programme at the Prussian War Academy in October 1913 . Manstein only completed his first year of studies ; all academy students were ordered to report for active duty when World War I began in August 1914 . He never completed the balance of his general staff officer ' s training . Early military career . World War I . During World War I , Manstein served on both the German Western and Eastern Fronts . He was promoted to lieutenant and stationed in Belgium with the 2nd Guard Reserve Infantry Regiment at the onset of the war . In August 1914 he took part in the capture of Namur , the site of a massive citadel surrounded by outlying forts . Manstein ' s unit was one of two transferred to East Prussia in September and attached to the Eighth Army , commanded by Hindenburg . After seeing action in the First Battle of the Masurian Lakes , his unit was soon reassigned to the Ninth Army , which was in the process of advancing from Upper Silesia to Warsaw . Overstretched , the Ninth Army was forced to withdraw in the face of a Russian counterattack . Manstein was wounded during the retreat when he was among a detachment that stormed a Russian entrenchment on 16 November . He was shot in the left shoulder and the left knee ; one bullet hit his sciatic nerve , causing the leg to be numb . Recovery took six months in hospital in Beuthen and Wiesbaden . After a period of home leave , Manstein was reassigned on 17 June 1915 as assistant general staff officer of operations for the Tenth Army , commanded by Max von Gallwitz . Soon promoted to captain , he learned first - hand how to plan and conduct offensive operations as the Tenth Army undertook successful attacks of Poland , Lithuania , Montenegro , and Albania . During offensive operations at Verdun in early 1916 , Manstein was stationed with Gallwitz and his staff at a new headquarters near the action . He next served as a staff supply officer under General Fritz von Below and chief of staff Fritz von Lossberg at a command post near the River Somme ; the area was the scene of several battles over the course of the war . British and French operations from July to November 1916 forced a German withdrawal over the winter to the Hindenburg Line , a series of defensive positions between Verdun and Lens . Manstein continued to serve under Below until October 1917 , when he was transferred as chief of staff to the 4th Cavalry Division , serving in Riga during the German occupation of the area . As a result of the signing of the Treaty of Brest - Litovsk in March 1918 , Manstein ' s unit was no longer needed on the Eastern Front ; he was reassigned to the 213th Infantry Division near Reims . The Germans saw some minor successes in the area but were beginning to lose the war . The armistice was signed on 11 November 1918 . Inter - war era . Manstein married Jutta Sibylle von Loesch , the daughter of a Silesian landowner , in 1920 . He proposed marriage after having known her for only three days . She died in 1966 . They had three children : a daughter , Gisela ( born 1921 ) , and two sons , Gero ( 1922 ) and Rüdiger ( 1929 ) . Gero died on the battlefield in the northern sector of the Eastern Front on 29 October 1942 while serving as a lieutenant in the " Wehrmacht " . Gisela was married to Major Edel - Heinrich Zachariae - Lingenthal , a highly decorated soldier who served as commander of II . / Panzer - Regiment 15 during World War II . Manstein remained in the armed forces after World War I . In 1918 he volunteered for a staff position with the Frontier Defence Force in Breslau ( now Wroclaw ) and served there until 1919 . As part of " Gruppenkommando " II , he participated in the restructuring of the German Imperial Army of 500 , 000 men into the " Reichswehr " , the army of the Weimar Republic ( restricted to 100 , 000 men by the Versailles Treaty ) . Recognised from an early age as being a talented and intelligent commander , he was chosen as one of the only 4 , 000 officers permitted under the treaty . He was appointed company commander of the sixth company of the 5th Prussian Infantry Regiment in 1921 and served as a staff officer for " Wehrkrieskommando " II and IV through 1927 , where he taught military history and tactics . In 1927 he was promoted to major and served with the General Staff at the Reichswehr Ministry in Berlin , visiting other countries to learn about their military facilities and helping to draft mobilisation plans for the army . Promoted to lieutenant colonel , he was placed in charge of the light infantry battalion of the 4th Infantry Regiment , serving with that unit until 1934 . In 1933 the Nazi Party seized power in Germany , thus ending the Weimar period . In violation of the Versailles treaty , the Reichswehr had been secretly re - arming since the 1920s ; the new regime renounced the Treaty and proceeded with large scale rearmament and expansion of the military . Manstein was moved back to Berlin as full colonel in February 1934 , serving as chief of staff of " Wehrkreiskommando " III . On 1 July 1935 he was appointed the Head of the Operations Branch of the Army General Staff ( " Generalstab des Heeres " ) , part of the Army High Command ( " Oberkommando des Heeres " – OKH ) . During his tenure there , Manstein was one of the people responsible for the development of " Fall Rot " ( Case Red ) , a defensive plan to protect Germany from attack by France . During this period Manstein came into contact with Heinz Guderian and Oswald Lutz , who advocated drastic changes in warfare , emphasising the role of the Panzer . However , officers like Ludwig Beck , Chief of the Army General Staff , were against such drastic changes , and therefore Manstein proposed an alternative : the development of " Sturmgeschütz e " ( StuG ) , self - propelled assault guns that would provide heavy direct - fire support to infantry . In World War II , the resulting StuG vehicles proved to be among the most successful and cost - effective German weapons . He was promoted to major general in October 1936 , becoming the Deputy Chief of Staff ( " Oberquartiermeister I " ) to General Beck . On 4 February 1938 Manstein was transferred to the command of the 18th Infantry Division in Liegnitz , Silesia , with the rank of Generalleutnant . The transfer meant that Manstein did not receive Beck ' s post as Chief of the Army General Staff that August ( Beck had resigned , in spite of Manstein ' s urgings not to do so , as he felt Hitler ' s intended invasion of Czechoslovakia that October would be premature ) . The position was given to General Franz Halder , who had taken Manstein ' s former post as Deputy Chief of Staff . The incident created a lasting hatred between the two men . On 20 April 1939 Manstein delivered a speech at the celebration of Hitler ' s 50th birthday , in which he praised Hitler as a leader sent by God to save Germany . He warned the " hostile world " that if it kept erecting " ramparts around Germany to block the way of the German people towards their future " , then he would be quite happy to see the world plunged into another world war . Israeli historian Omer Bartov notes that the rise of officers such as Manstein was a part of a tendency for technocratic officers , usually ardent National Socialists , to come to the fore ; his opinion is that the Wehrmacht was fully integrated into the Third Reich , not a separate apolitical organisation independent of the Nazi regime . World War II . Poland . On 18 August 1939 , in preparation for " Fall Weiss " ( Case White ) — the German invasion of Poland — Manstein was appointed Chief of Staff to Gerd von Rundstedt ' s Army Group South . Here he worked along with von Rundstedt ' s Chief of Operations , Colonel Günther Blumentritt , to develop the operational plan . Von Rundstedt accepted Manstein ' s plan calling for the concentration of the majority of the army group ' s armoured units into Walther von Reichenau ' s 10th Army , with the objective of a decisive breakthrough which would lead to the encirclement of Polish forces west of the Vistula River . In Manstein ' s plan , two other armies comprising Army Group South , Wilhelm List ' s 14th Army and Johannes Blaskowitz ' s 8th Army , would provide flank support for Reichenau ' s armoured thrust towards Warsaw , the Polish capital . Privately , Manstein was lukewarm about the Polish campaign , thinking that it would be better to keep Poland as a buffer between Germany and the Soviet Union . He also worried about an Allied attack from the west once the Polish campaign was underway , which would draw Germany into a two - front war . Manstein took part in a conference on 22 August 1939 where Hitler underlined to his commanders the need for the physical destruction of Poland as a nation . After the war , he would state in his memoirs that he did not recognise at the time of this meeting that Hitler was going to pursue a policy of extermination against the Poles . He did become aware of the policy later on , as he and other " Wehrmacht " generals received reports on the activities of the " Einsatzgruppen " , the " Schutzstaffel " ( SS ) death squads tasked with following the army into Poland to kill intellectuals and other civilians . These squads were also assigned to round up Jews and others for relocation to ghettos and Nazi concentration camps . Manstein later faced three charges of war crimes relating to Jewish and civilian deaths in the sectors under his control , and the mistreatment and deaths of prisoners of war . Launched on 1 September 1939 , the invasion began successfully . In Army Group South ' s area of responsibility under von Rundstedt , the 8th , 10th , and 14th Armies pursued the retreating Poles . The initial plan was for the 8th Army , the northernmost of the three , to advance towards Łódź . The 10th Army , with its motorised divisions , was to move quickly towards the Vistula , and the 14th Army was to advance and attempt to encircle the Polish troops in the Krakow area . These actions led to the encirclement and defeat of Polish forces in the Radom area on 8 – 14 September by six German corps . Meanwhile the German Eighth Army was under attack from the north , so elements of the Fourth , Eighth , and Tenth Armies were quickly redeployed with air support in an improvised attempt to cut off any Polish break - out back towards Warsaw . The flexibility and agility of the German forces led to the defeat of nine Polish infantry divisions and other units in the resulting Battle of the Bzura ( 8 – 19 September ) , the largest engagement of the war thus far . The conquest of Poland was quickly over , with the last Polish military units surrendering on 6 October . France . " Fall Gelb " ( " Case Yellow " ) , the initial plan for the invasion of France , was prepared by Commander - in - Chief of the Army Colonel General ( " Generaloberst " ) Walther von Brauchitsch , Halder , and other members of the OKH in early October 1939 . Like the Schlieffen Plan of World War I , it called for an encirclement attack through the Netherlands and Belgium . Hitler was not satisfied , so revisions of the plan continued throughout October . Manstein was not satisfied with the plan either , as it focused heavily on the northern wing ; he felt an attack from this direction would lack the element of surprise and would expose the German forces to counterattacks from the south . The terrain in Belgium was not well - suited as a base of operations for further attacks on France , so Manstein felt the operation would fail to wipe out the enemy — as it did in the First World War — leading to only partial success and trench warfare . By the end of October Manstein had prepared the outline of a different plan and submitted it to the OKH via his superior , von Rundstedt , for whom he was now serving as chief of staff of Army Group A . Manstein ' s plan , developed with the informal cooperation of Heinz Guderian , suggested that the Panzer divisions attack through the wooded hills of the Ardennes where no one would expect them , then establish bridgeheads on the Meuse River and rapidly drive to the English Channel . The Germans would thus cut off the French and Allied armies in Belgium and Flanders . This part of the plan later became known as the " Sichelschnitt " ( " sickle cut " ) . Manstein ' s proposal also included a second thrust outflanking the Maginot Line , which would allow the Germans to force any future defensive line much further south . The OKH originally rejected the proposal ; Halder in particular said the plan was entirely without merit . However , on 11 November , Hitler ordered the reallocation of the forces needed to make a surprise thrust in Sedan , thus pushing the plan in the direction that Manstein had suggested . When documents outlining details of " Fall Gelb " fell into the hands of the Belgians on 10 January 1940 , Hitler became even more receptive to change . But Manstein ' s superiors , Generals Halder and von Brauchitsch , resented Manstein ' s repeated insistence that his plan be implemented in place of theirs . Halder had Manstein removed from von Rundstedt ' s headquarters and sent to Stettin to command the XXXVIII Army Corps on 27 January . Hitler , still looking for a more aggressive plan , approved a modified version of Manstein ' s ideas , today known as the Manstein Plan , after meeting with him on 17 February . Manstein and his corps played a minor role during the operations in France , serving under Günther von Kluge ' s 4th Army . His corps helped achieve the first breakthrough east of Amiens during " Fall Rot " ( " Case Red " – the second phase of the invasion plan ) , and was the first to reach and cross the River Seine . The invasion of France was an outstanding military success ; Manstein was promoted to full general and awarded the Knight ' s Cross of the Iron Cross . Seelöwe . Manstein was a proponent of the prospective German invasion of Great Britain , named Operation Seelöwe . He considered the operation risky but necessary . Early studies by various staff officers determined that air superiority was a prerequisite to the planned invasion . His corps was to be shipped across the English Channel from Boulogne to Bexhill as one of four units assigned to the first wave . But as the Luftwaffe failed to decisively beat the Royal Air Force during the Battle of Britain , Operation Seelöwe was postponed indefinitely on 12 October . For the rest of the year , Manstein , with little to do , spent time in Paris and at home . Barbarossa . In early 1941 the German High Command commenced planning the invasion of the Soviet Union , codenamed Operation Barbarossa . On 15 March Manstein was appointed commander of the LVI Panzer Corps ; he was one of 250 commanders to be briefed for the upcoming major offensive , first seeing detailed plans of the offensive in May . His corps was part of the Fourth Panzer Group under the command of General Erich Hoepner in Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb ' s Army Group North . The Army Group was tasked with thrusting through the Baltic States and then advancing on Leningrad . Manstein arrived at the front only six days prior to the launch of the offensive . Operation Barbarossa commenced on 22 June 1941 with a massive German attack along the whole front line . Manstein ' s corps was to advance with Georg - Hans Reinhardt ' s XLI Panzer Corps to the Dvina River to secure the bridges near the town of Daugavpils . The Soviets mounted a number of counterattacks , but those were aimed against Reinhardt ' s corps , leading to the Battle of Raseiniai . Manstein ' s corps advanced rapidly , reaching the Dvina River , distant , in just 100 hours . Overextended and well ahead of the rest of the army group , he fended off a number of determined Soviet counterattacks . After Reinhardt ' s corps closed in , the two corps were tasked with encircling the Soviet formations around Luga in a pincer movement . Again having penetrated deep into the Soviet lines with unprotected flanks , his corps was the target of a Soviet counteroffensive from 15 July at Soltsy by the Soviet 11th Army , commanded by Nikolai Vatutin . Manstein ' s 8th Panzer Division was cut off . Although it was able to fight its way free , it was badly mauled , and the Soviets succeeded in halting Manstein ' s advance at Luga . The corps regrouped at Dno . The 8th Panzers were sent on anti - partisan duties and Manstein was given the 4th SS Polizei Division . The attack on Luga was repeatedly delayed . The assault on Luga was still underway when Manstein received orders on 10 August that his next task would be to begin the advance toward Leningrad . No sooner had he moved to his new headquarters at Lake Samro than he was told to send his men towards Staraya Russa to relieve the X Corps , which was in danger of being encircled . On 12 August the Soviets had launched an offensive with the 11th and 34th Armies against Army Group North , cutting off three divisions . Frustrated with the loss of the 8th Panzer and the missed opportunity to advance on Leningrad , Manstein returned to Dno . His counteroffensive led to a major Soviet defeat when his unit encircled five Soviet divisions , receiving air support for the first time on that front . They captured 12 , 000 prisoners and 141 tanks . His opponent , General Kuzma M . Kachanov of the 34th Army , was subsequently court martialed and executed for the defeat . Manstein tried to obtain rest days for his men , who had been constantly fighting in poor terrain and increasingly poor weather since the start of the campaign , but to no avail . They were ordered to advance to the east on Demyansk . On 12 September , when he was near the city , he was informed that he would take over 11th Army of Army Group South in Ukraine . Crimea and the Battle of Sevastopol . In September 1941 Manstein was appointed commander of the 11th Army after its previous commander , Colonel - General Eugen Ritter von Schobert , perished when his plane landed in a Russian minefield . The 11th Army was tasked with invading the Crimean Peninsula , capturing Sevastopol , and pursuing enemy forces on the flank of Army Group South during its advance into Russia . Hitler ' s intention was to prevent the Russians from using airbases there , and to cut off the Russian supply of oil from the Caucasus . Manstein ' s forces — mostly infantry — achieved a rapid breakthrough during the first days against heavy Soviet resistance . After most of the neck of the Perekop Isthmus had been taken , his forces were substantially reduced , leaving six German divisions and the Romanian Third Army . The rest of the Perekop Isthmus was captured slowly and with some difficulty ; Manstein complained of a lack of air support to contest Russian air superiority in the region . He next created a mobile reconnaissance unit to press down the peninsula , cutting the road between Simferopol and Sevastopol on 31 October . Simferopol was captured the next day . The 11th Army had captured all of the Crimean Peninsula — except for Sevastopol — by 16 November . Meanwhile , the Red Army had evacuated 300 , 000 personnel out of the city by sea . Manstein ' s first attack on Sevastopol in November failed , and with insufficient forces left for an immediate assault , he ordered an investment of the heavily fortified city . By 17 December he launched another offensive , which also failed . On 26 December the Soviets landed on the Kerch Strait s to retake Kerch and its peninsula , and on 30 December executed another landing near Feodosiya . Only a hurried withdrawal from the area , in contravention of Manstein ' s orders , by the 46th Infantry Division under General Hans Graf von Sponeck prevented a collapse of the eastern part of the Crimea ; the division lost most of its heavy equipment . Manstein cancelled a planned resumption of the attack and sent most of his forces east to destroy the Soviet bridgehead . The Soviets were in a superior position regarding men and materiel as they were able to re - supply by sea , and were therefore pushed by Stalin to conduct further offensives . However , the Russians were unable to capture the critical rail and road access points which would have cut the German lines of supply . For the Battle of the Kerch Peninsula , launched on 8 May 1942 , Hitler finally assigned Manstein major air support . The 11th Army was outnumbered on the ground , so Manstein had them feint an attack in the north while the bulk of the force attacked to the south . The Soviets were soon fleeing . Manstein recorded in his memoirs the capture of " 170 , 000 prisoners , 1 , 133 guns , and 258 tanks " . Kerch was captured on 16 May . The Germans lost only 8 , 000 men . After a month ' s delay , Manstein turned his attention once more to the capture of Sevastopol , a battle in which Germany used some of the largest guns ever built . Along with large numbers of regular artillery pieces , super - heavy Karl - Gerät mortars and the " Dora " railway gun were brought in for the assault . A furious barrage began on the morning of 2 June 1942 . All of the resources of the " Luftwaffe " s " Luftflotte 4 " , commanded by Wolfram von Richthofen , were committed ; the barrage continued for five days before the ground assault began . The 11th Army gained ground during mid - June , focusing their attention on the northern approaches to the city . Casualties were high on both sides as the month dragged on . Aware of the need to act before the German summer offensive of 1942 reduced the availability of reinforcements and supplies , Manstein ordered a surprise attack using amphibious landings across Severnaya Bay on 29 June . The operation was a success ; Soviet resistance crumbled . On 1 July German forces entered the city while the Soviets conducted a disorganised evacuation , and Hitler promoted Manstein to " Generalfeldmarschall " the same day . The entire city was in German hands by 4 July . During the Crimean campaign , Manstein was indirectly involved in atrocities against the Soviet population , especially those committed by " Einsatzgruppe " D , one of several Schutzstaffel ( SS ) groups that had been tasked with the elimination of the Jews of Europe . " Einsatzgruppe " D travelled in the wake of Manstein ' s 11th Army , and were provided by Manstein ' s command with vehicles , fuel , and drivers . Military police cordoned off areas where the " Einsatzgruppe " planned to shoot Jews to prevent anyone from escaping . Captain Ulrich Gunzert , shocked to have witnessed " Einsatzgruppe " D massacre a group of Jewish women and children , went to Manstein to ask him to do something to stop the killings . Gunzert states that Manstein told him to forget what he had seen and to focus on fighting the Red Army . Gunzert later called Manstein ' s inaction " a flight from responsibility , a moral failure " . Eleven of the seventeen charges against Manstein at his later war crimes trial were related to Nazi maltreatment and killing of Jews and prisoners of war in the Crimea . Leningrad . After the capture of Sevastopol , Hitler felt Manstein was the right man to command the forces at Leningrad , which had been under siege since September 1941 . With elements of the 11th Army , Manstein was transferred to the Leningrad front , arriving on 27 August 1942 . Manstein again lacked the proper forces to storm the city , so he planned Operation Nordlicht , a bold plan for a thrust to cut off Leningrad ' s supply line at Lake Ladoga . However , on the day of his arrival , the Soviets launched the Sinyavin Offensive . Originally planned as spoiling attack against Georg Lindemann ' s 18th Army in the narrow German salient west of Lake Ladoga , the offensive appeared able to break through the German lines , lifting the siege . Hitler , bypassing the usual chain of command , telephoned Manstein directly and ordered him to take offensive action in the area . After a series of heavy battles , he launched a counterattack on 21 September that cut off the two Soviet armies in the salient . Fighting continued throughout October . Although the Soviet offensive was fended off , the resulting attrition meant that the Germans could no longer execute a decisive assault on Leningrad , and " Nordlicht " was put on hold . The siege was finally lifted by the Soviets in January 1944 . Stalingrad . In an attempt to resolve their persistent shortage of oil , the Germans had launched " Fall Blau " ( Case Blue ) , a massive offensive aimed against the Caucasian oilfields , in the summer of 1942 . After German air attacks , the 6th Army , led by Friedrich Paulus , was tasked with capturing Stalingrad , a key city on the Volga River . His troops , supported by 4th Panzer Army , entered the city on 12 September . Hand - to - hand combat and street fighting ensued . The Soviets launched a huge counteroffensive on 19 November , codenamed Operation Uranus , which was designed to encircle the German armies and trap them in the city ; this goal was accomplished on 23 November . Hitler , aware that if Stalingrad were lost it would likely never be retaken , appointed Manstein as commander of the newly created Army Group Don ( " Heeresgruppe Don " ) , tasked with mounting a relief operation named " Unternehmen Wintergewitter " ( Operation Winter Storm ) , to reinforce the German hold on the city . Manstein ' s initial assessment on 24 November was that the 6th Army , given adequate air support , would be able to hold on . Launched on 12 December , Winter Storm achieved some initial success . Manstein ' s three Panzer divisions ( comprising the 23rd , 6th , and 17th Panzer Divisions ) and supporting units of the LVII Panzer Corps advanced to within of Stalingrad by 20 December at the Myshkova River , where they came under assault by Soviet tanks in blizzard conditions . Manstein made a request to Hitler on 18 December that 6th Army should attempt to break out . Hitler was against it , and both Manstein and Paulus were reluctant to openly disobey his orders . Conditions deteriorated inside the city ; the men suffered from lice , the cold weather , and inadequate supplies of food and ammunition . Reichsminister of Aviation Hermann Göring had assured Hitler that the trapped 6th Army could be adequately supplied by air , but due to poor weather , a lack of aircraft , and mechanical difficulties , this turned out not to be the case . On 24 January , Manstein urged Hitler to allow Paulus to surrender , but he refused . In spite of Hitler ' s wishes , Paulus surrendered with his remaining 91 , 000 troops on 31 January 1943 . Some 200 , 000 German and Romanian soldiers died ; of those who surrendered , only 6 , 000 survivors returned to Germany at the end of the war . American historians Williamson Murray and Allan Millett wrote that Manstein ' s message to Hitler on 24 November advising him that the 6th Army should not break out , along with Göring ' s statements that the Luffwaffe could supply Stalingrad , " . . . sealed the fate of Sixth Army " . Historians , including Gerhard Weinberg , have pointed out that Manstein ' s version of the events at Stalingrad in his memoir is distorted and several events described there were probably made up . " Because of the sensitivity of the Stalingrad question in post - war Germany , Manstein worked as hard to distort the record on this matter as on his massive involvement in the murder of Jews " , wrote Weinberg . Meanwhile , the Soviets launched an offensive of their own . Operation Saturn was intended to capture Rostov and thus cut off the German Army Group A . However , after the launch of Winter Storm , the Soviets had to reallocate forces to prevent the relief of Stalingrad , so the operation was scaled down and redubbed " Little Saturn " . The offensive forced Manstein to divert forces to avoid the collapse of the entire front . The attack also prevented the XLVIII Panzer Corps ( comprising the 336th Infantry Division , the 3rd Luftwaffe Field Division , and the 11th Panzer Division ) , under the command of General Otto von Knobelsdorff , from joining up with the LVII Panzer Corps as planned to aid the relief effort . Instead , the XLVIII Panzer Corps held a line along the Chir River , beating off successive Russian attacks . General Hermann Balck used the 11th Panzer Division to counterattack Soviet salients . On the verge of collapse , the German units were able to hold the line , but the Italian 8th Army on the flanks was overwhelmed and subsequently destroyed . Spurred on by this success , the Soviets planned a series of follow - up offensives in January and February 1943 intended to decisively beat the Germans in southern Russia . After the destruction of the remaining Hungarian and Italian forces during the Ostrogozhsk – Rossosh Offensive , Operation Star and Operation Gallop were launched to recapture Kharkov and Kursk and to cut off all German forces east of Donetsk . Those operations succeeded in breaking through the German lines and threatened the whole southern part of the German front . To deal with this threat , Army Group Don , Army Group B , and parts of Army Group A were united as Army Group South ( " Heeresgruppe Süd " ) under Manstein ' s command in early February . Kharkov operation . During their offensives in February 1943 , the Soviets broke through the German lines , retaking Kursk on 9 February . As Army Groups B and Don were in danger of being surrounded , Manstein repeatedly called for reinforcements . Although Hitler called on 13 February for Kharkov to be held " at all costs " , SS - Oberst - Gruppenführer Paul Hausser , commander of the II SS Panzer Corps , ordered the city evacuated on 15 February . Hitler arrived at the front in person on 17 February , and over the course of three days of exhausting meetings , Manstein convinced him that offensive action was needed in the area to regain the initiative and prevent encirclement . Troops were reorganised and reinforcements were pulled into the zone from neighbouring armies . Manstein immediately began planning a counteroffensive , launched on 20 February , that later became known as the " backhand blow " ; Vatutin and the Soviet forces , believing that Manstein would retreat , were taken completely by surprise . By 2 March , the Germans had captured 615 tanks and had killed some 23 , 000 Russian soldiers . To reinforce the point that the recapture of Kharkov was important politically , Hitler returned to the front on 10 March . Manstein carefully assembled his available forces along a wide front to prevent their encirclement and recaptured Kharkov on 14 March , after bloody street fighting in the Third Battle of Kharkov . For this accomplishment , he received the Oak Leaves for the Knight ' s Cross . Hausser ' s II SS Panzer Corps captured Belgorod on 18 March . Manstein ' s counteroffensive had not only prevented the disintegration of the entire front , it had regained substantial territory and resulted in the destruction of three Soviet armies and the retreat of three others . Soviet casualties for the preceding month in that sector had been 46 , 000 dead and 14 , 000 taken prisoner . Captured or destroyed were 600 tanks and 1 , 200 pieces of artillery . The spring thaw began by 23 March , ending operations in the area for the time being . Planning was then undertaken to eliminate the enemy salient at Kursk . Operation " Zitadelle " . Manstein favoured an immediate pincer attack on the Kursk salient after the battle at Kharkov , but Hitler was concerned that such a plan would draw forces away from the industrial region in the Donets Basin . In any event , the ground was still too muddy to move the tanks into position . In lieu of an immediate attack , the OKH prepared Operation " Zitadelle " ( Citadel ) , the launching of which would be delayed while more troops were gathered in the area and the mud solidified . Meanwhile the Soviets , well aware of the danger of encirclement , also moved in large numbers of reinforcements , and their intelligence reports revealed the expected locations and timing of the German thrusts . Citadel was the last German strategic offensive on the Eastern Front , and one of the largest battles in history , involving more than four million men . By the time the Germans launched their initial assault on 5 July 1943 , the Russians outnumbered them by nearly three to one . Walther Model was in command of the northern pincer , with the Ninth Army , while Manstein ' s Army Group South formed the southern pincer . Both armies were slowed as the tanks were blown up in minefields and caught up in combat on a series of prepared Soviet defensive lines . After five days of fighting Model ' s advance was stopped , with the Ninth Panzers suffering 25 , 000 casualties . By 13 July Model ' s forces were being drawn away towards Orel , where the Soviets had launched Operation Kutuzov . Manstein ' s forces were able to penetrate the Soviet lines , causing heavy casualties . He reached Prokhorovka , his first major objective , on 11 July , inflicting serious Soviet losses in the resulting Battle of Prokhorovka . However , on 13 July Hitler called off the failed Kursk offensive ; the Allies had landed in Sicily , so he issued the order for a withdrawal . Manstein protested ; he felt that the Soviets had exhausted all their reserves in the area , and he did not want to stop until all his own reserves had been committed . Hitler , however , insisted on calling off the operation . Although Soviet casualties were indeed heavy , modern historians discount the possibility of a successful German continuation of the offensive . From Kursk to the Dnieper . Manstein regarded the Battle of Kursk as something of a German victory , as he believed that he had destroyed much of the Red Army ' s offensive capacity for the rest of 1943 . This assessment turned out to be incorrect , as the Soviets were able to recover much more quickly than anyone expected . Manstein moved his panzer reserves to the Mius River and the lower Dnieper , not realising the Soviet activities there were a diversion . A Soviet offensive that began on 3 August put Army Group South under heavy pressure . After two days of heavy fighting , the Soviets broke though the German lines and retook Belgorod , punching a wide hole between Fourth Panzer Army and Armee Abteilung " Kempf " , tasked with holding Kharkov . In response to Manstein ' s demands for reinforcements , Hitler sent the " Großdeutschland " , 7th Panzers , SS 2nd " Das Reich " , and SS 3rd " Totenkopf " Divisions . Construction began of defensive positions along the Dnieper , but Hitler refused requests to pull back , insisting that Kharkov be held . With reinforcements trickling in , Manstein waged a series of counterattacks and armoured battles near Bohodukhiv and Okhtyrka between 13 and 17 August , which resulted in heavy casualties as they ran into prepared Soviet lines . On 20 August he informed the OKH that his forces in the Donets river area were holding a too - wide front with insufficient numbers , and that he needed to either withdraw to the Dnieper River or receive reinforcements . Continuous pressure from the Soviets had separated Army Group Centre from Army Group South and severely threatened Manstein ' s northern flank . When the Soviets threw their main reserves behind a drive to retake Kharkov on 21 – 22 August , Manstein took advantage of this to close the gap between the 4th Panzer and 8th Armies and reestablish a defensive line . Hitler finally allowed Manstein to withdraw back across the Dnieper on 15 September . During the withdrawal , Manstein ordered scorched earth actions to be taken in a zone from the river , and later faced charges at his war crimes trial for issuing this order . Soviet losses in July and August included over 1 . 6 million casualties , 10 , 000 tanks and self - propelled artillery pieces , and 4 , 200 aircraft . German losses , while only one - tenth that of the Russian losses , were much more difficult to sustain , as there were no further reserves of men and materiel to draw on . In a series of four meetings that September , Manstein tried unsuccessfully to convince Hitler to reorganise the high command and let his generals make more of the military decisions . Dnieper campaign . In September 1943 Manstein withdrew to the west bank of the Dnieper in an operation that for the most part was well - ordered , but at times degenerated into a disorganised rout as his exhausted soldiers became " unglued " . Hundreds of thousands of Russian civilians travelled west with them , many bringing livestock and personal property . Manstein correctly deduced that the next Soviet attack would be towards Kiev , but as had been the case throughout the campaign , the Soviets used " maskirovka " ( deception ) to disguise the timing and exact location of their intended offensive . Historians Williamson Murray and Allan Reed Millett wrote that many German generals ' " fanatical belief " in Nazi racial theories " . . . made the idea that Slavs could manipulate German intelligence with such consistency utterly inconceivable " . The 1st Ukrainian Front , led by Nikolai Fyodorovich Vatutin , met the outnumbered Fourth Panzer Army near Kiev . Vatutin first made a thrust near Liutezh , just north of Kiev , and then attacked near Bukrin , to the south , on 1 November . The Germans , thinking Bukrin would be the location of the main attack , were taken completely by surprise when Vatutin captured the bridgehead at Liutezh and gained a foothold on the west bank of the Dnieper . Kiev was liberated on 6 November . The 17th Army was cut off and isolated in the Crimea by the attacking 4th Ukrainian Front on 28 October . Under the guidance of General Hermann Balck , the cities of Zhytomyr and Korosten were retaken in mid - November , but after receiving reinforcements Vatutin resumed the offensive on 24 December 1943 , and the Soviets continued to succeed . Manstein ' s repeated requests to Hitler for more reinforcements were turned down . On 4 January 1944 Manstein met with Hitler to tell him that the Dnieper line was untenable and that he needed to retreat in order to save his forces . Hitler refused , and Manstein again requested changes in the highest levels of the military leadership , but was turned down , as Hitler believed that he alone was capable of managing the wider strategy . In January Manstein was forced to retreat further west by the Soviet offensive . Without waiting for permission from Hitler , he ordered the German XI and XXXXII Corps ( consisting of 56 , 000 men in six divisions ) of Army Group South to break out of the Korsun Pocket during the night of 16 – 17 February 1944 . By the beginning of March , the Soviets had driven the Germans well back of the river . Because of Hitler ' s directive of 19 March that from that point forward all positions were to be defended to the last man , Manstein ' s 1st Panzer Army became encircled on 21 March when permission to break out was not received from Hitler in time . Manstein flew to Hitler ' s headquarters in Lvov to try to convince him to change his mind . Hitler eventually relented , but relieved Manstein of his command on 30 March 1944 . Manstein appeared on the cover of the 10 January 1944 issue of " Time " magazine , above the caption " Retreat may be subtle , but victory lies in the other direction " . Dismissal . Manstein received the Swords of the Knight ' s Cross on 30 March 1944 and handed over control of Army Group South to Model on 2 April . While on medical leave after surgery to remove a cataract in his right eye , Manstein recovered at home in Liegnitz and in a medical facility in Dresden . He suffered from an infection and for a time was in danger of losing his sight . On the day of the failed 20 July plot , an assassination attempt on Hitler ' s life that was part of a planned military " coup d ' état " , Manstein was at a seaside resort on the Baltic . Although he had met at various times with three of the main conspirators — Claus von Stauffenberg , Henning von Tresckow , and Rudolf Christoph Freiherr von Gersdorff — Manstein was not involved in the conspiracy ; he later said " " Preussische Feldmarschälle meutern nicht " " – " Prussian field marshals do not mutiny . " Still , the Gestapo placed Manstein ' s house under surveillance . When it became obvious that Hitler would not be appointing him to a new post , Manstein bought an estate in East Pomerania in October 1944 , but was soon forced to abandon it as Soviet forces overran the area . His home at Liegnitz had to be evacuated on 22 January 1945 , and he and his family took refuge temporarily with friends in Berlin . While there , Manstein tried to get an audience with Hitler in the Führerbunker , but was turned away . He and his family continued to move further west into Germany until the war in Europe ended with a German defeat in May 1945 . Manstein suffered further complications in his right eye and was receiving treatment in a hospital in Heiligenhafen when he was arrested by the British and transferred to a prisoner of war camp near Lüneburg on 26 August . Postwar . Trial . Manstein was moved to Nuremberg in October 1945 . He was held at the Palace of Justice , the location of the Nuremberg Trials of major Nazi war criminals and organisations . While there , Manstein helped prepare a 132 - page document for the defence of the General Staff and the OKW , on trial at Nuremberg in August 1946 . The myth that the Wehrmacht was " clean " — not culpable for the events of the Holocaust — arose partly as a result of this document , written largely by Manstein , along with General of Cavalry Siegfried Westphal . He also gave oral testimony about the " Einsatzgruppen " , the treatment of prisoners of war , and the concept of military obedience , especially as related to the Commissar Order , an order issued by Hitler in 1941 requiring all Soviet political commissar s to be shot without trial . Manstein admitted that he received the order , but said he did not carry it out . Documents from 1941 presented at Nuremberg and at Manstein ' s own later trial contradict this claim : He actually received regular reports throughout that summer regarding the execution of hundreds of political commissars . He denied any knowledge of the activities of the " Einsatzgruppen " , and testified that soldiers under his command were not involved in the murder of Jewish civilians . However , Otto Ohlendorf , commander of " Einsatzgruppe " D , contradicted this during his own testimony , saying that not only was Manstein aware of what was happening , but that the Eleventh Army was actively involved . In September 1946 the General Staff and the OKW were declared to not be criminal organisations . After his testimony at Nuremberg , Manstein was interned by the British as a prisoner of war at Island Farm ( also known as Special Camp 11 ) in Bridgend , Wales , where he awaited the decision as to whether or not he would face a war crimes trial . He mostly kept apart from the other inmates , taking solitary walks , tending a small garden , and beginning work on the drafts of two books . British author B . H . Liddell Hart was in correspondence with Manstein and others at Island Farm and visited inmates of several camps around Britain while preparing his best - selling 1947 book " On the Other Side of the Hill " . Liddell Hart was an admirer of the German generals ; he described Manstein as an operational genius . The two remained in contact , and Liddell Hart later helped Manstein arrange the publication of the English edition of his memoir , " Verlorene Siege " ( " Lost Victories " ) , in 1958 . The British cabinet , under pressure from the Soviet Union , finally decided in July 1948 to prosecute Manstein for war crimes . He and three other senior officers ( Walther von Brauchitsch , Gerd von Rundstedt , and Adolf Strauss ) were transferred to Munsterlager to await trial . Brauchitsch died that October , and Rundstedt and Strauss were released on medical grounds in March 1949 . Manstein ' s trial was held in Hamburg from 23 August to 19 December 1949 . Manstein faced seventeen charges at the trial , three of which pertained to events in Poland and fourteen regarding events in the Soviet Union . Charges included maltreatment of prisoners of war , cooperation with the " Einsatzgruppe " D in killing Jewish residents of the Crimea , and disregarding the welfare of civilians by using " scorched earth " tactics while retreating from the Soviet Union . The prosecution , led by senior counsel Arthur Comyns Carr , used an order Manstein had signed on 20 November 1941 , based on the Severity Order that had been issued by Field Marshal Walther von Reichenau , to build their case that Manstein had known about and was complicit with the genocide . The order called for the elimination of the " Jewish Bolshevik system " and the " harsh punishment of Jewry " . Manstein claimed that he remembered asking for a draft of such an order , but had no recollection of signing it . American historians Ronald Smelser and Edward Davies wrote in 2008 that Manstein agreed with Hitler ' s idea that the war against the Soviet Union was a war to exterminate Judeo - Bolshevism , and that he committed perjury when he claimed not to remember signing his version of the Severity Order . Manstein ' s defence , led by the prominent lawyer Reginald Thomas Paget , argued that the order was justified because many partisans were Jews , and so Manstein ' s order calling for all Jews to be executed was justified by his desire to protect his men from partisan attacks . He argued that Manstein was not compelled to disobey orders given by his sovereign government , even if such orders were illegal . Manstein , speaking in his own defence , stated that he found the Nazi racial policy to be repugnant . Sixteen other witnesses testified that Manstein had no knowledge of or involvement in the genocide . Paget called the Russians " savages " , arguing that Manstein showed restraint as a " decent German soldier " in upholding the laws of war when fighting against the Russians , who at all times displayed the most " appalling savagery " . Whether or not Manstein was responsible for the activities of " Einsatzgruppe " D , a unit not under his direct control but operating in his zone of command , became one of the key points of the trial — the prosecution claimed that is was Manstein ' s duty to know about the activities of this unit and also his duty to put a stop to their genocidal operations . Recent scholars , including Benoît Lemay , are of the opinion that he almost certainly perjured himself at his own trial and at Nuremberg . Manstein was found guilty on nine of the charges and was sentenced to eighteen years in prison . An uproar ensued among Manstein ' s supporters both in Great Britain and in Germany . Liddell Hart lobbied in the British press , and in Germany the sentence was seen as a political decision . The sentence was reduced to 12 years in February 1950 . Paget published a best - selling book in 1951 about Manstein ' s career and trial , which portrayed Manstein as an honourable soldier fighting heroically despite overwhelming odds on the Eastern Front , and who had been convicted of crimes that he did not commit . The book helped to contribute to the growing cult surrounding Manstein ' s name . His release on 7 May 1953 was partly a result of a recurrence of his eye problems , but also the result of pressure by Winston Churchill , Konrad Adenauer , Liddell Hart , Paget , and other supporters . Antisemitism . While some historians , including Antony Beevor and Benoît Lemay , are of the opinion that he had some Jewish and Slavic ancestry , there is no clear evidence that Manstein objected to the racial policy of Nazi Germany . Antisemitism was common in Germany and throughout Europe during this period , and Manstein ' s attitude towards the Jews had its roots in his exposure to and assimilation of these views . His actions were a reflection of his loyalty toward Hitler and the Nazi regime and of his grounding in a sense of duty based on traditional Prussian military values . His criticism of Hitler was based solely on their disagreements over the conduct of the war , not about the regime ' s racial policies . He believed that Bolshevism and Judaism were inextricably linked , that there was a global conspiracy led by the Jews , and that in order to stop the spread of communism it was necessary to remove the Jews from European society . His order of 20 November 1941 , based on the Severity Order of von Reichenau , reads in part : Manstein did nothing to prevent the extermination of Jews and other civilians in the areas where his units were operating , and his Eleventh Army actively participated . That Manstein was well aware of the " Einsatzgruppen " massacres is demonstrated by a 1941 letter he sent to Otto Ohlendorf , in which Manstein demands Ohlendorf hand over the wristwatches of murdered Jews . Manstein felt his men deserved the watches , since they were doing so much to help Ohlendorf ' s men with their work . Smelser and Davies note that this letter was the only time that Manstein ever complained about the activities of the " Einsatzgruppen " . Manstein later stated that he felt the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust was exaggerated . Post - war life and memoirs . Along with ten other former senior officers , Manstein was called on in 1955 by the Amt Blank to formulate plans for the re - founding of the German Army . On 20 June 1953 he spoke to the " Bundestag " , giving his analysis of strategic power considerations and the country ' s defence , and spoke about whether the country should have a professional army or a conscripted army . His opinion was that the length of service for " Bundeswehr " conscripts should be at least 18 months , preferably 24 months . His idea to form a reserve force was later implemented . Manstein ' s war memoir , " Verlorene Siege " ( " Lost Victories " ) , was published in Germany in 1955 and translated into English in 1958 . The book was a highly acclaimed best - seller , critical of Hitler and his leadership style . Historians such as Liddell Hart see Manstein ' s emphasis on the purely military aspects of the war , while ignoring the political and moral aspects , as a way for him to absolve himself and the high command of any responsibility for the events of the Holocaust . His favourable portrayal of himself had an impact on popular opinion ; he became the centre of a military cult which cast him as not only as one of Germany ' s greatest generals , but also one of the greatest in history . He has been described as a " militärische Kult - und Leitfigur " ( " military cult legend " ) , a general of legendary — almost mythical — ability , much honoured by both the public and historians . Biographers , including Benoît Lemay , feel that his narrow focus on military matters to the exclusion of moral issues cannot be considered ethical . In 1967 Lieutenant General Ernst Ferber of the " Bundeswehr " encouraged young German soldiers to eschew unconditional obedience to the head of state , instead focusing on serving the nation and the German people . Manstein and his wife moved several times after his release , living in Essen and Bonn for a time before settling into a new house near Munich in 1958 . The second volume of his memoirs , " Aus einem Soldatenleben " ( " A Soldier ' s Life " ) , covering the period from 1887 to 1939 , was published in 1958 . Jutta Sibylle von Manstein died in 1966 , and Erich von Manstein died of a stroke on the night of 9 June 1973 . As the last but one surviving German field marshal , he was buried with full military honours , his funeral attended by hundreds of soldiers of all ranks . His obituary in " The Times " states " His influence and effect came from powers of mind and depth of knowledge rather than by generating an electrifying current among the troops or ' putting over ' his personality . " " Spiegel " magazine was much harsher , saying " He assisted in the march to catastrophe — misled by a blind sense of duty . " Further reading . Official records Books and articles