Walther von Seydlitz - Kurzbach Walther Kurt von Seydlitz - Kurzbach ( 22 August 1888 – 28 April 1976 ) was a German general . He was born in Hamburg , Germany , into the noble Prussia n Seydlitz family . He was also a recipient of the Knight ' s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves ( ) . The Knight ' s Cross of the Iron Cross and its higher grade Oak Leaves was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership . He was relieved of his command in early 1943 and then fled German army lines under German fire to personally surrender to the Soviet Union . He became a Soviet collaborator while a prisoner of war . After the war he was convicted by the Soviet Union of War Crimes . In 1996 , he was posthumously pardoned by Russia . Career . During World War I he served on both fronts as an officer . During the Weimar Republic , he remained a professional officer in the Reichswehr ; from 1940 to 1942 he commanded the 12th Infantry Division of the German army . When the division was encircled in the Demyansk Pocket , Seydlitz was responsible for breaking the Soviet cordon and enabling German units to escape from encirclement ; for this action he was promoted to General of the Artillery ( " General der Artillerie " ) and appointed commander of the LI Corps . The corps was subordinated to the Sixth Army during the Battle of Stalingrad . When the entire Army was trapped in the city in the course of the Soviet Operation Uranus , Seydlitz was one of the generals who argued most forcefully in favor of a breakout or a surrender , in contravention of Hitler ’ s orders . On 25 January 1943 , he told his subordinate officers that they were free to decide for themselves on whether to surrender . Paulus immediately relieved him of his command . A few days later , Seydlitz fled the German lines under fire from his own side with a group of other officers . He was taken into Soviet custody , where he was interrogated by Captain Nikolay Dyatlenko . He was identified by the interrogations as a potential collaborator . In August 1943 , he was taken with two other Generals to a political re - education center at Lunovo . A month later , he was sent back to prisoner of war camps to recruit other German officers . He was a leader in the forming under Soviet supervision of an anti - Nazi organization , the League of German Officers ( ) and was made a member of the Communist - dominated National Committee Free Germany ( ) . He was condemned by many of his fellow generals for his collaboration with the Soviet Union . He was sentenced to death " in absentia " by Hitler ' s government . His idea of creating an anti - Nazi force of some 40 , 000 German POW s to be airlifted into Germany was never seriously considered , while in Germany his family was taken into " Sippenhaft " , detention for the crimes of a family member . Seydlitz was ultimately exploited by both Soviet and German propaganda : he was used by the former in broadcasts and literature to encourage German soldiers to surrender , while the latter cultivated the idea of “ Seydlitz troops ” ( ) . His figure in the German propaganda was largely equivalent to the one of Andrey Vlasov in the Soviet one . In 1949 he was charged with war crimes . He was specifically put on trial for responsibility for actions against Soviet POWs and the civilian population while in Wehrmacht service . In 1950 , a Soviet tribunal sentenced him to 25 years ’ imprisonment , but in 1955 he was released to West Germany , where in 1956 his Third Reich death sentence was nullified . Seydlitz died on 28 April 1976 in Bremen . On 23 April 1996 a posthumous pardon was issued by Russian authorities .