Ewald von Kleist (HM6)

Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist (* August 8th 1881 in Braunfels an der Lahn), once a Freikorps fighter and cavalry officer, rose to the ranks of General in , was removed from active service on account of the Blomberg-Fritsch affair (he'd been a Monarchist, not exactly a fanatical Nazi), but reactivated in . In the war against Poland, he was commander of the motorised XXIIth Army corps. In May 1940, the „Panzergruppe Kleist“, comprising five Panzer divisions, was the head of the campaign in the West; in fact, his Troops were the first ones to reach the Channel. For some time, he had ordered his Men to switch off their Radios, so they wouldn't be able to receive a Halting order. On May 23th, he gave notice that about half of his Panzers were broken - but usually, the works to repair the Panzers just take a few hours. It'd have been sad, having to halt right now and miss the opportunity, after all they were just 18 km away from , the last Harbor via which the 400,000 cut-off Allied Soldiers might have escaped. Then however, the ensued, which became a huge victory for the .
In the Hierarchy, he's below //. Under him are the Generals , and . He is a friend of .
Category:Wehrmacht (HM6)
de:Ewald von Kleist (W6)