He was the most troublesome Nazi general for the Allies in World War II. He had defeated all the famous Allied generals several times. What is even more incredible is that he used hundreds of thousands of people to resist a million-strong Soviet army and defeat the Soviet army. G

He was the most troublesome Nazi general for the Allied forces in World War II . He had defeated all the famous Allied generals several times. What is even more incredible is that he used hundreds of thousands of people to resist the Soviet Union's million-strong army. Defeated the Soviet military god Zhukov, so he was called "Master of Defense" !

He was the strongest defensive genius in World War II. He saved the lives of Nazi Germany many times, but he fought against the whole world and aided others, and ended up miserable.

So, who is ? How on earth did he resist the Soviet Union's million-strong army? How tragic is the final outcome?

In this issue, we will tell you the history behind the World War II defense master model .

Before World War II

In 1891, Walter Model was born in Gentheim, Germany. At the age of 17, he entered a well-known German military academy and began his military career.

In World War , Model fought bravely and took the lead. For this, he was awarded the Iron Cross First Class. . After the war, he was recommended by the commander and went to the training office of the Military Department to study and practice.

Here, he not only had the opportunity to come into contact with the advanced tactical theories of the German army, which greatly improved his military level, but he was also fortunate to meet many "stars of hope" in the German army, such as the famous general who served as the commander-in-chief of the German army in World War II. Brauchitsch, as well as Halder and Keitel , who served as the chief of the German General Staff, etc. This also laid a solid foundation for his smooth career in the future.

In the 1930s, Model met a person who influenced his life: Hitler.

In 1933, Hitler became the supreme leader of the country, and two years later, he publicly announced a large-scale military expansion, which gave him the opportunity to flex his muscles, and he became a loyal follower of Hitler.

In order to realize Hitler's "ambition", Model, together with Guderian, Manstein and other young generals, advocated tactical reforms at the top, abandoning traditional infantry tactics and replacing them with armored forces Serves as an attack arrow.

Faced with the suppression of conservatives, Model, although humble, was not afraid. He even directly explained his views to Hitler and organized troops to conduct a simulated attack, which won Hitler's praise and he was directly promoted to Major General.

Early World War II

After the outbreak of World War II, Model demonstrated a very high military level in a very short period of time, fully displaying the destructive power of the German armored corps and leaving everyone stunned!

In the French campaign , Model, then the chief of staff of the 16th Army, commanded the troops to complete the encirclement of the Maginot Line in just two weeks, and finally cooperated with the 1st Army to allow 40 All French officers and soldiers put down their weapons!

In the Soviet-German war, he led the 3rd Armored Division and became the attack arrow of Guderian's Second Armored Group, attacking from the Soviet-German border all the way to the city of Moscow, causing the Soviet Union a great headache. He also Therefore, he successfully became one of the famous generals!

As time went by, the German army gradually switched from offense to defense. Model repeatedly defeated famous Allied generals. became the strongest "defensive master" of the German army in World War II!

Battle of Rzhev

Model's most classic battle is undoubtedly the Battle of Rzhev in the Soviet-German War, and his opponent is recognized as one of the best generals of the Soviet Army in World War II, known as " The famous Soviet general "God of War" , Zhukov!

In 1942, the German army defeated Moscow. In order to maintain suppression of the Soviet army, Hitler ordered Model to command the 9th Army and defend the Rzhev area, which was only 160 kilometers away from Moscow.

However, after arriving at the front line, Model found that the situation of the frontline troops was quite bad. At this time, the 9th Army claimed to have 260,000 people, but in fact it only had 60,000 people, and the total number of armored fighting vehicles and was only a pitiful 5 vehicles.

What's worse is that these troops are still surrounded by the 22nd, 29th, and 39th Soviet Army Groups. A Soviet army has even reached a few kilometers away from the Army Headquarters. The situation is extremely critical!

However, Model is here, creating an almost impossible miracle!

After arriving at the front line, he started to implement a series of small-scale counterattacks, trying to connect the scattered defense lines that were rushed by the Soviet army as one, while waiting for the opportunity to counterattack.

From the war to July, Model not only stabilized the defense line, but also received support from the rear. The total force reached hundreds of thousands, and even completely annihilated the Soviet 39th Group Army that broke into the German front. This completely eliminated worries and made the Soviet Union The army was stunned!

However, Model was not happy for a long time. Zhukov immediately returned the favor and dispatched 4 armies with 350,000 troops to launch a fierce attack on the Rzhev area. The battlefield was filled with loud killings and rivers of blood. The ground was dyed a light red!

However, what Zhukov never expected was that the Soviet army, which had an absolute superior force, had been attacking Rzhev day and night for nearly two months, but they could not break through Model's defense line!

The reason is that Model ordered the frontline troops to be used as bait to attract the opponent to go deep alone, then dispatched small groups of troops to delay the opponent's attack, and finally concentrated superior forces to destroy the opponent's attack.

Using this tactic, although the German defense line was always shaky, it did not allow the Soviet army to move forward!

In order to resolve the battle as soon as possible and cooperate with the offensive in the Stalingrad area, Zhukov decided to launch the " Mars Operation ", dispatching a total of 1.9 million troops to launch the most crazy attack on Model's position!

However, Model saw every move and kept retreating from the front while breaking the reserve team into pieces, ready to fill the gaps in the defense line at any time.

Relying on this tactic, the German front not only did not collapse, but instead cut the Soviet frontline troops into several pieces, directly paralyzing the opponent's frontal attack!

A few weeks after the operation began, the number of Soviet soldiers killed, injured and captured had reached an astonishing 760,000, but the German positions never fell apart!

Therefore, Zhukov could only admit the fact that Operation Mars had failed and swallowed the bitter fruit of failure. This battle with has also become the most regrettable thing in Zhukov's life.

And with his performance in the Battle of Rzhev, Model also successfully joined the ranks of world famous generals.

In the following years, he relied on his own tactics to help the Nazi German army retain its vitality, but this did not change the fact that the German army was already in decline.

Market Garden

As time went by, the German army gradually shifted from offensive to defensive. After the Normandy landing , the goal of the German army changed from "conquering the world" to "defending the homeland." Model was also sent to the West line, defending the front line of the American and British coalition forces.

This time, Model had two opponents. One was the famous American general and Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces, Eisenhower. The other was Montgomery, who single-handedly defeated Rommel. Model's mission this time will be even more difficult!

In order to end the battle as soon as possible, Montgomery proposed an extremely risky plan: Operation Market Garden .

The key to this operation is to make full use of the high mobility of the airborne troops, parachute directly to the rear of the German army, cooperate with the large forces to attack Berlin, and end the battle.

After repeated studies, Montgomery and Eisenhower formulated "Operation Market" , which focused on airborne operations, and "Operation Garden" , which conducted ground operations.

In order to successfully achieve the goal, the United Kingdom and the United States invested more than 15,000 fighter planes, and their airborne troops reached an astonishing 35,000 people. It can be said that all the wealth that can be used in the short term was used!

But what no one expected was that Model relied on the remaining soldiers in his hands to defeat the enemy and won another victory.

Since the Allies used the mobility of airborne troops to turn the tide of the war many times during World War II, after the Normandy landings, Model emphasized air defense capabilities when arranging German defenses.

Therefore, after the Allied operations began, a large number of soldiers were shot down by the dense fire net of the German anti-aircraft guns before they reached the airdrop site. Even if they were lucky enough to reach the target location, the paratroopers in the sky became a living thing for the German army. Target, the losses were extremely heavy.

But for the Allies, the arrow was on the string at this time and had to be fired. Therefore, Montgomery and Eisenhower could only bite the bullet and continue to implement the plan.

However, this played into Model's plan. He immediately formulated a plan to encircle the point and provide reinforcements. While besieging the Allied airborne troops that had dropped behind the German positions, he also sent the main force to block enemy reinforcements and consume as much of the Allied forces' effective strength as possible.

In the end, after more than a week of tug-of-war, the airborne troops besieged by the Germans, with no supplies inside and no reinforcements outside, except for some soldiers who escaped by chance, all surrendered to the Germans.

At this point, Model successfully defeated the attack jointly launched by the two famous Allied generals. caused the Allied forces' massive "Operation Market Garden" to end in a disastrous defeat!

However, the German army was at the end of its strength at this time. Facing the overwhelming Allied forces, Model alone could not reverse the situation of the war.

In the spring of 1945, the German Army Group B where Model was located was surrounded by Allied armies in the Ruhr area.

In the end, Model decided to follow his oath to Hitler and refused to surrender to the Allies. walked into the woods alone, aimed at himself and pulled the trigger.

In this way, Hitler's most valued "defense master" came to an end.

It should be noted that Model’s military career was not without mistakes. For example, before the battle of Kursk in , it was precisely because he was overly conservative and advocated delaying the outbreak of the battle that the Soviet army had a breather. opportunity, and finally lost the battle.

Although his colleagues all affirmed his defensive ability, they generally did not think highly of him. His chief of staff even said that Model was "unrealistic, overestimated his abilities, and lacked macro grasp."

Of course, we need to understand that no matter how strong Model's defensive capabilities are, he chooses to be loyal to Hitler and fight against the whole world. In the end, the only way to wait for him is to perish.

Reference materials:

Daxian "Rzhev Meat Grinder"

Historical Review "Master of Defense on the Eastern Front"

Peng Zhiwen "The Rise of the Nazi General Model"

Xu Shouming "Distant Bridge - Operation Market Garden"

Peng Zhiwen "The Destruction of Army Group B/Model's Last Battle"

Zou Yan, Peng Zhiwen "Eastern Front 1944 - "Eastern Front Savior" Model's War Records"

Peng Zhiwen "The Redemption of Model in "The Kettle"" The 18 Days of the German Commander-in-Chief on the Western Front》