Kluge, Field Marshal Günther (Hans) von

Kluge, Field Marshal Günther (Hans) von (1882–1944),German Army officer who served as a staff officer during part of the First World War, was severely wounded at Verdun in 1918, commanded the Fourth Army from 1939 to 1941, was C-in-C Army Group Centre in the German–Soviet war from December 1941 until October 1943, and C-in-C West from July 1944 until he committed suicide on 8 August.

Born into an aristocractic Prussian military family, by 1936 Kluge had risen to the rank of lt-general and the following year he took command of Sixth Army Group which became Fourth Army when war broke out. When Hitler threatened to invade Czechoslovakia, Kluge was part of a plot, which came to nothing, to arrest him and form an anti-Nazi government (see Schwarze Kapelle).

Torn between his dislike of the Nazis and his pride in the new German Army, Kluge led the Fourth Army during the Polish campaign with tremendous panache. However, when he heard that Hitler was planning to attack westwards he protested, but this did not stop his Fourth Army being given the task of attacking through the Ardennes during the German offensive that culminated in the fall of France in June 1940. By then Kluge was the master of the blitzkrieg and the brilliance of his campaign brought him promotion to field marshal in July 1940.

When Hitler launched his invasion of the USSR in June 1941 (see BARBAROSSA) Kluge's Fourth Army played a prominent role in the offensive of Bock's Army Group Centre which reached the outskirts of Moscow that autumn, and in December 1941, when Bock went on sick leave, Kluge replaced him as C-in-C Army Group Centre. A group of Staff officers planning Hitler's overthrow now took Kluge into their confidence, but he was ambivalent and indecisive. In October 1942 he accepted 250,000 Reichsmarks from Hitler for his exemplary conduct in the war; vetoed a plan to arrest and shoot Hitler when the Führer visited him in March 1943 (see Smolensk Attentat); and faithfully complied with Hitler's orders during the abortive offensive against the Kursk salient in July 1943.

In October 1943 Kluge was badly injured when his car overturned. He returned to duty on 30 June 1944 and on 2 July replaced Rundstedt as C-in-C West whose forces were fighting the Normandy campaign. All Kluge's old feelings of ambivalence now returned, for he soon realized that Hitler had misled him and that defeat was certain. He again flirted with the conspirators planning Hitler's demise; but when the July 1944 attempt to assassinate the Führer failed, his nerve went and he refused to be involved any further. Yet on 15 August, with his troops in desperate straits at Falaise, he apparently left his headquarters to try and contact the Allied commanders. That same day an Allied signal was decrypted asking where Kluge was and this warned Hitler that he might be organizing a cease-fire. It was, Hitler said, ‘the worst day’ of his life. On 17 August he replaced Kluge with Model and ordered Kluge back to Germany. But, knowing the fate awaiting him, Kluge committed suicide the next day.

Kluge was one of Hitler's outstanding generals and one of the few he trusted, but love of his country and the army, and his rejection of Nazi methods, deeply divided him and prevented him from acting decisively. Though he was known as ‘der kluge Hans’ (clever Hans), his indecision cost him his life and probably cost the country he loved additional suffering.

Bibliography

Mitcham, S. , Hitler's Field Marshals and their Battles (London, 1988).