Quote:
Originally Posted by Carl W Schwamberger
Men like that in any army get few chances at a real command as they are always in demand for running the plans & logisitics departments. The reality is good staff chiefs are as difficult to find as really good combat commanders.
|
In the German Army, Chiefs of staff were not just staff officers. They literally were the ones who conducted the combat operations (this helped commanders like Sepp Dietrich). This allowed the commanders to visit the front (like Rommel) and if anything happened while the commander was gone, it would be no problem for the chief of staff to make a decision. I believe Westphal was Rommels chief of staff in Afrika and due to Rommels recurring absence, conducted alot of the operations as did Kraemer for Dietrich.