Rundstedt was no gentleman

and lied about his complicity in atrocities committed in France.

 

What....... no supporting article???

 

Ooooh. Historical hypothesis/statement rather than yet another 'what if'... it's almost a shame I agree .

He knew.
His backing for the Reichenau order is enough proof for me.
Ill health, age & a strange reluctance to hammer these 'gentlemen' saved his neck.
Interesting snippet from the Western Mail (of all places) illustrates a contemporay view.

International Military Tribunal at Nürnberg (Nuremberg)

Tricky business prosecuting officers at this level though, any allied staff officer (and by extension Politicians) would have great interest in how much of the guilt of the actual physical perpetrators of an atrocity could be transferred to their command masters, perhaps wary that some 'dodgy' action of their own men could one day be laid at their feet?

Cheers,
Adam.

 

"...if [Soviet prisoners] didn't jump to it, they could simply be shot"

GOC West Ia, No. 235/42, 14 Oct 1942, situation assessment, BA-MH RH 2/v. 534

"By way of emphasis, less combative souls were even threatened with the death sentence if they failed to hold their ground. Such excuses as 'we could not hold out any longer because we had no more ammunition or supplies' would have the 'most serious consequences' for those responsible."

OB West, app to KTB, OB West to armies 17 Jan. 1944, BA-MA RH 19IV/31 and OKW to OB West 7 Feb. 1944.

"In January 1944 German troops...captured several shipwwrecked commandos....handed over to the SD [to be murdered]...Rundstedt claimed that 'not a single person in the west lost his life on the strength of the commando order.'"

DRZW p.540