ZEITZLER, KURT (1895 - 1963)
Kurt Zeitzler, the son of a pastor, was born in Cossmar-Luckau, Germany on 9th June, 1895. He joined the German Army and during the First World War commanded an infantry battalion.
Zeitzler continued his career in the Reichswehr after WW1, establishing himself as an able staff officer and expert in mobile warfare. In 1934 he joined the first panzer forces and by 1938 had reached the rank of lieutenant colonel.
On the outbreak of the Second World War Zeitzler was in the 14th Army and served under General Siegmund List during the invasion of Poland. In 1940 he was appointed as chief of staff to General Paul von Kleist and saw action in France in 1940. He held this position with Kleist in Greece and in the Soviet Union.
From March 1940 to April 1942, Zeitzler was Chief of Staff of the First Panzer Group and then, as Major General, Chief of Staff of Army Group D under von Rundstedt in the West.Zeitzler played an important role in defeating the Allies at Dieppe on 19th August. A master of improvisation, Zeitzler's string of successes in exacting posts impressed Hitler, who appointed him Chief of the Army General Staff on 22 September l942, in succession to General Franz Halder.
Zeitzler urged Hitler to allow the Sixth Army to withdraw from Stalingrad where they were being encircled by Russian forces, or at least to authorize a breakout while it was still possible. Hitler rejected this advice, though after the final surrender of von Paulus's Sixth Army, Zeitzler was able to persuade the Fuhrer to make strategic withdrawals from Moscow and Leningrad.
The failure of the planned German offensive at Kursk (July 1943), and then the Crimean collapse in 1944, disillusioned Zeitzler, who sought to resign on several occasions. He went on sick leave and on 20 July 1944, he retired for reasons of ill - health. In January 1945, Hitler had him dismissed from the army and deprived of the customary right to wear a uniform. Zeitzler died at Hohenasschau, Upper Bavaria, on 25 September, 1963.
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/GERzeitzler.htm
http://motlc.wiesenthal.com/text/x35/xm3543.html
http://www.wargamer.com/rtm/situ%20breifings.htm
