For this accomplishment

For this accomplishment, he received the Oak Leaves for the Knight's Cross.^[101] Hausser's II SS Panzer Corps then captured Belgorod on 18 March. The spring thaw began a few days later, ending operations in the area for the time being. Planning was then undertaken to eliminate the enemy salient at Kursk. Sony VAIO VGN-SR21RM/H Battery

Manstein favoured an immediate pincer attack on the Kursk salient after the battle at Kharkov, but Hitler was concerned that such a plan would draw forces away from the industrial region in the Donets Basin. In any event, the ground was still too muddy to move the tanks into position. In lieu of an immediate attack, the OKH prepared Operation Zitadelle (Citadel), Sony VAIO VGN-SR21RM/S Battery

the launching of which would be delayed while more troops were gathered in the area and the mud solidified. Meanwhile the Soviets, well aware of the danger of encirclement, also moved in large numbers of reinforcements, and their intelligence reports had revealed the expected locations and timing of the German thrusts. Sony VAIO VGN-SR220J/B Battery

Citadel was the last German strategic offensive on the Eastern Front, and one of the largest battles in history, involving more than four million men. By the time the Germans launched their initial assault on 5 July 1943, the Russians outnumbered them by nearly three to one.Walther Model was in command of the northern pincer, with the Ninth Panzer Army, Sony VAIO VGN-SR220J/H Battery

while Manstein's Army Group South formed the southern pincer. Both armies were slowed as the tanks were blown up in minefields and caught up in combat on a series of prepared Soviet defensive lines.^[106] After five days of fighting Model's advance was stopped, with the Ninth Panzers suffering 25,000 casualties. Sony VAIO VGN-SR240J/B Battery

By 13 July Model's forces were being drawn away towards Orel, where the Soviets had launched Operation Kutuzov.^[107]Manstein's forces were able to penetrate the Soviet lines, causing heavy casualties. He reached Prokhorovka, his first major objective, on 11 July, inflicting disastrous Soviet losses in the resulting Battle of Prokhorovka. Sony VAIO VGN-SR240N/B Battery

However, on 13 July Hitler called off the failed Kursk offensive; the Allies had landed in Sicily, so he issued the order for a withdrawal. Manstein protested; he felt that the Soviets had exhausted all their reserves in the area, and was not prepared to stop until his own reserves had all been committed. But Hitler was adamant. Sony VAIO VGN-SR290JTH Battery

Although Soviet casualties were indeed heavy, modern historians discount the possibility of a successful German continuation of the offensive.

Manstein regarded the Battle of Kursk as something of a German victory, as he believed that he had destroyed much of the Red Army's offensive capacity for the rest of 1943. Sony VAIO VGN-SR290JTJ Battery

This assessment turned out to be incorrect, as the Soviets were able to recover much more quickly than anyone expected. Manstein moved his panzer reserves to the Mius River and the lower Dnieper, not realising the Soviet activities there were a diversion. A Soviet offensive that began on 3 August put Army Group South under heavy pressure. Sony VAIO VGN-SR290JTQ Battery

After two days of heavy fighting, the Soviets broke though the German lines and retook Belgorod, punching a 56 km (35 mi) wide hole between Fourth Panzer Army and Armee Abteilung Kempf, tasked with holding Kharkov. In response to Manstein's demands for reinforcements, Hitler sent theGroßdeutschland, 7th Panzers, SS 2nd Das Reich, and SS 3rd Totenkopf. Sony VAIO VGN-SR290JVB/C Battery

Construction began of defensive positions along the Dnieper, but Hitler refused requests to pull back, insisting that Kharkov be held. With reinforcements trickling in, Manstein waged a series of counter-attacks and armoured battles near Bohodukhivand Okhtyrka between 13 and 17 August, which resulted in heavy casualties as they ran into prepared Soviet lines. Sony VAIO VGN-SR290JVH/C Battery

On 20 August he informed the OKH that his forces in the Donets river area were holding a too-wide front with insufficient numbers, and that he needed to either withdraw to the Dnieper River or receive reinforcements. Continuous pressure from the Soviets had separated Army Group Centre from Army Group South and severely threatened Manstein's northern flank. Sony VAIO VGN-SR290NTB Battery

When the Soviets threw their main reserves behind a drive to retake Kharkov on 21–22 August, Manstein took advantage of this to close the gap between the 4th and 8th Panzer Armies and reestablish a defensive line. Hitler finally allowed Manstein to withdraw back across the Dnieper on 15 September.Sony VAIO VGN-SR29VN/S Battery

During the withdrawal, Manstein ordered scorched earth actions to be taken in a zone 20 to 30 kilometres (12 to 19 mi) from the river, and later faced charges at his war crimes trial for issuing this order.^[118] Soviet losses in July and August included over 1.6 million casualties, 10,000 tanks and self-propelled artillery pieces, and 4,200 aircraft. Sony VAIO VGN-SR29XN/S Battery

German losses, while only one-tenth that of the Russian losses, were much more difficult to sustain, as there were no further reserves of men and materiel to draw on.^[119] In a series of four meetings that September, Manstein tried unsuccessfully to convince Hitler to reorganise the high command and let his generals make more of the military decisions. Sony VAIO VGN-SR2RVN/S Battery

In September 1943 Manstein withdrew to the west bank of the Dnieper in an operation that for the most part was well-ordered, but at times degenerated into a disorganised rout as his exhausted soldiers became "unglued".^[121] Hundreds of thousands of Russian civilians travelled west with them, many bringing livestock and personal property. Sony VAIO VGN-SR390NAB Battery

Manstein correctly deduced that the next Soviet attack would be towards Kiev, but as had been the case throughout the campaign, the Soviets used maskirovka (deception) to disguise the timing and exact location of their intended offensive.^[123] Historians Williamson Murray and Allan Reed Millett wrote that many German generals' "fanatical belief" in Nazi racial theories "Sony VAIO VGN-SR390NAH Battery

... made the idea that Slavs could manipulate German intelligence with such consistency utterly inconceivable".^[124] The brigade-strength 1st Ukrainian Front, led by Nikolai Fyodorovich Vatutin, met the outnumbered Fourth Panzer Army near Kiev. Vatutin first made a thrust near Liutezh, just north of Kiev, and then attacked near Bukrin, to the south, on 1 November. Sony VAIO VGN-SR41M/P Battery

The Germans, thinking Bukrin would be the location of the main attack, were taken completely by surprise when Vatutin captured the bridgehead at Liutezh and gained a foothold on the west bank of the Dnepr. Kiev was liberated on 6 November.^[125] The Seventeenth Army was cut off and isolated in the Crimea by the attacking 4th Ukrainian Fronton 28 October. Sony VAIO VGN-SR41M/S Battery

Under the guidance of General Hermann Balck, the cities of Zhytomyr and Korosten were retaken in mid-November,^[125] but most of the German forces were concentrated against the smaller decoy forces, and the Soviets continued to succeed. Manstein's repeated requests to Hitler for more reinforcements were turned down. Sony VAIO VGN-SR49VN/H Battery

On 4 January 1944 Manstein met with Hitler to tell him that the Dnieper line was untenable and that he needed to retreat in order to save his forces.^[128] Hitler refused, and Manstein again requested changes in the highest levels of the military leadership, but was turned down, as Hitler believed that he alone was capable of managing the wider strategy. Sony VAIO VGN-SR51B/P Battery

In January Manstein was forced to retreat further west by the Soviet offensive. Without waiting for permission from Hitler, he ordered the German XI and XXXXII Corps (consisting of 56,000 men in six divisions) of Army Group South to break out of theKorsun Pocket during the night of 16–17 February 1944. Sony VAIO VGN-SR51B/S Battery

By the beginning of March, the Soviets had driven the Germans well back of the river. Because of Hitler's directive of 19 March that from that point forward all positions were to be defended to the last man, Manstein's First Panzer Army became encircled on 21 March when permission to break out was not received from Hitler in time. Sony VAIO VGN-SR51MF Battery

Manstein flew to Hitler's headquarters in Lvov to try to convince him to change his mind. Hitler eventually relented, but relieved Manstein of his command on 30 March 1944.^[130]

Manstein appeared on the cover of the 10 January 1944 issue of Time magazine, above the caption "Retreat may be subtle, but victory lies in the other direction".Sony VAIO VGN-SR51MF/P Battery

Manstein received the Swords of the Knight's Cross on 30 March 1944^[133] and handed over control of Army Group South to Walther Model on 2 April. While on medical leave after surgery to remove a cataract in his right eye, Manstein recovered at home in Liegnitz and in a medical facility in Dresden. Sony VAIO VGN-SR51MF/S Battery

He suffered from an infection and for a time was in danger of losing his sight. On the day of the failed 20 July plot, an assassination attempt on Hitler's life that was part of a planned military coup d'état, Manstein was at a seaside resort on the Baltic. Although he had met at various times with three of the main conspirators— Claus von Stauffenberg, Sony VAIO VGN-SR51MF/W Battery

Henning von Tresckow, and Rudolf Christoph Freiherr von Gersdorff—Manstein was not involved in the conspiracy; he later said "Preussische Feldmarschälle meutern nicht" – "Prussian field marshals do not mutiny."^[134] Still, the Gestapo placed Manstein's house under surveillance.^[135]

When it became obvious that Hitler would not be appointing him to a new post, Sony VAIO VGN-SR51MR Battery

Manstein bought an estate in East Pomerania in October 1944, but was soon forced to abandon it as Soviet forces overran the area. His home at Liegnitz had to be evacuated on 22 January 1945, and he and his family took refuge temporarily with friends in Berlin. While there, Manstein tried to get an audience with Hitler in the Führerbunker, but was turned away. Sony VAIO VGN-SR59VG Battery

He and his family continued to move further west into Germany until the war in Europe ended with a German defeat in May 1945. Manstein suffered further complications in his right eye and was receiving treatment in a hospital in Heiligenhafen when he was arrested by the British and transferred to a prisoner of war camp near Lüneburg on 26 August. Sony VAIO VGN-SR59VG/H Battery

Manstein was moved to Nuremberg in October 1945. He was held at the Palace of Justice, the location of the Nuremberg Trials of major Nazi war criminals and organisations. While there, Manstein helped prepare a 132-page document for the defence of the General Staff and the OKW, on trial at Nuremberg in August 1946. Sony VAIO VGN-SR70B/S Battery

The myth that the Wehrmacht was "clean"—not culpable for the events of the Holocaust—arose partly as a result of this document, written largely by Manstein, along with General of Cavalry Siegfried Westphal. He also gave oral testimony about the Einsatzgruppen, the treatment of prisoners of war, and the concept of military obedience, Sony VAIO VGN-SR72B/P Battery

especially as related to the Commissar Order, an order issued by Hitler in 1941 requiring all Soviet political commissars to be shot without trial. Manstein admitted that he received the order, but said he did not carry it out.^[139] Documents from 1941 presented at Nuremberg and at Manstein's own later trial contradict this claim: Sony VAIO VGN-SR72B/S Battery

He actually received regular reports throughout that summer regarding the execution of hundreds of political commissars.^[140]He denied any knowledge of the activities of the Einsatzgruppen, and testified that soldiers under his command were not involved in the murder of Jewish civilians.^[141] However, Otto Ohlendorf, Sony VAIO VGN-SR73JB/S Battery

commander of Einsatzgruppe D, contradicted this during his own testimony, saying that not only was Manstein aware of what was happening, but that the Eleventh Army was actively involved.^[142] In September 1946 the General Staff and the OKW were declared to not be criminal organisations. Sony VAIO VGN-SR74FB/S Battery

After his testimony at Nuremberg, Manstein was interned by the British as a prisoner of war at Island Farm (also known as Special Camp 11) in Bridgend, Wales, where he awaited the decision as to whether or not he would face a war crimes trial. He mostly kept apart from the other inmates, taking solitary walks, tending a small garden, and beginning work on the drafts of two books. Sony VAIO VGN-SR90FS Battery

British author B. H. Liddell Hart was in correspondence with Manstein and others at Island Farm and visited inmates of several camps around Britain while preparing his best-selling 1947 book On the Other Side of the Hill. Liddell Hart was an admirer of the German generals; he described Manstein as an operational genius. Sony VAIO VGN-SR90NS Battery

The two remained in contact, and Liddell Hart later helped Manstein arrange the publication of the English edition of his memoir, Verlorene Siege (Lost Victories), in 1958.^[144][145] The British cabinet, under pressure from the Soviet Union, finally decided in July 1948 to prosecute Manstein for war crimes. Sony VAIO VGN-SR90S Battery

He and three other senior officers (Walther von Brauchitsch, Gerd von Rundstedt, and Adolf Strauss) were transferred to Munsterlager to await trial. Brauchitsch died that October, and Rundstend and Strauss were released on medical grounds in March 1949. Manstein's trial was held in Hamburg from 23 August to 19 December 1949.^[146] Sony VAIO VGN-SR90US Battery

Manstein faced seventeen charges at the trial, three of which pertained to events in Poland and fourteen regarding events in the Soviet Union. Charges included maltreatment of prisoners of war, cooperation with the Einsatzgruppe D in killing Jewish residents of the Crimea, and disregarding the welfare of civilians by using "scorched earth" tactics while retreating from the Soviet Union. Sony VAIO VGN-SR91NS Battery

The prosecution, led by senior counsel Arthur Comyns Carr, used an order Manstein had signed on 20 November 1941, based on the Severity Order that had been issued by Field Marshal Walther von Reichenau, to build their case that Manstein had known about and was complicit with the genocide. Sony VAIO VGN-SR91PS Battery

The order called for the elimination of the "Jewish Bolshevik system" and the "harsh punishment of Jewry". Manstein claimed that he remembered asking for a draft of such an order, but had no recollection of signing it.^[148] Whether or not Manstein was responsible for the activities of Einsatzgruppe D, Sony VAIO VGN-SR91S Battery

a unit not under his direct control but operating in his zone of command, became one of the key points of the trial—the prosecution claimed that is was Manstein's duty to know about the activities of this unit and also his duty to put a stop to their genocidal operations.Manstein's defence, led by the prominent lawyer Reginald Thomas Paget, Sony VAIO VGN-SR91US Battery

argued that Manstein was not compelled to disobey orders given by his sovereign government, even if such orders were illegal. Manstein, speaking in his own defence, stated that he found the Nazi racial policy to be repugnant. Sixteen other witnesses testified that Manstein had no knowledge of or involvement in the genocide. Sony VAIO VGN-SR92NS Battery

Recent scholars, including Benoît Lemay, are of the opinion that he almost certainly perjured himself at his own trial and at Nuremberg.

Manstein was found guilty on nine of the charges and was sentenced to eighteen years in prison.An uproar ensued among Manstein's supporters both in Great Britain and in Germany. Sony VAIO VGN-SR92PS Battery

Liddell Hart lobbied in the British press, and in Germany the sentence was seen as a political decision. The sentence was reduced to 12 years in February 1950.^[155] Paget published a best-selling book in 1951 about Manstein's career and trial, which portrayed Manstein as an honourable soldier fighting heroically despite overwhelming odds on the Eastern Front, Sony VAIO VGN-SR92S Battery

and who had been convicted of crimes that he did not commit. The book helped to contribute to the growing cult surrounding Manstein's name.^[156] His release on 7 May 1953 was partly a result of a recurrence of his eye problems, but also the result of pressure placed on the British government by Winston Churchill, Konrad Adenauer, Liddell Hart, Paget, and other supporters. Sony VAIO VGN-SR92US Battery

While some historians, including Antony Beevor and Benîot Lemay, are of the opinion that he had some Jewish and Slavic ancestry, there is no clear evidence that Manstein objected to the racial policy of Nazi Germany.Antisemitism was common in Germany and throughout Europe during this period, and Manstein's attitude towards the Jews had its roots in his exposure to and assimilation of these views.Sony VAIO VGN-SR93DS Battery

His actions were a reflection of his loyalty toward Hitler and the Nazi regime and of his grounding in a sense of duty based on traditional Prussian military values.^[163] His criticism of Hitler was based solely on their disagreements over the conduct of the war, not about the regime's racial policies. Sony VAIO VGN-SR93JS Battery

He believed that Bolshevism and Judaism were inextricably linked, that there was a global conspiracy led by the Jews, and that in order to stop the spread of communism it was necessary to remove the Jews from European society.^[165] His order of 20 November 1941, based on the Severity Order of von Reichenau, Sony VAIO VGN-SR93PS Battery

reads in part that the "Jewish Bolshevik system must be wiped out once and for all and should never again be allowed to invade our European living space ... It is the same Jewish class of beings who have done so damage to our own Fatherland by virtue of their activites against the nation and civilisation, and who promote anti-German tendencies throughout the world, and who will be the harbingers of revenge. Sony VAIO VGN-SR93YS Battery

Their extermination is a dictate of our own survival."^[166][167] Manstein did nothing to prevent the extermination of Jews and other civilians in the areas where his units were operating, and his Eleventh Army actively participated.^[168] He later stated that he felt the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust was exaggerated.^[169] Sony VAIO VGN-SR94FS Battery

Along with ten other former senior officers, Manstein was called on in 1955 by the Amt Blank to formulate plans for the re-founding of the German Army. On 20 June 1953 he spoke to the Bundestag, giving his analysis of strategic power considerations and the country's defence, and spoke about whether the country should have a professional army or a conscripted army. Sony VAIO VGN-SR94GS Battery

His opinion was that the length of service for Bundeswehr conscripts should be at least 18 months, preferably 24 months. His idea to form a reserve force was later implemented.^[170][171]

Manstein's war memoir, Verlorene Siege (Lost Victories), was published in Germany in 1955 and translated into English in 1958. Sony VAIO VGN-SR94HS Battery

The book was a highly acclaimed best-seller, critical of Hitler and his leadership style.^[172] Historians such as Liddell Hart see Manstein's emphasis on the purely military aspects of the war, while ignoring the political and moral aspects, as a way for him to absolve himself and the high command of any responsibility for the events of the Holocaust.^[173] Sony VAIO VGN-SR94VS Battery

His favourable portrayal of himself had an impact on popular opinion; he became the centre of a military cult which cast him as not only as one of Germany's greatest generals, but also one of the greatest in history. He has been described as a militärische Kult- und Leitfigur ("military cult legend"), a general of legendary—almost mythical—ability, much honoured by both the public and historians. Sony VAIO VPC CW2MFX/PU Battery

Biographers, including Benoît Lemay, feel that his narrow focus on military matters to the exclusion of moral issues cannot be considered ethical.^[175] In 1967 Lieutenant General Ernst Ferber of the Bundeswehrencouraged young German soldiers to eschew unconditional obedience to the head of state, instead focusing on serving the nation and the German people.Sony VAIO VPC S11V9E/B Battery

Manstein and his wife moved several times after his release, living in Essen and Bonn for a time before settling into a new house near Munich in 1958. The second volume of his memoirs, Aus einem Soldatenleben ("A Soldier's Life"), covers the period from 1887 to 1939.^[177] Jutta Sibylle von Manstein died in 1966, and Erich von Manstein died of a stroke on the night of 9 June 1973. Sony VAIO VPCB119GJ/B Battery

He was buried with full military honours, his funeral attended by hundreds of soldiers of all ranks.^[178] His obituary in The Times states "His influence and effect came from powers of mind and depth of knowledge rather than by generating an electrifying current among the troops or 'putting over' his personality."^[ Sony VAIO VPCB11AGJ Battery

Spiegel magazine was much harsher, saying "He assisted in the march to catastrophe—misled by a blind sense of duty."

Erich von Manstein (24 November 1887 – 9 June 1973) was a prominent commander of Nazi Germany's World War II armed forces (Wehrmacht). Sony VAIO VPCB11AVJ Battery

In 1949 he was tried for war crimes in Hamburg, and was convicted of nine of seventeen charges. Sentenced to eighteen years in prison, he served only four years before being released.

In August 1946 Manstein helped prepare a 132-page document for the defense of the German General Staff and the Wehrmacht supreme command (the OKW), Sony VAIO VPCB11V9E Battery

on trial at the Nuremberg Trials of major Nazi war criminals and organisations. The myth that the Wehrmacht was "clean"—not culpable for the events of the Holocaust—arose partly as a result of this document, written largely by Manstein, along with General of Cavalry Siegfried Westphal. Sony VAIO VPCB11X9E Battery

He also gave oral testimony about the Einsatzgruppen, the treatment of prisoners of war, and the concept of military obedience, especially as related to the Commissar Order, an order issued by Hitler in 1941 requiring all Soviet political commissars to be shot without trial. Manstein admitted that he received the order, but said he did not carry it out. Sony VAIO VPCCW18FJ/P Battery

Documents from 1941 presented at Nuremberg and at Manstein's own later trial contradict this claim: He actually received regular reports throughout that summer regarding the execution of hundreds of political commissars.^[2] He denied any knowledge of the activities of the Einsatzgruppen, and testified that soldiers under his command were not involved in the murder of Jewish civilians. Sony VAIO VPCCW18FJ/R Battery

However, Otto Ohlendorf, commander of Einsatzgruppe D, contradicted this during his own testimony, saying that not only was Manstein aware of what was happening, but that Manstein's Eleventh Army was actively involved.^[4] While testifying at Nuremberg, Manstein claimed ignorance of what was happening in the concentration camps. Sony VAIO VPCCW18FJ/W Battery

He stated that as he was a thousand kilometres away, he knew little about what was occurring there. One of his officers who had visited a camp had reported to him that the prisoners were criminals and political prisoners, who were being treated "severely but correctly."^[5] In September 1946 the General Staff and the OKW were declared to not be criminal organisations.^[6] Sony VAIO VPCCW19FJ/W Battery

After his testimony at Nuremberg, Manstein was interned by the British as a prisoner of war at Island Farm (also known as Special Camp 11) in Bridgend, Wales, where he awaited the decision as to whether or not he would face a war crimes trial. He mostly kept apart from the other inmates, taking solitary walks, tending a small garden, and beginning work on the drafts of two books. Sony VAIO VPCCW1AFJ Battery

British author B. H. Liddell Hart was in correspondence with Manstein and others at Island Farm and visited inmates of several camps around Britain while preparing his best-selling 1947 book On the Other Side of the Hill. Liddell Hart was an admirer of the German generals; he described Manstein as an operational genius. Sony VAIO VPCCW1AHJ Battery

The two remained in contact, and Liddell Hart later helped Manstein arrange the publication of the Engish edition of his memoir, Verlorene Siege (Lost Victories), in 1958.^[7][8]

The British cabinet, under pressure from the Soviet Union, finally decided in July 1948 to prosecute Manstein and three other senior officers—Walther von Brauchitsch, Sony VAIO VPCCW1S1E Battery

Gerd von Rundstedt, and Adolf Strauss—who had all been held in custody since the end of the war. Telford Taylor, recently promoted to Brigadier General and placed in charge of prosecuting war criminals on behalf of the United States, had during the course of the main Nuremberg trials collected a body of evidence against the four generals, falling into three broad categories: Sony VAIO VPCCW1S1E/B Battery

the killing of political commissars in the Soviet Union; poor treatment and killing of prisoners of war; and the extermination and enslavement of civilian populations.^[9] He filed a memorandum with the British public prosecutor, which was passed on to the War Ministry. Discussion among British cabinet ministers was heated; Sony VAIO VPCCW1S1E/L Battery

the Cold War was already underway, and Germany was seen as a bulwark against the spread of communism. While General Sir Brian Robertson, posted in Berlin, favoured discontinuing the prosecution of German generals as a way to initiate reconciliation with Germany, others, such as Foreign Affairs Minister Ernest Bevin and Minister of War Emanuel Shinwell, Sony VAIO VPCCW1S1E/P Battery

felt that the evidence was so convincing that a case must be filed. The Soviet Union requested in March 1948 that Manstein and Rundstedt be turned over for trial in that country, but the request was turned down. In July 1948 the decision was taken by the British cabinet to try the men on German soil, and they were transferred to Munsterlager to await trial. Sony VAIO VPCCW1S1E/R Battery

Brauchitsch died that October, and Rundstendt and Strauss were released on medical grounds in March 1949. Manstein's trial was held in Hamburg from 23 August to 19 December 1949.^[10][11]

Manstein faced seventeen charges at the trial, three of which pertained to events in Poland and fourteen regarding events in the Soviet Union. Sony VAIO VPCCW1S1E/W Battery

The trial began its first day with the Judge Advocate reading out the charges, and senior prosecutor Arthur Comyns Carr spent the next two days reiterating the charges and summarising the evidence to be presented for each charge.^[12] The first charge covered twenty-three counts of authorising or permitting the killing, Sony VAIO VPCCW21FX/B Battery

deportation, and maltreatment of Jews and other Polish civilians, actions which had been undertaken by the Schutzstaffel (SS), the Sicherheitsdienst (SD), army units, and police units. The second charge accused him of deliberately failing to prevent such killings and maltreatment. The third charge covered six counts of maltreatment and killing of Polish prisoners of war. Sony VAIO VPCCW21FX/L Battery

The charges regarding events in the Soviet Union included the fourth charge, fourteen counts of failing to attend to the needs of Soviet prisoners of war; many died through maltreatment or were executed by the SD. The fifth charge regarded an order issued by Manstein on 20 September 1941 whereby captured Soviet soldiers were summarily killed without trial; eight counts were included in this charge. Sony VAIO VPCCW21FX/R Battery

The sixth charge claimed three counts of captured Soviet soldiers being illegally recruited into German armed forces units. The seventh charge claimed that Soviet prisoners of war were illegally compelled to do dangerous work, and work of a military nature, which is prohibited by the Hague Convention. Sixteen counts were filed under this charge. Sony VAIO VPCCW21FX/W Battery

The eighth charge included fifteen counts of Soviet political commissars being executed in compliance with Hitler's Commissar Order.^[13]

The remaining charges were related to the activities of Einsatzgruppe D in the Crimea. The ninth charge accused Manstein of twenty-three counts of authorising the execution of Jews and other Soviet citizens. Sony VAIO VPCCW26EC Battery

The tenth charge accused him of failing to protect the lives of the civilians in the area. The eleventh charge claimed seventeen counts of soldiers in units commanded by Manstein handing over civilians to the Einsatzgruppe, while knowing that to do so would mean their deaths. The twelfth charge accused Manstein of seven counts of authorising his troops to kill Jewish civilians in the Crimea. Sony VAIO VPCCW26FX/B Battery

The thirteenth charge accused Manstein of authorising the killing of civilians for offences which they did not commit. The fourteenth charge accused Manstein of six counts of issuing orders to execute civilians without trial; for merely being suspects; and for having committed offences that did not warrant the death penalty. Sony VAIO VPCCW28EC Battery

The fifteenth charge was that Soviet citizens, in violation of the Hague Convention, had been compelled to build defensive positions and dig trenches in combat areas. This charge included twenty-five counts. The sixteenth charge accused him of fourteen counts of ordering the deportation of civilians as slave labourers. Sony VAIO VPCCW28FJ/P Battery

The final charge accused Manstein of thirteen counts of issuing "scorched earth" orders while in retreat, while ordering the deportation of the civilians in the affected areas.^[14]

The prosecution, led by senior counsel Carr, took twenty days to present their evidence in court. Sony VAIO VPCCW28FJ/R Battery

Carr asserted that Manstein knew it was Hitler's plan right from the start to exterminate the Jews of Europe during the course of the war, and that Manstein did nothing to prevent it, and that he permitted it to continue. As at Nuremburg, Manstein was presented with an order he had signed on 20 November 1941 which had been drafted based on the Severity Order issued by Field Marshal Walther von Reichenau on 10 October 1941. Sony VAIO VPCCW28FJ/W Battery

Manstein claimed in court that he remembered asking for a draft of such an order, but had no recollection of signing it. The order called for the elimination of the "Jewish Bolshevik system" and the "harsh punishment of Jewry". The prosecution used this order to build their case that Manstein had known about and was complicit with the genocide.^[15] Sony VAIO VPCCW29FJ/W Battery

Within the scope of the first three charges, which covered events in Poland while Manstein was chief of staff of an army group, were some 1,209 deaths, including 22 Jews who were killed in the town square in Końskie on 12 September 1939. Carr gave details of the deportation of Jews across the San River, during which many people drowned or were shot by members of the Gestapo; Sony VAIO VPCCW2AFJ Battery

Carr presented evidence that Manstein had specifically ordered that the refugees should be prevented from re-crossing the river.^[16]

The remaining charges covered events that happened in the Soviet Union, after Manstein had been promoted to general. Sony VAIO VPCCW2AHJ Battery

The fourth charge consisted of eleven counts of failure to protect the lives and ensure the humane treatment of prisoners of war; the prosecution presented evidence that 7,393 people died as a result of maltreatment or were shot dead. Carr presented evidence that the High Command had ordered these actions, and that Manstein carried out said orders. Sony VAIO VPCCW2S1E Battery

The fifth charge included eight counts of illegally treating captured Soviet soldiers as though they were partisans or terrorists, and alleged that many were killed as a result of orders issued by the High Command and Manstein's own order of 20 September 1941.^[17]

The next group of charges pertained to the activities of Einsatzgruppe D, a unit not under Manstein's direct control but operating in his zone of command. Sony VAIO VPCCW2S1E/B Battery

These charges became one of the key points of the trial, as the prosecution argued that is was Manstein's duty to know about the activities of this unit and his duty to put a stop to their genocidal operations.^[18] The ninth charge included twenty-three counts of ordering and permitting the killing of Jews, Gypsies, and other civilians in Russia by Einsatzgruppe D. Sony VAIO VPCCW2S1E/L Battery

Evidence was presented of the deaths of 22,467 Jews in September and 21,185 more in November 1941. The tenth charge alleged that Manstein deliberately ignored his duty to protect the lives of civilians in the areas where his troops were operating, and the eleventh charge detailed seventeen cases where Manstein's troops turned civilians over to the Einsatzgruppe, Sony VAIO VPCCW2S1E/P Battery

while knowing full well that to do so would mean their deaths. Carr gave details of the organisation and activities of the Einsatzgruppen, and alleged that Manstein must have known "from start to finish" what was going on, and had assisted them in their activities, in violation of human decency and the Hague Convention.^[19] Sony VAIO VPCCW2S1E/R Battery

The twelfth charge included seven counts where Manstein was accused of ordering his own troops, as opposed to the Einsatzgruppen, to kill Jews; once charge claimed he had ordered his troops to kill some 2,500 Jewish citizens of Kertsch in December 1941, and to return the following June to killl any Jews still living there. Sony VAIO VPCCW2S1E/W Battery

The thirteenth charge alleged that Manstein had allowed civilians to be killed for offenses they had not committed. The six counts under this charge included the deaths of 1,300 civilians in January 1942. For the seventeenth charge, the prosecution gave a description of the scorched earth tactics allegedly ordered by Manstein, Sony VAIO VPCCW2S5C CN1 Battery

orders that included the deportation of all the civilians and their livestock and the destruction of houses and any other objects of economic importance that could not be brought along. Carr described how the population was driven for hundreds of miles while lacking adequate food and clothing, resulting in uncounted deaths.^[20] Sony VAIO VPCF112FX/B Battery

Manstein's defence, led by the prominent lawyer Reginald Thomas Paget, argued that Manstein was not compelled to disobey orders given by his sovereign government, even if such orders were illegal. Paget claimed that the only commissars Manstein had ordered shot were in the rear area in the Crimea, likely because of partisan activities. Sony VAIO VPCF115FG/B Battery

Manstein, speaking in his own defence, stated that he found the Nazi racial policy to be repugnant. Sixteen other witnesses were called for the defence, several of whom were members of his staff, who testified that Manstein had no knowledge of or involvement in the genocide.

Manstein was found guilty on nine of the charges. He was found not guilty on the three charges relating to Poland. Sony VAIO VPCF116FGBI Battery

He was also found not guilty on the three charges relating to the extermination of the Jews, but was found culpable for failing to ensure the safety of civilians within his zone of command by issuing "scorched earth" orders. He was found guilty of allowing the deportation of civilians for slave labour, Sony VAIO VPCF117FJ/W Battery

for using Soviet prisoners of war to construct fortifications, for the execution of commissars, for the poor treatment and deaths of prisoners of war, and for the execution of civilians. He was sentenced to eighteen years in prison.^[23]

An uproar ensued among Manstein's supporters both in Great Britain and in Germany. Sony VAIO VPCF117HG/BI Battery

Liddell Hart lobbied in the British press, and in Germany the sentence was seen as a political decision. The sentence was reduced to 12 years in February 1950.^[24] Paget published a best-selling book in 1951 about Manstein's career and trial, which portrayed Manstein as an honourable soldier fighting heroically despite overwhelming odds on the Eastern Front, Sony VAIO VPCF118FJ/W Battery

and who had been convicted of crimes that he did not commit. The book helped to contribute to the growing cult surrounding Manstein's name.^[25] His release on 7 May 1953 was partly a result of a recurrence of his eye problems, but also the result of pressure placed on the British government by Winston Churchill, Konrad Adenauer, Liddell Hart, Paget, and other supporters. Sony VAIO VPCF119FC Battery,Sony VAIO VPCF119FC/BI Battery,Sony VAIO VPCF119FJ/BI Battery