Field-Marshal Erikh von Manstein, one of the outstanding soldiers of thet 9cond World ofardied on Sunday it the age *of 85. 'His influence aXid effect came from powers of iiI4, a6d,depth of knowledge ritpet thin by gejner4tihg an flettding cur- rent among -thie - troops or ".putting over,, hia _p'ers&nality. Ice-cold in maniae ,lthodgh with strong emotions' uindeirneath, he exercised coffifi*hd tore in the style of Moltke than- 6f Rapoleon and - those whb cultivate the Napoleonic touch. Tie range and versatility of -Maxisteih's ability was shown in the'wi;y that, after being trained as- -an infantry- man, and then. becoming. pre. eminent as a staff Planner, h'e proved a brilliant, and thrusting armoured corjss- conimander in his first test run-With mechan. ized troops. Inhis.next bit test he proved equally successful in directing the -iegetattack on a fortress. By the variety of his exPerience and qualities he was exceptionally well equipped for high command Erich von Manstein was-born on November 24, 1887 the tenth child of his parentS ifis original surname was von Lewmnski, but his parents agreed to his adop- tion by a childlems aunt who had married a von Manstein. Both families had - long-standing military traditionsa,4d 16 of the boy's immediate. fbrebears had been generals; in: Prussian or Russian service. After leaving a cadet school' inii1906, he was comnmissioned into the 3rd Regi- ment of Foot GuaRtds. Badly wounded in the.autuinp of 1914, he was given a staff post on recovery, and made his mark in a series of such appdintments on the'Easterns Western, and Balkan fr6nts. After the waf 1he- was taken into the Reichswehirj and by, 1935 he had risen -to. be:-head of the operations section of the General Staff, while the next-year he was advanced to' Obeirquartier. ineister 1-the deputy to; the Chief of the General Staff, then General Beck. Early in 1938,. when Fritsch was dismissed from the post of Army Conmmaihder-in-Chief, Manstein was sent away to com- mand a division, having come to be regarded in 'Nazi circles as an obstacle to the- extensionr of their influence in -the- Army. But on mobilization, in 1939 he was ,made Chief of Staff of Rundstedt's Army Group, which played the decisive role in,the Polish -campaign.. He then moved with Runditedt to the Western Front, and there soon began'to advocate a change in the' plan for the rbming offen- sive. He urged that the main thrust, with the balk of the armoured forces, t should be shifted from the r-ight wing in the Belgian plain tothe hilly and wooded Ardennes-as'-the line of least expectatibn. His per- sistence in pressing- for the change of plan deprived him of a hand in directing -it, for he was honourably pushed. ou6t of the way by promotion to command a reserve corps, of'idfantry, just before the new plan wxas adopted under Hitler's -pressure-after heating Manstein's arguments. In the crucial -'opening stage of the offensive, wincl. cut off the Allies' left wirg and trapped it on the Channe1 coast, Man. stein's corps merely had a fol- low-on part. But jih the second and final stage it played a bigger role. Under his dynakic leader- ship, his infantiry pushed on so fast on foot that they, raced the armoured corp's ini the- drive southward across thie Somme and the Seine to theLoire. '' When the German plan of in- vading England was, discarded in favour of an attack. on Russia, Manstein was g;ven ' the com- mand of an armoured corps. With it he made one' of the quickest and deepest thrusts of the opening stag'e, from East Prussia to the Dviria, fiearly 200 miles, within four days. - Pro- moted to command the. Eleventh Army in the south, lie forced an entry into the, Crimeaji penin- sula by breaking through the fortified Perekopl.sthmus, -and in the summer of 1942 further proved his mastery of siege war- fare technique by capturing the famous fortress df. Sebastopol, the key centre 'of the 'Crimea- being Russia's main naval base on the Black Sea. He was then sent. north again to command the- intended attack on Leningrad, -btit called away by an' emergeftcy summons to conduct -the * efforts to relieve Paulus's Sixth Army, trapped that 'wintet at Stalin- grad, after the - failure -of the main German offensive of 1942. The effort failed because Hitler, -forbiddinig ' any ' with- drawal, refused tb -'agree-- to Manstein's insistehce that Patlilus should be told to break out west- ward- and meet the relieving forces. Following' Paulus's sur- render, a ridespread collapse developed: ':on the German's southern front under pressure of advancing:'Russian armies, but Mansteih saved the situation by a brilliant flank- counterstroke which. recaptured Khrkov and rolled back the Russians in con- fusioni Then in the Germans'. last great off ensive of the war in the East, ' Operation Citadel'", launched in July 1943 against the Kursk salient, Manstein's ' Southern Army; Group" formed the xight ' pincer. It achi6ved&a- considerable measure of s,uccess, but the effect was nullxfied by the failure of the left Pincer, provided' by the "Central'Army Group ". Having checked the German offensive, the Russian,s Dow launched their own on 0 larger scale along a wider front, and with growing strength. From that time onwards the Gpermans were thrown on the defensive, itrategiially, and with the turn 6f the' tide Manstein was henceforth' ealled on to meet, ' epeatedly, what has always:been judged ;the hardest task of. -gen-ralshiP-that of conducting a fighting withdrawal in face of fiuch-superior forces. His cokuept' of tth' strategic defensive gave strong emphasis to offensive actioar in fulfilling it, and he- constantly looked for opportunities of delivering a riposte, while often ably exploit- ing those which irose. But when he urged that a longer step back should be made-'a strategic withdrawal-in order. to develop the full recoil.spring effect of a Coupfer-offensive against an over-stretched enemy advance, Hitler would not heed his argu- ments. Unlike maniy of his fellows, Manstein maintained the old Prussian tradition of speaking frankly, And expressed his criti- cismi forcibly. both to Hitler in Private and, at conferences, in a way that staggered others who were. present. .That Hitler bore it so .o0sg is remarkable evidence of the Profound respect he had for Manstein's ability, and a contrast with his. attitude to most of his.generals, and to the General Staff as a body. In March-; 1944, Hitder removed Manstein from. command and thereby removed from the path of the Russians and'their allies tbe most formidable individual obstacle in their advance to victory. ManStein . mqoved westward when the . Russian tide of ad. vance- sVept over Eastern Ger- many, and surrendered himself to the British in May, 1945. The Russians demanded that he, along'-with other generals who had served on the Eastern Front, shoul4 be handed over to. them as war criminals. The British and Aimericans refused, but agreed to put them on trial in spetial hiItaiy courts. ' Many questions were raised in Eng- lan'f about the legality or justice of the procedure adopted, while a long delay occurred, during which most of"the other British- held' .prisoners of war were released. But Manstein was eventually pht on trial, at Ham- burg, . in August, 1949-four years after the end of the war. A. sibshtiption list was opened in. England, on the initiative of Lord De L'Isle, VC, and Major- General Lord Bridgeman, to provide the funds necessary for an. adequate; defence, and Mr Winston Chuichill was one of the fitst, subscribers. Mr R. T. Paget, -QC, offered.to lead the defence without fee. The trial continued, with intervals, until the. w6eek before Christmas. In the end;'Manstein was acquitted on the eight most serious charges, and. convicted only on a number, of lesser, or modified charges. The decision of the court followed Nuremberg Trial precedents, and he wa,s sen- tenced to 18 years' imprison- ment} but.this wvas later reduced, and in 1953 he' was released. In a deeper sense, however, that period of im'prisonment was penalty and retribution for his failur.ej in. common with most of his fello'w geherals, to make a firm 'and timely stand against the Nazi regime and its abuses, despite the disapproval he early and often showed. In 1955-56 he. was chairman of a. Military Sub-Committee appointed to advise the Bundes- tag Defence Committee on the orgahization, service basis, and operational doctrine of the new Germa'n forces of th'e Federal Republic. In 1920 Manstein married Jutta . Sibylle von Loesch, daughter of. a Silesian land- owner; an' had two 'sons, the elder of whom was killed in the, Wat. FIELD IMARSHAL VON -MANSTEIN - An outstanding Gei'an soldier
'Бій відлунав. Жовто-сині знамена затріпотіли на станції знов'
