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Hans Eberhard Kurt von Salmuth (November 11 1888–January 1, 1962) was a German army officer, serving in both World War I and World War II. He served as a junior officer in WWI, a staff officer in the inter-war period and early WWII, and an army level commander in WWII. General von Salmuth commanded the Fifteenth Army in France during the D-Day invasion. He spent five years in prison after the war for war crimes.

Early life, the First World War and the inter-war period

Born in 1888 in Metz, Germany (now a part of France) into a Prussian military family, he joined the German army on September 19 1907. He served in the First World War. By the war's end, he had reached the rank of captain.

He stayed in the army after the war. He was promoted to colonel on May 1, 1934 and served as chief of staff, II Corps from 1934 to 1937. On August 1 1937 he was promoted to brigadier general. He was assigned chief of staff to 1st Army Group Command. In 1938 he was assigned as chief of staff for the Second Army. He was promoted to the rank of major general on August 1, 1939.

The Second World War

In 1939 he was chief of staff for Army Group North, commanded by General Fedor von Bock, and served in the successful invasion of Poland.

Von Salmuth continued as chief of staff to General von Bock when the latter was given command of Army Group B for the next big operation, the invasion of Belgium and France in May of 1940. After the crushing defeat of the Allies in the west, Von Salmuth was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on July 19, 1940. On August 1, 1940 he was promoted to lieutenant general.

In 1941 Von Salmuth was assigned to the Eastern Front and on May 10 given command of the XXX Corps. He participated in Operation Barbarossa and saw service in the Crimea. In 1942 he was made acting commander of the Seventeenth Army. For a short time, June 6, 1942 to July 15, 1942 he was assigned command of the Fourth Army. In mid July 1942 he was made commander of the Second Army.

Von Salmuth was promoted to full general in January 1943. On February 3, 1943 he turned over command of Second Army to General Walter Weiss and was again given command of the Fourth Army, giving it up in July 1943.

Von Salmuth was then re-assigned from the Eastern Front, and sent to France, where in August 1943 he was given command of the important Fifteenth Army stationed in the Pas-de-Calais area of France. The Pas-de-Calais area was that part of the Atlantic Wall believed by Adolph Hitler to be where the Allies would choose for the D-Day invasion, and Fifteenth Army was given 17 divisions, the most forces of any German army-sized formation on the western front. The Allies did everything in their power to encourage Hitler in his belief (see Operation Bodyguard) as they had picked Normandy as the site of the invasion, an area defended by the smaller German Seventh Army.

Von Salmuth wrote this anecdote in his diary about the morning of the D-Day invasion, June 6,1944;

“At 6 A.M., since it had been daylight for an hour and a half, I had my Chief of Staff telephone Seventh Army again to ask if the enemy had landed anywhere yet. The reply was, ‘Fleets of troop transports and warships big and small are lying at various points offshore, with masses of landing craft. But so far no landing has yet taken place.’ Thereupon I went back to sleep with a calm mind, after telling my Chief of Staff ‘—So their invasion has miscarried already !"

Von Salmuth was relieved of his command by Hitler on August 24 1944 following the disintegration of the German front line after the Allied breakout from Normandy (Operation Cobra). He was replaced by General Gustav-Adolf von Zangen. Von Salmuth was given no further commands in the war, which for Germany ended approximately nine months later, in May 1945.

Post-World War Two, Nuremberg trials, and retirement

After the war, von Salmuth was held as a prisoner of war until 1948, when he was one of 185 defendants prosecuted in the Nuremberg Military Tribunals under Allied Control Council (ACC) Law No. 10. Von Salmuth was tried in the High Command Trial and found guilty of war crimes against prisoners of war and enemy belligerents, and crimes against humanity involving civilians in occupied countries and was sentenced to twenty years in prison. However, he was released early after serving only five years, in 1953. He died in Heidelberg, West Germany, in 1962. He was buried in the Nordfriedhof cemetary located in Wiesbaden, Germany.

Portrayed in film

In the 1962 film, "The Longest Day", von Salmuth was portrayed by the noted German actor Ernst Schröder.

References

"Salmuth, Hans von." Encyclopædia Britannica from Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service. <http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9344629> [Accessed March 25, 2006].

Biography of Colonel-General Hans von Salmuth http://www.generals.dk/general/von_Salmuth/Hans/Germany.html

Graves of Famous WWII Personalities http://www.xs4all.nl/~ejnoomen/wwgrave.html

David Irving: Hitler's War,Germany 1939-1945, ch. 36 (D-Day quote) http://www.fpp.co.uk/books/Hitler/1977/html_chapter/36.html

@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
 Von Salmuth was promoted to full general in January 1943. On February 3, 1943 he turned over command of Second Army to General Walter Weiss and was again given command of the Fourth Army, giving it up in July 1943.
-Von Salmuth was then re-assigned from the Eastern Front, and sent to France, where on [[August 8]] [[1943]] he was given command of the important [[German Fifteenth Army|Fifteenth Army]] stationed in the [[Pas-de-Calais]] area of France. The Pas-de-Calais area was that part of the [[Atlantic Wall]] believed by [[Adolph Hitler]] to be where the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] would choose for the [[Battle of Normandy|D-Day]] invasion, and Fifteenth Army was given 17 divisions, the most forces of any German army-sized formation on the western front. The Allies did everything in their power to encourage Hitler in his belief (see [[Operation Bodyguard]]) as they had picked [[Normandy]] as the site of the invasion, an area defended by the smaller [[German Seventh Army]].
+Von Salmuth was then re-assigned from the Eastern Front, and sent to France, where in August 1943 he was given command of the important [[German Fifteenth Army|Fifteenth Army]] stationed in the [[Pas-de-Calais]] area of France. The Pas-de-Calais area was that part of the [[Atlantic Wall]] believed by [[Adolph Hitler]] to be where the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] would choose for the [[Battle of Normandy|D-Day]] invasion, and Fifteenth Army was given 17 divisions, the most forces of any German army-sized formation on the western front. The Allies did everything in their power to encourage Hitler in his belief (see [[Operation Bodyguard]]) as they had picked [[Normandy]] as the site of the invasion, an area defended by the smaller [[German Seventh Army]].
 Von Salmuth wrote this anecdote in his diary about the morning of the D-Day invasion, June 6,1944;