Walter Model: Soldier

“Behr, I cannot imagine that I, as a Field Marshal, the one who out of conviction in victory for my country am responsible for the deaths of hundreds of my soldiers, should now emerge from these woods to approach Montgomery, or the Americans, with my hands in the air and say 'Here I am. Field Marshal Model, I Surrender.”

Walter Model

To Major Winrich Behr in the early morning hours of April 21, 1945. Quoted in "Battle for the Ruhr" - Page 378 - by Derek S. Zumbro - 2006

Death , Imagination , Victory , Country

“We have lost a battle, but I assure to you that we will not lose the war! I cannot say more at the present moment although I know the losses are crowded in your minds. That this happened does not hold importance. What counts is not to lose confidence in the future of Germany. At the same time everyone must understand the gravity of the situation. This moment will be enough to distinguish the true men from the inept ones. Every soldier has the same responsibilities: if the advancing one falls, another must be ready to take his place in order to go on.”

Walter Model

September 3 1944, <Appeal to the Soldiers of the Army of the West>. Quoted in "Rückzug: The German Retreat from France, 1944" - Page 191 - by Joachim Ludewig - 2012

Men , War , Confidence , Understanding

“I sincerely believe that I have served a criminal. I led my soldiers in good conscience… but for a criminal government.”

Walter Model

To Colonel Theodor Pilling, Lieutenant Colonel Roger Michael, Major Winrich Behr in the evening of April 20, 1945. They tuned in the Wehrmacht receiver, and listened Joseph Goebbels's speech marking the Hitler's Birthday. Quoted in "Battle for the Ruhr" - Page 378 - by Derek S. Zumbro - 2006

Sincerity

“My Soldiers are My Children.”

Walter Model

Meine Soldaten sind Meine Kinder
To SS-Sturmbannführer Heinrich Springer, his aide. In the early morning hours of December 23, 1944. Quoted in "Stationen eines Lebens in Krieg und Frieden" - Page 127 - by Heinrich Springer - 1996

Children

“Field Marshal Model was a bold, inexhaustible soldier, who knew the front well and who won the confidence of his men by his habitual disregard for his personal safety. He had no time for lazy or incompetent subordinates. He carried out his intentions in a most determined fashion. He was the best possible man to perform the fantastically difficult task of reconstructing a line in centre of the Eastern Front.”

Walter Model

"Panzer Leader" - by Heinz Guderian - 1952

Confidence , Time , Personality , Self-confidence