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General Hermann Hoth

Hermann "Papa" Hoth (12 April 1885 - 26 January 1971) was a general of the Third Reich during World War II, notable for victories in France and on the Eastern Front, and later, after serving six years in prison for war crimes, as a writer on military history.

He was born in Neuruppin, the son of an army medical officer. He joined the German Army in 1904 and served in World War I. He remained in the army during the Weimar period, and in 1935 was promoted to Generalmajor and appointed to command the 18.Infanterie-Division of the reorganized Heer.

Promoted to Generalleutnant, he commanded the XV.Armee-Korps (mot.) from 10 November 1938, leading it in the invasion of Poland the following year.

He was successful in the Western Offensive of spring 1940, and was promoted to General der Infanterie on 19 July 1940.

In Operation Barbarossa in 1941, Hoth commanded Panzergruppe 3, capturing Minsk and Vitebsk, then in a shakeup in October, replaced General Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel as commander of 17.Armee in Ukraine. His army was driven back by a Russian offensive in January 1942.

In June 1942 he took over from General Erich Höpner as commander of 4.Panzer-Armee, which fought along the Bryansk Front and in support of the siege of Stalingrad-after the Russian Operation Uranus and the creation of the Kessel, Hoth's panzer group was the relief attempt to puncture Soviet defenses and create a corridor out of the Kessel for Palus' Sixth Army, he failed- and in July 1943 in the Battle of Kursk.

In the autumn of 1943 the Soviet army mounted a series of successful offensives that pushed the Germans back, and despite a distinguished record, Hoth, now Generaloberst, was blamed by Hitler for part of the losses, was reassigned to the reserves in November.

In April 1945 he was recalled to active duty and assigned to command the defense of the Harz Mountains, a position he held until the end of the war.

After the war, he was put on trial at the Subsequent Nuremberg Trials, found guilty of war crimes in the High Command Trial, and on 27 October 1948 sentenced to 15 years in prison. He was released in 1954 and spent his retirement writing. He died at Goslar, where he is buried.

• Panzer-Operationen: Die Panzergruppe 3 und der operative Gedanke der deutschen Führung, Sommer 1941 (Heidelberg: Kurt Vowinckel Verlag, 1956)