George Lindemann

In 1904 he was awarded the first officer's rank, and he was assigned to the 6 th Dragoon Regiment. In 1913, Lindemann was promoted to Lieutenant and transferred to the 14 th Infantry Regiment. During the march to Paris in 1914, he served in the 5 th Army and studied at the General Staff. At the end of the war Lindemann served in the 220-th Westphalian Infantry Division, which in early 1918, suffered heavy losses during Lens. War, he graduated from being awarded the Iron Cross of both classes and the Order of the House of Hohenzollern with Swords. He left to serve in the Army. During the Weimar Republic Lindemann returned to the cavalry. In late 1931 he was made a oberstleytenanty and set command 13 th Cavalry Regiment. In 1933, Lindemann was awarded the rank of Oberst, and he became head of the military school in Hanover. In 1936 he was entrusted with command of the 36 th Infantry Division in Kaiserslautern, and in 1936 he was promoted to Major-General. In 1938, Lindemann was a lieutenant general.

During the so-called "phoney war" of 1939-1940. Lindemann in command of the 36 th Infantry Division and took her to the attack on the "Maginot Line". But then the case particularly distinguish it has not been. Nevertheless, an ambitious and sympathetic to the Nazi party Lindemann August 5, 1940 he was awarded the Knight's Cross and October 1, was appointed commander of L shell, which was formed in Baden-Gc. A month later he made a general of cavalry.

. L corps of General Lindemann, together with the 46 th, 76 th and 198 th infantry divisions in spring 1941 was immediately transferred to the Balkans, but arrived too late to participate in the battles in Greece and Yugoslavia did not take
. After landing in Romania, the headquarters of corps was transferred to Bulgaria and then back to Berlin, where it was located prior to the invasion of the Soviet Union. In August 1941 she was transferred to Smolensk and then to the Leningrad section of the front, where L is the case (along with the 269 th Motorized Infantry Division and "Police" Division SS) covered the right flank of the main attack Leeb on Pulkovo Heights. After Hitler's orders to halt the offensive and deprived Leeb opportunity to capture Leningrad, Lindemann soldiers dug in and the end of 1941 remained on the western outskirts of the city. When started in 1944, they still stayed in the same place.

. Fact, . that George Lindemann was appointed commander of 18 th Army, then, . when General Oberst von Kц?chler Leeb replaced as commander of Army Group North, . January 17, 1942, . can be explained only by political intrigue, . Lindemann's pro-Nazi views and his willingness to fulfill the will of the Fuhrer,
. Lindemann himself did not do anything that could contribute to its rapid advance, and the place of the army commander had a number of other more worthy than he, applicants. In the 18-th army commanders of two of the three buildings (General Albert Vaudret artillery and infantry general Kuno-Hans von Bot) were in rank over Lindemann. Third, Infantry General Moritz von Victorine, had the same rank. But it was appointed a well-known pro-Nazi views Lindemann, who played a prominent role in the battle in the Volkhov boiler, where they were cut off and destroyed two Soviet armies. After this battle he received the rank of Oberst (3 July 1942). In 1942, Lindemann was repeatedly suppressed by Soviet troops attempt to break the siege of Leningrad, but in January 1943, he was unable to prevent the creation of the Red Army corridor connecting the Leningrad from the "mainland". Nevertheless, 21 August 1943, Hitler introduced the Lindemann to the Knight's Cross. Later favor in Hitler took more tangible form. In addition to the awards, praise and verbal encouragement, commander of 18 th Army, received a check worth 200,000 Reichsmark, sent by Hitler for the "honest and faithful service". We can only guess what impact such a "gift" could have on further views Lindemann, but there is no doubt that it was noticeable.

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. In late 1943, Georg von Kц?chler begged Hitler to allow him to lift the siege of Leningrad and retreat to the "line of Panther, before the Soviet High Command will take against the 18-th army another massive attack
. When Hitler called Lindemann, the trooper confidently stated that his army could withstand any blow to Russian. Hitler, who had heard exactly what he wanted, and believed the general had refused to support the request Kц?chler.

. January 4, 1944, foreseeing the impending catastrophe, Field Marshal von Kц?chler appeared at the headquarters of Lindemann and practically begged him to change the decision
. But the army commander once again expressed confidence that he could keep his position, even despite the lack of reserve.

Optimism Lindemann led to disaster. He miscalculated badly, obviously underestimating the power of the alleged Soviet offensive and overestimated the ability of their 21 divisions (5 of whom were Luftwaffe Field Division). He should know this before. We Lindemann had no reserves, no tanks and self-propelled guns, the air support he, too, could hardly expect. In addition, the length of the front, which was to keep him a depleted divisions, accounted for 25,000 yards, which is two times higher than permissible for a successful parry enemy rules. Kц?chler believed that the lack of a sense of normalcy Lindemann was motivated by a desire to attract the attention of Hitler. He was able to succeed only in this and prove that under the circumstances he could not do too much.

Impact of Soviet troops who had the superiority of one to six, was struck on January 14. January 17, were overrun and destroyed by poorly trained Luftwaffe Field Division. From the disaster at the left flank of the army saved the only determined resistance of III Corps SS Felix Steiner (including the SS Division "police" and "Nordland", as well as almost useless 9 th and 10 th Luftwaffe Field Division). Nevertheless, the SS were repulsed and suffered heavy losses. The collapse of the Communist and right wing Lindemann. 18-Army were in danger of double coverage. Despite the fact that on 18 January (against the will of the Fuhrer) Kц?chler ordered to retreat by the end of the month 18 th army was crushed, losing more than two-thirds of its fighting force. Wines in this entirely on the conscience of Hitler and the Lindemann. But Hitler blamed everything on Kц?chler and replaced him with Walter Model. It is incredible is the fact that after the model became the commander of Army Group North Ukraine, March 1, 1944 at his place the commander of Army Group North was assigned to George Lindemann. By 31 March the situation in the north, more or less stabilized. The reason was that Hitler was allowed to retreat to the "line of Panther, and bad weather (snow, thaw, rain) has stalled the advance of Soviet troops. Until 22 June, a group of armies "North" had experienced a period of relative calm, a group of armies "Center", to the south from forces Lindemann, Soviet troops was hit incredibly devastating forces. There have been wrecked and destroyed entire corps and division. Army Group "North" is also under attack, and quite noticeable. Almost completely destroyed Army Group "Center" exposed right flank of the Lindemann. In late June, he requested permission to delay his back left without cover for the southern wing. General-Oberst Kurt Zeitzler, . Chief of Staff, . not only supported this request, . but shared, . to the front of Army Group North was cut (which would release additional forces) due to the abandonment of Estonia and the rollback to the line of the Riga-Daugavpils,
. At the request of Lindemann Hitler refused to retreat, and instead ordered to take the attack to the south-east, to distract the enemy forces from Army Group Center. Lindemann was unable to cope with the impossible task, and Hitler 3 July 1944 freed him from his post, appointing in his place General Oberst Johannes Frissnera.

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. General Lindemann remained out of work for 6 months, but gradually regained favor with Hitler
. January 27, 1945 he was appointed commander of the Wehrmacht in Denmark. This command was purely territorial in nature, he obeyed some old units, garrisons and shore batteries. The morale of his soldiers left much to be desired. Even after Hitler's death Lindemann gave his men orders not to lay down their arms and to provide any resistance to, . Who will persuade them to do, . contrary policy, . carried out Hitler's successor grand admiral Karl DцІnitz, . who said Lindemann, . that he wanted to end the war with minimal loss,
. Fortunately, on the orders Lindemann did not pay any attention. Realizing that the situation is hopeless and that the soldiers would not obey him, this fanatic May 8, 1945 in Copenhagen, surrendered to the British. In 1947 or 1948 he was released from prison and went in Freudenstadt, where he died Sept. 25, 1963.