Field Marshal Gunther von Kluge
Günther von Kluge commanded German armies from Poland to Normandy and killed himself after being implicated in the July plot. Born in Posen in 1882 into a Prussian military family, he was commissioned into the artillery, served on the staff in the First World War, and was wounded at Verdun. He commanded the Fourth Army in the invasion of Poland in 1939 and again in France in 1940, where his forces broke through in the Ardennes sector, and he was promoted field marshal after the campaign. He led the Fourth Army into the Soviet Union in 1941, and took over Army Group Centre in December when Hitler dismissed Fedor von Bock during the crisis before Moscow. He held it for nearly two years through Rzhev and Kursk, and was known as clever Hans for his adaptability and, less admiringly, for shifting position. He knew of the conspiracy against Hitler from 1942 and was approached repeatedly by Henning von Tresckow, his own operations officer, who placed a bomb disguised as brandy on Hitler's aircraft in March 1943; it failed to detonate. Kluge encouraged the plotters and would not commit himself, saying he would act once Hitler was dead. He also accepted a large cash gift from Hitler on his birthday. He was injured in a car crash in October 1943 and returned in July 1944 to command in the west after Rundstedt was dismissed, arriving days before the bomb plot. He was blamed for the Falaise pocket, and Hitler suspected him of seeking surrender terms. Recalled on 17 August 1944, he took cyanide near Metz, leaving a letter urging Hitler to end the war.
- Lived: 1882 CE – 1944 CE
- Nationality: German
- Roles: field_marshal
