A Flawed Genius: Field Marshal Walter Model, a Critical Biography

Stein, Marcel

ISBN 10: 1906033307 / ISBN 13: 9781906033309

Published by Helion and Company, 2010

About this Item

Most items will be dispatched the same or the next working day. A copy that has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged.

Seller Inventory # rev9295240750

Bibliographic Details

• Title: A Flawed Genius: Field Marshal Walter Model, a Critical Biography
• Publisher: Helion and Company
• Publication Date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1906033307
• ISBN 13: 9781906033309
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Very Good
• Weight: 660 grams

About this title

Synopsis

Walter Model ranks among the foremost commanders of the German Wehrmacht. This is recognised by both German and foreign military historians. But Model was also one of the most brutal German Generals. Whenever he assumed a new command, he showered his staff officers with insults which hurt their dignity and led many of them to request their transfer. The higher Model rose in rank, the more offensive his behaviour became. This book tells the story of Walter Model's career, beginning with his youth and ending with his suicide on April 21, 1945, when he finally woke up to his errors, dissolved his Army Group in the Ruhr Pocket and told his soldiers that they were free to go home. Model rose to the highest ranks. He served with distinction during WW1 and had reached General’s rank by 1938. His first troop command was a Panzer division during the initial phase of the war against Russia. In the winter of 1941 he became Commander-in-Chief of the 9th Army. As of 1944 he was effectively Supreme Commander East. Later he was named Supreme Commander West and commanded Army Group B until the end,. The latter part of the book gives an account of Model's involvement in war crimes and deals with his increasingly absurd orders of the day, some of which cast doubt on his sanity. It also shows how he was part of the increasing perversion of military justice. Researched from a huge array of primary and secondary sources, A Flawed Genius is destined to become the primary biography about Model, a most controversial and complex German military figure.

About the Author

Marcel Stein was born in Berlin on December 2, 1921, as a French citizen. Until 1936 he went to school in Berlin and given the political developments in Germany, he entered Bedales School in England. In 1938 he started studying law and economics at the University of Paris while at the same time completing a reserve officer training program. In 1939 he volunteered for military service, obtained his commission in May 1940 and took part in the battle for France. In 1941 he continued his studies at the University of Algiers, which he had to interrupt after the Vichy government introduced the numerus clausus for Jewish students. In 1942 he escaped to Switzerland and obtained his degrees at the University of Geneva. In 1944 he returned for war service at the French General Staff and at the same time obtained his degrees at the University of Paris. In his professional life, Stein has held executive positions in major French, Swedish and Israeli industrial firms. Between 1974 and 1987 he was deputy general manager of Bank Leumi, Tel Aviv and between 1987 and 1999 he was deputy chief executive of Bank Winter, Vienna, the largest private bank in Austria. After retiring, Stein returned to Israel and engaged in writing a number of books about military history. Among his publications are three books about Manstein, one about Field Marshal Model and one about the Austrian generals who served in the German army after the annexation of Austria. His main area of interest is the perversion of the German officer corps tradition by the Nazi regime. All his books have been widely reviewed in the German-speaking press, both public and professional.