Wilhelm List
| Wilhelm List | |
|---|---|
List as Field Marshal
|
|
| Born |
14 May 1880 Ulm, German Empire |
| Died | 17 August 1971 (aged 91) Garmisch-Partenkirchen, West Germany |
| Buried at | Munich Waldfriedhof |
| Allegiance |
 German Empire Weimar Republic Nazi Germany
|
| Years of service | 1898–1942 |
| Rank | Field Marshal |
| Battles/wars |
World War II |
| Awards | Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross |
Siegmund Wilhelm Walther List (14 May 1880 – 17 August 1971) was a German field marshal in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II.
In 1939, List commanded the German 14th Army in the invasion of Poland. From 1939–1941, he commanded the German 12th Army in France and Greece. In 1941, he was Commander-in-Chief South-East. In July 1942, he was Commander-in-Chief of Army Group A on the Eastern Front in the Soviet Union.
Following the war, List was charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity and stood trial in the Hostages Trial of 1947. He was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. List was released early, and died in 1971.
List was born in Oberkirchberg in 1880 and entered the Bavarian Army in 1898; in 1913 he joined the general staff and served as a staff officer in World War I. After the war, List stayed in the Reichswehr. By 1932, he was promoted to Generalleutnant. In 1938, after the Anschluss of Austria, List was responsible for integrating the Austrian Armed Forces into the Wehrmacht.
In 1939, List commanded the German 14th Army in the invasion of Poland. It was List’s task to advance his army into southern Poland immediately at the start of the invasion, to form the extreme southern wing of an encircling manoeuver carried out by the German forces aimed at trapping the Polish field army in the general region of Warsaw. He didn’t fulfill this mission, although he met advance elements of the German XIX Panzer Corps under General Heinz Guderian a short distance south of Brest-Litovsk, on 17 September 1939. Following the conclusion of the fighting in Poland, which was accelerated by the occupation of the eastern part of the country by Soviet forces (as agreed to in the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact), List and his army remained posted in Poland as occupying forces.
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