Hitler's Warriors

The "Desert Fox" more famously and officially known as Erwin Rommel was a decorated veteran of the First World War. He became a hero in Germany after his victories in France and North Africa. He was forced to commit suicide following the failed assassination attempt on Hitler's life in 1944.

Erich von Manstein, a decorated veteran of World War I, was shattered by the German surrender of 1918. He is famous worldwide for his brilliant "Sickle Cut" plan that led to the fall of France in 1940. He rose to the rank of field marshal and later led the German summer offensive at Kursk. He survived the war and died in 1973.

Friedrich Paulus, an aristocratic veteran, played a key role in the German rearmament. He led the 6th Army during the Battle of Stalingrad, but was declared a "traitor" after surrending, and was held in Russian captivity until 1954. He died in Germany a few years later in 1957.

Ernst Udet, the second-highest scoring German flying ace of World War I, played a key role with Göring in rebuilding the Luftwaffe, and rose to the rank of colonel general. He took part in the invasion of Russia, but after bitter personal disputes with his family and Göring, he committed suicide on 17 November 1941. Hitler and the top Nazi chieftains attended his funeral.

Wilhelm Canaris became chief of the Abwehr, the German military intelligence service in 1935, a post he would hold until 1944. He was among the military officers involved in the clandestine opposition to Hitler and the Nazi regime. He was executed in the Flossenbürg concentration camp for the act of high treason.

Wilhelm Keitel, an intelligence officer and adjutant of the First World War, was the one who secretly organized the German rearmament. After Hitler came to power, he became a field marshal and chief of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, the supreme armed forces high command, a post he would hold until the end of war. He was convicted of war crimes and hanged in 1946.