About… all of them, or close enough to not matter.
Talking back to Hitler was not like talking back to Stalin in that it put your life at risk. Not a single German officer was executed or otherwise heavily punished for criticizing or talking back to Hitler: in fact, per the Prussian military tradition, when orders were being decided and decisions being made, at all levels of the command structure, there were vigorous and heated arguments. The fact that German officers of all ranks were shouting and screaming at each other behind closed doors as they tried to reach a decision wasn’t a bug, but a feature of the system.
Across the war, countless officers argued straight to Hitler’s face, with heated tones and raised voices. None ever died because of that: the worst possible outcome, if Hitler had decided you were not up to the task (which usually took more than simply arguing with him), was that you would be dismissed from your post, spend a couple months in the Führerreserve, and then quietly be reassigned to an equivalent posting.
Talking back to or criticizing Hitler and his actions? Boy, was it common. Whether it be Rundstedt who called Hitler’s headquarters personally and shouted ‘Make peace, you fools!’ at the staff officer picking up, or Model who, after Hitler started interfering in his command, personally flew back to the Wolfsschanze and asked to Hitler’s face who commanded the Ninth Army: him or Model. Sepp Dietrich by the end of the war wasn’t saying two words without one being a criticism of Hitler, Guderian got into more shouting matches with the Führer than anyone bothered to count.
And of course we have Manstein, who was so notorious for his constant headbutting with Hitler that when he was dismissed from his command of the Army Group South in 1944, the entire army group staff pitched in to buy him a farewell gift as a practical joke: the oil painting of two roosters fighting; so he could remember of ever butting heads with the Führer in his retirement.
Arguing with Hitler didn’t get you killed: that did not happen to any German officer. It might result in your fall from favour, even end in your dismissal if Hitler judged your differences irreconcilable, but it alone wouldn’t get you killed.
Of course they aren’t. The soldiers of 1941 are all in the ground!
Guderian’s reply to Hitler’s complaints that the German soldier of 1943 was not possessed of the same tenacity and combat ability as those of 1941.
Writer: Cem-Arslan-2
