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Friedrich von Mellenthin | |
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| Born | (1904-08-30)August 30, 1904 |
| Died | June 28, 1997(1997-06-28) (aged 92) |
| Allegiance | Weimar Republic Nazi Germany |
| Branch | Reichswehr German Army |
| Service years | 1924–1945 |
| Rank | Generalmajor |
| Unit | III Army Corps Second Army Afrika Korps XLVIII Panzer Corps Army Group G 5th Panzer Army |
| Commands | 9th Panzer Division |
| Conflicts | |
| Other work | Author ofPanzer Battles |
Friedrich von Mellenthin (30 August 1904 – 28 June 1997) was a German general duringWorld War II. A participant in most of the major campaigns of the war, he became known afterwards for his memoirsPanzer Battles, first published in 1956 and reprinted several times since then.
Mellenthin's works were part of the exculpatorymemoirs genre that fed the post-war revisionist narrative, put forth by formerWehrmacht generals.Panzer Battles was instrumental in forming the misconceptions that influenced the U.S. view ofEastern Front military operations up to 1995, when Soviet archival sources became available to Western and Russian historians.
Mellenthin was born inBreslau; his brotherHorst von Mellenthin was also a World War II general. In 1924, Friedrich von Mellenthin enlisted in theReichsheer; in 1932 he married Ingeborg von Aulock. He was assigned to thePrussian Military Academy in 1935. Between 1937 and June 1941, Mellenthin held severalgeneral staff positions in theArmy; in June 1941, Mellenthin was posted toNorth Africa, where he served as a staff officer in theAfrika Korps until September 1942.
Until May 1944, Mellenthin served as chief of staff of theXXXXVIII Panzer Corps in the occupied Soviet Union, under GeneralHermann Balck, including during theBattle of Kursk, theBattle of Kiev, and the spring 1944 retreat through the westernUkraine. In September 1944, Mellenthin followed Balck to the4th Panzer Army and then toArmy Group G in eastern France. On 28 December, Mellenthin was given command of9th Panzer Division, which was then engaged in theBattle of the Bulge. From March to May 1945 he was chief of staff of the5th Panzer Army.
Mellenthin surrendered to the British Army on 3 May 1945 and spent two and a half years in an internment camp. After his release, Mellenthin emigrated toSouth Africa, foundedTrek Airways, worked together withLuxair and representedLufthansa in Africa from 1961 until 1969. He died inJohannesburg in 1997.
Mellenthin's bookPanzerschlachten, translated into English asPanzer Battles, documents Wehrmacht's campaigns that he participated in. The book was reprinted six times in the U.S. between 1956 and 1976 and continues to be popular among readers who romanticize the German war effort.[1] The veracity of Mellenthin'sPanzer Battles and other works has been called into question over the years. The historianWolfram Wette lists Mellenthin in the group of German generals who authored apologetic, uncritical studies on World War II, alongsideFerdinand Heim,Kurt von Tippelskirch,Waldemar Erfurth and others.[2]
Critics point out that Mellenthin tends to downplay Wehrmacht's failures while extolling the fighting qualities of the German soldier. The historiansRonald Smelser andEdward J. Davies have characterized Mellenthin's works as part of the "exculpatory memoirs" genre that fed the post-war revisionist narrative, alongside books byErich von Manstein,Heinz Guderian,Hans Rudel andHans von Luck.[3] Mellenthin blames Wehrmacht's defeat solely on the Soviet advantages in men and materiel, describing the Red Army as a "ruthless enemy, possessed of immense and seemingly inexhaustible resources". As a result, according to Mellenthin, the "endless waves of men and tanks" eventually "submerged" the supposedly superior Wehrmacht.[1]
Wehrmacht's adversaries on the Eastern Front are consistently depicted in derogatory and racial terms, including in a section dedicated to the "Psychology of the Russian Soldier".[4] According to Mellenthin, "Russian soldier" is a "primitive being", characterised by "mental sluggishness" and lacking a "religious or moral balance". He describes them as "primitive" "Asiatics".[1]
Panzer Battles was instrumental in forming the misconceptions which influenced the U.S. view of Eastern Front military operations up to 1995, when Soviet archival sources became available to Western and Russian historians. The historianRobert Citino notes the influential nature of Mellenthin's works in shaping the perceptions of theRed Army in the West as "a faceless and mindless horde" whose idea of military art was to "smash everything in its path through numbers, brute force and sheer size". Citino includesPanzer Battles among the German officers' memoirs that are "at best unreliable and at worst deliberately misleading".[5]
| Military offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by GeneralleutnantHarald Freiherr von Elverfeldt | Commander of9th Panzer Division 28 December 1944 – February 1945 | Succeeded by GeneralleutnantHarald Freiherr von Elverfeldt |
