“Why are we attacking in the east at all this year?”
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Heinz Guderian
Heinz Wilhelm Guderian was a German army general and military theorist. A pioneer and advocate of what would come to be called the "blitzkrieg" approach, he played a central role in the development of the panzer division concept and tank warfare more broadly.
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culture · German Wehrmacht Heer general (1888–1954) · writer · military personnel · Generaloberst · military officer · also Heinz Guderian, Heinz Wilhelm Guderian, Hurrying Heinz, Hammering Heinz, Guderian
Born 17 June 1888 · Died 14 May 1954 · Q70560
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2026· 1 entry
1976· 1 entry
The leading wargaming magazine, Strategy and Tactics, spotlighted Guderian in a featured game of the month called Panzergruppe Guderian
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1954· 10 entries
Died 1954-05-14.
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“If the tanks succeed, then victory follows.”
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“Boot 'em, don't spatter 'em!”
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“When the situation is obscure, attack.”
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“Logistics is the ball and chain of armored warfare.”
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“New weapons require new tactics. Never put new wine into old bottles.”
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“You hit somebody with your fist and not with your fingers spread.”
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“There are no desperate situations, there are only desperate people.”
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“We have severely underestimated the Russians, the extent of the country and the treachery of the climate. This is the revenge of reality.”
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“The engine of the Panzer is a weapon just as the main-gun.”
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1952· 1 entry
Guderian's memoirs were reprinted in English
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1950· 1 entry
Guderian published a pamphlet entitled Can Europe Be Defended
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1945· 1 entry
And the US refused requests from the Soviet Union to have him extradited
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1944· 1 entry
“95 million National Socialists who stand behind Adolf Hitler”
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1943· 1 entry
And especially appreciated the orders he issued in the aftermath of the failed plot
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1938· 2 entries
Won Anschluss Medal (1938).
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Hitler purged the army of personnel who were unsympathetic to the Nazi regime
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1937· 1 entry
“the time has passed when the Russians had no instinct for technology”
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1936· 1 entry
After serving in the military since leaving school, including in World War I, he was promoted to Heer Generalmajor (Major General) and became the Inspector of Motorized Troops
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1931· 1 entry
Was promoted to lieutenant-colonel and became chief of staff to the Inspectorate of Motorized Troops under Oswald Lutz
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1927· 1 entry
Guderian was promoted to major and in October he was posted to the transport section of the Truppenamt, a clandestine form of the army's General Staff, which had been forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles
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1924· 1 entry
Was appointed as an instructor and military historian at Stettin
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1919· 2 entries
“poor, dirty, incompetent, stupid and vulgar, depraved and treacherous.”
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Guderian was selected as one of the four thousand officers allowed by the Versailles Treaty in the reduced-size German army, the Reichswehr
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1918· 1 entry
Believing that they should have continued the fight
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1903· 1 entry
Left home and enrolled at a military cadet school
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1888· 1 entry
Born 1888-06-17.
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