After the war, Weichs was selected to continue in the Reichswehr, the new German army. He then held several cavalry-related positions. Promoted to Generalmajor (U.S. equiv. brigadier general) in April 1933, he took command of the 3rd Cavalry Division at Weimar, which became the 1st Panzer Division in 1935. Weichs was promoted to Generalleutnant (U.S. equiv. major general) in April 1935 and to General der Kavallerie (U.S. equiv. lieutenant general) in October 1936. His career suffered a temporary setback when he and 15 other generals were "retired" by Adolf Hitler following the Fritsch Affair.
Weichs was recalled to duty for the 1939 Polish Campaign that began World War II. He commanded the XIII Corps and enjoyed success at Kutno and Warsaw. Given command of the new Second Army, he participated in the Battle for France under Field Marshal Karl Rudolf Gerd von Rundstedt in the mop-up phase and was promoted to colonel general in July 1940. He commanded the forces invading northern Yugoslavia in April 1941, and after occupying Zagreb, Sarajevo, and Belgrade, he received the Yugoslav surrender on 18 April.
Second Army then moved east and participated in Operation barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union, as part of the southern flank of Army Group Center. Weichs fought in the battles for the Bialystok pocket, Gomel, and Bryansk. He fell ill in November and did not return to duty until January 1942, at which time his Second Army was on the northern wing of Army Group South. His forces captured Voronezh in July 1942.
Weichs received command of Army Group B when Hitler divided Army Group South into two army groups in July 1942. Army Group B eventually consisted of the Second and Sixth German Armies, the Fourth Panzer Army, the Second Hungarian Army, the Eighth Italian Army, and the Third and Fourth Romanian Armies. Not only was Weichs short of German troops, but Hitler also stripped him of half his motorized transport to support Army Group A. As the Sixth Army under General Friedrich Paulus invested Stalingrad, Weichs worried about the ability of his Axis allies to protect his flanks, and he called attention to this concern.
In November, when the Soviets launched their encirclement of Stalingrad, Weichs had no reserves, and Hitler refused his request to withdraw Sixth Army westward. Although restoring the situation was beyond the means Weichs had available, Hitler showed his lack of confidence in him by assigning most of Army Group B in late November to the newly created Army Group Don, commanded by Field Marshal Erich von Manstein. Weichs was promoted to field marshal in February 1943, but his remaining forces were distributed between Army Group Center and Army Group Don. He was transferred to the Führer Reserve on 10 July.
Weichs's retirement was short-lived. He was recalled on 26 July and named both commander in chief, Southeast, and commander in chief, Army Group F. With responsibility for all Axis forces in the Balkans, he was forced to contend both with growing guerrilla activity and with the Italian defection in September 1943. Weichs performed well, conducting several successful antipartisan operations. He also kept open supply lines for vital raw materials going to the Reich.
With the collapse of Romania and the defection of Bulgaria in August and September 1944, Weichs successfully extricated German forces in the Balkans with minimal losses. By January 1945, the remnants of Army Group F were fighting in Hungary. Hitler retired him in March. The aristocratic Weichs, despite his deep religious beliefs, remained loyal to the Führer and had the latter's respect, though not his full confidence, until the very end of the war.
Weichs was held as a prisoner after the war and was one of the defendants at the International War Crimes Tribunal, but he was released due to poor health in 1948 before the trial took place. He died in Burg Rösberg/Bonn on 27 September 1954.
Jon D. Berlin
Further Reading
Borchert, Klaus. Die Generalfeldmarschälle und Grossadmiräle der Wehrmacht. Woelfersheim-Berstadt, Germany: Podzun-Pallas Verlag, 1999.; Brett-Smith, Richard. Hitler's Generals. San Rafael, CA: Presidio, 1977.; Mitcham, Samuel W., Jr. Hitler's Field Marshals and Their Battles. Chelsea, MI: Scarborough House, 1988.; Moll, Otto E. Die deutschen Generalfeldmarschälle. Rastatt/Baden, Germany: Erich Pabel Verlag, 1961.
