Ernst Busch

Ernst Busch came up through the trenches of World War I and survived the postwar cuts to stay in uniform through Weimar. By 1936 he was a general leading the 23rd Infantry Division, then commanded VIII Corps during the invasion of Poland in 1939. In 1940 he took over the 16th Army and led it through France and into the Soviet Union the following year. By October 1943 he had risen to command Army Group Centre, the largest formation on the Eastern Front. When the Red Army launched Operation Bagration in June 1944, his command collapsed and he was dismissed. He briefly commanded Army Group Northwest in the war's final months, then died in British captivity in England on 17 July 1945.