Editing Gerd von Rundstedt (section)

===Dismissal===
Despite the triumph at Kiev, by the end of September Rundstedt was becoming concerned about the state of his command. After three months of continuous fighting, the German armies were exhausted, and the Panzer divisions were in urgent need of new equipment as a result of losses in battle and damage from the poorly-paved Ukrainian roads. As autumn set in, the weather deteriorated, making the situation worse.<ref name="Messenger p. 152">{{harvnb|Messenger|2011|p=152}}</ref> Rundstedt wanted to halt on the Dnieper for the winter, which would allow the German Army time to rest and be re-equipped.{{Sfn|Stahel|2012|p=327}} But the German armies could not rest, for fear the Soviet southern armies (now commanded by the stubborn Marshal [[Semyon Timoshenko]]) would regroup and consolidate a front on the [[Seversky Donets River|Donets]] or the [[Don River (Russia)|Don]].<ref>{{harvnb|Stahel|2012|p=143}}</ref> So, soon after the fall of Kiev, the offensive was resumed. Reichenau advanced east towards [[Kharkov]] and Kleist and Stülpnagel headed south-east towards the lower Donets. In the south 11th Army and the Romanians (commanded by Manstein following the death of Schobert) advanced along the [[Sea of Azov]] coast towards [[Rostov-on-Don|Rostov]].

The Soviet armies were in a poor state after the catastrophes of Uman and Kiev, and could offer only sporadic resistance, but the German advance was slowed by the autumn rains and the Soviet [[scorched earth]] policy, which denied the Germans food and fuel and forced them to rely on overstretched lines of supply. Rundstedt's armies were also weakened by the transfer of units back to Army Group Centre to take part in the attack on Moscow ([[Battle of Moscow|Operation Typhoon]]).<ref name="Messenger p. 152"/> Reichenau did not [[First Battle of Kharkov|take Kharkov]] until 24 October. Nevertheless, during October Rundstedt's forces won another great victory when Manstein and Kleist's tanks reached the Sea of Azov, trapping two Soviet Armies around [[Mariupol]] and taking over 100,000 prisoners.{{Sfn|Stahel|2012|p=346}} This victory enabled Manstein to undertake the [[Crimean campaign|conquest of the Crimea]] (apart from the fortress city of [[Sevastopol]]) against only weak opposition, while Kleist advanced towards Rostov.{{Sfn|Mawdsley|2005|p=90}} Despite these defeats, the Red Army was able to fall back on the Don in reasonably good order, and also to evacuate many of the industrial plants of the [[Donets Basin|Donbass]].

On 3 November Brauchitsch visited Rundstedt's headquarters at [[Poltava]], where Rundstedt told him that the armies must halt and dig in for the winter. But Hitler drove his commanders on, insisting on an advance to the [[Volga River|Volga]] and into the [[North Caucasus]], to seize the oilfields at [[Maykop|Maikop]]. These demands put Rundstedt under severe strain. The Germans were more than 300&nbsp;km from Maikop and 500&nbsp;km from the Volga at [[Volgograd|Stalingrad]]. On the other hand, they were over 1,000&nbsp;km from their starting point in eastern Poland, and even further from their supply bases in Germany. The Russian winter set in with full force in mid-November. The Germans were short of food, fuel, ammunition, vehicles, spare parts and winter clothing. [[Soviet partisans|Partisan]] activity was growing in their rear areas, threatening their supplies. Rundstedt was now 65 and not in good health – he was a heavy smoker, and in October in Poltava he suffered a mild heart attack.<ref>{{harvnb|Messenger|2011|p=154}}</ref> He increasingly resorted to drink to cope with the strain.<ref>{{harvnb|Messenger|2011|p=171}}</ref> He was now in the position of having to launch a new offensive against his better judgement, with exhausted troops in very adverse conditions. This was a recipe for defeat, but Rundstedt obeyed Hitler's orders.

Kleist, his units reinforced by Waffen-SS General [[Josef Dietrich|Sepp Dietrich]]'s [[1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler|1st SS Division]] (the {{lang|de|Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler}}), attacked on 17 November, and [[Battle of Rostov (1941)|captured Rostov on the 21st]]. But the Soviets had had time to prepare, and launched a counter-offensive on the 25th. On the 28th Rundstedt authorised Kleist to withdraw from Rostov and establish a front on the [[Mius River|Mius]], 70&nbsp;km to the west. When Hitler heard of this the next day, he ordered that Rostov should be held, although it had in fact already been evacuated. Rundstedt replied by insisting on his decision, and adding: "Should confidence in my leadership no longer exist, I beg to request someone be substituted who enjoys the necessary confidence of the [[Oberkommando der Wehrmacht|Supreme Command]]."<ref>{{harvnb|Messenger|2011|p=155}}</ref> Hitler took Rundstedt at his word, and on 1 December he dismissed him, replacing him with Reichenau.{{efn|Mawdsley says that Rundstedt resigned, but this is incorrect. Rundstedt's letter was not a resignation, but an invitation to Hitler to dismiss him if he had lost confidence in him.{{Sfn|Mawdsley|2005|p=90}}}} The new commander saw at once that Rundstedt was right, and succeeded in persuading Hitler, via [[Franz Halder|Halder]], to authorise the withdrawal. This was the first significant defeat the German Army suffered in World War II, and Rundstedt was the first senior commander to be dismissed.{{Sfn|Clark|1965|p=178}}

Hitler, however, immediately realised that he had gone too far in arbitrarily sacking the most senior commander of the German Army. He arrived in Poltava on 3 December, where he found both Reichenau and [[Sepp Dietrich]] firm in defending the correctness of Rundstedt's actions. Sodenstern explained the full circumstances of the retreat from Rostov to Hitler, an explanation which Hitler grudgingly accepted. Hitler then met with Rundstedt and excused himself on the grounds that it had all been a misunderstanding. He suggested that Rundstedt take a period of leave, "and then once more place your incomparable services at my disposal." On 5 December, his honour restored, Rundstedt left Poltava, never to return to the Russian front.<ref>{{harvnb|Messenger|2011|p=156}}, citing [[Georg von Sodenstern|Sodenstern's]] diary.</ref>

Shortly after his return to [[Kassel]], on his 66th birthday, Rundstedt received a cheque from Hitler for 250,000 Reichsmarks.{{efn|Testimony of Dr [[Hans Lammers]], head of Hitler's chancellery, at the [[Nuremberg trials]].{{Sfn|Overy|2002|p=275}} Lammers administered the system of bonuses, which was, as he said, a system dating back to Frederick the Great. He said Rundstedt was also given an estate near Breslau in Silesia, but no other source mentions this.}} This was part of [[Corruption within the Wehrmacht|Hitler's policy of buying the continuing loyalty]] of his senior commanders. Many found this offensive, but none turned down these gifts. Rundstedt tried to do the next best thing by failing to cash the cheque. By February this was attracting adverse comment in Berlin, and Rundstedt then cashed it. Some writers have sought to connect Rundstedt's acceptance of this money with his continuing refusal to support the resistance movement against Hitler's regime within the German Army.<ref>{{harvnb|Hoffmann|2003|p=186}}</ref> In fact Rundstedt refused to have anything to do with the money, handing it over to his daughter-in-law, and it was still untouched at his death in 1953.{{efn|The Rundstedt family did not access the money, by then considerably devalued, until 1982.{{Sfn|Messenger|2011|pp=156–157}}}}