Editing Erich von Manstein (section)

==Early military career==

===First World War===
During the First World War, Manstein served on both the [[German Empire|German]] [[Western Front (World War I)|Western]] and [[Eastern Front (World War I)|Eastern]] Fronts. At the beginning of the war, he was promoted to lieutenant and participated in the invasion of [[Belgium]] with the 2nd Guard Reserve Infantry Regiment. In August 1914, he took part in the capture of [[Namur]], the site of a massive citadel surrounded by outlying forts. In September, Manstein's unit was one of two transferred to [[East Prussia]] and attached to the [[8th Army (German Empire)|Eighth Army]], commanded by Hindenburg. After seeing action in the [[First Battle of the Masurian Lakes]], his unit was soon reassigned to the [[9th Army (German Empire)|Ninth Army]], which was in the process of advancing from [[Upper Silesia]] to [[Warsaw]]. Overstretched, the Ninth Army was forced to withdraw in the face of a Russian counterattack, and on 16 November, Manstein was wounded during the retreat when he was among a detachment that stormed a Russian entrenchment. He was shot in the left shoulder and the left knee; one bullet hit his [[sciatic nerve]], causing the leg to be numb. Recovery took six months in hospital in [[Beuthen]] and [[Wiesbaden]].{{sfn|Lemay|2010|pp=14–15}}{{sfn|Melvin|2010|pp=23–27}}{{sfn|Knopp|2000|p=178}}

After a period of home leave, on 17 June 1915, Manstein was reassigned as an assistant general staff officer of operations to the [[10th Army (German Empire)|Tenth Army]], commanded by [[Max von Gallwitz]]. Soon promoted to captain, he learned first-hand how to plan and conduct offensive operations as the Tenth Army undertook successful attacks on Poland, [[Lithuania]], [[Montenegro]], and [[Albania]]. During offensive operations at [[Verdun]] in early 1916, Manstein was stationed with Gallwitz and his staff at a new headquarters near the action. He next served as a staff supply officer under General [[Fritz von Below]] and chief of staff [[Fritz von Lossberg]] at a command post near the [[River Somme]]; the area was the scene of several battles over the course of the war. British and French operations from July to November 1916 forced a German withdrawal over the winter to the [[Hindenburg Line]], a series of defensive positions between Verdun and [[Lens, Pas-de-Calais|Lens]]. Manstein continued to serve under Below until October 1917, when he was transferred as chief of staff to the [[4th Cavalry Division (German Empire)|4th Cavalry Division]], serving in [[Riga]] during the German occupation of the area. As a result of the signing of the [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]] in March 1918, Manstein's unit was no longer needed on the Eastern Front; he was reassigned to the [[213th Infantry Division (German Empire)|213th Infantry Division]] near [[Reims]]. The German Imperial Army saw some minor successes in the area but was beginning to lose the war. The [[Armistice of 11 November 1918|armistice]] was signed on 11 November 1918.{{sfn|Melvin|2010|pp=27–31}}

===Inter-war era===
Manstein married Jutta Sibylle von Loesch, the daughter of a [[Silesia]]n landowner, in 1920. He proposed marriage after having known her for only three days.{{sfn|Knopp|2000|p=180}} She died in 1966. They had three children: a daughter, Gisela (born 1921), and two sons, Gero (born 1922) and Rüdiger (born 1929).{{sfn|Lemay|2010|p=20}} Gero died on the battlefield in the northern sector of the Eastern Front on 29 October 1942 while serving as a lieutenant in the ''Wehrmacht''.{{sfn|Forczyk|2010|pp=7–8, 28}} Gisela was married to Major [[Edel-Heinrich Zachariae-Lingenthal]], a highly decorated officer who commanded II. Panzer-Regiment 15 during the Second World War.{{sfn|Knopp|2000|p=197}}

Manstein remained in the armed forces after the war ended. In 1918 he volunteered for a staff position with the Frontier Defence Force in [[Wrocław|Breslau]] and served there until 1919.{{sfn|Melvin|2010|p=38}} As part of ''Gruppenkommando'' II, he participated in the restructuring of the German Imperial Army of 500,000 men into the ''[[Reichswehr]]'', the army of the [[Weimar Republic]] (restricted to 100,000 men by the [[Versailles Treaty]]).{{sfn|Melvin|2010|p=40}} Recognised from an early age as a talented and intelligent commander, Manstein was chosen as one of only 4,000 officers permitted under the treaty. In 1921 he was appointed company commander of the sixth company of the 5th Prussian Infantry Regiment and next served as a staff officer for ''Wehrkreiskommando'' II and IV, teaching military history and tactics until 1927. That year he was promoted to major and served with the [[German General Staff|General Staff]] at the ''Reichswehr'' Ministry in Berlin, visiting other countries to learn about their military facilities and helping to draft mobilisation plans for the army.{{sfn|Lemay|2010|pp=21–22, 26}} Promoted to lieutenant colonel, he was given command of the light infantry battalion of the 4th Infantry Regiment, serving with that unit until 1934.{{sfn|Melvin|2010|pp=59, 64}} In 1933 the [[Nazi Party]] [[Machtergreifung|seized power]] in Germany, ending the Weimar period. In violation of the Versailles treaty, the ''Reichswehr'' had been secretly re-arming since the 1920s; the new government formally renounced the Treaty and proceeded with large scale [[German rearmament|re-armament]] and expansion of the military.{{sfn|Lemay|2010|p=23}}{{sfn|Forczyk|2010|pp=7–9}}

Manstein was moved back to Berlin as full colonel in February 1934, serving as chief of staff of ''Wehrkreiskommando'' III.{{sfn|Melvin|2010|p=64}} On 1 July 1935 he was appointed the Head of the Operations Branch of the Army General Staff (''Generalstab des Heeres''), part of the Army High Command (''[[Oberkommando des Heeres]]'' – OKH).{{sfn|Melvin|2010|p=73}} During his tenure there, Manstein was one of the people responsible for the development of ''[[Fall Rot]]'' (Case Red), a defensive plan to protect Germany from attack by France.{{sfn|Lemay|2010|p=51}} During this period Manstein came into contact with [[Heinz Guderian]] and [[Oswald Lutz]], who advocated drastic changes in warfare, emphasising the role of the [[Panzer]]. However, officers like [[Ludwig Beck]], Chief of the Army General Staff, were against such drastic changes, and therefore Manstein proposed an alternative: the development of ''[[Sturmgeschütz]]e'' (StuG), self-propelled assault guns that would provide heavy direct-fire support to infantry.{{sfn|Melvin|2010|pp=79–82}} In World War II, the resulting StuG vehicles proved to be among the most successful and cost-effective German weapons.{{sfn|Forczyk|2010|p=9}}

He was promoted to [[Generalmajor]] in October 1936, becoming the Deputy Chief of Staff (''Oberquartiermeister I'') to General Beck.{{sfn|Lemay|2010|p=43}} On 4 February 1938, Manstein was transferred to the command of the [[18th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht)|18th Infantry Division]] in [[Liegnitz]], [[Silesia]], with the rank of [[General (Germany)|Generalleutnant]].{{sfn|Melvin|2010|p=100}} The transfer meant that Manstein did not receive Beck's post as Chief of the Army General Staff that August (Beck had resigned, despite Manstein's urgings not to do so, as he felt Hitler's intended invasion of [[Czechoslovakia]] that October would be premature). The position was given to General [[Franz Halder]], who had taken Manstein's former post as Deputy Chief of Staff. The incident created a lasting hatred between the two men.{{sfn|Lemay|2010|pp=56–57, 62–63}} On 20 April 1939, Manstein delivered a speech at the celebration of Hitler's 50th birthday, in which he praised Hitler as a leader sent by God to save Germany. He warned the "hostile world" that if it kept erecting "ramparts around Germany to block the way of the German people towards their future", then he would be quite happy to see the world plunged into another world war.{{sfn|Smelser|Davies|2008|p=97}}{{sfn|Kopp|2003|pp=471–534, 512}} Israeli historian [[Omer Bartov]] notes that the rise of officers such as Manstein was part of a tendency for technocratic officers, usually ardent Nazis, to come to the fore; his opinion is that the ''Wehrmacht'' was fully integrated into [[Nazi Germany]], not a separate apolitical organisation independent of the Nazi regime.{{sfn|Bartov|1999|p=145}}