Karl Rudolf Gerd von Rundstedt

Karl Rudolf Gerd von Rundstedt (1875-1953), German military commander during World War II. After serving in World War I, Rundstedt became an army group commander in 1932. He was retired during Hitler's purge of top army officers in 1938 but was returned to active duty the following year and led the successful offensive against France in 1940. Promoted to the rank of general field marshal, he commanded the southern army in the German invasion of the USSR in 1941. He was commander in chief in the West in 1942 but, having failed to prevent the Allied landings in Normandy (Normandie), was removed from his post in July 1944; he was reinstated the following September. Rundstedt was captured by the Allied forces in 1945, but he was later released because of ill health.