Hitler's Commanders by Jr. Samuel W. Mitcham Read Free Book Online

several army groups to gauge possible support for a coup against Hitler. Although he received no direct assent to such a plan, General Thomas was “moderately satisfied,” according to fellow conspirator Ulrich von Hassell, the former ambassador to Italy. 40
    It was during this trip to the Eastern Front that Thomas witnessed the murder of Jews by the Einsatzgruppen —the mobile killing units of the SS and SD. An infuriated Thomas shared his experience with Baron Friedrich von Falkenhausen, another active conspirator, and the two of them visited Field Marshal von Brauchitsch. They wanted to ascertain how Brauchitsch now felt about the Hitler regime. Brauchitsch responded by pointing out to his visitors that it was his duty to obey his Fuehrer. Thomas then blurted out that Brauchitsch was partly responsible for the murder of the Jews. The field marshal walked away without replying.
    A rebuffed Thomas returned to his duties and on May 6, 1942, was appointed to the Armaments Council. Although he still disdained the Nazi regime, he carried out his duties and participated in the planning, for example, of the economic exploitation of occupied Russia. Later that month, in fact, he was appointed chief of the new Armaments Office of the Reich Ministry for Armaments and Munitions. Although he had an impressive title, economic authority was still divided, with Albert Speer (Hitler’s designated munitions expert) assuming more and more control. Consequently, Thomas resigned his post in the armaments and munitions ministry on November 20, 1942. He continued his duties at OKW, however.
    Thomas took no further part in the anti-Hitler conspiracy after the Casablanca Conference of January 1943. At the conclusion of these meetings, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt announced that the Allies would accept nothing less than the unconditional surrender of Germany, Italy, and Japan. Since Thomas saw that the war was clearly lost and that no alternative German government could expect any softening of the Allied terms, the general felt that the assassination of Hitler would serve no purpose except to make Hitler a martyr in the eyes of the German people. 41
    After the July 20, 1944, assassination attempt, papers were discovered that implicated Thomas as a possible conspirator. Although the Nazi tribunal failed to uncover any direct evidence linking Thomas with the attempt on Hitler’s life, he was nevertheless arrested and sent to the prison camp at Flossenburg. He also spent time at Dachau Concentration Camp and was finally imprisoned in a concentration camp in South Tyrol, Italy. As the war came to an end, Thomas was rescued by American troops and quickly freed. He moved to Frankfurt-am-Main, but his health had been broken during his imprisonment, and he died there on December 29, 1946.
    walter buhle was born in Heilbronn, Wuerttemberg, on October 26, 1894. He joined the Imperial Army as a Fahnenjunker on July 10, 1913, received his commission in August 1914 (just as World War I broke out), and served mainly with the Wuerttemberger 124th Infantry Regiment (27th Infantry Division) in Lorraine and the 122nd Fusilier Regiment (26th Infantry Division) on the Eastern Front. Severely wounded in June 1915, he recovered, underwent mortar training, and served with a mortar battalion for the rest of the war. After serving as a signals officer with the Reichsheer’s 13th Infantry Regiment at Ludwigsburg, Wuerttemberg (1921), he transferred to the Wuerttemberger 18th Cavalry Regiment, where he began his General Staff training. After attending the College for Politics in Berlin (1925–1926), Buhle worked in the Defense Ministry and Group Command 1 in Berlin (1926–1930). Promoted to captain in 1926, he commanded a company in the 13th Infantry Regiment from 1930 to late 1932, when he returned to the Defense Ministry and was assigned to the Organizations Department (T-2). Promoted to major in 1933 and lieutenant colonel in 1936, he commanded II/87th