Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb

Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb
Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb
	Leeb in 1940
Birth name	Wilhelm Josef Franz Leeb
Born	5 September 1876; Landsberg am Lech, Kingdom of Bavaria, German Empire
Died	29 April 1956 (aged 79); Füssen, Bavaria, West Germany
Allegiance	German Empire (1895–1918); Weimar Republic (1918–1933); Nazi Germany (1933–1945);
Service/branch	Bavarian Army; Reichswehr; German Army (Wehrmacht);
Years of service	1895–1945
Rank	Generalfeldmarschall
Commands held	12th Army (1938); Army Group C (1939); Army Group North (1941);
Battles/wars	Boxer Rebellion; First World War; Second World War Battle of France; Operation Barbarossa Baltic Operation; Advance on Leningrad; Siege of Leningrad; ; ;
Awards	Military Order of Max Joseph; Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross;
Relations	Emil Leeb (brother)
Signature
	Criminal conviction
Conviction(s)	Crimes against humanity
Trial	High Command trial
Criminal penalty	3 years

Wilhelm Josef Franz Ritter^[1] von Leeb (5 September 1876 – 29 April 1956) was a German Generalfeldmarschall (Field Marshal) of the Wehrmacht during the Second World War, who was subsequently convicted of war crimes.^[2] Leeb was a highly decorated officer in World War I and was awarded the Military Order of Max Joseph which granted him the title of nobility. During the Battle of France, he commanded Army Group C, responsible for the breakthrough of the Maginot Line.

During Operation Barbarossa—the invasion of the Soviet Union—Leeb commanded Army Group North, which advanced through the Baltic States towards Leningrad (present day St. Petersburg), eventually laying siege to the city. Units under Leeb’s command committed war crimes against the civilian population and closely cooperated with the SS Einsatzgruppen, death squads primarily tasked with the murder of the Jewish population as part of the Holocaust.

Leeb was a beneficiary of Adolf Hitler's bribery scheme for senior Wehrmacht officers, receiving secret, extra-legal gifts of 250,000 Reichsmark in 1941 and of an estate valued at 638,000 Reichsmark in 1943. Following the war, Leeb was tried in the High Command Trial as part of the Subsequent Nuremberg Trials. He was convicted of transmitting the Barbarossa Decree and its criminal application by subordinate units and sentenced to three years' imprisonment time served.

^ Regarding personal names: Ritter is a title, translated approximately as Sir (denoting a Knight), not a first or middle name. There is no equivalent female form.
^ Hebert 2010, p. 150.