Hermann Hoth
Hermann "Papa" Hoth (1885-1971) was a German Army Generaloberst, specializing in armored warfare. After World War I service, he remained in military and staff roles, with a final assignment, in 1943, of commanding 4th Panzer Army in Operation Barbarossa, succeeding Erich Hoeppner.
His approach to deep battle was classic blitzkrieg, in which the first echelon would be tank-heavy. This has been criticized as wasting infantry and wearing out tanks, in comparison with Soviet gluboky boi doctrine of the time. [1]
His force came close to breaking through at the Battle of Stalingrad, but came under such heavy attack that Adolf Hitler ordered him to break off the attack and defend his forces. Later, after he failed to win at the Battle of Kursk, Hitler relieved him and put him into reserve for the rest of the war.
Hoth was convicted of war crimes in the High Command Case before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals, and sentenced to 15 years.
References
- ↑ Shimon Naveh (1997), In pursuit of military excellence: the evolution of operational theory, Taylor & Francis, p. 220-221