Gotthard Heinrici

Uncommon card · No. 81261

Feodor August Gotthard Heinrici (German: [ˈɡɔthaʁt haɪnˈʁiːtsi]; 25 December 1886 – 10 December 1971), a general in the German army during World War II, acquired a reputation as the premier defensive expert of the Wehrmacht. His final command, Army Group Vistula, formed in 1945 from the remnants of Army Group A and Army Group Center to defend Berlin from the Soviet armies advancing from the Vistula River. Late in the war, Heinrici was dismissed by Wilhelm Keitel for refusing to throw his remaining forces into a last-ditch effort to save Hitler as the Soviets overran Berlin, but survived to surrender to British forces on 28 May. He was held as a prisoner of war until 1948, and later supported efforts by the U.S. Army Center of Military History to study the experiences of German forces during the war. Heinrici died in 1971 at the age of 84.

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