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A year later Hitler came to power with Junker help, made able War Planner von Manstein a lieutenant general. Yet Manstein remained aloof from Nazi politics. After all, Nazis too were rabble.
In the drive on Poland, Manstein was Chief of Staff to Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, who attacked from the south. Manstein did a flawless job of planning, intelligence and logistics, was promoted to a field commander. In the summer of 1940, his armies broke through the Somme line in France. A year later he became an army commander in Russia when Ukrainian guerrillas killed his chief, Colonel General Eugen Ritter von Schobert. For yet another year, Manstein marched from victory to victory—Odessa, Perekop, Kerch, Sevastopol. But victory was tinged with pain: his two boys, both lieutenants, died in action. And the sands of luck were running low.
A German Pétain? At 56 Manstein is one of the youngest of Germany's field marshals. He has white hair, tired eyes, a beaked nose. Myopic, he wears the traditional Junker monocle. He dresses elegantly, sports a single decoration—the Iron Cross. He smokes thick cigars. In brief moments of leisure he plays the piano well, prefers solemn, well-ordered Bach to lighter, later composers. His hands are thin, well-manicured, almost feminine; his voice is quiet.
But this façade is deceptive. Behind it hides a strong and active mind, a harshness of will and temper. Ability and toughness brought Junker von Manstein, with his discipline and logic, close to plebeian Adolf Hitler, with his psychoses and intuition. Hitler must have respect for this good soldier. Manstein may have no respect for his Führer, but he bears him loyalty as the chief of state.
Above loyalty to the chief of state there is loyalty to the state and to the caste. Many an observer has guessed that on the eve of Germany's defeat the caste may betray Hitler, pick a Junker—perhaps Manstein—to play the Teutonic Petain. For, despite defeat and despair, the German burgher of today has no greater military idol than Manstein.
To straight-laced Manstein himself, such a betrayal may be acceptable. For like other Junkers he had been brought up on Junker Karl von Clausewitz's ageless lecture to Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm:
"The theory of warfare tries to discover how we may gain a preponderance of physical forces and material advantages at the decisive point. As this is not always possible, theory also teaches us to calculate moral factors: the likely mistakes of the enemy, the impression created by a daring action . . . yes, even our own desperation. . . . We must familiarize ourselves with the thought of honorable defeat. We must always nourish this thought within ourselves, and we must get completely used to it. Be convinced, Most Gracious Master, that without this firm resolution no great results can be achieved. . . ."
* Winston Churchill (Sept. 21).
*Ernst Thälmann, famed German Communist, now reputedly on a prison farm outside of Hanover.