Talk:Gerhard von Schwerin

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Military history: Biography / European / German / World War II C‑class

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Dubious claims[edit]

"Saviour of Aachen":

In an attempt to prevent civilian casualties and to protect the city's historical architecture and relics (it was the ancient centre of Charlemagne's empire, or the Holy Roman Empire), he left a letter at the telegraph office to be given to the American commander, General Courtney Hodges, informing him of his intention to surrender the city without an armed struggle. Later, when he learned that the Americans had stopped to regroup and that an attack was not imminent, he tried to retrieve the message, but it had fallen into the hands of Nazi party officials. Upon learning of the note's contents, Adolf Hitler ordered Schwerin's arrest and trial for treason. With the aid of General Field Marshals Gerd von Rundstedt and Walter Model however he escaped death and received only a severe reprimand.

Not according to sources: "no defiance of orders or humanitarian action. K.e.coffman (talk) 06:26, 2 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

The US official history says that he left a note asking the Americans to treat the population humanely, but may not have been aware of Hitler's attitudes to actions such as this (see page 71 of [1]). von Schwerin later launched a counter-attack which he knew would lead to fighting in the city (page 75) and remained in command of the city's defences until he was relieved of command (pages 81-82). This is in full agreement with Kershaw's analysis, which notes that he only stopped the evacuation of the city and didn't deserve a reputation as its "saviour". He certainly didn't surrender the place. Nick-D (talk) 07:32, 2 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Response: Text improved & sourced.

Bardrick. 19 April 2016.

Unreliable sources tag[edit]

Various non WP:RS websites: geneall.net, ww2gravestone.com. I tagged the article accordingly. K.e.coffman (talk) 23:27, 17 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Grandchildren[edit]

This is probably the only German general that has his grandchildren named in the Wikipedia. As goes for most generals of the Reich his personal political views remain unclear. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.86.90.39 (talk) 07:31, 29 April 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Borderline Inaccuracies[edit]

The following paragraph:

Whilst Schwerin was at the Academy the German Chancellor Adolf Hitler seized autocratic governing power in a paramilitary political revolution in Berlin, abolished the Weimar Republic state with the passing into law of the Enabling Act of 1933, and declared an ideological militarist dictatorship described as the Third Reich, fundamentally altering the post-World War political order in Europe.

Firstly, the seizure of power in 1933 was not a "paramilitary political revolution". Secondly, the Enabling Act was not passed by Hitler, but by the Reichsrat and Reichstag, then signed by von Hindenburg. The "[declaring of] an ideological militarist dictatorship described as the Third Reich" also sounds like a badly written account from a low-end newspaper.

Perhaps these inaccuracies should be corrected and the style amended to be more scholarly than sensational. FormalRS (talk) 02:12, 14 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]