World War I and After
Zeitzler, the son of a pastor, was born in Goßmar (now a part of Heideblick), Province of Brandenburg. Zeitzler joined the German Army on March 23, 1914, and fought in World War I. He was promoted to officer because of outstanding bravery and was placed in command of an infantry battalion. Between 1919 and 1937 he served as a staff officer in the Reichswehr, and in 1937 he began working as a staff officer for the Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH).
In September 1939 he became Chief of Staff for the XXII. Corps of the 14. Army, serving under General Siegmund List in the German invasion of Poland. In March 1940 he became the Chief of Staff for Panzergruppe A, serving under General von Kleist in the Invasion of France. Zeitzler also served under Von Kleist in the German invasions of Yugoslavia, Greece and the Soviet Union in 1941. On May 18, 1941 he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.
During his tenure as Chief of Staff to Army group D in France in 1942 he was part of the German force that successfully resisted the Dieppe raid on August 19, 1942.
Read more about this topic: Kurt Zeitzler
Famous quotes containing the words and after, world and/or war:
“We look before and after,
And pine for what is not:
Our sincerest laughter
With some pain is fraught;
Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought.”
—Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822)
““If everybody minded their own business,” the Duchess said in a hoarse growl, “the world would go round a deal faster than it does.””
—Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (1832–1898)
“The peace conference must not adjourn without the establishment of some ordered system of international government, backed by power enough to give authority to its decrees. ... Unless a league something like this results at our peace conference, we shall merely drop back into armed hostility and international anarchy. The war will have been fought in vain ...”
—Virginia Crocheron Gildersleeve (1877–1965)