Arthur Schmidt (soldier)
Encyclopedia
Arthur Schmidt was an officer
in the German
military
from 1914 to 1943. He attained the rank
of Generalleutnant
during World War II
, and is best known for his role as the Sixth Army's chief of staff
in the Battle of Stalingrad
in 1942–43, during the final stages of which he became its de facto
commander, playing a large role in executing Hitler
's order that it stand firm despite being encircled by the Red Army
. He was a prisoner of war
in the Soviet Union
for twelve years, and was released following Adenauer
's visit to Moscow in 1955.
, including chief of operations in Fifth Army (25.08.39–12.10.39) and Eighteenth Army (05.11.39–01.10.40). On 25 October 1940 he served as chief of staff in 5th Army Corps, a position he held until 25 March 1942, when he moved to the Führerreserve
at OKH
. On 26 January 1942 he was awarded the German Cross in Gold
.
Schmidt was appointed as chief of staff to General Paulus
in Sixth Army on 15 May 1942, replacing Colonel Heim
after the counter-attack against Marshal Timoshenko
at the Second Battle of Kharkov
. Antony Beevor
offers the following description of Schmidt:
, be issued with a radio and join up with Romanian forces to the north-west of Stalingrad to help with intelligence. Many false reports of the massing of Soviet forces were received from the Romanian sector, and so when Stöck radioed at 5 a.m. on 19 November that the offensive marking the start of Operation Uranus
(the Soviet encirclement of Axis forces) was about to begin, Schmidt, who was furious when disturbed by false alarms, was not informed, although he was awoken twenty minutes later when it became clear that this was no false alarm.
Paulus and Schmidt realised that Sixth Army was encircled on 21 November, and, evacuating their HQ at Golubinsky amidst a bonfire of burning files and stores, they flew to Nizhne-Chirskaya that same day, just missing Hitler's order that "Sixth Army stand firm in spite of danger of temporary encirclement." At Nizhne-Chirskaya on 22 November, Schmidt told 8th Air Corps
's commander, General Martin Fiebig, that Sixth Army needed to be resupplied by air, but was told that "The Luftwaffe doesn't have enough aircraft." Later that day, Schmidt and Paulus held a conference attended by General Hoth
and Major-General Pickert, during which Schmidt "did much of the talking". He re-emphasised that before Sixth Army could break out to the south, "We must have fuel and ammunition delivered by the Luftwaffe." When told that this was impossible, he replied that "more than 10,000 wounded and the bulk of the heavy weapons and vehicles would have to be left behind. That would be a Napoleonic ending." Schmidt maintained that the army, which would adopt a "hedgehog" defence, must be resupplied, but that the situation was not yet so desperate as there were plenty of horses left that could serve as food. All the while, Paulus remained silent; the only time he spoke during the conference "was to agree with his chief of staff".
On the afternoon of 22 November, Schmidt flew with Paulus to the new Sixth Army HQ at Gumrak, where that evening the Soviet encirclement of Axis forces was confirmed in Paulus's signal to Hitler. Schmidt contacted his corps commanders and they, in defiance of Hitler's order to stand firm, agreed with Schmidt that a breakout to the south was desirable. Paulus and Schmidt started planning for the breakout that evening, despite receiving another message from Hitler that they must stand firm and await relief. However, on 24 November Sixth Army received a further Führer order from Army Group, ordering them to stand firm. Schmidt commented:
This decision to stand firm in a "hedgehog" defence sealed Sixth Army's fate. When presented with the commander of 51st Corps General von Seydlitz-Kurzbach
's 25 November memorandum to Paulus, detailing plans for a breakout, Schmidt said:
On 19 December, Major Eismann was sent by Field Marshal Manstein
to brief Paulus and Schmidt on Operation Donnerschlag
, Army Group Don
's plan, not sanctioned by Hitler, for the Sixth Army to break out and incorporate itself in Manstein's Army Group. Beevor states that it is unclear what happened at the meeting, except that Paulus, who still believed in the chain of command, refused to break out without a clear order to do so from a superior, something that the politically deft Manstein refused to give. In his memoirs, however, Manstein states that Schmidt was a "stronger personality" than Paulus, and that he imposed his belief that a breakout was not necessary – indeed that it would be a disaster – on his superior. "What ultimately decided the attitude of Sixth Army Headquarters [towards Thunderclap] was the opinion of the Chief-of-Staff", wrote Manstein, and, given that this was opposition to a breakout and a belief that it was the duty of Supreme Command and Army Group to keep Sixth Army supplied, "Paulus himself ended by pronouncing the impossibility of a break-out and pointing out that surrender at Stalingrad was forbidden 'by order of the Führer'!"
Other historians, such as Mitcham, agree:
The decision not to treat with the Soviet envoys who bore an ultimatum to Paulus on 8 and 9 January 1943, was, for example, made by Schmidt, not Paulus, as Colonel Adam
told one of the envoys, Captain Dyatlenko
, during his post-battle interrogation. The envoys were even fired on; Paulus denied that he had ordered this, so it is possible that Schmidt might have issued the order. When General Hube
flew into the Kessel (the encircled pocket of Axis forces in Stalingrad) on the morning of 9 January with Hitler's message to stand firm, "this strengthened General Schmidt's intransigent position at Sixth Army's headquarters."
It has been suggested that much of the reason for Schmidt's ascendancy over Paulus lay in the fact that, unlike Paulus, Schmidt was a committed Nazi, and Paulus, afraid of Hitler and conscious of his responsibility for Sixth Army's catastrophic position, saw Schmidt as a cipher for the Führer whom he could placate. According to Pois and Langer:
Hitler awarded the Knight's Cross
to Schmidt on 6 January 1943 – on the same day that Paulus signalled to General Zeitzler
: "Army starving and frozen, have no ammunition and cannot move tanks any more" – and made him Generalleutnant on 17 January. On 19 January, Major Thiel was sent by VIII Air Corps to assess the runway at Gumrak and see whether further landings by Luftwaffe supply aircraft would be possible. After he concluded that they would not, telling both Schmidt and Paulus so, Paulus reprehended him for the original promise that air supply to Sixth Army would be possible, asking him: "Can you imagine that the soldiers fall upon a horse cadaver, split open its head, and devour the brain raw?" Schmidt addressed Thiel in the same vein:
Thyssen comments that both Paulus and Schmidt seemed to have forgotten Fiebig's statements on 21 and 22 November that the Luftwaffe would not be able to supply Sixth Army in the Kessel.
Schmidt and Paulus set up their HQ in the Kessel underneath the Univermag department store on the city's Red Square. The signal sent from Sixth Army HQ on the evening of 30 January, that stated that soldiers were "listening to the national anthem for the last time with arms raised in the German salute", was, according to Beevor, much more likely to have been written by Schmidt than by Paulus. When the forces defending Sixth Army HQ surrendered on the morning of 31 January, Schmidt discussed surrender terms with officers from General Shumilov's HQ, while Paulus waited in a room next door. Beevor comments, "Whether this was a ploy to allow Paulus to distance himself from the surrender, or a further example of Schmidt handling events because Paulus was in state of nervous collapse, is not clear."
Schmidt, together with Paulus and Colonel Adam, were taken to Don Front HQ at Zavarykino, where they were interrogated. When their baggage was searched for sharp metal objects, Schmidt, referring to Paulus, snapped at the Soviet officers:
Prior to Paulus's interrogation, Paulus asked Schmidt how he should respond, to which Schmidt replied, "Remember you are a Field Marshal of the German Army," apparently (according to the Soviet interrogator) using the intimate "du" form of address, although Captain Winrich Behr, who was familiar with the relations between the two men, considered this unlikely.
's attempt to ingratiate themselves by serving him caviar and champagne in a luxury railway coach. Together with most German officers, Schmidt was moved to Camp 48 at Voikovo, although he was kept away from Paulus by the NKVD, apparently because he was considered to be a bad influence on him. Manstein comments that, disastrous as Schmidt's obstinacy was at Stalingrad,
After Voikovo, Schmidt was held in the Lubyanka
prison. He remained there until 1955, when a visit to Moscow by West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer
led to his release, together with the remaining high-ranking German prisoners.
. He died in Karlsruhe
on 5 November 1987.
Officer (armed forces)
An officer is a member of an armed force or uniformed service who holds a position of authority. Commissioned officers derive authority directly from a sovereign power and, as such, hold a commission charging them with the duties and responsibilities of a specific office or position...
in the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
military
Military
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
from 1914 to 1943. He attained the rank
Military rank
Military rank is a system of hierarchical relationships in armed forces or civil institutions organized along military lines. Usually, uniforms denote the bearer's rank by particular insignia affixed to the uniforms...
of Generalleutnant
General (Germany)
General is presently the highest rank of the German Army and Luftwaffe . It is the equivalent to the rank of Admiral in the German Navy .-Early history:...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, and is best known for his role as the Sixth Army's chief of staff
Chief of Staff
The title, chief of staff, identifies the leader of a complex organization, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a Principal Staff Officer , who is the coordinator of the supporting staff or a primary aide to an important individual, such as a president.In general, a chief of...
in the Battle of Stalingrad
Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad was a major battle of World War II in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in southwestern Russia. The battle took place between 23 August 1942 and 2 February 1943...
in 1942–43, during the final stages of which he became its de facto
De facto
De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...
commander, playing a large role in executing Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
's order that it stand firm despite being encircled by the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
. He was a prisoner of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
for twelve years, and was released following Adenauer
Konrad Adenauer
Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer was a German statesman. He was the chancellor of the West Germany from 1949 to 1963. He is widely recognised as a person who led his country from the ruins of World War II to a powerful and prosperous nation that had forged close relations with old enemies France,...
's visit to Moscow in 1955.
World War I
Schmidt joined the army as a one-year volunteer on 10 August 1914, attaining the rank of Leutnant on 8 May 1915.World War II
Schmidt held various positions in the HeerHeer
Heer is German for "army". Generally, its use as "army" is not restricted to any particular country, so "das britische Heer" would mean "the British army".However, more specifically it can refer to:*An army of Germany:...
, including chief of operations in Fifth Army (25.08.39–12.10.39) and Eighteenth Army (05.11.39–01.10.40). On 25 October 1940 he served as chief of staff in 5th Army Corps, a position he held until 25 March 1942, when he moved to the Führerreserve
Führerreserve
The Führerreserve was a section set up in 1939 in many army units, in which high officers waited for a new assignment. Also, troublesome officers were sometimes shifted into the Führerreserve, since the High Command believed that they would be less dangerous there...
at OKH
Oberkommando des Heeres
The Oberkommando des Heeres was Nazi Germany's High Command of the Army from 1936 to 1945. The Oberkommando der Wehrmacht commanded OKH only in theory...
. On 26 January 1942 he was awarded the German Cross in Gold
German Cross
The German Cross was instituted by Adolf Hitler on 17 November 1941 as an award ranking higher than the Iron Cross First Class but below the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross respectively ranking higher than the War Merit Cross First Class with Swords but below the Knight's Cross of the War Merit...
.
Schmidt was appointed as chief of staff to General Paulus
Friedrich Paulus
Friedrich Wilhelm Ernst Paulus was an officer in the German military from 1910 to 1945. He attained the rank of Generalfeldmarschall during World War II, and is best known for having commanded the Sixth Army's assault on Stalingrad during Operation Blue in 1942...
in Sixth Army on 15 May 1942, replacing Colonel Heim
Ferdinand Heim
Ferdinand Heim was a World War II German general.-War service:Heim served as a junior artillery officer in the XIII Corps during the whole of the First World War After 1918 he remained in the much smaller army as a career officer, reaching the rank of Oberst in June 1939, just before the start of...
after the counter-attack against Marshal Timoshenko
Semyon Timoshenko
Semyon Konstantinovich Timoshenko was a Soviet military commander and senior professional officer of the Red Army at the beginning of the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941.-Early life:...
at the Second Battle of Kharkov
Second Battle of Kharkov
The Second Battle of Kharkov, so named by Wilhelm Keitel, was an Axis counter-offensive against the Red Army Izium bridgehead offensive conducted from 12 May to 28 May 1942, on the Eastern Front during World War II. Its objective was to eliminate the Izium bridgehead over Seversky Donets, or the...
. Antony Beevor
Antony Beevor
Antony James Beevor, FRSL is a British historian, educated at Winchester College and Sandhurst. He studied under the famous military historian John Keegan. Beevor is a former officer with the 11th Hussars who served in England and Germany for five years before resigning his commission...
offers the following description of Schmidt:
Encirclement of Sixth Army
Despite Lieutenant-Colonel Niemeyer's frank and pessimistic area briefings, Schmidt severely underestimated the build-up and capabilities of Soviet forces at Stalingrad following the initial Axis successes, a failing that he – unlike Paulus – subsequently did not attempt to excuse. Ignoring Hitler's Führer instruction of 30 June 1942 that Axis formations should not liaise with their neighbours, Schmidt authorised that an officer from Sixth Army, Lieutenant StöckGerhard Stöck
Gerhard Stöck was a German athlete who competed mainly in the shot put and javelin throw.Gerhard Stöck represented Germany at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, earning a bronze medal in the shot put and a come-from-behind gold medal in the javelin throw.In the shot put, Stöck was out performed...
, be issued with a radio and join up with Romanian forces to the north-west of Stalingrad to help with intelligence. Many false reports of the massing of Soviet forces were received from the Romanian sector, and so when Stöck radioed at 5 a.m. on 19 November that the offensive marking the start of Operation Uranus
Operation Uranus
Operation Uranus was the codename of the Soviet strategic operation in World War II which led to the encirclement of the German Sixth Army, the Third and Fourth Romanian armies, and portions of the German Fourth Panzer Army. The operation formed part of the ongoing Battle of Stalingrad, and was...
(the Soviet encirclement of Axis forces) was about to begin, Schmidt, who was furious when disturbed by false alarms, was not informed, although he was awoken twenty minutes later when it became clear that this was no false alarm.
Paulus and Schmidt realised that Sixth Army was encircled on 21 November, and, evacuating their HQ at Golubinsky amidst a bonfire of burning files and stores, they flew to Nizhne-Chirskaya that same day, just missing Hitler's order that "Sixth Army stand firm in spite of danger of temporary encirclement." At Nizhne-Chirskaya on 22 November, Schmidt told 8th Air Corps
8th Air Corps (Germany)
VIII. FliegerkorpsFor more details see Luftwaffe Organization was formed 19 July 1939 in Oppeln as Fliegerführer z.b.V. The abbreviation z.b.V. is German and stands for zur besonderen Verwendung . Fliegerführer z.b.V was renamed to VIII. Fliegerkorps on 10 November 1939...
's commander, General Martin Fiebig, that Sixth Army needed to be resupplied by air, but was told that "The Luftwaffe doesn't have enough aircraft." Later that day, Schmidt and Paulus held a conference attended by General Hoth
Hermann Hoth
Hermann "Papa" Hoth was an officer in the German military from 1903 to 1945. He attained the rank of Generaloberst during World War II. He fought in France, but is most noted for his later exploits as a panzer commander on the Eastern Front...
and Major-General Pickert, during which Schmidt "did much of the talking". He re-emphasised that before Sixth Army could break out to the south, "We must have fuel and ammunition delivered by the Luftwaffe." When told that this was impossible, he replied that "more than 10,000 wounded and the bulk of the heavy weapons and vehicles would have to be left behind. That would be a Napoleonic ending." Schmidt maintained that the army, which would adopt a "hedgehog" defence, must be resupplied, but that the situation was not yet so desperate as there were plenty of horses left that could serve as food. All the while, Paulus remained silent; the only time he spoke during the conference "was to agree with his chief of staff".
On the afternoon of 22 November, Schmidt flew with Paulus to the new Sixth Army HQ at Gumrak, where that evening the Soviet encirclement of Axis forces was confirmed in Paulus's signal to Hitler. Schmidt contacted his corps commanders and they, in defiance of Hitler's order to stand firm, agreed with Schmidt that a breakout to the south was desirable. Paulus and Schmidt started planning for the breakout that evening, despite receiving another message from Hitler that they must stand firm and await relief. However, on 24 November Sixth Army received a further Führer order from Army Group, ordering them to stand firm. Schmidt commented:
This decision to stand firm in a "hedgehog" defence sealed Sixth Army's fate. When presented with the commander of 51st Corps General von Seydlitz-Kurzbach
Walther von Seydlitz-Kurzbach
Walther Kurt von Seydlitz-Kurzbach was a German general. He was born in Hamburg, Germany, into the noble Prussian Seydlitz family. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves...
's 25 November memorandum to Paulus, detailing plans for a breakout, Schmidt said:
On 19 December, Major Eismann was sent by Field Marshal Manstein
Erich von Manstein
Erich von Manstein was a field marshal in World War II. He became one of the most prominent commanders of Germany's World War II armed forces...
to brief Paulus and Schmidt on Operation Donnerschlag
Operation Donnerschlag
During World War II, the German military planned or undertook an operation named Donnerschlag .The December 1942 German Army plan called for a breakout from the besieged city of Stalingrad by the German Sixth Army and there meet up with the relief Operation Wintergewitter...
, Army Group Don
Army Group Don
Army Group Don was a short-lived German army group during World War II.Army Group Don was created from the headquarters of the Eleventh Army in the southern sector of the Eastern Front on 22 November 1942. The army group only lasted until February 1943 when it was combined with Army Group B and...
's plan, not sanctioned by Hitler, for the Sixth Army to break out and incorporate itself in Manstein's Army Group. Beevor states that it is unclear what happened at the meeting, except that Paulus, who still believed in the chain of command, refused to break out without a clear order to do so from a superior, something that the politically deft Manstein refused to give. In his memoirs, however, Manstein states that Schmidt was a "stronger personality" than Paulus, and that he imposed his belief that a breakout was not necessary – indeed that it would be a disaster – on his superior. "What ultimately decided the attitude of Sixth Army Headquarters [towards Thunderclap] was the opinion of the Chief-of-Staff", wrote Manstein, and, given that this was opposition to a breakout and a belief that it was the duty of Supreme Command and Army Group to keep Sixth Army supplied, "Paulus himself ended by pronouncing the impossibility of a break-out and pointing out that surrender at Stalingrad was forbidden 'by order of the Führer'!"
Schmidt as commander in the Kessel
Interrogation of captured German officers led Soviet commanders to realise that, because of the toll of events on Paulus's nerves, Schmidt was the real commander of the defending forces. According to Beevor:Other historians, such as Mitcham, agree:
The decision not to treat with the Soviet envoys who bore an ultimatum to Paulus on 8 and 9 January 1943, was, for example, made by Schmidt, not Paulus, as Colonel Adam
Wilhelm Adam (Politician)
Wilhelm Adam was a career military officer who served in three German Armies and later became an East German politician .-Life:Adam's father was a farmer...
told one of the envoys, Captain Dyatlenko
Nikolay Dyatlenko
Captain Nikolay Dmitrevich Dyatlenko was a Ukrainian officer, interrogator and translator who was part of a team that attempted to deliver a message of truce to the German Sixth Army at the Battle of Stalingrad in January 1943...
, during his post-battle interrogation. The envoys were even fired on; Paulus denied that he had ordered this, so it is possible that Schmidt might have issued the order. When General Hube
Hans-Valentin Hube
Hans-Valentin Hube was a German general who served in the German Army during the First and Second World Wars. He was one of 27 people to be awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds...
flew into the Kessel (the encircled pocket of Axis forces in Stalingrad) on the morning of 9 January with Hitler's message to stand firm, "this strengthened General Schmidt's intransigent position at Sixth Army's headquarters."
Hitler awarded the Knight's Cross
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was a grade of the 1939 version of the 1813 created Iron Cross . The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was the highest award of Germany to recognize extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership during World War II...
to Schmidt on 6 January 1943 – on the same day that Paulus signalled to General Zeitzler
Kurt Zeitzler
Kurt Zeitzler was an officer in the German Reichswehr and its successor the Wehrmacht, most prominent for being the Chief of the Army General Staff from 1942 to 1944.- World War I and after :...
: "Army starving and frozen, have no ammunition and cannot move tanks any more" – and made him Generalleutnant on 17 January. On 19 January, Major Thiel was sent by VIII Air Corps to assess the runway at Gumrak and see whether further landings by Luftwaffe supply aircraft would be possible. After he concluded that they would not, telling both Schmidt and Paulus so, Paulus reprehended him for the original promise that air supply to Sixth Army would be possible, asking him: "Can you imagine that the soldiers fall upon a horse cadaver, split open its head, and devour the brain raw?" Schmidt addressed Thiel in the same vein:
Thyssen comments that both Paulus and Schmidt seemed to have forgotten Fiebig's statements on 21 and 22 November that the Luftwaffe would not be able to supply Sixth Army in the Kessel.
Schmidt and Paulus set up their HQ in the Kessel underneath the Univermag department store on the city's Red Square. The signal sent from Sixth Army HQ on the evening of 30 January, that stated that soldiers were "listening to the national anthem for the last time with arms raised in the German salute", was, according to Beevor, much more likely to have been written by Schmidt than by Paulus. When the forces defending Sixth Army HQ surrendered on the morning of 31 January, Schmidt discussed surrender terms with officers from General Shumilov's HQ, while Paulus waited in a room next door. Beevor comments, "Whether this was a ploy to allow Paulus to distance himself from the surrender, or a further example of Schmidt handling events because Paulus was in state of nervous collapse, is not clear."
Schmidt, together with Paulus and Colonel Adam, were taken to Don Front HQ at Zavarykino, where they were interrogated. When their baggage was searched for sharp metal objects, Schmidt, referring to Paulus, snapped at the Soviet officers:
Prior to Paulus's interrogation, Paulus asked Schmidt how he should respond, to which Schmidt replied, "Remember you are a Field Marshal of the German Army," apparently (according to the Soviet interrogator) using the intimate "du" form of address, although Captain Winrich Behr, who was familiar with the relations between the two men, considered this unlikely.
Prisoner of war
Of all the senior German officers held at Zavarykino, Schmidt was the most disliked by the Soviets; on one occasion he apparently reduced a mess waitress to tears during lunch, for which a Soviet officer, Lieutenant Bogomolov, made him apologise. Unlike many German prisoners of war, such as Paulus himself and General von Seydlitz-Kurzbach, Schmidt refused to co-operate with the Soviets, despite the NKVDNKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
's attempt to ingratiate themselves by serving him caviar and champagne in a luxury railway coach. Together with most German officers, Schmidt was moved to Camp 48 at Voikovo, although he was kept away from Paulus by the NKVD, apparently because he was considered to be a bad influence on him. Manstein comments that, disastrous as Schmidt's obstinacy was at Stalingrad,
After Voikovo, Schmidt was held in the Lubyanka
Lubyanka (KGB)
The Lubyanka is the popular name for the headquarters of the KGB and affiliated prison on Lubyanka Square in Moscow. It is a large building with a facade of yellow brick, designed by Alexander V...
prison. He remained there until 1955, when a visit to Moscow by West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer
Konrad Adenauer
Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer was a German statesman. He was the chancellor of the West Germany from 1949 to 1963. He is widely recognised as a person who led his country from the ruins of World War II to a powerful and prosperous nation that had forged close relations with old enemies France,...
led to his release, together with the remaining high-ranking German prisoners.
Later life
Following his release, Schmidt remained bitterly hostile to those German officers who had co-operated with the Soviets in the National Committee for a Free GermanyNational Committee for a Free Germany
The National Committee for a Free Germany was a German anti-Nazi organization that operated in the Soviet Union during World War II.- History :...
. He died in Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe
The City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...
on 5 November 1987.