Wikia

Heinz Guderian

Historical Figure
Nationality:	Germany
Date of Birth:	1888
Date of Death:	1954
Cause of Death:	Natural Causes
Occupation:	General, Military writer
Children:	Heinz Günther Guderian
Affiliations:	German Army
Turtledove Appearances:

Southern Victory _{POD: September 10, 1862}
Appearance(s):	Walk in Hell; The Center Cannot Hold

Heinz Wilhelm Guderian (1888–1954) was a military theorist and innovative General of the German Army. He served during both World War I and World War II. Germany's panzer forces were raised and fought according to his writings. He never became a field marshal, but he is recognized as one of the most prominent generals of the Second World War, playing critical roles in the invasion of Poland in 1939, and in the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. He was captured at the end of the war, and held until 1948. He was not charged as a war criminal.

Heinz Guderian in Southern Victory

Heinz Guderian was an officer in the German Army in the early twentieth century. During the Great War, he and Austro-Hungarian Major Eduard Dietl served as military observers to the United States for a period in 1916. They observed US Army tactics in the Canadian Rockies, where they met Irving Morrell.^[1]

Guderian actually stayed on after Dietl went home, observing Morrell's push on Banff^[2] before heading back to Philadelphia with Morrell, then home. During the trip, Guderian and Morrell made small talk with Lt. Governor Davis Lee Vidals and Luther Bliss, both from the newly readmitted state of Kentucky.^[3] Upon their arrival in Philadelphia, Morrell learned he'd been promoted to lieutenant colonel, and Guderian quickly congratualted him with a slap on the back.^[4]

Guderian would meet Morrell a second time after the war when the latter was serving as an occupation officer in Canada. The now lieutenant colonel Guderian hoped to learn from Morrell techniques which the German Army could use in its occupation of restive parts of France, but the advice Morrell could offer was limited.^[5]

On the latter trip, Guderian was accompanied by his orderly, Sergeant Adolf Hitler. Guderian was embarrassed by the anti-Semitism that Hitler directed towards Irving Morrell's Jewish aide, Ike Horwitz.^[6]