Erhard Raus

Infobox Military Person
name=Erhard Raus
lived=8 January 1889 – 3 April 1956


placeofbirth=Wolframitz, district of Znaim
placeofdeath=Vienna
caption=
nickname=
allegiance=Austria-Hungary (to 1918)
First Austrian Republic (to 1938)
Nazi Germany
branch=Heer
serviceyears=
rank=Generaloberst
commands=6th Panzer Division
XI Corps
3rd Panzer Army
unit=
battles=World War I
World War II
awards="Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves"
laterwork=

Erhard Raus (January 8, 1889 - 1956) was born in Wolframitz (Moravia), which was then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He was a German Colonel General ("Generaloberst") during World War II, commanding the 6th Panzer Division during the early years of the war on the Eastern Front before taking Army and Army Group commands.

Early life

He entered the Austro-Hungarian Army Cadet School at Koenigsfeld on 1 October 1905 and was commissioned as an officer on 18 August 1909. He fought throughout World War I with the Bicycle Light Infantry, becoming highly decorated, rising to the rank of Captain and eventually commanding Bicycle Light-Infantry Battalion 1.

He married Marries Anna Morsani on August 17, 1918.

On January 18, 1919 he was selected for retention in the Austrian Army following the end of the war, eventually rising to the rank of Colonel in 1936. He spent these years in a number of staff and training posts before being absorbed into the Wehrmacht during the Anschluss in 1938, following which he continued with several other staff roles.

World War II

Raus was appointed chief of staff, to XVII Corps a few months before the war started but did not see any combat with these units, due to his staff role, when they attacked Poland and then headed west in 1940.

Following the practice of sending staff officers into the line he took over the command of Infantry Regiment 243 in June 1940, then Motorised Infantry Regiment 4 in July. In May 1941 he took command of the 6th Motorised Infantry Brigade of the 6th Panzer Division. However he had never led any of these formations into any sort of battle prior to June 22nd, 1941. His last combat experience was with the Bicycle Light Infantry Battalion 1 in the Austro-Hungarian Army where for 5 months in 1918 he was the acting commander.

Into Russia

On 22 June 1941, Kampfgruppe Raus (the 6th Panzer Division was operating with two Kampfgruppen – Kampfgruppe Raus and Kampfgruppe von Seckendorff) under his leadership, launched into the Baltic States and by August 20th had crossed through Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, fought alone for several days after capturing a bridgehead over the Luga River, took part in some the early Eastern Fronts most infamous battles and actions, broke through the Stalin Line and had arrived upon the outskirts of Leningrad.

On 7 September 1941, Raus was appointed the acting commander of the 6th Panzer Division.

On 15 September, the 6th Panzer Division, minus its artillery was ordered off the line outside of Leningrad. The division was to be transferred to Army Group Centre to take part in Operation Typhoon – the attempt to capture Moscow.In Raus' opinion, the Soviet strength in his division's sector had been crushed, opening an opportunity to break into the city. He tells of how his men in one week during the furious fighting outside the city had rolled up 12 Soviet defensive positions and captured 248 bunkers. [Raus, Erhard. "Panzer Operations" p. 84]

On 11 October he was awarded the Knights Cross for his seizure and defence of the Luga River bridgehead. [Raus, Erhard. "Panzer Operations" p. 352]

Moscow and the winter fighting

Raus and his men were transferred to the LVI Panzer Corp and formed part of the spearhead striking for Moscow. During this drive, his men working in combination with other panzer divisions helped encircle 400 000 men at Vyazma.

At the beginning of December they stood only 14km from the outskirts of Moscow. During the Soviet winter counterattack Raus claims to have saved his entire division by giving orders to blast holes into the frozen soil - each large enough to shelter three to five soldiers. Within hours his men were dug in and able to repel further Soviet attacks and withstand the terrible weather for fewer losses. [Raus, Erhard. "Panzer Operations" p. 93]

During the beginning of January the Soviet counterattacks were threatening to cut off the Fourth and Ninth armies, here Raus gained a new command of high importance. General Model (commanding the Ninth Army) issued orders that all rear area personnel would be placed under the command of Raus and he was given the job of organising these men to protect the lines of communications and stop any encircling operation by the Soviets. [Raus, Erhard. "Panzer Operations" p. 98] By February, Raus states he had collected around 35 000 men under his command and by mid February was counterattacking the Soviet positions, helping stabilise the line and halt any chance of large chunks of Army Group Centre from being encircled.

In early April, now with only his 6th Panzer Division under his command they were transferred to France to refit and rest and he was appointed the commander of the division on the 29th April. [Raus, Erhard. "Panzer Operations" p. 352]

talingrad

In mid November, the division left France for the Soviet Union via train. Raus claims to have saved much of his division from needless casualties by ignoring protests by train officials and organizing the transport of his men in what he called "Combat Trains", that being each trainload of his men would be able to deploy into small combined arms groups and thus be able to effectively repel partisan attacks for minimal material damage or loss of life. [Raus, Erhard. "Panzer Operations" p. 138]

By the end of November, the division was detrained and its mission became clear: To take part in Operation Winter Storm.

As the division along with the other elements of XLVIII Panzer Corps attacked, Raus makes clear that his division's ability to inflict such heavy losses upon the Soviet forces facing them was in part due to his leadership skills and inspiration.

When the offensive was called off and the Panzer divisions called back, Raus makes the claim that his troops were within striking distance of Stalingrad and that his force could have saved the encircled Sixth Army claiming there was no resistance between them. He fails to mention that the relief force was unable to carry on fighting towards the city because of increasing numbers of Soviet formations moving between the two and that Paulus was also unwilling to breakout.

Kharkov and Kursk

With the collapse of the front following Stalingrad, Raus found himself being placed in command of a newly formed XI Corps known until midsummer as “Provisional Corps Raus” [Raus, Erhard. "Panzer Operations" p. 187] , as well as a promotion to General of Panzer Troops. [Raus, Erhard. "Panzer Operations" p. 352] He was now under the command of Army Detachment Kempf and was commanding himself the 168th, 298h and 320th Infantry Divisions.

His men took part in the counterattack during the Third Battle of Kharkov, he then lead his men fighting across the Donets River during the Battle of Kursk (now commanding the 106th, 168th and 320th Infantry Divisions), there mission being to screen the Fourth Panzer Army while they broke through he Soviet defences and drove on for Kursk to complete the encirclement.

In late July following the failure of Operation Citadel, Raus' badly mauled Corp fought a rearguard action towards the Donets while the rest of the Army crossed before they finally crossed over.

There would be no relief for Raus or his men as the Red Army kept up its attacks, at this time the whole front was being pushed back by the Red Army, he nevertheless managed to stabilise a major crossing point across the Donets. In doing so, he halted the Russians that threatened to outrun the retreating German army, which was scrambling to establish themselves on the Panther-Wotan Line; which was only partially completed at the time.

When they were finally ordered to fall back his men had taken heavy losses, they fell back on Kharkov where they took part in the final battle for the city.

For his leadership during the defensive fighting from Belgorad to Kharkov he was awarded the Oak Leaves to the Knights Cross. [Raus, Erhard. "Panzer Operations" p. 352]

He was soon again on the retreat, leading his men from Kharkov back to the Dnieper River, having to fend off constant Soviet attacks and attempts to envelop the Corp until they reached the bridgehead at the river on the 20th September.

The Dnieper and beyond

Following his arrival, 8th Army gave Raus the mission of organizing the withdrawal of all Axis units in its sector (13 divisions) from the east side of the river to the west. [Raus, Erhard. "Panzer Operations" p. 249]

Following these events Raus spent the rest of the year fighting in the Ukraine. On 10 December 1943 he was appointed acting commander of the Fourth Panzer Army.

Several days later after setting up effective administration and improvising whatever craft he could lay his hands on, he had succeeded in his mission, pulling all divisions back across the river as well as thousands of cattle and horses [Raus, Erhard. "Panzer Operations" p. 254] .

The first test of his command was to blunt the Soviet Christmas offensive launched on the 24th. Having deployed his units to be able to absorb the initial Soviet attack, he ordered the construction of an anti tank ditch behind his lines as well as the evacuation of all unneeded material along with other efforts, but they were not to able to halt the Soviets [Raus, Erhard. "Panzer Operations" p. 263] .

However, through skillful use of his forces, Raus halted the Soviet offensive and scored a major defensive success although losing many men and being pushed back around 100 kilometres. He had kept the Soviets from breaking through [Raus, Erhard. "Panzer Operations" p. 267] although Raus openly admits that General Balck’s Panzer Corp played a key role in halting the Soviet attack. [Raus, Erhard. "Panzer Operations" p. 268]

More fighting was to follow through April which resulted in the loss of further men unnecessarily due to Hitler's orders to turn cities and towns into fortresses and fight to the last man.

Analysis of World War Two career

Some have called Raus one of the most competent and creative Generals to serve on the Eastern Front. While many would dismiss the first, on reading his memoirs he does appear to be the latter, using innovative tactics when leading his division into the Soviet Union and the subsequent campaigns and then again when in command of Corps and finally Armies.

Others have commented that his achievements throughout the war mostly go unrecognised even though he was very successful when in command and blame the high command for pulling him off the line when he was close to achieving his objectives.

In general the Eastern Front does not get as much attention as it should in the West and when the invasion of the Soviet Union began Raus was only in command of a Kampfgruppe (roughly a brigade) before rising to a divisional commander. Casual observers of the events on the Eastern Front would probably not have heard of him. Following that, he was always fighting in the shadow of events, people or divisions, which catch the attention of readers and historians.

For example, even though he won awards for his outstanding achievements during the drive to Leningrad, historical attention appears to focus on the massive encircling battles that Army Group Centre was conducting. At Kharkov and Kursk, the Waffen SS and the Grossdeutschland divisions get the most attention and in the latter battle Raus was commanding an Infantry Corp on the extreme southern flank of the fighting away from the more popular large tank brawls which were taking place, while people such as Hoth or von Manstein are the more prominent figures.

Raus was not popular with the major German military writers following WWII because he did not subscribe to the use of armor in the defense in the way Guderian and others had developed the doctrine. The popularizers of German tactics in postwar writings, perhaps mostly F. W. von Mellenthin, believed armor should be used solely in mobile operations. Mellenthin disparaged Raus in his classic Panzer Battles for just these reasons. Steven H. Newton, however, argues persuasively that Raus developed a different tactical model that was just as effective and was a more realistic way to confront Soviet superiority in men and materiel after about 1943, when the Nazis lacked the means for mobile operations.

As for the claim that he was close to achieving the capture of Leningrad, Moscow and could have broke through to Stalingrad and it was the high commands fault he was "pulled off the line", these have been refuted by historical events. For example the latter, where more and more Soviet units were being pushed between Stalingrad and the relief force attempting to push through and the Soviet counterattacks being launched elsewhere which was pushing the front back.

Later life

Raus subsequently wrote and co-wrote a number of books and publications focusing on strategic analysis of the tank tactics used by his forces on the Eastern front. He died in Vienna General hospital on 3 April 1956.

Awards

* Bronze Military Defence Medal of the Military Defence Cross with War Decoration and Swords (6 February 1915)
* Military Defence Cross, 3rd Class, with War Decorations and Swords (5 October 1915)
* Charles Troop Cross (15 March 1917)
* Silver Military Defence Medal of the Military Defence Cross with War Decoration and Swords (2 July 1917)
* [http://www.theaerodrome.com/medals/austrhun/oic.php|Iron Crown, 3rd Class, with War Decoration and Swords] (16 March 1918)
* Hungarian War Service Medal (9 March 1931)
* Austrian War Service Medal with Swords (15 May 1933)
* Silver Honors Badge (21 April 1934)
* Military Service Badge, 2nd Class (8 October 1934)
* Honors Decorations, 4th through 1st Classes (1st December 1939, dated to 1 January 1939)
* War Service Cross, 2nd Class (20 November 1940)
* Iron Cross, 2nd Class (29 June 1941)
* Iron Cross, 1st Class (6 July 1941)
* Armoured Combat Badge (1 September 1941)
* Knights Cross (11 October 1941)
* Eastern Campaign Medal (1 August 1942)
* German Cross in Gold (14 February 1943)
* Oak Leaves to the Knights Cross (22 August 1943)

Commands

Works

*"Panzer Operations: The Eastern Front Memoir of General Raus, 1941-1945" (with Steven H. Newton)
* "Peculiaries of Russian warfare ("German report "series, 1949)
*"Tactics in unusual situations" ("Small unit tactics", 1951)
* "Improvisations and field expedients: Their use as instruments of command" (1951)
* "Effects of climate on combat in European Russia" ("German Report Series, CMH Pub 104-6", 1952)
*"The Pomeranian battle and the command in the east" (1952)
* "Strategic deceptions "("Deceptions & Cover Plans Project "# 29, 1948)

References

*
*
* Patzwall, Klaus D. and Scherzer, Veit. "Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941 - 1945 Geschichte und Inhaber Band II". Norderstedt, Germany: Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall, 2001. ISBN 3-931533-45-X.
*"Panzer Operations: The Eastern Front Memoir of General Raus, 1941-1945" (with Steven H. Newton)