Unable to meet the cost of joining a cavalry regiment, Rundstedt joined the 83rd Infantry Regiment in March 1892 as a cadet officer ( Portepee Fähnrich ).

He soon joined the patriotic Army League and become a close associate of other young German officers such as Walther von Brauchitsch, Franz Halder, and Gerd von Rundstedt.

The German Commander-in-Chief, Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, refused to allow General Erwin Rommel to move his divisions to Normandy.

In general, officers who were in some way critical of Hitler's military, if not necessarily political leadership, such as Field Marshal Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb, Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt and Admiral Raeder, received ( and accepted ) larger bribes than officers who were well known to be convinced National Socialists, such as General Walter Model, Admiral Karl Dönitz and Field Marshal Ferdinand Schörner.

At the end of his course Rundstedt was described as " an outstandingly able officer … well suited for the General Staff.

In August 1918 Rundstedt was transferred to the west, as chief of staff to XV Corps in Alsace, under General Felix Graf von Bothmer.

In October Rundstedt was posted to the staff of Military District ( Wehrkreis ) V, based in Stuttgart, under General Walter von Bergmann.

In October Rundstedt was promoted to full General and given command of Gruppenkommando 1, covering the whole of eastern Germany.

When Fritsch was forced to resign in 1938, Rundstedt again blocked Reichenau's appointment, and the post went to General Walther von Brauchitsch.

On 31 January, Rundstedt and the Army Chief of Staff, General Ludwig Beck, representing the officer corps, had an angry meeting with Hitler.

In fact, both Rundstedt and Blaskowitz complained to the Chief of Staff, General Franz Halder, about the Army Command's apparent tolerance of such incidents.

Rundstedt, like most German officers, had favoured the policy of good relations with the Soviets followed by the Reichswehr commander General Hans von Seekt during the Weimar Republic years, when the Soviet connection was seen as a counter to the threat from Poland.

The commander of armoured forces in France, General Leo Freiherr Geyr von Schweppenburg, backed by Rundstedt, strongly disagreed, wanting his forces to be positioned inland to preserve their manoeuverability.

On 27 October Rundstedt and Model met with General Alfred Jodl, chief of operations at OKW, and told him flatly that they considered this impossible with the available forces.

The U. S. government, however, did not accept this recommendation and insisted that Rundstedt, Manstein, Brauchitsch and General Rudolf Strauss ( an Army commander on the Russian front in 1941 ) should stand trial.

By May 1943, Goerdeler was well aware that Field Marshal Günther von Kluge, General Heinz Guderian and Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt had accepted 250, 000 Reichmark cheques as birthday presents from Hitler that were intended to bribe them into loyalty, and that in addition, Guderian had received an estate in Poland.

These changes were protested by some senior members in the Wehrmacht, most notably Colonel General Ludwig Beck who circulated a petition that was signed by Colonel General Gerd von Rundstedt and others.

Colonel General Beck resigned on 18 August 1938 and Colonel General von Rundstedt obtained permission to retire in October 1938.

A week later, Halder presented plans to Hitler on how to invade Czechoslovakia with a pincer movement by General Gerd von Rundstedt and General Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb.

Army Group South was commanded by Colonel General Gerd von Rundstedt.

During the German invasion of the Low Countries and France Army Group A was under the command of General Gerd von Rundstedt, and was responsible for the break-out through the Ardennes.

Fall Weiss was developed primarily by Günther Blumentritt and Erich von Manstein while the two were serving as staff officers under General Gerd von Rundstedt with Army Group South in Silesia.

The letter was given to General Gerd von Rundstedt for delivery, but Rundstedt, seeking to bridge the distrust between the Wehrmacht and SS, ultimately convinced Fritsch to abandon the idea.

At this time, he was assigned to the Oberkommando des Heeres ( Army High Command ; OKH ), and formed along with von Manstein and Generalfeldmarshall Gerd von Rundstedt a " Working Staff " for the development of a plan for the invasion.

Blumentritt was von Rundstedt ′ s Chief of Operations, while von Manstein was Chief of Staff.

In September 1942, Blumentritt was made Chief of Staff to von Rundstedt, overall commander of German forces in the west ( OB West ).

Shortly after the upheaval associated with the assassination attempt, Blumentritt returned to his position as Chief of Staff of OB West, first under Generalfeldmarshall Walter Model, then once again under von Rundstedt when he was restored to command.

On 4 September he recalled Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt from retirement, in which condition he had been since Hitler had dismissed him as Wehrmacht Commander-in-Chief West on 2 July, and reinstated him in his former command, replacing Generalfeldmarschall Walter Model, who had taken command just 18 days previously and would henceforth command only Army Group B. Rundstedt immediately began to plan a defence against what Wehrmacht intelligence judged to be 60 Allied divisions at full strength, although Eisenhower in fact possessed only 49 divisions.

In January 1932, Rundstedt appointed commander of Wehkreis III, based in Berlin, and also command of the 3rd Infantry Division.

On 20 October Rundstedt resigned his command and was transferred to the western front.

At this point Rundstedt learned that he was to give up his quiet life in occupied France and assume command of Army Group South, tasked with the conquest of Ukraine.

Despite the triumph at Kiev, by the end of September Rundstedt was becoming concerned about the state of his command.

His son Major Hans-Gerd von Rundstedt was posted to his command as an aide-de-camp, partly to monitor his health and report back to Bila von Rundstedt in Kassel.

On 17 June Hitler flew to France and met Rundstedt and Rommel at his command bunker near Soissons.

When Rundstedt learned that he was not to be tried personally at Nuremberg, he wrote to the Tribunal asking permission to appear as a defence witness for the Army high command.

Rundstedt was adamant that the high command played no part in the decisions to invade Poland, Norway, France or the Soviet Union.

On 3 October 1939, the military districts " Lodz " ( Łódź ) and " Krakau " ( Kraków ) were set up under command of major generals Gerd von Rundstedt and Wilhelm List, and Hitler appointed Hans Frank and Arthur Seyß-Inquart as civil heads, respectively.

Upon hearing of Reichenau's Severity Order, Gerd von Rundstedt of Army Group South expressed his " complete agreement " with it, and sent out a circular to all of the Army generals under his command urging them to send out their own versions, impressing upon their troops the need to exterminate Jews.

During this time he attempted to relieve Guderian of his command after he disobeyed orders to halt their advance toward the Channel ; the Army Group A commander, Gerd von Rundstedt, refused to confirm the order, and the Franco-British armies were trapped.

In May 1944, following the appointment of Gerd von Rundstedt as Commander-in-Chief in the West, Blaskowitz was appointed head of Army Group G. This comparatively small command, consisting of the 1st Army and the 19th Army, was given the task of defending southern France from the imminent Allied invasion.

The second was the Siegfried Line itself, which fell under the command, along with all Wehrmacht forces in the west, of Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt.

The Germans launched their great attack of 1940 through the same region, with Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt in command then as he was once again in this campaign.

Von Rundstedt was relieved of his command by Hitler on 2 July, 1944, after suggesting that Germany should surrender, and was replaced as OB West by von Kluge.