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

Rundstedt was aware of the various plots to depose Hitler, but refused to support them.

Bergmann and Rundstedt, like most of the Army leadership, refused to support the coup attempt: Rundstedt later described it as " a failure and a very stupid one at that.

Rundstedt agreed that Blomberg had disgraced himself and demanded that he be court-martialled, which Hitler refused.

Brauchitsch agreed with Halder's fears, but continued to vacillate about opposing Hitler-he asked Reichenau and Rundstedt to remonstrate with Hitler, but they refused.

In fact Rundstedt refused to have anything to do with the money, handing it over to his daughter-in-law, and it was still untouched at his death in 1953.

Although Rundstedt resisted Hitler's interference in the Russian campaign, and was dismissed for doing so, thereafter he refused to confront Hitler even on strictly military matters, let alone on political ones.

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.

When von Rundstedt refused to obey, Hitler sacked him.

On 5 May Cabinet accepted his recommendation that Rundstedt and Strauss be released, but that Manstein's trial should go ahead.

Rundstedt was formally advised of his release on 19 May, but since he had nowhere to go he stayed in the hospital until 26 May, when he finally left British custody and went to the home of his brother Udo at Ratzeburg in Schleswig-Holstein.

His biographer concedes that this " does not represent the whole truth ", because the original impetus for a pause came from Kleist and Rundstedt himself.

On July 2, Kluge replaced Rundstedt, because Rundstedt was advocating negotiation with the Allies.

* Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, commander in chief of the German armies in the campaign against France in 1940 ( because of his status, von Rundstedt received certain privileges at the camp, including his own private suite, consisting of a sitting room and bedroom ).

" Rundstedt said after the war: " I realised soon after the attack that everything that had been written about Russia was wrong.

" There has been some doubt raised as to whether Rundstedt actually said this, but Wilmot says the incident was recounted to him and Liddell-Hart by Blumentritt, who was present.

The British commander in Europe, Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, said on 7 January 1945: " I used to think that Rommel was good, but my opinion is that Rundstedt would have hit him for six.

He said that at the end of July or August "... Field-Marshal von Rundstedt was in Berlin, and Hitler stated quite clearly to him that he did not intend to carry out Sea Lion ," and further, " By the end of September it was clear that the invasion of England was off.

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.

From a purely military point of view, Rundstedt was apprehensive about Hitler's plans to attack Czechoslovakia, since he believed that Britain and France would intervene and Germany would be defeated.

Beck urged the officers to oppose Hitler's plans openly, but Rundstedt, while agreeing about the dangers of war before Germany was fully re-armed, would not support him, but declared himself unwilling to provoke a new crisis between Hitler and the Army.

Witzleben suggested that Rundstedt, Leeb and Bock should jointly refuse to carry out Hitler's orders to carry out the attack.

Neither the success at Uman nor what fallowed at Kiev would have happened had Rundstedt not backed his subordinates and resisted Hitler's interference in the conduct of the campaign.

This was a sign that Rundstedt still had Hitler's respect, as were Hitler's two visits to Rundstedt's armies during this period.

This was a recipe for defeat, but Rundstedt obeyed Hitler's orders.

This makes it clear that even in 1944 Rundstedt still equated Hitler's regime with the German fatherland, and this was still the view of the large majority of officers of the German armed forces.

There was no attempt at further escape: Rundstedt, accompanied by Bila and Hans Gerd and a few loyal staff, stayed at Bad Tölz until it was occupied by American forces on 1 May, the day after Hitler's suicide in Berlin.

The Hitler's evacuation order from September 20 instructed Rundstedt to leave the reduction of Lwow to the Russians.

Adolf Hitler's main reaction was to dismiss Field Marshall Gerd von Rundstedt as commander-in-chief of the western front ( OB West ), replacing him with Field Marshall Albert Kesselring.

* December 12 – Gerd von Rundstedt, German field marshal ( d. 1953 )

In late 1944, the German army launched a last-ditch offensive across Belgium, Luxembourg, and northeastern France, popularly known as the Battle of the Bulge, nominally led by German Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt.

In an interview conducted for Stars and Stripes just after his capture, Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt summed up the predominant German view of the American general: " Patton ," Rundstedt concluded simply, " he is your best.

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.

Leadership ( Field Marshal Gerd Von Rundstedt had been recalled by Adolf Hitler, to reassure the crumbling western front ), initiative and a good staff system were beginning to create a defence out of chaos.

Von Rundstedt and Model deemed a big Allied offensive to be imminent, having received many intelligence reports that described a ' constant stream ' of reinforcements to the right wing of the British Second Army.

During 1943 Tresckow tried without success to recruit senior Army field commanders such as Field Marshal Erich von Manstein and Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, to support a seizure of power.

Gerd von Rundstedt and Günther von Kluge suggested that the German forces around the Dunkirk pocket should cease their advance on the port and consolidate, to avoid an Allied break.

Von Rundstedt advised him the infantry should attack the British forces at Arras, where the British had proved capable of significant action, while Kleist's armour held the line west and south of Dunkirk in order to pounce on the Allied forces retreating before Army Group B.

Von Rundstedt later called this " one of the great turning points of the war.

One theory is that Von Rundstedt and Hitler agreed to conserve the armour for Fall Rot, an operation to the south.

However, according to the Official War Diary of Army Group A, its commander, Generaloberst Gerd von Rundstedt, ordered the halt.

In September 1939 Frank was assigned as Chief of Administration to Gerd von Rundstedt in the German military administration in occupied Poland.

Karl Rudolf Gerd von Rundstedt ( 12 December 1875 – 24 February 1953 ) was a German Field Marshal ( Generalfeldmarschall ) during World War II.

Born into a Prussian family with a long military tradition, Rundstedt entered the Imperial German Army in 1892 and rose through the ranks until World War I, in which he served mainly as a staff officer.

He was the eldest son of Gerd Arnold Konrad von Rundstedt, a cavalry officer who served in the Franco-Prussian War.

Virtually all the Rundstedt men since the time of Frederick the Great had served in the Prussian Army.

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