Biography of Field Marshal Walter Model, WWII German Commander

Biography of Field Marshal Walter Model, WWII German Commander Born January 24, 1891, Walter Model was the son of a music teacher in Genthin, Saxony. Seeking a military career, he entered an army officer cadet school in Neisse in 1908. A middling student, Model, graduated in 1910 and was commissioned as a lieutenant in the 52nd Infantry Regiment. Though possessing a blunt personality and often lacking tact, he proved a capable and driven officer. With the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Models regiment was ordered to the Western Front as part of the 5th Division. The following year, he won the Iron Cross, First Class for his actions in combat near Arras. His strong performance in the field garnered the attention of his superiors, and he was selected for a posting with the German General Staff the following year. Leaving his regiment after the initial stages of the Battle of Verdun, Model attended the required staff courses. Returning to the 5th Division, Model became adjutant of the 10th Infantry Brigade before commanding companies in the 52nd Regiment and the 8th Life Grenadiers. Elevated to captain in November 1917, he received the House Order of Hohenzollern with Swords for bravery in combat. The following year, Model served on the staff of the Guard Ersatz Division before finishing the conflict with the 36th Division. With the end of the war, Model applied to be part of the new, small Reichswehr. Already known as a gifted officer, his application was aided by a connection to General Hans von Seeckt who was tasked with organizing the postwar army. Accepted, he aided in putting down a Communist revolt in the Ruhr during 1920. Interwar Years Settling into his new role, Model married Herta Huyssen in 1921. Four years later, he received a transfer to the elite 3rd Infantry Division where he aided in testing new equipment. Made a staff officer for the division in 1928, Model lectured widely on military topics and was promoted to major the following year. Advancing in the service, he was shifted to the Truppenamt, a cover organization for the German General staff, in 1930. Pushing hard to modernize the Reichswehr, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1932 and colonel in 1934. After serving as a battalion commander with the 2nd Infantry Regiment, Model joined the General Staff in Berlin. Remaining until 1938, he then became chief of staff for IV Corps before being elevated to brigadier general a year later. Model was in this role when World War II began on September 1, 1939. World War II Advancing as part of Colonel General Gerd von Rundstedts Army Group South, IV Corps took part in the invasion of Poland that fall. Promoted to major general in April 1940, Model served as chief of staff for Sixteenth Army during the Battle of France in May and June. Again impressing, he earned command of the 3rd Panzer Division that November. An advocate of combined arms training, he pioneered the use of kampfgruppen which saw the formation of ad-hoc units consisting of armor, infantry, and engineers. As the Western Front quieted after the Battle of Britain, Models division was shifted east for the invasion of the Soviet Union. Attacking on June 22, 1941, the 3rd Panzer Division served as part of Colonel General Heinz Guderians Panzergruppe 2. On the Eastern Front Surging forward, Models troops reached the Dnieper River on July 4, a feat which won him the Knights Cross, before executing a highly-successful crossing operation six days later. After breaking up Red Army forces near Roslavl, Model turned south as part of Guderians thrust in support of German operations around Kiev. Spearheading Guderians command, Models division linked up with other German forces on September 16 to complete the encirclement of the city. Promoted to lieutenant general on October 1, he was given command of XLI Panzer Corps which was taking part in the Battle of Moscow. Arriving at his new headquarters, near Kalinin, on November 14, Model found the corps severely hampered by the increasingly cold weather and suffering from supply issues. Working tirelessly, Model restarted the German advance and reached a point 22 miles from the city before the weather forced a halt. On December 5, the Soviets launched a massive counterattack which forced the Germans back from Moscow. In the fighting, Model was tasked with covering the Third Panzer Groups retreat to the Lama River. Skillful in defense, he performed admirably. These efforts were noticed, and in early 1942 he received command of the German Ninth Army in the Rzhev salient and was promoted to general. Though in a precarious position, Model worked to strengthen his armys defenses as well as began a series of counterattacks against the enemy. As 1942 progressed, he succeeded in encircling and destroying the Soviet 39th Army. In March 1943, Model abandoned the salient as part of a wider German strategic effort to shorten their lines. Later that year, he argued that the offensive at Kursk should be delayed until newer equipment, such as the Panther tank, was available in large numbers. Hitlers Fireman Despite Models recommendation, the German offensive at Kursk began on July 5, 1943, with Models Ninth Army attacking from the north. In heavy fighting, his troops were unable to make substantial gains against the strong Soviet defenses. When the Soviets counterattacked a few days later, Model was forced back, but again mounted a stiff defense in the Orel salient before withdrawing behind the Dnieper. At the end of September, Model left the Ninth Army and took a three month long leave in Dresden. Becoming known as Hitlers Fireman for his ability to rescue bad situations, Model was ordered to take over Army Group North in late January 1944 after the Soviets lifted the Siege of Leningrad. Fighting numerous engagements, Model stabilized the front and conducted a fighting withdrawal to the Panther-Wotan Line. On March 1, he was elevated to field marshal. With the situation in Estonia calmed, Model received orders to take over Army Group North Ukraine which was being driven back by Marshal Georgy Zhukov. Halting Zhukov in mid-April, he was shuttled along the front to take command of Army Group Centre on June 28. Facing immense Soviet pressure, Model was unable to hold Minsk or reestablish a cohesive line west of the city. Lacking troops for much of the fighting, he was finally able to halt the Soviets east of Warsaw after receiving reinforcements. Having effectively shored up the bulk of the Eastern Front during the first half of 1944, Model was ordered to France on August 17 and given command of Army Group B and made commander-in-chief of OB West (German Army Command in the West). On the Western Front Having landed in Normandy on June 6, Allied forces shattered the German position in the region during Operation Cobra. Arriving at the front, he initially wished to defend the area around Falaise, where a portion of his command was nearly encircled, but relented and was able to extricate many of his men. Though Hitler demanded that Paris be held, Model responded that it was not possible without an additional 200,000 men. As these were not forthcoming, the Allies liberated the city on August 25 as Models forces retired towards the German frontier. Unable to adequately juggle the responsibilities of his two commands, Model willingly ceded OB West to von Rundstedt in September. Establishing Army Group Bs headquarters at Oosterbeek, Netherlands, Model was successful in limiting Allied gains during Operation Market-Garden in September, and the fighting saw his men crush the British 1st Airborne Division near Arnhem. As the fall progressed, Army Group B came under attack from General Omar Bradleys 12th Army Group. In intense fighting in the HÃ ¼rtgen Forest and Aachen, American troops were forced to pay a heavy cost for each advance as they sought to penetrate the German Siegfried Line (Westwall). During this time, Hitler presented von Rundstedt and Model with plans for a massive counter-offensive designed to take Antwerp and knock the western Allies out of the war. Not believing the plan to be feasible, the two unsuccessfully offered a more limited offensive option to Hitler. As a result, Model moved forward with Hitlers original plan, dubbed Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein (Watch on the Rhine), on December 16. Opening the Battle of the Bulge, Models command attacked through the Ardennes and initially made swift gains against the surprised Allied forces. Combating poor weather and acute shortages of fuel and ammunition, the offensive was spent by December 25. Pressing on, Model continued attacking until January 8, 1945, when he was forced to abandon the offensive. Over the next several weeks, Allied forces steadily reduced the bulge the operation had formed in the lines. Final Days Having angered Hitler for failing to capture Antwerp, Army Group B was directed to hold every inch of ground. Despite this proclamation, Models command was steadily pushed back to and across the Rhine. The Allied crossing of the river was made easier when German forces failed to destroy the key bridge at Remagen. By April 1, Model and Army Group B were encircled the Ruhr by the US Ninth and Fifteenth Armies. Trapped, he received orders from Hitler to turn the region into a fortress and destroy its industries to prevent their capture. While Model ignored the latter directive, his attempts at defense failed as Allied forces cut Army Group B in two on April 15. Though asked to surrender by Major General Matthew Ridgway, Model refused. Unwilling to surrender, but not wishing to throw away the lives of his remaining men, Model ordered Army Group B dissolved. After discharging his youngest and oldest men, he told the remainder that they could decide for themselves whether to surrender or attempt to break through the Allied lines. This move was denounced by Berlin on April 20, with Model and his men being branded as traitors. Already contemplating suicide, Model learned that the Soviets intended to prosecute him for alleged war crimes pertaining to concentration camps in Latvia. Departing his headquarters on April 21, Model attempted to seek death at the front with no success. Later in the day, he shot himself in a wooded area between Duisburg and Lintorf. Initially buried there, his body was moved to a military cemetery in Vossenack in 1955.

10 Fundamental Ways To Boost Your Facebook Organic Reach By 193% - CoSchedule Blog

10 Fundamental Ways To Boost Your Facebook Organic Reach By 193% Blog Frustrated with your Facebook organic reach? You aren’t alone. Facebook marketing has changed a lot over the past few years.  The days are gone when you could throw up a Facebook post and then sit back and do nothing while tons of engagement filled your page. Now most brands are lucky if 10% of their fans see their posts in the news feed. But we can help! At Facebook’s F8 conference in April, everyone finally learned how the news feed algorithm actually works.  What’s the bottom line? Facebook wants marketers to step up their game. If you want to increase your organic reach on Facebook, I encourage you to be laser-focused on a proven strategy that works. 10 Fundamental Ways To Boost Your #Facebook Organic Reach By 193% via @PostPlannerWhat is organic reach on Facebook? Its a measurement of how many folks see your organic content. In this post, I’m going to show you how to DOUBLE your Facebook organic reach. How do I know you can do this? Because we did it.  Our Post Planner Facebook page  grew 193% from January 1, 2015–December 31, 2015. 193% is a crazy number. At the time I’m writing this, we are at 379,000 fans. And yes, it’s 99% organic growth. Simply Measured, the most respected data analysis tool, analyzed the insane growth on our page.  They recently completed their case study, and we compiled an ebook with their results. You can read more about that here- Case Study: How to Grow Your Facebook Page by 193%. Every tip in this post comes straight from our playbook.  These are the strategies we used to more than double our own Facebook organic reach. We hope you use these strategies to blow up your own page, too. Let’s get started! 1. Find The Right Content Mix For Your Audience As a Facebook marketer, you’ve probably read a few articles about how to find the type of content that resonates with your audience. If your content doesn’t click, your fans aren’t going to engage with it.  If your fans don’t engage with it, you’re going to struggle with growing your reach. But think about this- the success of your content goes beyond the value it provides.  Let me explain what I mean. It’s important to choose the right mix of content and post it in the right order.  In other words, you want to post the right content to the right audience at the right time. Josh Parkinson, Post Planner CEO, talks about this a lot in our Social Media Bootcamp  training every week.  On our page, we typically alternate between engaging photos (ie. funny pictures) and links. We find the engaging photos in Post Planner. Each time someone likes, comments, or shares that engaging content,  they send a signal to Facebook that they want to see more of our content. This helps us get seen more in the news feed when we post the links that go back to our blog. Your fans are people, and people like to be entertained. They want you to show your personality. And, they want to know you’re real. Your fans want to see your personality, be entertained, and know you're real.For the past few months, we’ve also started tossing a Facebook Live video into the mix several times a week, too. It humanizes our brand and lets people see behind the scenes. Are you just posting links on your page? If so, you’re most likely not getting the engagement you want. Consider mixing up the variety of your content. Once you find the right formula for your audience, you’ll keep them coming back for more! 2. Get To Know Your Facebook Insights Inside And Out Test your content often. Dig into your Facebook Insights like crazy. Get to know each page of your Insights inside and out. But don’t just read the data. Learn from it. Learn what each metric means and how to interpret the numbers. Here's an example of  Facebook Insights: Most of all, learn how to use the info in your Insights to make data-driven decisions about your Facebook marketing. Be agile and quick to change your strategy as needed. The content that worked well last week might fall flat this week. A wise woman once said, â€Å"Amateurs guess, professionals know.† Take the guesswork out of your Facebook marketing by attacking your Insights like a pitbull! 3. Use Visual Marketing As Eye Candy To Stand Out In The News Feed I’m not talking about just posting photos. As a sophisticated marketer, you already know the power of using photos on Facebook. According to Buzzsumo, Facebook posts with images get 2.3 times more engagement than those without images. I’m talking about using visual marketing to tell your story and to communicate your brand’s message.  Visual marketing has become a force to be reckoned with on Facebook! It’s no longer an option to post visual content on Facebook. It’s become necessary for marketers to at least learn the basics of image creation. There are so many ways to use visual marketing to grow your Facebook page: Create branded quote images. Pull tips from your blog posts and put them on images. Use powerful imagery to develop thought leadership in your niche. Use visual marketing as eye candy to stand out in the news feed. Choose any of the easy-to-use apps that are available, and you’ll be creating branded images in a minute or two. Here’s a post with the apps we like to use to create images: 13 tools for creating engaging Facebook images. This list is a good place to start if you’re looking for help with this! For example, here’s a simple image we created. It lists the five  things we consider when creating viral quote images for Facebook. Recommended Reading:  How To Make The Best Social Media Images The Easy Way (+ 84 Free Images) 4. Show People You’re Listening And Paying Attention Nobody wants to go to a Facebook page, leave a comment, and then hear crickets. Instead, they want to feel special! Real people want to connect with other real people. They want to know you’re approachable. Most of all, they want to know you’re paying attention to your page. Once they know you’re listening, they’ll be more likely to visit your page and engage with your content again. When someone takes the time to interact with your page, acknowledge it. Even if all you do is â€Å"like† their comment, you’ve still acknowledged it. Facebook reach tip #4: Respond  when your fans mention you.5. Recycle Your Evergreen Content If you’re trying to increase your Facebook organic reach, this is important! It’s one of the cornerstones of our 193% page growth. Evergreen content is the content you create that never gets old. It stands the test of time, and it remains relevant and useful to your fans. Recommended Reading:  How To Make And Repurpose Evergreen Content To Get 283% More Results Each time that content posts on your Facebook page, it reaches a new audience. At Post Planner, we have around 500 evergreen blog posts that rotate on our page. Not only do these posts consistently drive traffic to our website, but they continue to build thought leadership in our niche. There’s a recycle feature within the Post Planner app. We just click the recycle button, and then we don’t have to think about it again. Each time a piece of evergreen content posts, it goes to the bottom of the list to post again someday. If you have a library of evergreen content (even if it’s just 10 or 15 posts), start recycling on your Facebook page. It will contribute to your page growth and become a consistent source of website traffic for you! 6. Be Strategic About Your Posting Times There are lots of opinions about the best posting times on Facebook. The way we see  it at Post Planner, nobody knows the best times to post on your page except you. You are the only one with access to your Insights. Posting at the right time can mean the difference between going viral and not being noticed at all. Posting at the right time makes the difference between virality and not being noticed.The key here is to make this decision based on your data. If you have an online business and your audience is global, look at the times you’ve selected. Are there any holes that need to be filled? Some marketers suggest posting at peak times when people are on Facebook. Others suggest posting at non-peak times since there’s less competition in the news feed. We suggest that you test different times to see what works best on your page. Even if you only test this for a few weeks, you’ll start to see patterns emerge in your Insights. Remember, the best times to post on your page might not be the times when you are typically on Facebook. Be flexible and open to change. Recommended Reading:  What 16 Studies Say About The Best Times To Post On Social Media At Post Planner, we oftentimes post at 45 minutes past the hour. We do this because people have appointments and meetings during the day that begin at the top of the hour. In the few minutes before those meetings start, what do they do? Yep, they grab their phones. We want our post to be sitting there waiting for them in their news feed when that happens. So far, this posting strategy has worked well for us. 7. Work To Become A  Valuable Resource In Your Niche We all have those go-to Facebook pages we count on for valuable info in our industry. They are the pages that always have something interesting to share, and they help us stay up-to-date about what’s going on. Make it your goal to be a valuable resource like that for your niche. How do you go about doing that? Here are three actionable steps you can take today to start moving in in that direction: Think about the problems your fans/users are facing. Be empathetic about their struggles. Solve their problems. Be the SOLUTION. Share other people’s content. By doing so, you show your audience that your focus is on them, not you. Share a piece of content that will be valuable to them (even if it doesn’t direct them back to your website or blog). Give away your knowledge. Don’t hold back. Give people a reason to like your page and engage with your content. Share your secret sauce. Doing this will establish thought leadership and exude confidence! Recommended Reading:  How To Schedule Your Social Media Content Curation For Massive Growth 8. Plan Your Content In Advance If your audience loses interest in your page,  you’ll lose your ability to increase your Facebook organic reach. It’s a tough pill to swallow when you’re working hard to post high quality content consistently. That’s why it’s so important to plan your content in advance. If you plan and schedule your content ahead of time, you can be more strategic about each piece of content you post. These are the five  types of content we’ve talked about in this post so far: Your own website or blog content Other people’s content Branded images Funny pictures Facebook Live video What kind of content can you curate or create for each one of those categories? Prepare and plan that content in advance. In doing so, you’ll always be confident in knowing that the right piece of content is going out at the right time- consistently. You’ll also avoid the stress of trying to find content to post at the last minute. 9. Consider Posting More Than You’re Posting Now Like I mentioned at the beginning, Simply Measured’s case study shows that our page grew 193% in 2015. 99% of that growth was organic. But even more interesting was learning that 65% of that growth was from October–December. What did we change during those last three  months of 2015? We increased our posting frequency by 29%. During the first nine  months of 2015, we averaged 247 posts per month. But during October–December, we averaged 319 posts per month. The last thing a Facebook marketer wants is for fans to hide their posts or unlike their page. But what if your fans are craving more from you?  What if you could increase your Facebook organic reach by simply posting more frequently? Increasing your Facebook posting frequency can increase your reach.At Post Planner, it was a risk we were willing to take, and it paid off. I’d like encourage you to test this strategy on your own page. Watch your Insights along the way. 10. Post Audience-Tested Content Anytime you can post audience-tested (proven) content on Facebook, you’ll be setting yourself up for success. If a piece of content has already been successful on Facebook, then chances are, it will be successful again. This theory can be applied to different types of content. For example, look in your Insights to see which blog posts have gotten the most reach. Those are posts that resonate with your audience. Be sure to post those again. Here's an example of how used a Twitter Poll to collect almost instant feedback to find  audience-tested content ideas: All the content within Post Planner is audience-tested and ranked with our 5-star rating system. Whether you’re choosing a funny picture or a trending article in your niche, you can look at the star rating to see how likely it is that it will perform well on your page. It’s predictive content. It takes even more of the guesswork out of trying to figure out what content will work on your page and what content won’t. Final Thoughts On Facebook Organic Reach Increasing Facebook organic reach has gotten tricky- but it’s definitely still do-able! No matter how you look at it, you’ll need to be savvy and agile to get seen more in the news feed and noticed by your fans. The tips in this post are the exact things we did to increase our Facebook organic reach 193% in 2015. We hope you’ll take these strategies and apply them to your own page! And we’d love to hear about your Facebook journey and your results along the way. If you’d like to get more detailed info about what you can do to double your Facebook organic reach, consider reading our free ebook. We put it together using the case study data provided by Simply Measured. You can grab your copy at 10 Data-Driven Ways to Grow Your Facebook Page by 193%. Thank you for reading my post and happy Facebooking!