Editing Franz Halder (section)

{{Short description|General and chief of staff in Nazi Germany}}
{{Use dmy dates|date= October 2019}}
{{use British English|date= August 2019}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name= Franz Halder
|image= Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1970-052-08, Franz Halder.jpg
|image_size= 
|caption= Halder in 1938
|office= Chief of the General Staff<br> of the [[Oberkommando des Heeres|German Army High Command]] 
|term_start= 1 September 1938
|term_end= 24 September 1942
|leader= [[Adolf Hitler]] <br/> [[Walther von Brauchitsch]] {{small|as Chief of the German Army High Command (until 19 December 1941)}} 
|president= 
|predecessor= [[Ludwig Beck]]
|successor= [[Kurt Zeitzler]]
|birth_date= 30 June 1884
|death_date= 2 April 1972 (aged 87)
|birth_place= [[Würzburg]], [[Kingdom of Bavaria|Bavaria]], [[German Empire|Germany]]
|death_place= [[Aschau im Chiemgau]], [[Bavaria]], [[West Germany]]
 | spouse          = {{marriage|Gertrud Erl{{sfn|Barnett|2003|p=126}}|23 September 1907}}
<!--Military service-->
|allegiance= {{flag|German Empire}} (1902–1918) <br />{{flag|Weimar Republic}} (1918–1933) <br />{{flag|Nazi Germany}} (1933–1942)
|branch=[[German Army (1935–1945)|German Army]]
|serviceyears= 1902–1942
|rank= [[File:Generaloberst (Wehrmacht) 8.svg|25px]] ''[[Generaloberst]]'' (Colonel-General)
|commands=
|unit=
|battles=
{{Tree list}}
* [[World War I]]
----
*[[World War II]]
** [[Invasion of Poland]]
** [[Operation Weserübung]]
** [[Battle of France]]
** [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]]
*** [[Operation Barbarossa]]
*** [[Operation Typhoon]]
*** [[Case Blue]]
{{Tree list/end}}
|mawards= [[Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross]]
|signature= Halder Unterschrift.svg
|signature_size= }}

'''Franz Halder''' (30 June 1884 – 2 April 1972) was a German general and the [[chief of staff]] of the [[Oberkommando des Heeres|Army High Command (OKH)]] in [[Nazi Germany]] from 1938 until September 1942. During [[World War II]], he directed the planning and implementation of [[Operation Barbarossa]], the 1941 invasion of the [[Soviet Union]]. Halder became instrumental in the radicalisation of warfare on the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]]. He had his staff draft both the [[Commissar Order]] (issued on 6 June 1941) and the [[Barbarossa Decree]] (signed on 13 May 1941) that allowed German soldiers to execute Soviet citizens for any reason without fear of later prosecution, leading to numerous war crimes and atrocities during the campaign. After the war, he had a decisive role in the development of the [[myth of the clean Wehrmacht|myth of the clean ''Wehrmacht'']].

Halder began his military service in 1914. In 1937 he met and became a supporter of [[Adolf Hitler]]. Halder participated in the strategic planning for the 1939 German [[invasion of Poland]]. The plans authorised the [[SS]] to carry out security tasks{{snd}}on behalf of the army{{snd}}that included the imprisonment or execution of Poles. In July 1940 he began planning for the [[Axis powers |Axis]] invasion of the Soviet Union, [[Operation Barbarossa]], which began on 22 June 1941. That summer Halder engaged in a long-running and divisive dispute with Hitler over strategy. Hitler removed Halder from command in September 1942. After the [[20 July plot|20 July 1944 plot]] to assassinate Hitler, Halder was arrested as it came to light that he had been involved in an earlier plot, leading to his imprisonment. As chief of OKH General Staff, he had kept extensive notes, later published as ''[[The Halder Diaries]]''.

After World War II Halder served as a lead consultant for the [[US Army Historical Division]]. He oversaw the writing of over 2,500 historical documents by  700 former German officers, whom he instructed to remove material detrimental to the image of the German armed forces. Halder used his influence to foster a false history of the German-Soviet conflict in which the German army fought a "noble war" and which denied its war crimes. The US Army overlooked Halder's [[apologia]] because Halder's group was providing military insights on the [[Soviet Union]] that it deemed important in the light of the [[Cold War]]. Halder succeeded in his aim of exonerating the German Army: first with the US military, then amongst widening circles of politicians and eventually in American popular culture. In 1961, he was awarded the [[Meritorious Civilian Service Award]].

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