Editing Franz Halder (section)

== World War II ==
=== Invasions of Poland and Western Europe ===

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-H27722, Franz Halder und Walther v. Brauchitsch.jpg|thumb|left|upright|alt=Photograph of Franz Halder looking at Walther von Brauchitsch who is standing to Halder's left as they study a map | Halder with [[Walther von Brauchitsch]] during the invasion of Poland in 1939]]
Halder participated in the strategic planning for the [[Invasion of Poland]]. His plans authorised the [[SS]] to carry out security tasks on behalf of the army that included the imprisonment or execution of Polish citizens, whether Jewish or [[gentile]].{{sfn|Megargee|2006|p=13}}{{efn|Many Polish troops and armed civilians were certain to wind up behind the German front lines...The Germans' approach to solving this problem, to which the idea of total war lent a kind of intellectual justification, was to counter any resistance with the utmost brutality, in the belief that they could cow the population into passivity and even, perhaps, collaboration. In line with that approach, on July 24, 1939, General Wagner, now the army's quartermaster general, issued a set of special regulations that authorized German troops to take and execute hostages in the event of attacks by snipers or irregulars. In some regions German forces were also to detain all Polish males – Jewish and gentile – between the ages of seventeen and forty-five as prisoners of war, whether found armed or not. And because front-line combat troops were in high demand, the army's leaders quickly decided to use SS and police units to augment their own forces for security tasks. Halder informed his subordinates on the general staff of such plans as early as April 1939, and the SS began putting together its preparations in early May.{{sfn|Megargee|2006|p=13}} }} On 1 September 1939, the German offensive began, resulting in declarations of war by France and the [[British Empire in World War II|British Empire]]. On 19 September, Halder noted in his diary that he had received information from [[Reinhard Heydrich]]. The SS were beginning their campaign to "clean house" in Poland of Jews, intelligentsia, Catholic clergy, and the aristocracy. Halder was aware of [[The Holocaust]] but did not object to the murders.{{sfn|Rossino|2003|pp=22,116,176}} He dismissed the crimes as aberrations and refused one general's request to pursue the SS and police perpetrators.{{sfn|Smelser| Davies|2008|p=58}}

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1971-070-61, Hitler mit Generälen bei Lagebesprechung.jpg|thumb|alt=Photograph of Halder standing on Adolf Hitler's left side looking at a map with four other officers | Halder (far right) alongside Hitler, 1940]]
At the end of 1939, Halder oversaw the development of the invasion plans of France, the [[Low Countries]] and the [[Balkans]]. During a meeting with Hitler on 5 November [[Walther von Brauchitsch]], the Army commander-in-chief, attempted to talk Hitler into putting off the invasion of France. Hitler refused and berated Brauchitsch for incompetence.{{sfn|Wheeler-Bennett|1967|p=471}} As a consequence, Halder and Brauchitsch discussed overthrowing Hitler because they feared the invasion was doomed.{{sfn|Wheeler-Bennett|1967|pp=470–472}} They decided against the idea.{{sfn|Wheeler-Bennett|1967|pp=471–472}} On 23 November 1939 [[Carl Friedrich Goerdeler]] met with Halder to ask him to reconsider his decision.{{sfn|Wheeler-Bennett|1967|p=474}} He refused, saying that Hitler was a great leader, and "one does not rebel when face to face with the enemy".{{sfn|Wheeler-Bennett|1967|p=474}} Halder's contemplation of resistance to Hitler owed more to political turf battles than it did to disagreement over the regime's racism and antisemitism.{{sfn|Smelser| Davies|2008|p=58}}

General [[Erich von Manstein]]'s bold plan for invading France through the [[Ardennes|Ardennes Forest]] proved successful, and ultimately led to the [[fall of France]]. On 19 July 1940, Halder was promoted to ''[[generaloberst]]'' (colonel-general) and began to receive [[Bribery of senior Wehrmacht officers|undisclosed monthly extralegal payments]] from Hitler that effectively doubled his already large wage. The payments helped ensure his loyalty to Hitler and reduced his qualms over sending millions of men to their deaths.{{sfn|Smelser|Davies|2008|p=62}}

=== Invasion of the Soviet Union ===
{{Main|Operation Barbarossa}}

On 30 March 1941 Halder attended the conference where Hitler described the planned invasion to about 200 senior ''Wehrmacht'' officers. He later wrote in his diary, summarising Hitler's remarks:
{{blockquote|We must forget the concept of comradeship between soldiers. A Communist is no comrade before or after the battle. This is a war of extermination. (...) Commanders must make the sacrifice of overcoming their personal scruples.{{sfn|Bellamy|2007|p=27}} }}

Halder was instrumental in the subsequent preparation and implementation of [[war crimes]] during the invasion of the Soviet Union.{{sfn|Stahel|2009|p=101}} He had his staff draft both the [[Commissar Order]] and the [[Barbarossa Decree]] without Hitler's instruction or interference.{{sfn|Smelser|Davies|2008|pp=60–61}} The author of the orders was [[Eugen Müller]], who reported on his work directly to Halder.{{sfn|Smelser|Davies|2008|p=60}} The Commissar Order required political [[commissars]] to be executed immediately when captured.{{sfn|Stahel|2015|p=25}} Halder also insisted that a clause be added to the Barbarossa Decree giving officers the right to raze whole villages and execute the inhabitants.{{sfn|Stahel|2009|p=101}} The decree freed soldiers from any form of prosecution for war crimes committed in the East.{{sfn|Stahel|2015|p=25}} The decree had no specific target: Soviet citizens could be killed at any time and for any reason.{{sfn|Stahel|2015|p=28}} Until this time only the SS could kill citizens without fear of later prosecution. These orders allowed officers throughout the army to execute citizens with no repercussions.{{sfn|Stahel|2015|pp=25–26}} [[Ulrich von Hassell]], discussing the orders given by Halder, said the conquered population were being controlled by [[despotism]]. He added that Germans were being turned into a type of being that previously existed only in enemy propaganda.{{sfn|Stahel|2009|p=102}} [[Omer Bartov]] described the orders as "the barbarisation of warfare".{{sfn|Stahel|2009|p=102}}

The offensive began on 22 June 1941 where the German forces initially met muted resistance. Halder brashly wrote in his diary on 3 July that the war was already won.{{sfn|Stahel|2009|p=196}} [[Nicolaus von Below]] reported that this confidence was shared at Fuhrer Headquarters in the month of July.{{sfn|Stahel|2009|p=197}} Halder's confidence was dashed with dramatic effect in early August with the arrival of new intelligence information from his [[Foreign Armies East]].{{sfn|Stahel|2009|p=387}} He wrote in his diary on 11 August that he had underestimated the "Russian colossus".{{sfn|Stahel|2009|p=388}} At the start of the campaign, he had reckoned the enemy had 200 divisions, but now 360 had been counted. He added: "We destroy a dozen of them, then the Russians put another dozen in their place."{{sfn|Stahel|2009|p=388}} In mid-August, the German advance had stalled, and at the same time, effective long-term defence was impossible so far from friendly territory. Halder wrote of the situation: "Everything that has so far been achieved is for nothing."{{sfn|Stahel|2009|p=396}} During that summer, Hitler and the Army General Staff led by Halder had been engaged in a long and divisive dispute over strategy.{{sfn|Stahel|2015|p=17}} By mid-September, it was clear  Operation Barbarossa had failed in its central objective to quickly overcome the Soviet Union.{{sfn|Stahel|2015|p=17}}

==== Operation Typhoon ====
{{Main|Battle of Moscow}}
Operation Typhoon, the German offensive at the [[Battle of Moscow]], began on 2 October 1941.{{sfn|Stahel|2015|p=25}} In early October, the German forces encircled the bulk of the Soviet armies defending the capital city in the [[Battle of Moscow#Battles of Vyazma and Bryansk|Vyazma and Bryansk pocket]].{{sfn|Stahel|2015|p=21}} Halder determined the strategy for Typhoon, and it was subsequently endorsed by Hitler.{{sfn|Stahel|2015|p=117}} Typhoon had the same basic flaw as Barbarossa; officers on the front line were unable to change Halder's objectives even when those objectives were impossible.{{sfn|Stahel|2015|p=117}}

The Barbarossa Decree and Commissar Order became a fundamental aspect of the battle for Moscow.{{sfn|Stahel|2015|p=24}} By this time, thousands of Soviet civilians and defenceless prisoners in already occupied Russia were being murdered every day.{{sfn|Stahel|2015|p=24}} The killings were unprecedented in the modern era and radicalised the defence of Moscow.{{sfn|Stahel|2015|p=24}} On 5 December Operation Typhoon was over. Halder wrote in his diary there was no more strength and a withdrawal may be necessary.{{sfn|Stahel|2015|p=308}} The withdrawal, when it came, was dictated by the Soviet army.{{sfn|Stahel|2015|p=309}} The crisis on the battlefield prompted Hitler to remove von Brauchitsch and assume command of OKH himself.{{sfn|Wheeler-Bennett|1967|p=525}}

Halder vehemently pushed for a [[blitzkrieg]] assault on Moscow and believed if the capital could be taken the war would be won. However, he did not understand the fundamental underpinnings of blitzkrieg and the impossibility of carrying out a lightning war in the vast expanse of the Soviet Union.{{sfn|Stahel|2009|p=446}} Even if Moscow had fallen, Stalin would have moved his base of operations farther east and the war would have continued.{{sfn|Fugate|1984|p=315}}

[[David Stahel]] writes: "The Soviet Union was nothing less than a militarised juggernaut and, while deeply wounded in Germany's 1941 campaign, there is no evidence to suggest it was about to collapse either politically or militarily."{{sfn|Stahel|2009|p=448}} The responsibility for the failure fell on Halder, Hitler and [[Fedor von Bock]].{{sfn|Stahel|2015|p=20}} The war in the Soviet Union and the winter that followed was one of the worst chapters in the history of the German army—there were over one million casualties.{{sfn|Citino|2007|p=9}}

==== Case Blue ====
{{Main|Case Blue}}
In the spring of 1942, Halder, along with the German high command, began planning a new ambitious offensive in the Soviet Union. This was despite the heavy losses the ''Wehrmacht'' had suffered in 1941. Under the code name "Case Blue", the plan envisaged an offensive against the southern sector of the front. The aim was to capture the Soviet oil fields in the [[Caucasus]].{{sfn|Citino|2007|pp=9–11, 86}} The directive for the offensive was issued by Hitler on 5 April 1942, envisaging a complex sequence of staggered operations.{{sfn|Citino|2007|pp=156–157}} The offensive began on 28 June 1942 and at the outset appeared successful; [[Friedrich Paulus]] cut through a defensive position with ease and Bock wrote: "There was nothing left: The enemy has not succeeded in organizing a new defense anywhere."{{sfn|Citino|2007|p=172}}

The Soviet army had adopted a new strategy known as the "[[elastic defence]]" that was highly uncharacteristic of prior engagements and left the German army closing in on an enemy that had already left.{{sfn|Citino|2007|p=173}} Confusion ensued leading to the failure of the campaign. Bock was removed as Commander of [[Army Group B]], replaced by [[Maximillian von Weichs]] and Halder was marginalised.{{sfn|Citino|2007|pp=176,180}} The relationship between Hitler and Halder became strained. Halder's diary entries became increasingly sarcastic, and Hitler mocked him. On one occasion Hitler said Halder had spent [[World War I]] in an office "sitting on that same swivel stool".{{sfn|Citino|2007|p=238}} On 24 September Hitler replaced Halder as Chief of Staff of the [[OKH]] with [[Kurt Zeitzler]] and retired him to the [[Führer Reserve]].{{sfn|Stahel|2013|p=306}}

=== Imprisonment ===
On 23 July 1944, after the failed [[20 July Plot|20 July assassination attempt on Hitler's life]] by German Army officers, the [[Gestapo]] arrested Halder. Although he was not involved in 20 July plot, intense interrogations of the conspirators revealed that Halder had been involved in earlier conspiracies against Hitler. Halder was imprisoned at both the [[Flossenbürg concentration camp|Flossenbürg]] and [[Dachau concentration camp]]s. Halder's wife Gertrud chose, and was allowed, to accompany her husband into imprisonment. He had no complaints about the quarters or provisions and was not treated poorly. He was in VIP company that included former French premier [[Leon Blum]] and former Austrian Chancellor [[Kurt Schuschnigg]].{{sfn|Smelser|Davies|2008|pp=62–63}} On 31 January 1945, Halder was officially dismissed from the army. In the last days of April 1945, together with other ''special'' prisoners, he was [[Transport of concentration camp inmates to Tyrol|transferred to the South Tyrol]] where he was liberated by [[US troops]].{{sfn|Hartmann|1991}}

=== Antisemitism ===

Before the invasion of the Soviet Union, three million soldiers destined for the front received a key order. It was titled "[[Guidelines for the Conduct of the Troops in Russia]]". The language was determined by Halder. It described [[Bolshevism]] as the "mortal enemy of the National Socialist German people" and urged German forces to "crack down hard" and "eliminate all resistance". Jews were mentioned in the order and intended to be part of the elimination.{{sfn|Wette|2006|p=94}} In April 1941 Halder drafted an order for the security police and Security Service during [[Operation Marita]]. The order defined the enemy as saboteurs, terrorists, communists and Jews.{{sfn|Wette|2006|p=103}} The "criminal orders" drafted by Halder document his solidarity with Hitler's antisemitic and racist policies. The commanders under Halder including [[Erich Hoepner]], Erich von Manstein and [[Walter von Reichenau]] gave antisemitic speeches and orders.{{sfn|Wette|2006|pp=95–96}}