German war prisoners, 1945 (in color)
Rare color footage of German war prisoners in captivity of the US Army in Germany, 1945. The music track is Slump by Antoine Marsaud: 0:26 This prisoner is most probably Fritz Erich Georg Eduard von Lewinski, known as Erich von Manstein (1887 1973). He was a German commander of the Wehrmacht and attained the rank of field marshal. Born into an aristocratic Prussian family with a long history of military service, Manstein joined the army at a young age and saw service on several fronts during the First World War (191418). He rose to the rank of captain by the end of the war and was active in the interwar period helping Germany rebuild her armed forces. In September 1939, during the invasion of Poland at the outbreak of the Second World War, he was serving as Chief of Staff to Gerd von Rundstedt s Army Group South. Adolf Hitler chose Manstein s strategy for the invasion of France of May 1940, a plan later refined by Franz Halder and other
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