Model, Walter (1891–1945)

German field marshal in World War II. He commanded Panzer units in France and on the Eastern Front before moving to the West to shore up the German defences following the Allied invasion of Europe.

He became commander-in-chief in the West August 1944, too late to stop the Allied advances in Normandy after the D-Day landings. Replaced by von Rundstedt, he was then responsible for defeating the British airborne landing at Arnhem and launching the German offensive in the Battle of the Bulge. In April 1945 his army was trapped in the Ruhr pocket and, declaring that no German field marshal should permit himself to be captured, he shot himself.