Groener, Wilhelm

Born Nov. 22. 1867, in Ludwigsburg; died Sept. 4. 1939, in Bornstedt (Potsdam). German military figure and writer. Lieutenant general (1916).

In 1884, Groener joined the Württemberg army. In 1912 he became the head of the railroad department of the General Staff, and during World War I he was the head of the railroad field administration. In 1916 and 1917 he directed the administration of military industry and was deputy minister of war. In August 1917 he began commanding a division and a corps on the western and then on the eastern front. In March 1918 he became chief of staff of General G. Eichhorn’s Kiev Group of Armies. From October 1918 to June 1919 he was first quartermaster general, replacing General E. Ludendorff in that post, and he led the retreat of the German army and then the fight against the revolutionary movement. He resigned in protest of the Treaty of Versailles. From 1920 to 1923 he was minister of transportation and from 1928 to 1932 he was minister of the Reichswehr. Then he retired. In his works he greatly praised General A. Schlieffen and especially his plan for war against France.