That statistic of 963 German soldiers of General rank or above dying during the war has bubbled back into my addled brain on Twatter. (Including 110 suicides & 22 executions.) Robert Lyman (very good Slim biography) then wondered what Soviet figures might be. Not sure we've looked at other nations, so has anybody seen total figures? I originally found the German stat remarkable a decade or so ago, not just for the suicides & executions, but that there even were almost a thousand Generals to lose, so I suppose total number of higher ranks have to be considered. No idea still just how many German Generals there were in total.
A few pages to view States 142 perished in strategic operations 235 killed in combat total on page 253 Fallen Soviet Generals: Soviet General Officers Killed in Battle, 1941-1945 Fallen Soviet Generals
1. The German Army's structure, originally fairly compact, bloated rapidly as successive waves of smaller and smaller divisions were formed during the course of the war. This naturally led to a great demand for staffs at all levels (and very likely a dilution of quality too, though no one mentions that). The demand for generals was very high too of course so the total of 963 dead generals is not too surprising. 2. My personal opinion is that a dead Third Reich general was the best kind. 3. Off topic, but does Lyman address the allegations of child abuse against Slim?
The book was published in 2004. I have no idea when the allegations were originally made, but that date is before I read of them in the 'mainstream media'. Once again, as with Auchinleck, I haven't read anything that would constitute evidence, let alone compelling evidence. No doubt powerful people have abused children in recent years as in the past, but the current case going through the British courts of a fantasist who had more than one police force running around investigating (among others) Ted Heath and Lord Bramall is a timely reminder that sadly we cannot take everybody at his word. Lord Bramall described allegations he was paedophile as 'monstrous' in police interview days after wife died
