Description:

GEN. FRANZ HALDER'S COPY OF VON KLEIST'S 1942 MESSAGE TO THE 1ST PANZER ARMY
Important manuscript document from the files of Gen. FRANZ HALDER (1884-1972), Chief of Staff of the German ‘Oberkommando des Heeres' (OKH), or Army High Command, from 1938 until his removal in 1942, 1p. legal folio, [n.p., n.d., but dated '1942' and content indicates it is an 'end of year' message to the troops], likely in the hand of one of Halder's aides. The document bears the text of an Army Daily Order issued by Gen. PAUL EWALD VON KLEIST (1881-1954), the top Panzer commander in the German Army and superior to Guderian and Hoth, who invaded France and later the Ukraine where he was captured by the Russians. Von Kleist commends his men at the end of a hard-fought 1942, in full: '...Once again we approach the end of a war year, the second in the fight against the Red Army. After an incomparably hard winter that subjected the front to the severest test, the 1st Panzer Army, with its divisions, stands ready in the spring of this year for further operations. On 17 May, it enters the largest battle of this year, the encirclement battle of Kharkov. The outstanding success creates the essential prerequisites for the coming summer operations. As early as 17 July, Panzer, Jager, and infantry divisions, together with our Romanian allies, storm eastward across the Donets and soon southward against the lower Don. On 24 July, after 250 km of fighting, their tanks once again stand in Rostov. After crossing the Don, the army sets out on the decisive thrust toward Russia's most productive oil region, the Caucasus.
Huge swirling clouds of dust mark the advance of the panzer spearheads across broad fronts, favored by good weather. After 700 km of advance and four weeks of uninterrupted fighting, the oil region of Maikop is reached. More than 3,000 km from home, with 1,600 km of combat terrain behind them, the divisions of the army reach the oil region of Grozny near Malgobek. In the
mountains, they stand on the Ossetian Military Road and close before the Georgian Military Highway. The divisions of the army may justly be proud of the achievements of this year...'

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April 21, 2026 10:00 AM EDT
Elkton, MD, US

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