In
1904, he graduated from Gross Lichterfelde Cadet Academy and joined the Imperial Army as an Officer-Cadet in the Westphalian
13th Infantry Regiment at Munster. He was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant in the 57th Infantry
Regiment in 1908. He was then promoted in 1913 to 1st Lieutenant and assigned to the War Academy in Kassel. He
was then Appointed Company Commander at the outbreak of war in 1914 and promoted to Captain in 1915 to command the 56th
Infantry Regiment on the Western Front where he was awarded the Pour Le Merite for exceptional courage. He was finally selected
for retention in the Army in 1919.
In
1925 he was named Inspector of Transport Troops in Reichswehr and then promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in 1930 to command a
battalion in the 9th Infantry Regiment. In 1932 he was promoted to Colonel of the 9th Infantry at Potsdam.
Five years later in 1935 he was promoted to Major General commanding 23rd Infantry Division at Potsdam and two
years later promoted to Lieutenant General. On 2nd February 1938 he promoted General of Infantry, Commander Wehrkreis
VIII.
With
the invasion of Poland in 1939, his VIII Corps was on the left of List’s 14th Army. In 1940 he replaced von
Kuechler as commander of the 16th Army for the invasion of France. He was then promoted to Colonel General on 19th
July 1940 and the following year took the 16th Army to Poland and thence to Russia. He served in Russia during
1942/43 and was made Field Marshall on 1st February 1943. On 28th October 1943 he was seriously injured
in an automobile accident. The following day he was named by Hitler to succeed him as Commander-in-Chief of the Army Group
Centre. The Army Group Centre was destroyed by the Russians at the battle of Vitibsk-Minsk in June 1944 and Busch was retired
in disgrace by Hitler.
On
20th March 1945 named Commander-in-Chief O.B. North-West. He signed the German surrender to Field Marshall Montgomery
on 4th May 1945. On 17th July 1945 he died in British captivity and was buried without ceremony on waste
ground in Aldershot under a false death certificate in an unmarked grave.
Source:
"Hitler's Field Marshalls and their Battles" by Samuel W. Mitchum 1989.
See
also: Brett-Smith - "Hitler's Generals" Presidio Press 1977.
Irving
- "The Rise and Fall of the Luftwaffe"
Little/Brown “The Life of Field Marshall Milch” 1973
