KLUGE, (HANS) GNTHER VON

born Oct. 30, 1882, Posen, Prussia [now Poznan, Pol.] died Aug. 18, 1944, near Metz, Fr. German field marshal who was one of Adolf Hitler's ablest commanders on the Eastern Front during World War II. Later he played a vacillating role in the conspiracy of 1944 against the Fhrer. Of an old aristocratic family, Kluge served in World War I and remained in the army. During World War II he successfully led an army in the Polish, French, and early Russian campaigns. As commander of the army group, centre, in the Soviet Union from December 1941 until he was wounded in October 1943, he was largely successful in containing the massive Soviet offensives against his forces. After the Allied landings in France in June 1944, Hitler, on July 3, replaced Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, the German commander in chief, west, with Kluge, who was unable to stop the Anglo-American advance. A member of the old officer corps antipathetic to Hitler, Kluge had established contacts with the conspirators against the Fhrer but had no knowledge of the assassination attempt of July 20, 1944. His name appeared in several incriminating papers, however, and Hitler, suspecting him of complicity, refused to send him reinforcements and dismissed him on August 17. Despondent over his military failure and anticipating arrest, Kluge committed suicide the next day.