title: Monster Hunter: World

text: "Monster Hunter: World" is considered the fifth installment in the "Monster Hunter" series, according to the game's senior producer Ryozo Tsujimoto and director Yuya Tokuda. Along with executive director Kaname Fujioka, Tokuda served as a director for "Monster Hunter 4" and "Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate". Development of "World" started about three years prior to the E3 2017 reveal, following a year of brainstorming on what the next core title in the series would be. With the series more than a decade old, Capcom re-evaluated where they wanted to take the series, and concluded that with the hardware capabilities of the new consoles, they could realize a different vision compared to the handheld entries. According to Capcom Europe's COO Stuart Turner and marketing director for the Europe, the Middle East and Africa Antoine Molant, the divisions of Capcom outside of Japan had suggested for Capcom to embrace a Western release with full online gaming support. The Japanese teams had been wary of this, since the series normally assured them of three to four million sales within Japan and they would risk those assured numbers by making the game more global. However, the risks of taking a more worldwide approach were embraced when Sony said they would help support this approach, since they believed this would also help to boost PlayStation 4 sales. Additionally, the sheer scale of the project also used a large budget which they deemed necessary to "go up against Hollywood movies", and cost-cutting measures had to be adopted throughout Capcom.


title: Monster Hunter: World

text: Tsujimoto said that past games typically had arcane rules, and the zoned-area structure made each zone feel isolated, and wanted to change that approach. They have also wanted to implement living worlds and ecosystems, with complex artificial intelligence interactions between monsters and the environment but have been limited in the past by handheld gaming hardware. The team determined that they would pursue highly detailed worlds that felt realistic, eliminating the disconnected zoned-map approach. This created a "ripple effect" of changes in gameplay; for example, elimination of loading screens meant the player could not use the tactic of jumping to a different zone to heal in safety, and thus allowed the player to drink healing potions while walking. Tokuda noted that with these changes, the pace of the game also became quicker. A prototype of this more open world approach took about 18 months to complete by November 2015 with a team of 50-70 developers to test the seamless transition in the map, and how monsters would behave in these varied environments. The environments were such a focus that the original prototype did not even feature a combat system; enemy monsters had to be evaded or dispatched through other means. This also helped the team recognize that player survival during hunts by effective use of the environment, either for protection or as means to harm monsters via destructible components, and of monsters themselves, luring one to an area to draw out another, could be a key part of "World" gameplay.


title: Monster Hunter: World

text: While the game features monsters already created from previous games in the series, the developers also crafted new monsters that took advantage of the benefits from more powerful processing hardware. A design of a new monster typically began around developing a certain gameplay challenge or mechanic for the monster's behavior that the player may need to exploit to defeat it, and then working with the level designers to find or help craft an area in the region maps to have that monster inhabit that allows for that behavior to be shown off. This in turn helped to establish the look and other behavior of the monster so that it felt like it belonged in that particular region. Individual features of the monsters could now be more directly animated compared to the previous games, such as showing feathers on bird-like monsters having natural-appearing movements, or having monsters take on different forms. In one case, the monster Nergigante was designed to have thorns all over its body that grow over time as it becomes more aggressive; with the ability to render monsters in more detail, they could show each of these thousand-some thorns moving and growing on their own, which directly affects how the player interacts with it in combat, making it a creature they could not have previously used in early games. Monster animation was developed in part with motion capture, with human actors acting out some of the various monster actions. Sets of rules were developed for the monsters to follow to interact in their environment, but they did not resort to any type of scripted event. This often created unexpected monster behavior when testing or demonstrating the game to public audiences. Once monsters were created, then they used those to develop the various weapon and armors that could be crafted from those monster parts to give a consistent feel to the game.


title: Monster Hunter: World

text: As they worked towards this, Capcom found that this more open world would be something better appreciated by Western audiences. The "Monster Hunter" series has generally languished in sales in Western markets due to the complexity of the game, high learning curves, and the preference of console and PC gaming in Western audiences compared to the popularity of portable gaming in Japan. The team felt the new approach to the game would be something that would mesh well with Western markets, and starting adopting the game to include more Western standards in controls and interface design. They also looked to provide more tutorial information as well as making these fully voiced, as to avoid unskippable dialogue boxes that had been used in the past. With these changes came the decision to make the game a worldwide release with inter-region play, as they believed they would be able to draw more Western players with the gameplay changes they have made. Tsujimoto and Tokuda recognized that "World" would be the first "Monster Hunter" game that many in the Western regions will likely play, so wanted to make sure the game was accessible to those players without having played any of the previous games. They also were aware of past criticisms that the games were very hard to learn though provided a rewarding experience once learned, so aimed to include means to help ease the learning curve and provide more information to the starting player.


title: Monster Hunter: World

text: Fujioka responded to some initial criticism of the Western-driven changes to the game that they were not trying to make the game easier just to drive sales: "We're not taking things that people in the west hate and fixing them to make western players buy it. People sometimes make that assumption, or they've got that fear, but that's not the case at all." He continued that some of the changes that were seem to favor Western audiences were necessitated by the highly interconnected maps, and that "the new gameplay has to mesh with the new concept or else it would just be a mess." Tokuda said that they were not simplifying the game, but instead "It's more that we want to have this great core action gameplay where players observe monster behaviour and then learn how to take advantage of that and manipulate that to assist in hunting them. We want to make it so that if they make mistakes they don't feel it's unfair but instead think that it's their mistake and they have to grow and learn." Most of the changes made were thus specifically to reduce the difficulty curve to make it easier for new players to grasp the concepts of the game, but otherwise not changing the core difficulty. Tsujimoto also said that as they have been working on the series for more than a decade, they are aware of what fans expect of a "Monster Hunter" game, saying "we want "Monster Hunter" fans to feel like this is a "Monster Hunter" game through and through when they play it".


title: Monster Hunter: World

text: The subtitle ""World"" alludes to many facets of the game's design changes from past "Monster Hunter" games: it reflects that the maps are no longer connected zones but wide-open worlds, that these maps represent living worlds in and of themselves, that the game had a simultaneous worldwide release, and that it plays on worldwide servers rather than being segmented by region. Capcom opted not to use a numerical title, such "Monster Hunter 5", as that would give the impression that players needed to have completed other games in the series to play this one. Tsujimoto and Tokuda said they add a unique gameplay element with each "Monster Hunter", and as such, the "Hunter Arts" and "Prowler" Modes from "Generations" were not included. However, they have re-evaluated all the existing weapon classes to add new moves and abilities to provide a fresh take on the series for veteran players.


title: Monster Hunter: World

text: While their main "Monster Hunter" development team from Osaka developed the core, Capcom brought in other programmers familiar with the newer consoles to help with bringing the game to those systems. The game uses a modified version of Capcom's internally developed MT Framework engine which provided a minimum of 30 frames per seconds on all platforms. The PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One version includes ultra-high resolutions and other improved features for the PlayStation 4 Pro and Xbox One X. When they had started development, neither of these console refreshes had been announced, and by the time the specifications for both were released (around 2016), Capcom recognized they did not have time to evaluate the specifications fully without changing the release window, but were aided by support of both Sony and Microsoft to help make "World" run efficiently on these newer consoles. For these, the game includes options to run between a detailed graphical version, lowering the game's framerate, or with reduced graphical details to maintain a high framerate.


title: Monster Hunter: World

text: Tsujimoto and Tokuda said the delay on the Windows version release was to make sure it was "optimized and fine-tuned for the PC as much as possible", with all work being done internally within Capcom to avoid treating the game as an outsourced port. They also seek to have "Monster Hunter: World" support a wide variety of personal computer configurations, and need the additional time to achieve this broad range. Additionally, the Windows platform lacks the built-in matchmaking that is in Xbox Live or PlayStation Network, requiring them to build their own version for this. Tsujimoto announced in January 2018 that they are aiming for a Windows release in the second half of 2018, looking to get the console versions released so that they can spend their full attention towards the Windows port.


title: Monster Hunter: World

text: There are no plans for "Monster Hunter: World" to be released for the Nintendo Switch. Fujioka and Tokuda said that development started well before the Nintendo Switch was announced, and had focused the game to best play on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.


title: Monster Hunter: World

text: Announced at E3 2017, "Monster Hunter: World" was released worldwide for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on January 26, 2018. In addition to digital and normal physical releases, the game was shipped with a Collector's Edition that includes an art book, a CD with the game's soundtrack, and a statue of one of the monsters from the game. A limited run of PlayStation 4 Pro consoles emblazoned with "Monster Hunter: World" art was released in Japan on December 7, 2017. A three-disc original soundtrack of the game's music was released in Japan on February 14, 2018, composed by Tadayoshi Makino, Zhenlan Kang, Akihiko Narita, and Yuko Komiyama.


title: Monster Hunter: World

text: A limited demo, exclusive to PlayStation Plus members, was offered from December 9–12, 2017; the demo included practice areas for all fourteen weapon types, and three hunting quests that can be completed alone in solo play or using the networked cooperative support planned for the full game. Players that completed the three quests received bonus in-game items and a cosmetic item when the main game was released. A second demo period for PlayStation 4, no longer requiring PlayStation Plus, ran between December 22–26, 2017, and a final beta period, adding one additional quest, ran from January 19–22, 2018.


title: Monster Hunter: World

text: Originally announced alongside the console versions, a Microsoft Windows version was released on August 9, 2018. Tsujimoto said while they will try to release new content updates for all platforms as soon as possible, the Windows version may see updates come out later; for this reason, they do not anticipate supporting cross-platform play between versions. The initial version was released with graphics parity with the console versions, with plans to offer a post-release patch for graphic updates; this patch was released for free in April 2019, and included both high-definition textures and additional graphics options for players. With its major "Iceborne" title update in April 2020, Capcom plans that all future updates will be simultaneous between the Windows and console versions.


title: Monster Hunter: World

text: Tencent managed the release of "World" for personal computer users in China via its WeGame platform. However, less than a week after its release, Tencent was forced to pull sales of the games, after there were numerous complaints made to Chinese authorities about the online content of the game. Normally, the State Administration of Radio and Television (SART) would have issued a license for Tencent to distribute the game after reviewing it for content, but SART has not issued any licenses for video games since March 2018, after the agency was reformed by the government to strengthen the government's oversight of online activities. While players could still play the game in offline mode, Tencent offered full refunds over the following two weeks.


title: Monster Hunter: World

text: As with previous games in the series, "Monster Hunter: World" has offered limited time quests that involve cross-promotion of other Capcom properties and from other third-parties. PlayStation 4 players can play as Aloy from "Horizon Zero Dawn". Since release, other events have offered costumes and other elements based on "Mega Man", "Street Fighter" Ryu and Sakura, and "Devil May Cry" Dante.


title: Monster Hunter: World

text: A cross-promotional event for "Monster Hunter: World" and "Final Fantasy XIV" was released in both games in August 2018. Players of "Final Fantasy XIV" may fight "Monster Hunter" Rathalos, while players from "World" may fight the "Final Fantasy" monster Behemoth. This collaboration had been several years in the making; during the rebuilding of "Final Fantasy XIV" around 2011, Tsujimoto contacted "Final Fantasy XIV" director Naoki Yoshida, a friend from years prior, and, recognizing the scope of rebuilding, offered any help they could from the Capcom and "Monster Hunter" teams. While Yoshida declined the offer at the time, both recognized they wanted their respective games to be of equal quality and success. Yoshida later met with Tsujimoto at the start of "Monster Hunter: World" development. Learning that Capcom was seeking to expand "Monster Hunter" to a global audience, Yoshida offered the idea of the potential cross-promotion between their games, and the two began working out the details and implementation.


title: Monster Hunter: World

text: A cross-promotional event with the "Assassin's Creed" series in late December 2018 gave the player the opportunity to gain armor pieces to mimic either the character of Ezio from "Assassin's Creed II" or Bayek from "Assassin's Creed Origins". Another cross-promotion event first released in February 2019 includes "", allowing the player to hunt as Geralt of Rivia or Ciri.


title: Monster Hunter: World

text: Similar cross-promotional content continued with "Iceborne", with a crossover with Capcom's "Resident Evil" series in November 2019 bringing character outfits based on Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield, alongside other elements from the series. A promotion event tying in with the "Monster Hunter" film was held in December 2020 ahead of the film's release.


title: Monster Hunter: World

text: Viz Media published the artbook for the game, "Monster Hunter World Official Complete Works", in Japan in January 2018, and has planned to publish the book with English translations in Western regions in mid-2020.


title: Monster Hunter: World

text: Capcom has published the game's soundtrack as both retail packing, digital downloads, and part of several of its properties' soundtracks to streaming services like Spotify.


title: Monster Hunter: World

text: Steamforged Games launched a Kickstarter to develop a licensed board game based on "Monster Hunter: World" in April 2021 with expected publishing in September 2022. The campaign met its initial funding goals of €150,000 (~) within ten minutes of launching, and ultimately ended up raising €3,448,262 (~$4,144,121) from 20,398 backers (excluding Late Pledges).


title: Monster Hunter: World

text: "Monster Hunter: World" received "universal acclaim" from critics on Xbox One and PlayStation 4, and a "generally favourable" reception on PC, according to review aggregator Metacritic.


title: Monster Hunter: World

text: Reviewers generally praised the game for being able to retain and not sacrifice the core "Monster Hunter" formula while opening it up to be amenable for new players to the series, being able to take advantage of the higher processing power of consoles compared to handhelds to make the game's worlds feel more alive, though still noted that there are elements of learning the game mechanics and the difficulty curve that can still be somewhat daunting to inexperienced players.


title: Monster Hunter: World

text: Prior to the game's release, long-time fans of the series established an unofficial "Adopt-A-Hunter" program, where players experienced to the series would be paired up with novice and new players to help teach them about many of the core gameplay strategies and subtle features of "Monster Hunter: World". The program was created by fans recognizing that "World" would likely be the first game in the series for many in the Western regions, and was designed to help these players understand the game and manage the steep learning curve as to help bring more players to the community and make the series successful in the West. While such efforts have been part of the "Monster Hunter" community since its release, the broader distribution of "World" was expected to be more amenable to this adoption program.


title: Monster Hunter: World

text: "Monster Hunter: World" shipped over five million copies three days after release, including digital sales, which exceeded all other previous games in the series. According to "Famitsu", 1.35 million copies were sold at retail in Japan during these three days, and an estimated 2 million sales including digital sales; these were accompanied by a boost in PlayStation 4 console sales in the same week, with over 140,000 consoles sold. Two weeks after release, Capcom announced that its overall shipment numbers had risen to 6million, making "World" the fastest-selling "Monster Hunter" game and the fastest-selling game of any of their properties. With this, "World" became Capcom's fourth highest-selling game. NPD Group reported that "World" was the top-selling game in the United States within both January and February 2018.


title: Monster Hunter: World

text: Capcom announced that the game's combined physical shipments and digital sales were over eight million copies by April 2018, making "World" Capcom's highest-selling game and helping them reach their most profitable fiscal year in its history. Just prior to the game's Windows release, Capcom reported that the number had risen to more than 8.3million, which helped to raise its quarterly profit by nearly 50% from the previous year.


title: Monster Hunter: World

text: Digital sales of the game challenged those of "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" on Xbox One's marketplace, which had held the top sales position for two months prior; in the United States, "World" surpassed "Battlegrounds" in the second week of its release, while it came just behind "Battlegrounds" for the United Kingdom charts. On the PlayStation Network, "World" topped the store's online sales charts in both the United States and Europe for the month of January 2018. "World" also ranked first in Australia. At the 2018 PlayStation Awards, it received the Quadruple Platinum Prize for topping four million sales on the PlayStation 4 platform in Asia.


title: Monster Hunter: World

text: During the month of July 2018, following the announcement of the Windows release of "Monster Hunter: World", pre-orders for the game were regularly on the top 10 selling games on Steam. Additionally, Tencent, which manages the WeGame distribution platform in China, reported they had seen over a million pre-orders during the month. On release on Steam, "World" saw over 240,000 concurrent players that day, the largest concurrent player count for any game on Steam at launch in 2018, and the largest of any Japanese-published game on Steam prior. In August 2018, Capcom announced that "Monster Hunter: World" had shipped over 10 million copies between all platforms, elevating the total sales of the "Monster Hunter" series to over 50 million units. With the Windows' release, the game once again ranked second in sales in the United States for August 2018, based on NPD Group's data. "World" was one of the top twelve highest-selling games on Steam in 2018, and was one of ten games on Steam that had a peak player count of over 100,000 during the year. Capcom reported that as of March 2019, the Windows platform was the second-highest for sales of "World" globally, which has led Capcom to identify the platform as essential for its further games, particularly in European markets such as Germany and Russia, in which the PC version was stated by Capcom's EMEA and UK marketing director to perform "extremely well".


title: Monster Hunter: World

text: At a presentation at Tokyo Game Show 2018, Tsujimoto revealed that the game had crossed 10million shipments worldwide, the greatest ever for a "Monster Hunter" game, and that for the first time ever the shipments outside of Japan had surpassed those inside Japan, with overseas shipments accounting for 71%. The success of "Monster Hunter: World" was considered by Capcom to be a "driving force" for its profitability over the financial year ending March 31, 2019, reaching over 12 million in total units shipped and making the title the best-selling game in Capcom's history. Total global shipments had surpassed over 14 million by October 2019.


title: Monster Hunter: World

text: Shortly after the Windows release of "Iceborne" on January 9, 2020, Capcom reported that total global shipments of the expansion on all platforms had exceeded 4 million, with total sales of "World" exceeding 15 million and bringing the total sales of the "Monster Hunter" series to over 61 million. By the end of Capcom's 2019 fiscal year on March 31, 2020, total shipments of "World" exceeded 15.5 million and "Iceborne" exceeded 5 million. "World" shipments surpassed 20 million units by October 2021, and "Iceborne" reached 8.5 million units sold as of September 2021.


title: Walter Model

text: Otto Moritz Walter Model (; 24 January 1891 – 21 April 1945) was a German field marshal during World War II. Although he was a hard-driving, aggressive panzer commander early in the war, Model became best known as a practitioner of defensive warfare. His relative success as commander of the Ninth Army in the battles of 1941–1942 determined his future career path.


title: Walter Model

text: Model first came to Hitler's attention before World War II, but their relationship did not become especially close until 1942. His tenacious style of fighting and loyalty to the Nazi regime won him plaudits from Hitler, who considered him one of his best field commanders and repeatedly sent him to salvage apparently desperate situations on the Eastern Front. Their relationship broke down by the end of the war after the German defeat at the Battle of the Bulge. In the aftermath of the encirclement and defeat of Army Group B at the Ruhr Pocket, Model committed suicide on 21 April 1945.


title: Walter Model

text: Model's decision to burn all his personal papers at the end of World War II means relatively little is known about his early years. Born to a music teacher in Genthin, Saxony, he belonged to a middle-class, non-military family. Following schooling at the "Bürgerschule" (citizen school) in Genthin, he graduated with his "Abitur" from the "Domgymnasium" Naumburg, a humanities-oriented secondary school, on Easter 1909. He entered the army officer cadet school ("Kriegsschule") in Neisse (now Nysa, Poland) in 1909, where he was an unexceptional student, and was commissioned a lieutenant ("Leutnant") in the 52nd Infantry Regiment "von Alvensleben" in 1910. He made few friends among his fellow officers and soon became known for his ambition, drive, and blunt outspokenness. These were characteristics that marked his entire career.


title: Walter Model

text: In World War I, the 52nd Infantry Regiment formed part of the 5th Division which fought on the Western Front. Model served as the adjutant of his regiment's 1st Battalion. In May 1915, he was severely wounded near Arras, and in October he won the Iron Cross, First Class. His deeds brought him to the attention of his divisional commander who, despite misgivings about his "uncomfortable subordinate", recommended Model for a posting on the German General Staff. Among other things, this meant that Model took part in only the initial stages of the Battle of Verdun and escaped the carnage of the Battle of the Somme, to which his division was committed in his absence.


title: Walter Model

text: Model completed the abbreviated staff officers' course and returned to the 5th Division as adjutant of the 10th Infantry Brigade, followed by postings as a company commander in both the 52nd Infantry Regiment and the 8th Life Grenadiers. He was promoted to captain ("Hauptmann") in November 1917, and in 1918 was assigned to the staff of the Guard Ersatz Division, which fought in the German spring offensive of that year. He ended the war with the 36th Reserve Division.


title: Walter Model

text: By the end of the war, Model had gained a reputation as a capable officer with great potential. Early on in his military career, Model had written a book on the Prussian general August Neidhardt von Gneisenau. In addition, he was already known to Hans von Seeckt, head of the slimmed-down Reichswehr, from his staff postings during the war, and he was equipped with an excellent reference from Major-General Franz von Rantau, commander of the 36th Reserve Division. It was thus no surprise that he was one of the 4,000 officers retained in the Reichswehr. Model generally kept away from politics in the chaotic period that marked the birth of the Weimar Republic, although as an army officer he was involved in the bloody suppression of the 1920 communist uprising in the Ruhr.


title: Walter Model

text: The next year he married Herta Huyssen; they had three children, Christa, Hella, and Hansgeorg. Model hated war stories and never discussed politics or the war with his wife.


title: Walter Model

text: In 1925, Model was posted to the 3rd Infantry Division, an elite formation of the Reichswehr and one that was heavily involved in testing the technical innovations of that era. From 1928, he lectured in tactics and war studies for the basic General Staff training course, and in 1930 he was transferred to the Training Branch of the Truppenamt. He became known both for his enthusiastic support of military modernization and for his complete lack of tact. In 1938, the year he became a major general ("Generalmajor"), he led a testfiring of the Mörser 18 on mocked-up Czech fortifications, which did not impress Hitler. As were many army officers at the time, Model was a supporter of the Nazi government; his time in Berlin also brought him into contact with senior members of the Nazi regime. Closer relationships with Goebbels and Speer developed during the war.


title: Walter Model

text: Model spent the first year of World War II as a chief of staff, first of IV Corps during the invasion of Poland, and then of Sixteenth Army during the Battle of France. He was promoted to lieutenant general ("Generalleutnant") in April 1940, and earned his first senior command posting in November that year, when he was assigned to lead the 3rd Panzer Division. He immediately proceeded to ignore all formalities of organization and command, which endeared him to his men and exasperated his staff—who often had to clean up the mess he left behind.


title: Walter Model

text: He also instituted a combined arms training program where his men were thrown together in various ad-hoc groupings regardless of their parent unit: tankers trained with infantry, engineers with recon units, and so on. Model thus anticipated by some months the regular German use of Kampfgruppen in World War II. While this became routine later on, it was still not a universal practice in the Wehrmacht in late 1940 and early 1941.


title: Walter Model

text: For Operation Barbarossa, the 3rd Panzer Division was assigned to the XXIV Panzer Corps, itself part of the 2nd Panzer Group, commanded by Heinz Guderian. The campaign opened on 22 June 1941, with Guderian urging his divisions forward at breakneck speed. This suited Model, and by 4 July, his advance elements leading the panzer group's charge had reached the Dnieper, an exploit that earned him the Knight's Cross. Crossing it in strength was another matter, however, as the Red Army was prepared to defend the river line. 3rd Panzer's vanguard was thrown back by the Soviet 21st Army, and it was not until 10 July that the Germans were in a position to force a crossing.


title: Walter Model

text: For this operation, Model, now reinforced with additional troops, reorganized his command into three groups: an infantry-heavy force that would cross the river and establish a bridgehead, a mobile armored group that would pass through the bridgehead and continue the advance, and a fire support group containing nearly all his artillery. The plan worked so successfully that the river crossing cost scarcely any casualties. There followed two weeks of hard fighting to defend the panzer group's flank, during which he was assigned the 1st Cavalry Division in addition to 3rd Panzer as "Gruppe Model", who then attacked to break up Soviet forces massing near Roslavl.


title: Walter Model

text: After the fall of Smolensk, Hitler ordered a change of direction, and Guderian's panzer group turned south into Ukraine. Its objective was to trap the Soviet forces defending Kiev, an unsupported advance of 275 km (172 mi), and again 3rd Panzer would form the spearhead. From 24 August to 14 September, Model conducted a lightning thrust into the rear of the Soviet Southwestern Front. The maneuver reached its conclusion when 3rd Panzer made contact with the 16th Panzer Division from Army Group South at Lokhvitsa. While it took several more days to eliminate all resistance, the trap around Kiev had been closed.


title: Walter Model

text: Shortly thereafter, Model was promoted to "General der Panzertruppe" (general) and placed in command of XLI Panzer Corps, which was embroiled in Operation Typhoon, the assault on Moscow. The attack had begun on 2 October 1941, and Model arrived at his new command on 14 November, in the midst of the battle.


title: Walter Model

text: The corps, part of Georg-Hans Reinhardt's Third Panzer Group, was located at Kalinin, 160 km (100 mi) northwest of Moscow. It was worn out, at the end of a long and tenuous supply line (Model had been promoted on 28 October, and needed two weeks just to get to Kalinin), and the cold weather was starting to hamper the Germans. Nevertheless, morale remained high, and the final push towards Moscow began shortly after his arrival.


title: Walter Model

text: Model was a whirlwind of energy, touring the front and exhorting his troops to greater efforts: he also ran roughshod over the niceties of protocol and chains of command, and, in general, left his staff trailing in his wake. By 5 December, XLI Panzer Corps' 6th Panzer Division had reached Iohnca, just from the Kremlin. There, the advance stopped, as the winter took hold. Temperatures dropped 20 to 40 °C below zero, weapons and vehicles froze solid, and the Germans were forced to call a halt to offensive operations.


title: Walter Model

text: Just as the Germans had made the halt decision, the Soviet Kalinin, Western and Southwestern Fronts launched a massive counteroffensive, aimed at driving Army Group Centre back from Moscow. The attacks were especially strong against Third Panzer Group, which had made some of the closest penetrations to the city. In three weeks of confused, savage fighting, Reinhardt extricated his troops from potential encirclement and fell back to the Lama River line.


title: Walter Model

text: Placed in charge of covering the retreat, Model's harsh, almost brutal, style of leadership now paid dividends as panic threatened to infect the German columns. On several occasions, he restored order at a congested crossroads with a drawn pistol, but the retreat never became a rout.


title: Walter Model

text: During this period, Model noticed that the Soviet attack—human wave attacks with poor tactical coordination—tended to be most successful when the Germans employed a strongpoint defense instead of a continuous line. Moreover, Soviet logistics were still inadequate to support a fast-moving battle; thus, even if a gap was made, it did not automatically mean a crisis. Therefore, he ordered his men to spread themselves out, which exploited his corps' advantage in artillery over the Soviets, while he created small mechanized kampfgruppen to deal with any breakthrough. His tactics were successful, if costly (by the end of 1941, 6th Panzer Division mustered 1,000 men, including all frontline, support and staff personnel). He continued to advocate similar tactics throughout the remainder of his career.


title: Walter Model

text: Model's success in holding his front had not gone unnoticed, and in January 1942 he was placed in charge of the Ninth Army occupying the Rzhev salient, leapfrogging at least 15 more senior commanders in Army Group Centre alone.


title: Walter Model

text: Just prior to his departure for the front, the new army commander had held lengthy consultations with both Hitler and Halder. They impressed upon Model that great firmness would be necessary to save the army from destruction, and his vehement tone in reply so impressed Hitler that upon the General's departure he remarked: "Did you see that eye? I trust that man to do it, but I wouldn't want to serve under him".


title: Walter Model

text: When Model took over, his sector was in a shambles: the Kalinin Front had broken through the line and was threatening the Moscow–Smolensk railway, the main supply route for Army Group Centre. Despite the danger, he realized the precarious position the attackers themselves were in and immediately counterattacked, cutting off the Soviet 39th Army. To hold the line Model threw every available man to the front, drafting construction units and the like to replenish the enormous German losses. In the ferocious battles that followed, he repelled multiple Soviet attempts to relieve their trapped soldiers, the last being in February. He then squeezed out the pocket at his leisure, in a series of operations culminating in mid-July. For this, he was awarded the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross and promoted to colonel general ("Generaloberst").


title: Walter Model

text: Having restored Ninth Army's front, Model set about holding it. His defensive doctrine, which combined conventional thinking with his own tactical innovations, was based on the following principles:


title: Walter Model

text: The expediency of preparing rearward defense lines, although these went against the express wishes of Hitler, meant that Model's influence was felt even when he was absent from the battlefield. At the end of July 1942 the front erupted as a new Soviet offensive tore through the German defense at Rzhev. Model was on convalescent leave, having been hit by a chance rifle shot whilst flying over the front, and General von Vietinghoff was in temporary command. Model returned to Ninth Army on the 10 August and immediately made his presence felt. He ordered the creation of scratch battle groups made up of soldiers returning from leave and threw them into the fighting. At almost exactly the same time he forcefully demanded extra divisions from Kluge at Army Group headquarters, or "provide detailed instructions as to how the battle is to be continued." By the close of September, the Soviet offensive was temporarily spent, but Zhukov, unhappy with the results of the summer and still aware of opportunities around the Rzhev salient, tried again with even more force in November.


title: Walter Model

text: Code named Operation Mars, Soviet forces struck simultaneously at the Ninth Army from four directions. Model's defensive abilities were once again put to the test, and his forces were once again able to contain and then cut off and destroy Soviet spearheads, even though the German losses were again extensive. Model emerged from a year of fighting around Rzhev with an enhanced reputation as a "Lion of defense" (Löwe der Abwehr"). Liddell Hart wrote that he had "the amazing capability to collect a reserve from an almost empty battlefield".


title: Walter Model

text: Ninth Army eventually evacuated the salient in Operation Büffel in March 1943, as part of a general shortening of the line. Large-scale anti-partisan sweeps were carried out in the weeks before the operation (the army's sector was a hotbed for partisan activity), in which an estimated 3,000 Russians were killed, the great majority of whom were unarmed, as shown by the inventory of the seized weapons: 277 rifles, 41 pistols, 61 machine guns, 17 mortars, 9 antitank rifles and 16 small artillery pieces. The withdrawal itself was precisely planned and took two weeks, with minimal casualties or disruption in a move of an Army group numbering approximately 300,000 men, 100 tanks and 400 artillery pieces. In its wake, Model personally ordered the deportation of all male civilians, wells poisoned, and at least two dozen villages razed in a scorched earth policy to hinder the Red Army's follow up in the area. The official Soviet report published on 7 April 1943 showed the effects of the German policy. In Viazma, out of 5,500 buildings, only 51 small houses were still standing; at Gzhatsk, 300 out of 1,600; in Rzhev, 500 out of 5,400. 15,000 people were deported from the three towns alone. The rural areas suffered equally; in the Sychevka area, for example, 137 villages out of 248 had been burned down. British war correspondent Alexander Werth visited the area soon after the liberation and saw for himself the results of Model's orders. The report listed Model at the top of the list of the war criminals responsible for the "deliberate extermination policy" and noted that most of the killings of civilians were carried out by regular Wehrmacht units, not just the Gestapo or the SD.


title: Walter Model

text: In the same month, Model received the Swords to his Knight's Cross, and Ninth Army received orders to move into Oryol.


title: Walter Model

text: On 5 July 1943, Model led the northern assault on Kursk during Operation Citadel, a plan which had caused great controversy within the German high command. Günther von Kluge and Erich von Manstein, commanding Army Groups Centre and South respectively, had originally urged that the salient be attacked in May, before the Soviets could prepare their defenses. Others, including Heinz Guderian, felt that attacking was unnecessary, since it would occasion heavy tank losses and thus upset plans for increasing German armored strength. Model was also skeptical of the plan's chances, pointing out that Konstantin Rokossovsky's Central Front was strongly dug in and outnumbered him two to one in men, tanks and artillery. Rather than conclude that the offensive be called off, however, he said it should be postponed until he could receive further reinforcements, in particular the new Panther tanks and Ferdinand tank destroyers.


title: Walter Model

text: Model's true opinion on the value of the offensive remains unclear. Manstein took his recommendation at face value, while Guderian said that he was categorically against attacking. It has similarly been suggested that Model, in fact, hoped to scuttle the operation by causing it to be delayed until the Soviet forces launched their own attack.


title: Walter Model

text: Model's assault was a failure, as Ninth Army quickly became enmeshed in the elaborate Soviet fortifications. The Red Army's strength in the salient was, in fact, growing much faster than that of the attacking force. Nor did his tactical plan of attack meet with great success. Having less armor and more artillery than Manstein in the south, and fearing that the deep Soviet defenses would stall an armor-heavy attack (the hallmark of the German "Blitzkrieg"), he decided to use his infantry to breach Rokossovsky's line before unleashing his armor. It did not work. The Germans took heavy losses to advance less than 12 km (8 mi) in seven days, and were unable to break through to open ground. Model threw his armor into the fray, but with little effect, beyond incurring more casualties. (As mitigating factors, the Red Army had concentrated more of their strength facing Model in the north; and Rokossovsky had correctly anticipated where the attack would come, defending that sector heavily. Model's use of infantry assaults also meant his losses in armor were lower than those of Manstein.)


title: Walter Model

text: Prior to Kursk, Model had anticipated the possibility of a Soviet attack into the Oryol Salient, and had (without OKH's knowledge) constructed extensive defensive works to meet such an attack. Following the stalling of his advance, the Soviet counter-offensive, Operation Kutuzov, duly opened on 12 July. It involved not just Rokossovsky's Central Front, but also the Bryansk and Western Fronts, a greater concentration of forces than Model had assaulted in Operation Citadel. For the battle, Kluge placed him in command of Second Panzer Army in addition to Ninth Army—again, a larger total force than he had commanded in "Citadel". The Soviet preponderance of strength was such that Stavka expected it to take only 48 hours to reach Oryol, splitting the German forces into three parts; instead, the battle ended three weeks later with Model's orderly withdrawal from the salient. An idea of the scale of the fighting compared to "Citadel" can be gained from the combined casualty lists for Second Panzer and Ninth Armies: from 1 to 10 July, the Germans took 21,000 casualties, and from 11 to 31 July, 62,000. Despite these losses he had inflicted similarly heavy casualties on the three Red Army Fronts, shortened the line, and avoided annihilation.


title: Walter Model

text: Similar to Rzhev withdrawal, Model ordered his troops to carry out the same scorched earth policy in the Oryolsalient, destroying the infrastructure and harvest, and deporting 250,000 civilians in inhuman conditions.


title: Walter Model

text: After the loss of Oryol, Model withdrew to the Dnieper as the Red Army went on the offensive from Smolensk in the north to Rostov in the south. He was relieved of command of the Ninth Army at the end of September, and took the opportunity to go on three months' leave in Dresden with his family.


title: Walter Model

text: Model's relief is believed not to have been a sign that he had lost Hitler's confidence, but rather that he had gained it, the Führer wanting him available should another emergency break out which needed his attention. Thus, on 31 January 1944, he was urgently sent to command Army Group North, which, two weeks earlier, had seen its stranglehold on Leningrad broken by the Volkhov, Leningrad and 2nd Baltic Fronts.


title: Walter Model

text: The situation was dire: the Eighteenth Army had been shattered into three parts and on the same time, the front had virtually dissolved. The army group's previous commander, Georg von Küchler, had pleaded for permission to withdraw to the Panther Line in Estonia, which was still only half-completed at that stage. Model immediately cracked down on such talk, instituting a new policy he called Shield and Sword ("Schild und Schwert").


title: Walter Model

text: Under this doctrine, ground would only temporarily be ceded, to gather reserves for an immediate counter-attack that would drive the Red Army back and relieve pressure on other areas of the front. These statements of aggressive intent won over Hitler and OKH, who had no substantial reserves to send him, but were still unwilling to lose territory. Historians have since debated their significance, some claiming that Shield and Sword was Hitler's invention, while others say they were a calculated ploy by Model to disguise his true intent—to pull back to the Panther Line.


title: Walter Model

text: Regardless, the "temporary" loss of ground usually became permanent, as Model conducted a fighting withdrawal to the Panther Line. He delegated responsibility for the Narva front to Johannes Friessner commanding Army Detachment Narva, while he concentrated on extricating Eighteenth Army from its predicament. Without OKH's notice or approval, he constructed a series of interim defensive lines to cover its retreat, slowing down and inflicting heavy losses on the pursuing Soviet forces in the process.


title: Walter Model

text: By 1 March, the withdrawal was complete. His forces were mostly intact, but the fighting had been fierce: his Shield and Sword counter-attacks alone had cost him some 10,000–12,000 men. These counter-attacks usually failed to recover ground, but they kept the Red Army off-balance and won Model time to pull his units back. They also allowed him to say to Hitler that he was pursuing an aggressive approach, even as the front moved steadily to the west.


title: Walter Model

text: On 1 March Model was promoted to "Generalfeldmarschall". His rise from colonel to field marshal had taken just six years.


title: Walter Model

text: On 30 March 1944, Model was placed in command of Army Group North Ukraine in Galicia, which was withdrawing under heavy pressure from Zhukov's 1st Ukrainian Front. He replaced Manstein, who had fallen out of favor with Hitler. Despite Manstein's previous victories, the Führer wanted someone whom he anticipated would be unyielding in defense.


title: Walter Model

text: On 28 June, Model was sent to rescue Army Group Centre, which had been torn apart by Operation Bagration, the Soviet offensive in Belorussia. The Ninth Army (Model's old command) and Fourth Army were trapped, and the Red Army was about to liberate Minsk.


title: Walter Model

text: Despite the catastrophic situation, Model believed he could still hold Minsk, but this would require Fourth Army to break out of its pocket, and reinforcements to counter-attack the Soviet advance. The reinforcements, in turn, could only be obtained by pulling back, thus shortening the line and freeing up troops. The general consensus is that the German position was doomed, regardless of what Model could have done, but Hitler refused to sanction either Fourth Army's escape or a general withdrawal, until it was too late.


title: Walter Model

text: Minsk was liberated by the Soviet 1st and 3rd Belorussian Fronts on 3 July, but Model still hoped to re-establish the front to the west of the city, with the aid of divisions from Army Groups North and North Ukraine.


title: Walter Model

text: However, German strength was unequal to the task, and he had been driven out of Vilnius and Baranovichi by 8 July. At the same time, the 1st Ukrainian Front (now commanded by Ivan Konev) and the 1st Belorussian Front's left wing (which had been uncommitted thus far) opened up a fresh offensive against Army Group North Ukraine. In this battle, the First Panzer Army managed to hold the line east of Lvov using Model's defensive tactics, but was forced to retreat when the Fourth Panzer Army, weakened by the steady flow of units to Army Group Centre, was unable to stem the Soviet penetrations of its front.


title: Walter Model

text: Model encircled and destroyed the Soviet 3rd Tank Corps in a large-scale tank battle near Radzymin and stopped the Red Army's advance just short of Warsaw by 3 August, setting up a continuous front from south of Shaulyay to the right boundary on the Vistula near Pulawy.


title: Walter Model

text: At various times in 1944, Model commanded each of the three major army groups on the Eastern Front, and for a short period in the middle of the year was commanding both Army Groups Centre and North Ukraine simultaneously.


title: Walter Model

text: On 17 August 1944, Model received from Hitler Diamonds to go with his Knight's Cross with Oakleaves and Swords, in reward for his shoring up of the Eastern Front. Simultaneously, he was transferred to the west, replacing Kluge as commander-in-chief of Army Group B and OB West. The front in Normandy had collapsed after nearly two months of severe fighting, the U.S. Third Army was driving for the Seine, and an Army group was in danger of being annihilated in the Falaise pocket.


title: Walter Model

text: Model's first order was that Falaise be defended, which did not impress his staff. However, he quickly changed his mind, convincing Hitler to authorize the immediate escape of the German Seventh Army and Panzer Group Eberbach—something that Kluge, with his limited political clout, had not been able to do. He was thus able to rescue a high proportion of the units involved, albeit at the cost of nearly all their armor and heavy materiel. When Hitler demanded that Paris be held, Model replied that he could do so, but only if given an extra 200,000 men and several panzer divisions—an act that has been described as naïveté by some, and canny bargaining by others. The reinforcements were not forthcoming, and the city's liberation took place on 25 August. Meanwhile, Model fell back to the German border.


title: Walter Model

text: After the fighting in Normandy, Model established his headquarters at Oosterbeek, near Arnhem in the Netherlands, where he set about the massive task of rebuilding Army Group B. On 17 August 1944, Model was appointed to the temporary command of OB West, upon Kluge's recall to Berlin to answer charges that he had involvement with the failed 20 July Plot. (Kluge committed suicide en route.) Model retained command of OB West for eighteen days before Hitler appointed Gerd von Rundstedt as permanent replacement for Kluge, allowing Model to return to the command of Army Group B.


title: Walter Model

text: On 17 September, his lunch was interrupted when the British 1st Airborne Division dropped into the town launching Operation Market Garden, the Allied attempt to capture the bridges on the lower Rhine, Maas and Waal. Model initially thought they were trying to capture him and his staff, but the seemingly vast scale of the assault soon convinced him otherwise.


title: Walter Model

text: When he perceived what the Allies' real objective was, he ordered the II SS Panzer Corps into action. The corps, containing the 9th SS Panzer and 10th SS Panzer Divisions refitting after Normandy, had been overlooked by Allied intelligence. Whilst still seriously understrength, it was composed of veterans and was a deadly threat to lightly equipped paratroopers. 9th SS Panzer took on the British at Arnhem, while the 10th moved south to defend the bridge at Nijmegen.


title: Walter Model

text: Model believed that the situation represented not just a threat, but also an opportunity to counter-attack and possibly clear the Allies out of the Southern Netherlands. Towards this end, he forbade SS General Willi Bittrich and SS Lieutenant General Heinz Harmel, commanding II SS Panzer Corps and 10th SS Panzer respectively, from destroying the Nijmegen bridge. With the exception of this tactical error, Model is considered to have fought an outstanding battle and handed the Allies a sharp defeat. The bridge at Arnhem was held and the 1st Airborne Division destroyed, dashing the Allies' hopes for a foothold over the Rhine before the end of the year.


title: Walter Model

text: Despite the failed German counter offensive to evict the allies from the Island in early October, Arnhem restored much of Model's self-confidence, which had been shaken by the experience of Normandy. From September to December, he fought another Allied thrust to a standstill, this time by Omar Bradley's U.S. 12th Army Group into the Hürtgen Forest and Aachen. While he interfered less in the day-to-day movements of his units than at Arnhem, he still kept himself fully informed on the situation, slowing the Allies' progress, inflicting heavy casualties and taking full advantage of the fortifications of the "Westwall", known to the Allies as the Siegfried Line.


title: Walter Model

text: The Hürtgen Forest cost the U.S. First Army at least 33,000 killed and incapacitated, including both combat and non-combat losses: German casualties were at least 28,000. Aachen eventually fell on 22 October, again at high cost to the U.S. Ninth Army. The Ninth Army's push to the Roer River fared no better, and did not manage to cross the river or wrest control of its dams from the Germans. Hürtgen was so costly that it has been called an Allied "defeat of the first magnitude", the credit for which has been personally assigned to Model's leadership.


title: Walter Model

text: Following the Wehrmacht's recent defensive victories in the West, Hitler decided to launch a last-ditch offensive aiming to catch the Anglosphere forces by surprise, with the objective of retaking Antwerp, striking the seam between the British and Americans that leads to political as well as military disharmony between the Allies, isolate the 21st Army Group, thereby allowing their encirclement and destruction before the American leadership (particularly the political leadership) could react and erasing the enemy ground threat to the Ruhr.


title: Walter Model

text: Model, along with all the other commanders involved, believed this aim was unachievable given the resources available to the Wehrmacht on the West Front at this late point in the war. His first reaction to the plan was caustic in the extreme: "This plan hasn't got a damned leg to stand on." At the same time, both he and Rundstedt felt that the purely defensive posture as had been adopted since retirement from Normandy could only delay Germany's defeat, not prevent it. Thus, he prepared Operation Herbstnebel, a less ambitious attack that did not aim to cross the Meuse, but would still, if successful, have inflicted a severe setback on the Western Allied Army groups now bearing down on the Franco-German border. A similar plan had been developed by Rundstedt at OB West, and the two field marshals combined their idea to present a joint "small solution" to Hitler. Hitler however rejected this compromise, and the "big solution" of aiming for Antwerp was ordered.


title: Walter Model

text: For this operation Model had at his disposal Sixth SS Panzer Army, Fifth Panzer Army and Seventh Army. These armies, with over 2,000 panzers and 2,000 airplanes represented the last strategic reserve of the crumbling Third Reich. Despite his misgivings, Model threw himself into the task with his usual energy, cracking down on any defeatism he might find. When a staff officer complained about shortages, Model snapped: "If you need anything, take it from the Americans". When Ludwig Heilmann warned Model that his command 5th Parachute Division was only a Class IV outfit, Model, who by now must have been surfeited with complaints on lack of equipment and insufficient training, merely replied that success would be won by the paratroopers' "usual audacity." He remained acutely aware of both the operation's significance, and its most likely outcome. When Colonel Friedrich August von der Heydte, ordered to lead a parachute drop as part of the operation, said that the jump had no more than a 10 percent chance of success, he replied: "Well, then it is necessary to make the attempt, since the entire offensive has no more than a 10 percent chance of success. It must be done, since this offensive is the last remaining chance to conclude the war favorably."


title: Walter Model

text: The operation was launched on 16 December 1944 and enjoyed initial success, but it quickly suffered from a lack of air cover and the inexperience in some of its infantry component, and critically short fuel supply. Sixth SS Panzer Army met heavy allied resistance, and while Fifth Panzer Army managed to make a deep thrust into Allied line, Model was unable to exploit the breakthrough there. He had failed to capture a vital road junction at Bastogne, and this in combination with poor weather and difficult terrain, caused the German columns to back up into huge traffic jams on the roads behind the front. Starved of fuel and ammunition, the attack had broken down by 25 December, and was abandoned on 8 January.


title: Walter Model

text: The failure of "Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein" marked the end of Model's special relationship with Hitler, who on 21 January 1945 issued an order that all the divisions of Army Group B would thenceforth be personally responsible to him to limit Model's operational freedom of decision. Any suggestion of its withdrawal back to the river Rhine to obtain a better fighting position—given the Third Reich's weakening strength against the Allied torrent of men and material—was forbidden, and it was ordered to conduct its actions from now on upon the strategic basis of not yielding an inch of ground and an abandonment of tactical maneuver.


title: Walter Model

text: By mid-March Model and Army Group B had been forced back in fighting of attrition with the Americans across the Rhine river into Germany itself after the stunning failure to destroy the Ludendorff Bridge during the Battle of Remagen.


title: Walter Model

text: On 1 April Army Group B found itself completely surrounded in the Ruhr by the U.S. First and Ninth Armies. Hitler's response was to declare the Ruhr a fortress, from which he commanded that there was to be no surrender or attempt to break out, in an order similar to that which he had issued at Stalingrad. He further ordered that its physical economic infrastructure—the heart of Germany's industrial power—be destroyed by Army Group B to prevent it falling into Allied hands. Model ignored these instructions.


title: Walter Model

text: On 15 April, after the Allies had split the pocket into two, Major-General Matthew Ridgway commanding the U.S. XVIII Airborne Corps called upon Model to surrender rather than throw the lives of the soldiers under his command away in an impossible tactical situation for Army Group B. Model's reply was that he still considered himself bound by his oath to Adolf Hitler and his sense of honor as a German field marshal, and in consequence a formal surrender was out of the question. Instead of surrendering, Model ordered Army Group B's dissolution. The oldest and youngest soldiers were discharged from military service and the remaining men were granted leave by order, to either surrender or attempt to break out at their own discretion. The Fifth Panzer Army had already laid down its arms before this order was given and Model's command communications in the pocket were disintegrating. On 20 April, Joseph Goebbels' Propaganda Ministry in Berlin publicly denounced Army Group B as traitors to the Reich, marking the final act between Model and the Nazi regime he had served.


title: Walter Model

text: Model's decision ended the war for his men, but he had little desire to witness the aftermath of defeat. He said to his staff before dissolving his command: "Has everything been done to justify our actions in the light of history? What can there be left for a commander in defeat? In antiquity they took poison". His decision to commit suicide was sealed when he learned that the Soviets had indicted him for war crimes, specifically the deaths of 577,000 people in concentration camps in Latvia and the deportation of 175,000 others as slave labor. He shot himself in the head in a forest on 21 April 1945. The site of the event, between Duisburg and the village of Lintorf, is today part of the city of Ratingen.


title: Walter Model

text: Model was buried in the place where he shot himself. In 1955, his son, Hansgeorg Model, future brigadier general in the Bundeswehr, had Model's remains recovered from its field grave with the help from his former adjutant, Colonel Theodor Pilling, who buried him, and organized a reburial in the "Soldatenfriedhof Vossenack", a German military cemetery in the Hürtgen Forest.


title: Walter Model

text: Unlike Erwin Rommel, another field marshal who preferred to lead from the front, Walter Model was almost universally disliked by those who had to work with him. For example, when he was made commander of the XLI Panzer Corps in 1941, the entire corps staff asked to be transferred. He made a habit of being abusive and foul-mouthed, micromanaging his subordinates, changing plans without consultation, and bypassing the chain of command when it suited him. He was oblivious to the niceties of etiquette, often reprimanding or castigating his officers in public. When he departed Army Group North in March 1944 after being sent to Ukraine, the army group's chief of staff remarked, "the 'Swine' is gone". It was a reference to Model's nickname among his staffers, that he had earned during his time at XLI Panzer Corps, namely 'Frontline Pig' ("Frontschwein").


title: Walter Model

text: He was considered a thorough and competent leader but known to "demand too much, and that too quickly", accepting no excuses for failure from either his own men or those who outranked him. His troops were said to have "suffered under his too-frequent absences and erratic, inconsistent demands", for he frequently lost sight of what was or was not practically possible. Yet his dislike of bureaucracy and his crude speech often made him well liked by many under his command. Model's Büffel movement, the retreat on the Hagen line during the Red Army's Oryol offensive and the improvisation during the restoration of the front at Army Group Center and in the west must count as examples of extraordinary retreat operations.


title: Walter Model

text: His command style had worked when he was leading a division or corps, but once promoted to command of an army, it opened him to criticism over whether the advantages gained were enough to offset the loss of efficiency that followed. The statement that he was no strategist can find merit as it was observed that he showed little inclination to contemplate those stretches of the front he did not command and therefore disregarding the strategic field to conduct warfare. But the conditions, by then, did not exist for any general in the Third Reich.


title: Walter Model

text: Model is regarded as being an excellent defensive commander of the Third Reich, and having an "outstanding talent for improvisation". At 3rd Panzer Division he was a pioneer in the use of Kampfgruppen, which would soon become standard practice for the Germans. He had a formidable memory and eye for detail, which allowed him to dominate his staff officers, especially those in charge of specialist areas such as artillery, transport and communications.


title: Walter Model

text: Before the war he was put in charge of analyzing technical advances at home and abroad and his enthusiasm for innovation earned him the nickname "Armee Modernissimus" ("the army modernization fanatic"). Model fought nearly all his battles in the northern and central parts of the Eastern Front; he was never tested on the steppes of southern Russia, where the open terrain would have made mobile warfare a more attractive proposition. Nevertheless, his defensive record indicated the value of his approach. At Rzhev, Oryol, in Galicia and in Estonia he stymied opponents who expected to overwhelm him.


title: Walter Model

text: He had the reputation of a ruthless commander, willing to inflict and take casualties to stabilize his front. The splitting up of units was continually practiced by Model and took place on the regimental and divisional level. The objective was always to give necessary reinforcements to the centers of gravity when no reserves were available. From an operational viewpoint this allowed Model to achieve defensive successes, which would not have been possible otherwise.


title: Walter Model

text: According to Newton, the sending of theatre or operational reserves into the line where the fighting was toughest was meant to preserve the units Model saw as organically tied to his own command. For example, he was given the elite "Großdeutschland" Division in September 1942, when his Ninth Army was under heavy attack during Operation Mars. Though he was told that the division was not to be broken up, Model nonetheless split it into battalions and companies, which he used to plug any gaps that appeared. "Großdeutschland" took nearly 10,000 casualties out of a strength of 18,000 men, and at one point was reportedly close to mutiny; but from Model's viewpoint these losses were acceptable because they meant that Ninth Army's own troops did not have to suffer them. According to Newton, Model reasoned that the elite units would be eventually withdrawn and reformed, an option which may not have been available to his regular army divisions. That said, he did not simply treat these reserve units as disposable. In early 1942, the "Der Führer" Regiment of the 2nd SS Division "Das Reich" was reduced to a handful of men in three weeks of bitter fighting—but in that time it also received reinforcements including 88 mm guns, artillery pieces, and StuG III assault guns, and Model himself visited the sector daily, calculating the minimum support that would be needed to hold off the Soviet attacks. Model was aware of the negative effects of the splitting up of units. For example, on 7 October 1944 he forbade the splitting up of regiments into autonomous battalions to be used outside the division.


title: Walter Model

text: Allied to this were his boundless determination and vigor and stubborn refusal to countenance defeat. He held himself to the same high standard as he held those around him, saying: "He who leads troops has no right to think about himself". His visits to the front may not have helped operational efficiency, but they energized his men, who consistently held him in much higher regard than did his officers. As commanding general of Ninth Army he was once recorded as personally leading a battalion attack against a Soviet position, pistol in hand. In combat he spared neither himself nor his subordinates. His peers respected his ability and iron will, even though they may have detested his personality. Guderian thought him the best choice to command Army Group Centre during the crisis of Operation Bagration; the Ninth Army's War Diary recorded, after he arrived at army group headquarters in Minsk: "The news of Field Marshal Model's arrival is noted with satisfaction and confidence."


title: Walter Model

text: Model was the master of the type of defense which can be called 'defense limited in time'; in which one defends as long as possible but then retreats to avoid breakthrough and destruction. He was always at the critical points and took away battlegroups or even single battalions from less threatened sectors. With these units holes were plugged at other locations or short counterattacks were executed and so opportunities were created for bigger solutions. Thus, a closed front was guaranteed while the mixing and tearing apart of units was viewed as the smaller evil. This exceptional skill at defensive tactics earned Model the nickname of Hitler's ""Feuerwehrmann"" ('fireman'), due to his repeated successful rescue of the Third Reich from dire military situations as the war began to turn against Germany.


title: Walter Model

text: Before the war, Model had been content to leave politics to the politicians, preferring instead to concentrate on military affairs. Despite this, he became one of the Wehrmacht's field marshals most closely identified with Hitler. Postwar opinions on him have varied. Some historians have called him "blindly loyal", a "convinced Nazi" or a "zealous disciple" of Hitler; others see in Model a coldly calculating opportunist who used the Führer to his advantage, whether or not he was committed to him or the ideals of Nazism; some regard him as "apolitical to a fault", loyal to Hitler but never sycophantic. The contradictions between his Lutheran upbringing and his later association with the Nazis have similarly been the subject of comment.


title: Walter Model

text: As one of the few German generals of middle class upbringing, Model's background appealed to Hitler, who distrusted the old Prussian aristocratic order that still dominated the Wehrmacht's officer corps. His defensive tactics were a much better fit to Hitler's instincts never to give ground, than talk of "elastic defense"—even if Model stood fast out of sheer necessity, and not due to fanaticism. His stubbornness, energy and ruthlessness were more qualities that Hitler found admirable, and Model's blunt and direct manner of speaking also made an impression.


title: Walter Model

text: In a much-noted incident, Model had to deal with an attempt by Adolf Hitler to interfere with his arrangements. A telephone call from Army Group Center's chief of staff on 19 January 1942 informed him that Hitler, having become nervous about the direct Soviet threat against Vyazma, had decided that XLVII Panzer Corps, 2nd SS Division "Das Reich" and 5th Panzer Division were not to be employed in the imminent counterattack but reserved for other use in the rearguard.


title: Walter Model

text: Immediately, Model drove back from Rzhev to Vyazma in a raging blizzard and boarded a plane for East Prussia. Bypassing the figure of field marshal Günther von Kluge, his immediate superior, he sought a personal confrontation with Hitler. At first he attempted to lay out his reasons in the best, dispassionate General Staff manner, only to find the Führer unmoved by logic. Suddenly, glaring at Hitler through his monocle, Model brusquely demanded to know: "Mein Führer, who commands Ninth Army, you or I?".


title: Walter Model

text: Hitler, shocked at the defiance of his newest army commander, tried to find another solution favorable for both, but Model still was not satisfied. "Good, Model", the exasperated Hitler finally responded. "You do it as you please, but it will be your head at risk".


title: Walter Model

text: According to the Hitler's Table Talk recorded that night, the Führer commented: "I distrust officers who have exaggeratedly theoretical minds. I'd like to know what becomes of their theories at the moment of action". But when an officer "is worthy of command", he told "Reichsführer-SS" Heinrich Himmler, "he must be given the prerogatives corresponding to his functions".


title: Walter Model

text: Shortly after Model's departure to Rzhev area, Hitler also stated that: "Generals must be tough, pitiless men, as crabbed as mastiffs—gross-grained men, such as I have in the Party". Importantly, however, Model never challenged Hitler on political issues: a point that has been identified as the secret to their successful relationship.


title: Walter Model

text: Helped by his defensive successes, he thus gained Hitler's full trust and confidence; the Führer called him "my best field marshal" and (after Operation Bagration) "the savior of the Eastern Front". In turn, this granted Model a degree of flexibility available to no other German general. He frequently disputed, ignored or bypassed orders that he felt unsupportable: at Rzhev and Oryol he had constructed defensive fortifications in defiance of a ban, and his use of Shield and Sword tactics while at Army Group North proved to be simply a cover for a staged withdrawal. His relationships with his superiors were marked by dissembling, where what he wrote in his reports could bear little resemblance to what was actually happening.


title: Walter Model

text: Many of Model's fellow officers considered him a Nazi. He frequently harangued his troops to have faith in the Führer and uphold the virtues of National Socialism. He accepted the offer of "SS-Gruppenführer" Hermann Fegelein to appoint a Waffen-SS officer as his adjutant at Army Group North in 1944, after the "Heerespersonalamt" had refused him an adjutant, and filled the "Nationalsozialistischer Führungsoffizier" post at Army Group B that had been vacant before his arrival. His habit of parroting the Führer's orders caused him to be viewed as a sycophant, even if he often undermined or ignored those orders in practice.


title: Walter Model

text: Following the 20 July Plot, Model was the first senior commander to reaffirm his loyalty to Hitler, yet he also refused to give up General Hans Speidel, his chief of staff at Army Group B who was implicated in the plot, to the Gestapo. Model was well aware of Speidel's political leanings, as were his predecessors at Army Group B, Erwin Rommel and Günther von Kluge. Like them, he shielded Speidel for as long as possible, while ignoring such treasonous talk as might take place.


title: Walter Model

text: While on the Eastern Front, Model showed no objection to the treatment of civilians by the SS in the areas under his command and oversaw several anti-partisan operations, mostly while commanding the 9th Army. These operations, conducted by Wehrmacht troops as well as SS, were bloody, although not unusual by German Eastern Front standards. In conjunction with the ruthless scorched earth policies he followed during his retreats, they would lead to the Soviet Union declaring him a war criminal.


title: Walter Model

text: Despite this, while commanding Army Group Centre, he refused to dispatch troops to put down the Warsaw uprising (a task that was carried out by the SS), viewing it as a rear-area matter. He stated that the revolt arose from the mistreatment of the Polish population by the Nazis and the army should have nothing to do with it. On the other hand, he showed no hesitation in clearing the Warsaw suburbs of Praga and Saska Kępa, through which vital supply lines ran.


title: Walter Model

text: Model's biographer, the military historian Steven Newton, argues that the best explanation for Model's behavior is that he was not necessarily a Nazi but an authoritarian militarist who saw in Hitler the strong leader that Germany needed. According to Newton, Model saw himself as the professional, apolitical soldier; he possessed a strong sense of German nationalism, with the accompanying tenets of racial prejudice against Slavs and Jews. This characterized many in the German officer corps, but in Model's case it was accompanied by a cynical willingness to placate the Nazi regime to expedite his own goals.


title: Walter Model

text: The historian Gerhard Weinberg states that Model had benefited from the hastening of the evolution that occurred in the relationship of Hitler to the military following the defeat at Stalingrad. Hitler had always resented his dependence on a professional higher officer corps whom he hoped to replace at the earliest opportunity with men more ideologically attuned to National Socialism. After Stalingrad, Hitler relieved his generals with greater frequency, while pushing up into the higher ranks those "whose dedication to extreme National Social views made them more congenial to his way of thinking". Weinberg includes Model, alongside Ferdinand Schörner and Heinz Guderian, in this group.


title: Walter Model

text: The historian Ben H. Shepherd opines that Model was "not the most fanatical Nazi". The reasons Hitler favored him lay with Model's middle-class background and his ruthlessly utilitarian warfare style. Like Newton, Forczyk suspects that postwar testimonies of Model's negative aspects are exaggerated, considering that Model was not very charismatic (although he actually got along well with most of his staff) and already dead; many staff officers wanted to promote commanders who allowed them a more agreeable life-style, instead of dragging them through snow and mud like Model (in one case, when discussing Manstein's replacement by Model, Friedrich von Mellenthin made resentful remarks about Model's personality and abilities, although he had never served on Model's staff). According to Forczyk, Model only cared about politics if this would give him more troops.


title: Delhi University

text: Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and is recognized as an Institute of Eminence (IoE) by the University Grants Commission (UGC). As a collegiate university, its main functions are divided between the academic departments of the university and constituent colleges. Consisting of three colleges, two faculties, and 750 students at its founding, the University of Delhi has since become India's largest institution of higher learning and among the largest in the world. The university has 16 faculties and 86 departments distributed across its North and South campuses, and remaining colleges across the region. It has 91 constituent colleges. The Vice President of India serves as the university chancellor.


title: Delhi University

text: The University of Delhi was established in 1922 as a unitary, teaching and residential university by an Act of the then Central Legislative Assembly of the British India. Hari Singh Gour served as the university's first Vice-Chancellor from 1922 to 1926. Only four colleges existed in Delhi at the time: St. Stephen's College founded in 1881, Hindu College founded in 1899, Zakir Husain Delhi College (then known as The Delhi College), founded in 1792 and Ramjas College founded in 1917, which were subsequently affiliated to the university. The university initially had two faculties (Arts and Science) and approximately 750 students.


title: Delhi University

text: The seat of power in British India had been transferred from Calcutta to Delhi in 1911. The Viceregal Lodge Estate became the residence of the Viceroy of India until October 1933, when it was given to the University of Delhi. Since then, it has housed the office of the vice-chancellor and other offices.


title: Delhi University

text: When Sir Maurice Gwyer came to India in 1937 to serve as Chief Justice of British India, he became the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Delhi. During his time, postgraduate teaching courses were introduced and laboratories were established at the university. Members of the faculty included Daulat Singh Kothari in Physics and Panchanan Maheshwari in Botany. Gwyer has been called the "maker of university". He served as Vice-Chancellor until 1950.


title: Delhi University

text: The silver jubilee year of the university in 1947 coincided with India's independence, and the national flag was hoisted in the main building for the first time by Vijayendra Kasturi Ranga Varadaraja Rao. In that year there was no convocation ceremony due to the partition of India. Instead, a special ceremony was held in 1948, attended by then Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru, as well as by Lord Mountbatten, Lady Mountbatten, Abul Kalam Azad, Zakir Husain and Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar. Twenty-five years later the golden jubilee celebrations of 1973 were attended by then Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi, Satyajit Ray, Amrita Pritam and M. S. Subbulakshmi.


title: Delhi University

text: The university has grown into one of the largest universities in India. There are 16 faculties, 86 academic departments, 91 colleges spread across the city, with 132,435 regular students (114,494 undergraduates and 17,941 postgraduates). There are 261,169 students in non-formal education programmes (258,831 undergraduates and 2,338 postgraduates). DU's chemistry, geology, zoology, sociology and history departments have been awarded the status of Centres of Advanced Studies. In addition, a number of the university's departments receive grants under the Special Assistance Programme of the University Grants Commission in recognition of their outstanding academic work.


title: Delhi University

text: From the year 2022 DU changed its admission pattern from the 12th percentage mark based to CUET (Central Universities Common Entrance Test). Now it will admit students based on their CUET scores. And the 12th class percentage marks will act as a tie-breaker for students securing the same CUET scores.


title: Delhi University

text: DU is one of the most sought-after institutions of higher education in India. It also has one of the highest publication counts among Indian universities.


title: Delhi University

text: The annual honorary degree ceremony of the university has been conferred upon several people, which includes film actor Amitabh Bachchan, former Chief Minister of Delhi Sheila Dikshit, cartoonist R. K. Laxman, chemist C. N. R. Rao and former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Gordon Brown.


title: Delhi University

text: There are 91 colleges affiliated to the University of Delhi, spread across Delhi. North Campus and South Campus serve as the two main campuses of the university. Zakir Husain Delhi College, which is situated in the central part of New Delhi, is the oldest college in Delhi carrying 300 years of legacy.


title: Delhi University

text: The North Campus hosts the three founding colleges of the university. It now has the School of Open Learning, the Faculty of Arts, the Faculty of Law, and 13 colleges including Kirori Mal College, Sri Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce, Lady Irwin College, Daulat Ram College, Hansraj College, Hindu College, Indraprastha College for Women, Mata Sundri College for Women, Lakshmibai College, Miranda House, Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Khalsa College, Ramjas College, St. Stephen's College, Shri Ram College of Commerce, Satyawati College, Shyam Lal College. The campus also houses centres for graduate study and research, which include the Cluster Innovation Centre, Delhi School of Economics, Delhi School Of Journalism and the Ambedkar Center for Biomedical Research (ACBR).


title: Delhi University

text: The South Campus was opened in 1973 as part of the university's expansion plan. It moved to its present location on Benito Juarez Marg, near Dhaula Kuan, in 1984, and covers 69 acres. Its constituent colleges include , Aryabhatta College, Ayurvedic and Unani Tibbia College, Gargi College, Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma College, Jesus and Mary College, Ramanujan College, Maitreyi College, Motilal Nehru College, Motilal Nehru College Evening, Ram Lal Anand College, Sri Venkateswara College, Lady Shri Ram College, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College, the Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, the Institute of Home Economics, the College of Vocational Studies, Sri Aurobindo College, Kamala Nehru College, Dyal Singh College, Shaheed Bhagat Singh College and Rajkumari Amrit Kaur College of Nursing.


title: Delhi University

text: Some colleges of Delhi University offer hostel facilities to students but this facility is limited to a specific number of colleges. The allotment of hostels is also done on a merit basis. Only 20 colleges of Delhi University provide hostel facilities to students.


title: Delhi University

text: The President of India is the Visitor, the Vice President of India is the Chancellor and the Chief Justice of India is the Pro-Chancellor of the university. The Court, the Executive Council, the Academic Council and the Finance Committee are the administrative authorities of the university.


title: Delhi University

text: The University Court is the supreme authority of the university and has the power to review the acts of the Executive Council and the Academic Council. The Executive Council is the highest executive body of the university. The Academic Council is the highest academic body of the university and is responsible for the maintenance of standards of instruction, education and examination within the university. It has the right to advise the Executive Council on all academic matters. The Finance Committee is responsible for recommending financial policies, goals, and budgets.


title: Delhi University

text: Though the colleges are all constituent to the University of Delhi, as it is a collegiate university, depending upon the funding Delhi Colleges broadly fall into three categories:


title: Delhi University

text: The colleges maintained by universities get 100% deficit maintenance grant while the colleges run by trusts get 95% deficit grants.


title: Delhi University

text: The university has 65 colleges that have liberal courses in humanities, social sciences and science. Twenty-five of these colleges is affiliated with the South Campus while the others are to the North Campus. The total number of colleges under the university is 77 if the colleges that run professional courses are included. Some colleges also offer evening courses. The university includes an undergraduate management college 'Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies, which is ranked as the best B-school in the country at this level, by India Today.


title: Delhi University

text: In the past, the Faculty of Technology offered courses in Engineering and Technology. The faculty earlier included the Delhi College of Engineering, before it was transformed into the Delhi Technological University and Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology before it was transformed into the Netaji Subhas University of Technology.


title: Delhi University

text: There are a total 201 courses offered by Delhi University like MBBS, BTech etc. Courses are mainly classified under the three faculties of the central university, including arts, commerce and science.


title: Delhi University

text: The university offers 70 post-graduate degrees. DU also offers MPhil in about 28 subjects. In addition to these, it offers 90+ Certificate courses and 28 Diplomas. There are 15 Advanced Diplomas offered in various languages. The university offers PhD courses, which may be awarded by any faculty of the university under ordinance VI-B. But, speciality and super speciality medical degrees like DM, DCh etc., could only be awarded by the faculty of medical sciences. Due to lack of surety in quality of legal education, The Bar Council of India has issued a notification asking Delhi University (DU) to shut down law courses offered in evening shift at its colleges.


title: Delhi University

text: Internationally, the University of Delhi was ranked 501–510 in the QS World University Rankings of 2022. The same rankings ranked it 77 in Asia in 2022. and 42 among BRICS nations in 2019. It was ranked 801–1000 in the world by the "Times Higher Education World University Rankings" of 2022, 155 in Asia and 147 among Emerging Economies University Rankings in 2020. In 2022, it ranked 585 overall among the universities around the world by "SCImago Institutions Rankings". In India, it was ranked 19th overall by the "National Institutional Ranking Framework" in 2021 and 12th among universities and ranked 13th overall by NIRF in 2022.


title: Delhi University

text: Delhi University Stadium is a rugby sevens stadium, situated within the North Campus. Spread over , the stadium has a seating capacity of 2,500 permanent and 7,500 temporary seats. Construction began in 2008 and the stadium was inaugurated in July 2010, ahead of the 2010 Commonwealth Games. It also includes a training area for netball, boxing, women's wrestling and athletics.


title: Delhi University

text: After the games the stadium was handed over to the university by Commonwealth Games Organising Committee, there after in 2011, the university initiated an upgrade plan, to create a multi-purpose arena with both outdoor and indoor facilities. The university opened access to these facilities in late 2011.


title: Delhi University

text: Delhi University Students Union, generally abbreviated as DUSU, is a students' union at the University of Delhi. It is an elected body.


title: Delhi University

text: Notable alumni in Indian politics include Narendra Modi, the current Prime Minister of India; lawyer and former Minister of Finance Arun Jaitley; Foreign Secretary of India Vijay Keshav Gokhale; former diplomat, writer and Member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor; the fifth President of India Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed; sixth Chief Minister of Delhi Sheila Dikshit; fourth Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and India's first woman Chief Minister Sucheta Kriplani; economist and former leader of the Janata Party Subramanian Swamy; fourteenth and current Chief Minister of Odisha Naveen Patnaik; industrialist and former Member of Parliament Naveen Jindal; diplomat and Foreign Secretary Jyotindra Nath Dixit; former Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia; former Minister of State for Corporate and Minority Affairs Salman Khurshid; former Former Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal; former Minister of Information and Broadcasting Ambika Soni; former Union Minister for Disinvestment Arun Shourie; former Chief Minister of Delhi and Governor of Rajasthan Madan Lal Khurana; former MLA of Lakhipur Rajdeep Goala; and president of Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union Aishe Ghosh.


title: Delhi University

text: DU has educated numerous foreign politicians and heads of state and government including State Counsellor of Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi, third President of Malawi Bingu wa Mutharika, former Prime Minister of Nepal Girija Prasad Koirala, sixth President of Pakistan Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, and two former Prime Ministers of Bhutan, Sangay Ngedup, and Khandu Wangchuk.


title: Delhi University

text: DU has also produced a large number of major actors and actresses of Indian cinema and theatre including Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Manoj Bajpayee, Konkona Sen Sharma, Anurag Kashyap, Arjun Rampal, Imran Zahid, Neha Dhupia, Sakshi Tanwar, Mallika Sherawat, Imtiaz Ali, Huma Qureshi, Siddharth, Sushant Singh Rajput, Shriya Saran, Vishal Bhardwaj, Sandhya Mridul, Aditi Rao Hydari, Shekhar Kapur, Nimrat Kaur, Kabir Khan, Aditi Arya and Sidharth Malhotra. The CWE wrestler Shanky Singh had also pursued B.Com. from Maharaja Agrasen College of Delhi University.


title: Delhi University

text: Notable DU alumni in poetry and literature include the Sahitya Akademi Award winning dramatist and playwright Harcharan Singh, the Urdu poet Akhtar ul Iman, and the writers Vikram Seth, Anita Desai, Amitav Ghosh, Kunzang Choden, Upamanyu Chatterjee, Ali Sardar Jafri, and the Padma Vibhushan recipient Khushwant Singh.


title: Delhi University

text: Notable alumni in the sciences include physicist Archana Bhattacharyya, theoretical physicist Pran Nath, SLAC physicist Jogesh Pati particle physicist Amitava Raychaudhuri, astrophysicist Vinod Krishan, chemists Charusita Chakravarty and Anil Kumar Tyagi, engineer and "father of the pentium processor" Vinod Dham, mathematician Eknath Prabhakar Ghate, astrophysicist Sangeeta Malhotra, engineer Yogi Goswami, neurosurgeon B. K. Misra


title: Delhi University

text: Notable alumni in the humanities and social sciences include professor of economics at Harvard University Gita Gopinath; economist and Senior Vice-president and Chief Economist of the World Bank Kaushik Basu; historians Arundhati Virmani, Ramnarayan Rawat, Upinder Singh and Usha Sanyal; professor of anthropology at Johns Hopkins University Veena Das; Kathak dancer Uma Sharma; Bharatnatyam dancer Geeta Chandran and gender rights activist Meera Khanna.


title: Delhi University

text: Notable faculty members of DU include eminent historians like R. S. Sharma and Ramachandra Guha; recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences Amartya Sen; former Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh; economist and a key architect of the Five-Year Plans of India Sukhamoy Chakravarty; senior fellow for international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations and professor of economics at Columbia University Jagdish Bhagwati; and Ra'ana Liaquat Ali Khan, a leading woman figure in the Pakistan Movement and wife of the first Prime Minister of Pakistan Liaquat Ali Khan.


title: Lee Joon

text: Lee Chang-sun (born February 7, 1988), better known by his stage name Lee Joon, is a South Korean actor, singer, model and DJ. He is best known as a former member of the South Korean boy band MBLAQ. He had notable roles in "Gapdong" (2014), "My Father Is Strange" (2017), "The Silent Sea" (2021) and "Bulgasal" (2021).


title: Lee Joon

text: Before becoming a part of MBLAQ, Lee acted in CFs, had a small non-recurring role in the first episode of the sitcom "That Person Is Coming" (그분이 오신다), which aired in 2008, and began and completed filming for the 2009 film, "Ninja Assassin" in which he portrayed the Teenage Raizo.


title: Lee Joon

text: After training under Rain and J. Tune Entertainment, Lee became a member of South Korean quintet boyband MBLAQ, serving as a vocalist and main dancer. The group debuted on October 9, 2009 at Rain's "Legend of Rainism" concert where they performed various songs from their then-unreleased single album "Just BLAQ". MBLAQ's first single, "Oh Yeah", was released to the public through a music video on October 14, 2009 with their debut single album, "Just BLAQ" releasing on the same day. MBLAQ made their broadcast debut with the song "Oh Yeah" on Mnet's "M! Countdown".


title: Lee Joon

text: MBLAQ made their Japanese debut on May 3, 2011, with an event held at the Kanagawa Lazona Kawasaki Plaza which gathered a reported 10,000 fans. A day later, on May 4, they released their first Japanese single "Your Luv" which immediately reached first position of the Oricon Daily Charts, selling more than 11,000 copies.


title: Lee Joon

text: With MBLAQ, he released three single albums, seven EPs and one studio album. He left the group in October 2014.


title: Lee Joon

text: On October 18, 2017 ahead of his mandatory military enlistment Lee released his first solo digital single, "What I Want to Give to You", a pop ballad song written by his former MBLAQ band-mate Thunder.


title: Lee Joon

text: In 2010, he was cast in "Jungle Fish 2", a youth drama which tackles real life issues about students. He participated in the OST for "Jungle Fish 2", singing the song "슬픈예감 (Feeling Sad)" with Hong Jong-hyun.


title: Lee Joon

text: The same year, he joined the variety show, "We Got Married" where he was paired up with Oh Yeon-seo in an on-screen marriage.


title: Lee Joon

text: In 2013, Lee starred in the film "Rough Play", produced by Kim Kiduk. The film was unusually risque for a pop idol due to the numerous nude sex scenes he had to perform in it.


title: Lee Joon

text: He won the Best Male Newcomer award at the 1st Wildflower Film Awards for his performance, and was also nominated for the Best New Actor award at the 50th Baeksang Arts Awards and the 23rd Buil Film Awards.


title: Lee Joon

text: In 2015, Lee starred in SBS' black comedy drama "Heard It Through the Grapevine", winning accolades at the 8th Korea Drama Awards and 4th APAN Star Awards for his performance. In the same year, he was signed to Prain TPC.


title: Lee Joon

text: The same year, he featured in the period mystery film "The Piper"; and lent his voice to the animated zombie film, "Seoul Station".


title: Lee Joon

text: In 2016, Lee starred in OCN's fantasy thriller "The Vampire Detective" as the title role. The same year, he had a supporting role in MBC's legal drama "Woman with a Suitcase". He also co-starred in the action comedy film, "Luck Key".


title: Lee Joon

text: In 2021, Lee starred in Netflix Original series "The Silent Sea". In the same year, Lee starred in tvN/Netflix fantasy series .


title: Lee Joon

text: In 2022, Lee stars in KBS2' s upcoming historical drama "Bloody Heart" which is set to be released on May 2, 2022. In the Bloody Heart, Lee plays the role of Lee Tae who becomes King of Joseon. In same year, it was announced that Lee Joon will hold the '2022 Lee Jun Busan Fan Camp' at Busan Metropolitan City's Arpina, Haeundae-gu, Busan.


title: Lee Joon

text: In 2019, after being discharged from the military, Lee Joon started hosting the radio show "Lee Joon's Youngstreet" as Joon Haeng Ja on SBS Power FM.


title: Lee Joon

text: Lee Joon was born and raised in Seoul, South Korea, and has an older sister. He won second place in a dance competition and thus won a scholarship to Seoul Arts High School. He majored in modern dance at the Korea National University of Arts and attended Kyung Hee Cyber University. Lee has stated that he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.


title: Lee Joon

text: Lee began his mandatory military service as an active duty soldier on October 24, 2017, attending a five-week basic training in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province. Lee completed his training first among 183 comrades. He was assigned to 8th Battalion to complete his duty.


title: Lee Joon

text: Due to suffering with panic disorder while carrying out his military duties, Lee was deemed inadequate to serve as an active duty soldier, and was transferred to reservist duty. Lee completed his remaining mandatory duty as a public service officer. He was discharged on December 19, 2019.