Erich von Manstein was born in 1953.
Erich von Manstein . Attaining the rank of general at the end of the campaign , he was active in the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 and the Siege of Sevastopol ( 1941 -- 1942 ) , and was promoted to field marshal on 1 July 1942 . He was one of the primary commanders at the Battle of Kursk ( July -- August 1943 ) , one of the largest tank battles in history . Manstein gave testimony at the main Nuremberg trials of war criminals in August 1946 , and prepared a paper that , along with his later memoirs , helped cultivate the myth of a `` clean Wehrmacht '' -- the myth that the German armed forces were not culpable for the atrocities of the Holocaust .