Field marshal Karl Rudolf Gerd von Rundstedt (1875-1953), the senior German field commander in World War II, directed the German war effort on the Western front from 1942 to 1945.

Gerd von Rundstedt was born on Dec. 12, 1875, in Aschersleben near Magdeburg. His family was of old Prussian nobility with a long military tradition dating back to the Middle Ages. His father was a general, and his brother was a major. Rundstedt received all of his education in military schools, and in 1891 he entered the Prussian infantry. In 1906 he received his first general-staff assignment.

In World War I Rundstedt took part in the Battle of the Marne in the autumn of 1914, and then he alternately served on the Eastern and Western fronts in army corps chief of staff positions. By the end of the war he had become the chief of staff of the 15th Army Corps with the rank of...