Born in 1887, Reinhardt fought during
World War I. He commanded the
4th Panzer Division during the
Invasion of Poland in September 1939. In the 1940
Battle of France, Reinhardt commanded the
XXXXI Panzer Corps.
Operation Barbarossa , 1941 In 1941, Reinhardt and XLI Panzer Corps were deployed on the
Eastern Front for
Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the
Soviet Union in June. In late June Reinhardt's Corps defeated the Soviet 3rd Mechanised & 12th Mechanised Corps in the
Battle of Raseiniai and destroyed over 700 Soviet tanks. His force led the advance of
Army Group North to the outskirts of
Leningrad in October. As did all German corps on the Eastern Front, Reinhardt's corps implemented the criminal
Commissar Order. According to reports from subordinate units, the order was carried out on a widespread basis. On October 5 Reinhardt was given command of the
3rd Panzer Army in
Army Group Centre and took part in
Operation Typhoon, the advance towards Moscow. After the German defeat in the
Battle of Moscow, his army was driven back by Soviet counter-attack during the winter of 1941−42. Troops under Reinhardt's command implemented the OKH policy of "liquidating" mentally infirm; in December 1941 they murdered ten mental patients in the Russian city of
Kalinin, on the pretext that they posed a security threat.
Security warfare From early 1942 until June 1944, the 3rd Panzer Army operated around
Vitebsk and
Smolensk. In the course of
rear-security operations in the area, troops under Reinhardt command destroyed entire communities. A report of February 1943 stated: In order to keep bandits from resettling in this territory, the population of villages and farms in this area were killed without exception to the last baby. All homes were burned down. The army engaged in deportations of civilians to concentration camps. Between September and December 1943, nearly 4,000 civilians were deported from Vitebsk and surrounding areas, because they were suspected of helping "bandits" (quotation marks in the original). The action was conducted in cooperation with units of the
SD; civilians, including women and children, were deported to
Auschwitz concentration camp, where they died from starvation and maltreatment or were later gassed. In June 1944, during
Operation Bagration, the Third Panzer and the rest of Army Group Centre were shattered by the Red Army and driven back into Poland and
East Prussia. On 16 August 1944, Reinhardt was given command of Army Group Centre. In December, renewed Soviet attacks drove Army Group Centre out of Poland into northern Prussia. Reinhardt was retired from active duty in January 1945. ==Trial and conviction==