Walter Heitz (8 December 1878 – 9 February 1944) was a German general (Generaloberst) in the Wehrmacht during World War II.

Heitz surrendered the central pocket of German forces in Stalingrad on 31 January 1943 and died as a prisoner of war in the Soviet Union.

[1] Described by historian Samuel W. Mitcham as a "harsh, right-wing career officer",[1] Heitz was a staunch supporter of Nazism and Hitler.

The Wehrkraftzersetzung consolidated and redefined paragraphs already in the military penal code to punish "seditious" acts such as conscientious objection, defeatist statements, self-mutilation, and questioning the Endsieg.

Convictions were punishable by the death penalty, heavy sentences in military prisons, concentration camps, and forced mobilization in combat or penal units.

On September 14, 1939, during the invasion of Poland Heitz was appointed as the commander of the armed forces in Danzig-West Prussia, partially because of his hatred for the Poles.

[1][4] On September 10, 1939, he wrote enthusiastically that he would “rule the area with a mailed fist” and that the combat troops under his command were "over inclined towards a false sense of chivalry.

[6] Heitz continued to command the VIII Army Corps during the German invasion of the Soviet Union Operation Barbarossa.

As the situation worsened for the Germans in Stalingrad, he ordered defeatists and every man who attempted surrender to be shot[7] and coined the slogan: "We fight to the last bullet but one!

"[7] As late as the 31 of January, German soldiers who attempted surrender were shot in the back on the basis of Heitz's orders.

[7] On 26 January 1943, the German forces inside Stalingrad were split into two pockets north and south of Mamayev Kurgan.