[7] Alternative sources suggest that upon graduation he became a lieutenant in the Royal Elizabeth Guard Grenadiers but got himself transferred from this "socialite outfit" to the Third Field Artillery Regiment.

Brauchitsch was awarded the Iron Cross 1st Class and the House Order of Hohenzollern, and ended the war with the rank of major.

As of 1 November 1927, Brauchitsch was appointed Chief of Staff of the 6th Infantry Division in Münster, Westphalia, one of the strongest garrisons in the west of Germany.

[20] A dispute emerged a few years later when Brauchitsch learned that Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler planned to replace the army guards in East Prussia with SS men, with the purpose of persecuting Jews, Protestant and Catholic churches in the district.

Even though Brauchitsch managed to prevent the SS replacement of the army troops in the region, Himmler categorized him as "a junker", and informed Hitler of the disagreement.

[23] The homosexual allegations were in reality a trap set by Hitler as an excuse to dismiss one of the aristocratic senior officers within the Army High Command.

[26] Yet in April 1939 Brauchitsch, together with Colonel General Wilhelm Keitel, was awarded the Golden Party Badge by Hitler in commemoration of the occupation of Czechoslovakia.

[27] In the final months before World War II, Brauchitsch focused on Italy's potential to aid the Nazi military cause.

[29][30] However, this turned out not to be an easy task, as the Italian leader Benito Mussolini expected economic support from the Reich in return for his military collaboration.

[28] Joachim von Ribbentrop, Germany's Foreign Minister and the main architect of the Axis alliance, constantly interfered with Brauchitsch's efforts, as he wanted to see his work consolidated at all costs.

The Panzer divisions were spread thinly among the infantry and were not granted operational independence or grouped en masse, as they would be in the 1940 invasion of Western Europe.

[35] Brauchitsch supported harsh measures against the Polish population, which he claimed were needed for securing German Lebensraum ("living space").

[36] On 5 November 1939, the Army General Staff prepared a special memorandum purporting to recommend against launching an attack on the Western powers that year.

[37] Brauchitsch went on to complain: "The aggressive spirit of the German infantry is sadly below the standard of the First World War ... [there have been] certain symptoms of insubordination similar to those of 1917–18.

"[38] After that meeting, both Brauchitsch and Halder told Carl Friedrich Goerdeler, a key leader of the anti-Nazi movement, that overthrowing Hitler was simply something that they could not do and that he should find other officers to take part in the plot.

He also vowed to "destroy the spirit of Zossen", a threat that panicked Halder to such an extent that he forced the conspirators to abort their second planned coup attempt.

[39] On 7 November, following heavy snowstorms, Hitler put off X-Day until further notice, which removed Brauchitsch and Halder's primary motivation for the plot.

[36] While preparations were underway for the Battle of France, General Erich von Manstein, then serving as chief of staff of Army Group A, produced his famous Sichelschnitt ("sickle cut") plan.

[40] Despite his original scepticism, Brauchitsch eventually saw the plan's potential and felt that the army had a real chance of success in France.

[42] In the swift invasion and occupation of Yugoslavia and Greece in early April 1941, the Germans committed some 337,000 men,[43] 2,000 mortars,[43] 1,500 artillery pieces,[43] 1,100 anti-tank guns,[43] 875 tanks and 740 other armoured fighting vehicles,[43] all of which were under the overall command of Brauchitsch.

[45] Brauchitsch ordered his army and commanders to cease criticism of racist Nazi policies, as harsh measures were needed for the "forthcoming battle of destiny of the German people".

[46] When Germany turned East and invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, he again played a key part, making modifications to the original plan.

[24] Like his friend and colleague, Wilhelm Keitel, Brauchitsch did not protest when Hitler gave the German army the same instructions as the SS on whom to kill in the occupied territory, but he later issued a series of decrees that ordered that Commissars were to be shot only if their anti-German sentiments were "especially recognizable".

[24] In the aftermath of the failed offensive at Moscow, Brauchitsch was dismissed as Commander-in-Chief of the German Army on 19 December and transferred to the Führerreserve (officers reserve), where he remained without assignment until the end of the war; he never saw Hitler again.

[48] However, he died, aged 67, on 18 October 1948 of bronchial pneumonia in a British-controlled military hospital in Hamburg before facing trial for conspiracy and crimes against humanity.

The couple had a daughter and two sons, including Bernd von Brauchitsch, who later served in the Luftwaffe during World War II as Hermann Göring's adjutant.

[52] Historian Helmut Krausnick characterizes Brauchitsch as "an outstanding professional who lived up to the traditions of his profession, but especially lacked the strength of personality to deal with Hitler".