I'm watching a set of documentaries given to me by this subreddit which follow the war on the Russian front 1940-1945, and then a small section about Manchuria. In the documentaries, they make a lot of mention of von Manstein and his leadership around Kiev and Sevastopol during the invasion of Soviet Ukraine.
I did a little research on von Manstein, and ignoring how odd it makes me feel knowing I live down the road from where he was interned following his trial at Nuremburg, I wanted to know why he had such a following amongst non-fascist nations following the war. The fact that there was international pressure from Great Britain, the United States and even France, to have his sentence reduced, which did infact lead to his early release from prison after direct pressure from Churchill.
So why was a man who was directly involved in the invasion of Russia seen as.. well not necessarily a hero, but someone who we should be easy on? This is in no way a question on whether or not he was a criminal, surrounding his anti-semetism, his actions on the front or even his ill health... I just want to know what the people of the western allies saw in him.
When? Was it after his self serving memoir came out when the Cold War was heating up? I think Manstein, like Guderian, were major products of their own PR campaign that was heavily aided by the clean Wehrmacht myth that covered up guys like Manstein's warcrimes and focused on their anti-communist positions and military histories. He was a talented commander and a skilled strategist (though his reputation is inflated), which during the 1950s was a major bonus in US military circles considering how he just fought the Soviets and had a lot of useful knowledge to impart. His reputation was therefore a product of the political situation post-war once the Holocaust and German warcrimes became taboo to talk about. Plus don't forget that the Western powers weren't exactly pro-Jewish and the communists were absolutely hated by capitalist Cold Warriors, so Manstein was pretty much prime rib considering how he fit into the mindset of the late 1940s-1950s military elite.