Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Walter Model


 * The following is an archived discussion of a featured article nomination. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the article's talk page or in Wikipedia talk:Featured article candidates. No further edits should be made to this page.

The article was promoted 16:08, 30 July 2007.

Walter Model
Self-nomination. Model was one of the most important German field marshals of WWII, but he's rather less well-known than people like Rommel, von Rundstedt, etc. The article has already undergone a peer review and A-class review at the Military History Wikiproject, and I figure it's in good shape to be a featured article. -- Hongooi 08:24, 21 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Support & Comment-->Looks pretty good. But a couple of things


 * 1) No mention about his personal & family life. His wife, parents, children.
 * 2) From July 1943 to January 1944, what did he do during that time?Mercenary2k 00:32, 23 July 2007 (UTC)


 * There's not much available about his personal and family life AFAIK, at least not in English-language sources. Like I said, he burnt his papers before he died, which had made things difficult for historians ever since. July to Jan, he would have been at the Battle of Smolensk (1943). Seems hard to find out more about that battle, unless it's about Manstein further south (he always gets the glory), or from Russian-language sources. I'll see if I can dig something up from Glantz & House. Turns out he was actually on leave most of that time. -- Hongooi 13:27, 23 July 2007 (UTC)


 * Also, I did mention his son being a Brig Gen in the Bundeswehr...? -- Hongooi 13:29, 23 July 2007 (UTC)


 * In any case, both done. -- Hongooi 13:52, 24 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Support -->Good enough for me. Mercenary2k 18:27, 24 July 2007 (UTC)


 * Support -->Very informative, well-documented. It is almost too comprehensive for a single article, but then I couldn't specifically identify anything that should be cut.--Mcattell 22:09, 28 July 2007 (UTC)


 * Support. Comprehensive and well referenced. Leithp 06:59, 29 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Although I am curious about exactly what involvement he had in the war crimes mentioned. Leithp 10:20, 29 July 2007 (UTC)


 * The specific charges he was indicted on, you mean? The root source for that appears to be Carlo D'Este's biographical essay, which doesn't go into much detail except to say there's no evidence he was aware of those specific acts. However, historians are generally agreed that he was deeply involved in the morally dubious German practices on the Eastern Front -- scorched-earth retreats, anti-partisan sweeps that killed thousands of civilians, etc. He may or may not have actively facilitated the more genocidal policies of the Nazis (einsatzgruppen et al), but he certainly never complained about them. Although it should also be said that he was far from the only German general who acted in this way. -- Hongooi 10:16, 30 July 2007 (UTC)


 * Comment, pls review WP:MSH regarding use of "the" in section headings. Nice work !Sandy Georgia  (Talk) 02:36, 30 July 2007 (UTC)


 * Hm, I gotta say that's an odd guideline. Looking at the sources I used for this article, almost all of them don't have any problem with "The" beginning a chapter title. Heck, one of them (Atlas of the Second World War, ed. Peter Young) uses "The ____" for nearly every section -- "The fall of Tobruk", "The attack on Leningrad", "The battle of Leyte Gulf", etc. I'll see what I can do. -- Hongooi 10:16, 30 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Done, although I'm not really convinced it was necessary. -- Hongooi 14:52, 30 July 2007 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the article's talk page or in Wikipedia talk:Featured article candidates. No further edits should be made to this page.