High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Walter von Reichenau (October 8, 1884 January 17, 1942) was a German Generalfeldmarschall.Reichenau was born in Karlsruhe to a Prussian general and joined the German Army in 1902. During World War I he served on the Western Front. He was awarded the Iron Cross First Class and by 1918 had been promoted to the rank of Captain.Reichenau stayed in the army under the Weimar Republic as a General Staff officer. From 1931 he was Chief of Staff to the Inspector of Signals at the Reichswehr Ministry, and later served with General Werner von Blomberg in East Prussia. His uncle, an ardent Nazi, introduced him to Adolf Hitler in 1932 and von Reichenau became a convert, joining the Nazi Party soon after. Doing so was a violation of army regulations, which forbade army members from joining political parties.