Original Color Photograph of Maximilian von Weichs by Walter Frentz

Generalfeldmarschall Maximilian Reichsfreiherr von Weichs (Oberbefehlshaber Heeresgruppe B) in a picture taken on 1 February 1943 by Walter Frentz, during Generalfeldmarschall promotion ceremony with Hitler at the Führerhauptquartier Wolfsschanze in Rastenburg, East Prussia. Weichs received his special promotion to the rank of marshall on that day in the immediate aftermath of the catastrophic German defeat at Stalingrad. At that time he held the position of Commander-in-Chief of Army Group B, the formation responsible for the advance toward the Volga during Fall Blau. Heeresgruppe B had included 2. Armee, 4. Panzerarmee, 6. Armee under Friedrich Paulus, as well as the allied 2. Hungarian Army, 8. Italian Army and the Romanian armies whose collapse during Operation Uranus sealed the encirclement. Although Weichs had repeatedly warned of the overstretched flanks and had recommended a timely withdrawal, Adolf Hitler refused, and large parts of Heeresgruppe B were subsequently detached to form Heeresgruppe Don under Erich von Manstein. Despite the destruction of nearly the entire 6. Armee and the effective dissolution of Heeresgruppe B, Weichs was elevated to Generalfeldmarschall together with Paulus, Ewald von Kleist and Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen. The promotion, announced on the same day that Paulus was also made Generalfeldmarschall inside the Stalingrad pocket, served both as a formal recognition of senior command responsibility and as a propaganda gesture intended to mask the scale of the disaster. Weichs retained the rank for the remainder of the war, later serving as Oberbefehlshaber Südost and commander of Heeresgruppe F in the Balkans. The elevation therefore marked the highest point of his military career even as his operational authority on the Eastern Front was simultaneously being reduced. After a brief period in the Führerreserve he returned to active duty later in 1943, carrying the rank of Generalfeldmarschall until his final transfer to reserve status in March 1945. Thus the promotion of 1 February 1943 stands as a paradoxical culmination of his service with Heeresgruppe B amid one of the Wehrmacht’s greatest defeats.

Source :
https://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?p=2018989&hilit=weichs#p2018989
https://www.tracesofwar.com/persons/35803/Weichs-von-Maximillian.htm
https://www.walter-frentz-collection.de/fotoarchiv/personenarchiv-a-z/personen-t-z/