Of an old aristocratic family, Kluge served in World War I and afterward remained in the army. During World War II he successfully led an army in the Polish, French, and early Russian campaigns. As commander of Army Group Centre in the Soviet Union from December 1941 until he was wounded in October 1943, he was largely successful in containing the massive Soviet offensives against his forces. On July 3, 1944, after the Normandy Invasion, Hitler replaced Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt (Rundstedt, Gerd von), the German commander in chief in the west, with Kluge. Kluge was no more able to stop the Anglo-American advance than Rundstedt had been, and the German forces in Normandy were soon almost completely encircled.

A member of the old officer corps antipathetic to Hitler, Kluge had established contacts with the conspirators against the Führer but had no knowledge of the assassination attempt of July 20, 1944. His name appeared in several incriminating papers, however, and Hitler, suspecting him of complicity in the July Plot and possibly even of making contact with Allied commanders, dismissed him on August 17. Despondent over his military failure and anticipating arrest, Kluge committed suicide the next day.