Johann Fortner

Johann "Hans" Fortner (born November 25, 1884 in Zweibrücken , † February 26, 1947 in Belgrade , Yugoslavia ) was an officer , most recently Lieutenant General of the Wehrmacht in World War II .

Life

Promotions

• March 8, 1905 Lieutenant
• October 28, 1912 First Lieutenant
• January 14, 1916 Captain
• September 24, 1920 police captain
• July 1, 1924 Police major
• April 1, 1933 Lieutenant Colonel of the Police
• 1st August 1934 Police Colonel
• October 1, 1935 Colonel
• June 1, 1941 Major General
• November 1, 1942 Lieutenant General

Early years and World War I

Fortner joined the 5th Bavarian Infantry Regiment on July 6, 1903 as a flag junior , where he was promoted to Adjutant of the 2nd Battalion on August 1, 1914 . During the First World War , the regiment fought on the Western Front . Here Fortner acted from June 27 to September 7, 1915 as deputy regimental adjutant and from January 29, 1916 as a company commander with the rank of captain. On September 15, 1916 Fortner was taken prisoner by the British and was released on November 8, 1919.

Interwar period

After his takeover in the Reichswehr , Fortner served from January 9, 1920 in the Rw Brigade 23 , but was immediately assigned to the 46 Infantry Regiment , where he remained until September 23, 1920. Then Fortner joined the police with effect from September 24, 1920 , where he was taken over with the rank of police captain. There he rose to the position of police colonel by September 1935. On October 1, 1935, he joined the army of the Wehrmacht as a colonel, where he initially acted as commander of the military district command in Kassel until the end of June 1938 .

Second World War

Shortly before the start of the Second World War, Fortner took over the position of training manager in Landeck on July 1, 1939 . On May 3, 1941, he was entrusted with the leadership of the newly established 718th Infantry Division , which he led until mid-March 1943. This fought from 1941 to 1943 in the Balkans in the area of ​​German-occupied Yugoslavia . On March 15, 1943, Fortner handed over command to Lieutenant General Josef Kübler and was transferred to the Führerreserve of the Army High Command (OKH), but was no longer in command until he retired from active military service on March 31, 1944.

End of the war and execution

At the end of the war, Fortner was arrested by the Allies and extradited to Yugoslavia as a war criminal. There he was for war crimes by a tribunal sentenced to death and on 26 February 1947 in Belgrade by train executed .

Awards

• Iron Cross II and I Class 1914

literature

• Dermot Bradley, Karl-Friedrich Hildebrand, Markus Rövekamp: Die Generale des Heeres 1921-1945 , Part V, Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1993, ISBN 9783764824235 , p. 46 f.