Albert Schnez

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Albert Schnez, 1967
Albert Schnez 1969 (center, right next to Federal Chancellor Willy Brandt )

Albert Schnez (born August 30, 1911 in Abtsgmünd ; † April 26, 2007 in Bonn ) was a German officer in the Reichswehr , the Wehrmacht and the Bundeswehr and last served from 1968 to 1971 in the rank of Lieutenant General of the Army as its inspector . From 1949 onwards, Schnez tried, together with other veterans of the Wehrmacht and the Waffen SS, to set up a secret organization, the so-called Schnez Troop , which was supposed to fight against the Soviet Union. Schnez was involved in the debate on the internal leadership of the newly established Bundeswehr and belonged to the close circle of Defense Minister Franz Josef Strauss .

Military career

Training in the Reichswehr and service in the Wehrmacht

In 1930 Schnez joined the 13th (Württemberg) Infantry Regiment of the Reichswehr. After training as an officer and serving as platoon commander , battalion adjutant , company commander and regimental adjutant , Schnez, meanwhile in the Wehrmacht , was a captain and company commander in a mountain infantry regiment at the outbreak of the Second World War .

After completing general staff training, he was transferred to the Army High Command and served in the Department of Transportation. Then he was First General Staff Officer (Ia) of the 25th Panzer Grenadier Division under General of the Infantry Anton Grasser . From 1943, Schnez led a regiment of this division as a lieutenant colonel on the Eastern Front and was awarded the German Cross in Gold on June 8, 1944 for his achievements . From mid-1944 he was Colonel General of Transport in southern Ukraine . At the end of the war he was Colonel General of Transport in Italy.

After the German surrender , Schnez was instructed by the Allies to become “General Representative of the German Railway Troops ” and was thus jointly responsible for the reconstruction of parts of the northern Italian railway network .

Schnez troop

According to documents from the Federal Intelligence Service , Schnez founded the so-called Schnez Troop together with around 2000 former Wehrmacht and Waffen SS officers with the aim of activating around 40,000 men in the event of a Soviet attack on the Federal Republic or in the event of a civil war against communists . The organization of the force began in 1949 without the knowledge of the federal government , the public and the Western Allies .

armed forces

In November 1957 he was reactivated as a Brigadier General in the newly created Bundeswehr and served as Head of Logistics in the Command Staff of the Armed Forces (FüS) in the Federal Ministry of Defense in Bonn . Three years later, in 1960, he took over from Werner Panitzki the post of chief of staff in the command staff of the armed forces under Generals Adolf Heusinger and Friedrich Foertsch . On October 1, 1962, meanwhile promoted to major general, Schnez took over command of the 5th Panzer Division in Diez and led the division until March 31, 1965. Then Schnez was promoted to lieutenant general and took over from April 1, 1965 to March 30, 1965. September 1968 as commanding general the III. Corps in Koblenz .

Actually Jürgen Bennecke 1968 as a successor to Josef Moll in the post of Inspector of the Army provided and should Schnez Johann von Kielmansegg on the NATO gobs of the Supreme Commander Allied Forces Central Europe to follow. However, the Dutch government opposed the appointment of Schnez, as he had written before joining the armed forces that he could only become a soldier again if the question of the "war convicts" was settled in an "honorable way". The Dutch NATO partners accused Schnez of Nazism and turned him down for the post. He then succeeded Josef Moll as inspector of the army on October 1, 1968 and Bennecke took over the NATO post.

In view of the social criticism exerted by the 1968 movement , a growing number of Conservative officers took the view that the military should respond to the political and social attacks on their profession. Among other things, a more “traditional” tradition was called for. In December 1969, a secret study commissioned by Schnez with the title "Thoughts on improving the internal order of the army" became known. It then became known as the "Schnez Study", which was commissioned by the former Defense Minister Gerhard Schröder . Heinz Karst is believed to be the author of the study .

It was perceived as a manifesto of a traditional fixed generation of officers who societal change in the Federal Republic and the principles of internal leadership largely rejected. The study lamented the “lack of will to defend the people” and called for “a reform of the head and members, of the armed forces and society” in order to decisively increase the army's reduced fighting power. It made far-reaching demands on civil society, including amendments to the Basic Law to strengthen the military's authority in crises and war. Furthermore, the Bundeswehr should reflect on the values ​​of a “community of struggle, fate and emergency”.

Despite demands to resign, Schnez remained at the head of the army until his retirement on September 30, 1971. Before that he was awarded the Great Cross of Merit with a Star .

Work for Kuehne + Nagel

After leaving the Bundeswehr, he worked for the logistics company Kuehne + Nagel .

Honors

literature

Web links

Commons : Albert Schnez  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Klaus D. Patzwall , Veit Scherzer : The German Cross 1941-1945. History and owner. Volume II. Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall, Norderstedt 2001, ISBN 3-931533-45-X , p. ^ 419.
  2. ↑ Clemens Range: The Generals and Admirals of the Bundeswehr . Bonn, 1990, p. 95.
  3. ↑ Donald Abenheim: Bundeswehr and Tradition. The search for the valid legacy of the German soldier . Munich 1989, p. 175 f.
  4. ↑ Martin Kutz: German soldiers. A history of culture and mentality. Darmstadt 2006, p. 206/07.
  5. ↑ 50 years of the Bundeswehr . In: From Politics and Contemporary History (APuZ 21/2005); Retrieved March 19, 2008.
  6. ↑ Donald Abenheim: Bundeswehr and Tradition. The search for the valid legacy of the German soldier . Munich 1989, p. 179.
  7. ↑ Detlef Bald, Johannes Klotz, Wolfram Wette: Myth of the Wehrmacht. Post-war debates and maintaining tradition . Berlin 2001, p. 45.
  8. ↑ PROFESSIONAL Albert Schnez, Der Spiegel, October 11, 1971
  9. ↑ Wanderer Between the Fronts, Die Zeit of November 11, 1977, page 2
  10. ↑ Bonner Kulisse, Die Zeit, page 2 of January 17, 1975
personal data
SURNAME Schnez, Albert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German soldier, inspector of the army of the Bundeswehr
DATE OF BIRTH August 30, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH Abtsgmünd
DATE OF DEATH April 26, 2007
Place of death Bonn