Alfons Rebane
Alfons Vilhelm Robert Rebane (* June 11 jul. / 24. June 1908 greg. In Walk , † 8. March 1976 in Augsburg ) was an officer of the Estonian army , who later in the Waffen-SS was used.
Life
After completing his studies, Alfons Rebane joined the Estonian army, which he served as an officer until the occupation of Estonia by the Red Army in 1940 . After the invasion of the Wehrmacht in 1941, he joined them and was assigned to the 15th ski company of the 184 police battalion. In the winter of 1941/42, because of the tense situation, police units were also sent to the front. In June 1942 he was promoted to major and commander of the volunteer battalion 658. During the fighting in January 1944, this battalion managed to close a gap in the front near Novgorod . For this he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on February 23, 1944 . All Estonian volunteer units were later transferred to the Waffen SS and assigned to the 20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (Estonian No. 1) . In April 1944 Rebane became commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 47 SS Infantry Regiment, and on July 26, 1944 he took over the 46 SS Infantry Regiment. In 1944 the division suffered a devastating defeat on the Narva Front . After the Red Army recaptured Estonia, the division was moved to Neuhammer to refresh. On November 9, 1944, Rebane was promoted to SS-Obersturmbannführer , in March 1945 he was promoted to SS-Standartenführer . At this point in time the division was already fighting as part of the Central Army Group in Silesia and what was then the " Reich Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia ". In addition, at the end of the war, after division commander Augsberger was killed in the fighting on the Eastern Front , he was deputy commander of the 20th SS Waffen Grenadier Division .
After the war, from 1947, Rebane worked for the British secret service MI6 and worked in this position in the anti-communist resistance in the Baltic States . In 1961 he went to the Federal Republic of Germany and worked for the German secret service. He died of lung cancer on March 8, 1976 and was buried in Augsburg. In 1999 Rebane's ashes were transferred to Estonia and buried in an official ceremony in the Tallinn Forest Cemetery in early 2000 .
On the occasion of his 110th birthday, a memorial plaque for Rebane was put up in Mustla on June 24, 2018 .
literature
- Jan Kandzora: The Strange Case of Alfons Rebane. In: Augsburger Allgemeine on June 30, 2018, p. 37.
- Karl Heinz Gräfe: From the thunder cross to the swastika. The Baltic States between dictatorship and occupation. Edition Organon, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-931034-11-5 , short biography p. 438.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearers 1939-1945. The holders of the Iron Cross of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and armed forces allied with Germany according to the documents of the Federal Archives. 2nd Edition. Scherzers Militaer-Verlag, Ranis / Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2 , p. 615.
- ↑ Sven Felix Kellerhoff: May an Estonian SS officer be honored? Alfons Rebane fought in the Wehrmacht and the Waffen SS against the Red Army. He was considered the best Baltic volunteer and received the highest awards. Now he received a plaque. In: welt.de. June 25, 2018. Retrieved July 5, 2018 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Rebane, Alfons |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Rebane, Alfons Vilhelm Robert (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Estonian-German officer in the Estonian army, later a member of the Waffen SS |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 24, 1908 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | walk |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 8, 1976 |
| Place of death | augsburg |