Alfred Gutknecht

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Heinrich Theodor Alfred Gutknecht (born June 20, 1888 in Badingen near Stendal ; † November 12, 1946 in Bringhausen , Northern Hesse ) was a German major general in World War II .

Life

Gutknecht joined the 3rd Lorraine Infantry Regiment 135 on March 19, 1908 after completing his schooling . A delegation for a seminar for oriental languages ​​took place from October 15, 1913 to March 15, 1914. On April 24, 1914, the departure for German East Africa took place. From May 19, 1914 Gutknecht served as platoon leader in the 10th field company of the local protection force . The transfer as platoon leader to the 5th Field Company took place on June 22, 1916. On November 28, 1917, he was taken prisoner by the British , from which he was released on November 21, 1919.

On January 9, 1920, he joined the police. Most recently he served as head of department at the police in Düsseldorf . On March 16, 1936, he was transferred to the army as a lieutenant colonel . He first served with the staff of the 26th Infantry Division . Gutknecht was promoted to colonel on April 1, 1936 and transferred to the 1st Panzer Division on May 1, 1936 . Transfer to 1st Corps on October 6, 1936. From September 22 ...? he served in the staff of the 3rd Army and from October 3, 1939 to March 5, 1940 in the staff of the border section command north. He then went through various posts as a senior officer in motor vehicles. On July 1, 1942 Gutknecht was promoted to major general, and from September 20, 1942 he was Higher Commander of the West Motor Force in France.

On August 29, 1944, he was taken prisoner between Reims and Soissons . He was in Trent Park Detention Center in England from September 5 to October 25, after which he was taken to the United States with three other German generals . During his imprisonment at Camp Clinton, Hinds County , Mississippi , he had to be treated in a psychiatric hospital in Okmulgee , Oklahoma in early 1945 because he showed symptoms of psychotic illness . Details of his repatriation are unclear.

Little is known about the last months of Gutknecht's life. What is certain is that he survived the war and was in Germany in April 1946, where the Western Allies put him under surveillance. Since Gutknecht had served as a police officer in the 1920s, the occupation authorities considered Gutknecht's participation in a secret organization of former National Socialist officers to be likely. Most recently he lived in Bringhausen in northern Hesse . He committed the night of 12 to 13 November 1946 suicide .

rating

The CSDIC (UK) considered Gutknecht to be a patriot without a pronounced political opinion, but who at least recognized the hopelessness of the military situation and longed for an end to the senseless bloodshed.

literature

  • Dermot Bradley (Ed.): The Generals of the Army 1921-1945. The military careers of the generals, as well as the doctors, veterinarians, intendants, judges and ministerial officials with the rank of general. Volume 4: Fleck – Gyldenfeldt. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1996, ISBN 3-7648-2488-3 , pp. 506-507.
  • Sönke Neitzel : bugged. German generals in British captivity 1942–1945 . 2nd Edition. Propylaea, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-549-07261-9 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Death register of the Hemfurth registry office No. 8/1946.
  2. ^ Sönke Neitzel: bugged. German generals in British captivity, 1942-1945. 2nd edition, Berlin 2006, pp. 446f.
  3. ^ Derek Ray Mallett (2009): Prisoners of War-Cold War Allies: The Anglo-American Relationship with Wehrmacht Generals . Doctoral dissertation, Texas A&M University, 2009, pp. 186 and 234-235.
  4. ↑ According to some sources, he was released before the end of the war and returned to Germany, where he was appointed as a motor vehicle stage manager for the Commander-in-Chief in Italy in April 1945. (Sönke Neitzel: German Generals in British Captivity 1942–1945. A selection edition of the wiretapping protocols of the Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Center UK . In: Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte , 52 (2004), p. 296, note 26.)
  5. ^ Derek Ray Mallett (2009): Prisoners of War-Cold War Allies: The Anglo-American Relationship with Wehrmacht Generals , p. 379.
  6. ^ Sönke Neitzel: bugged. German generals in British captivity, 1942-1945. P. 447.
personal data
SURNAME Gutknecht, Alfred
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gutknecht, Heinrich Theodor Alfred (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German major general
DATE OF BIRTH June 20, 1888
PLACE OF BIRTH Badingen
DATE OF DEATH November 12, 1946
Place of death Bringhausen