August Schmidt (Lieutenant General)

August Schmidt, 1939

August Schmidt (born November 3, 1892 in Fürth , † January 17, 1972 in Munich ) was a German officer , last lieutenant general in World War II .

Life

Schmidt joined the Bavarian Army in 1911 and served as platoon leader , company commander and battalion commander , but also as an orderly officer and regimental adjutant during the First World War . The tried and tested officer was accepted into the Reichswehr as first lieutenant and promoted to captain in 1923 . For reasons unknown, he resigned from the service in March 1933, but was reinstated as a major on November 1, 1933 . In the following years, Schmidt switched between different troop commands. On April 1, 1934, he became battalion commander in Infantry Regiment 41, before taking on the same function in Infantry Regiment 7 on October 1, 1934.

On January 15, 1939, Schmidt , who had meanwhile been promoted to colonel , was finally employed as commander (Kdr.) Of the 20th Infantry Regiment, which belonged to the 10th Infantry Division . He led this association in the Poland (1939) and western campaigns (1940). After that, the division was converted into a motorized unit. Schmidt also proved himself as a commander during the first weeks of the war against the Soviet Union . As the first regimental commander of the army, he had already received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on October 27, 1939, “for his purposeful leadership” and “the outstanding achievements of his regiment” . In Russia he had again distinguished himself in the rapid advance over the Dnieper and in the battles at Mogilew and in the Propojsk bridgehead. The division commander Lieutenant General Friedrich-Wilhelm von Loeper therefore suggested that Schmidt should be promoted preferentially. The superior departments (General Leo Geyr von Schweppenburg - Kdr. XXIV. Panzer Corps and Colonel General Heinz Guderian - Kdr. Panzer Group 2) approved the application. Schmidt was therefore promoted to major general on October 10, 1941 .

Promotions July 31, 1911 flagjunker March 7, 1912 Ensign October 25, 1913 Lieutenant January 17, 1917 First Lieutenant January 25, 1923 Captain November 1, 1933 Major December 1, 1935 Lieutenant Colonel April 1, 1938 Colonel October 1, 1941 Major General 1st January 1943 Lieutenant General

However, he had been wounded in the hand on August 27th. So Schmidt initially remained in the Fuehrer's reserve . For a short time Schmidt commanded the substitute division 193 and the division z. b. V. 413 before he was appointed the new commander of the 50th Infantry Division in the Crimea on January 31, 1942 . After only about two weeks, the old wound opened up again and made an operation necessary, so that Schmidt had to be reassigned to the Führer Reserve on February 17, 1942. After his recovery, Schmidt took over the leadership of his ancestral 10th Infantry Division on May 5, 1942 (later dated back to April 26). This division had meanwhile suffered heavy losses and was to spend a year in trench warfare in the Spas-Demensk area . Here, too, Schmidt was judged extremely positively by his superiors (General Ferdinand Schaal - Kdr. LVI. Panzer Corps) and recommended again for early promotion. Schmidt rose to lieutenant general on January 1, 1943. In addition, his old wound forced several convalescent leave. Nevertheless, Schaal thought Schmidt was capable of taking over a corps command. But the commander-in-chief of the superior 4th Army , General Gotthard Heinrici , rated Schmidt only as a “good average” and left him at his post.

It was not until January 1944 that circumstances led Schmidt to become active at a higher management level. The 10th Panzer Grenadier Division had been transferred to the 8th Army on the Dnieper . During the Battle of Kirovograd (January 5–16 , 1944), the 8th Army was attacked by superior Soviet troops; Schmidt's division and a number of other units got caught in a cauldron. In addition to his own division, Schmidt also took command of the remnants of the 376th Infantry Division and the 14th Panzer Division with which he succeeded in breaking out with heavy losses. In the following weeks he also commanded this “Schmidt Group” with an improvised staff before the XXXX General Command at the end of February 1944 . Panzer Corps took the lead. On January 23, 1944, Schmidt was awarded the Knight's Cross for his achievements in the fighting for Kiriwograd, but at the same time he was still viewed critically. General Nikolaus von Vormann stated in an official assessment that Schmidt had probably reached his performance limit.

The later General Inspector of the Bundeswehr Ulrich de Maizière served in 1943/44 as First General Staff Officer (Ia) in the 10th Panzer Grenadier Division and was thus Schmidt's most important advisor. In his memoirs, he later recalled his commander:

“He knew the troops and their leaders very well, with whom he had many common experiences. As a grown troop officer, his problems remained familiar to him. He spoke her strong language and felt when he had to grip hard and when he could let his caring heart speak. Physically just about medium-sized and stocky, spirited, probably also occasionally uncontrolled, he had an instinct for both opportunities and dangers in combat. [...] In the troops he was called, with full recognition, the "peasant general". "

- Ulrich de Maizière

During the Jassy-Kishinev operation , the 10th Panzer Grenadier Division was almost completely destroyed by the end of August 1944. The Soviet offensive broke out on August 20, and Romania switched sides on August 23 , so that the German divisions came between different fires. Schmidt divided his division into combat groups and tried - without any connection to superior agencies - to fight through to the west. Remnants of the division crossed on 30./31. August the Danube into the allied Bulgaria . Schmidt contacted the German military mission in Sofia and was able to evacuate some soldiers and officers before Bulgaria also fell a few days later and declared war on the German Reich.

The 10th Panzer Grenadier Division had been destroyed; Schmidt was transferred to the Führerreserve on September 2, 1944. However, the general lack of officers meant that Schmidt was already on September 15 as commanding general of the LXXII. Army Corps was used in Hungary . However, it did not prove itself. In an assessment of January 12, 1945, the Commander-in-Chief of the 6th Army General Hermann Balck stated: “His performance limit was already as Div.Kdr. reached. To the Comm.Gen. the format is missing. ”Since other departments shared this judgment, Schmidt was transferred to the Führerreserve on January 22, 1945.

On April 8, 1945, Schmidt was taken prisoner by the Soviets and did not return to Germany until 1955. He then lived in Munich and devoted himself to coming to terms with his past, identifying “deeply” with his former division. He started a traditional association and wrote a book on the history of the 10th Panzer Grenadier Division. In addition, until his death he kept in contact with his former chief of staff Ulrich de Maizière, who was now part of the Bundeswehr's generation . Schmidt died in 1972 and was buried in the forest cemetery.

Awards

• Iron Cross (1914) 2nd and 1st class
• Wound badge (1918) in black
• Clasp for the Iron Cross, 2nd and 1st class
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with oak leaves
  • Knight's Cross on October 27, 1939
  • Oak leaves on January 23, 1944 (371st award)

literature

• Ulrich de Maizière: In the obligation , Verlag ES Mittler & Sohn, Herford / Bonn 1989. ISBN 3-8132-0315-8
• August Schmidt: History of the 10th Division, 10th Infantry Division (motorized), 10th Panzer Grenadier Division 1935 - 1945 , Podzun-Verlag, Bad Nauheim 1963.
• Marco Sigg: The sub-leader as a general in pocket size - theory and practice of contract tactics in the German army 1869 to 1945 , Verlag Ferdinand Schönigh, Paderborn 2014. ISBN 978-3-506-78086-7

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Marco Sigg: The Unterführer as General in Pocket Size - Theory and Practice of Mission Tactics in the German Army 1869 to 1945 , Paderborn 2014, p. 337
2. ↑ Scherzer: The Knight's Cross Bearers 1939-1945. The owners 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 , Jena 2007, p. 668
3. ↑ Marco Sigg: The Unterführer as General in Pocket Size - Theory and Practice of Mission Tactics in the German Army 1869 to 1945 , Paderborn 2014, p. 338
4. ↑ Ulrich de Maizière: In derpflicht , Herford / Bonn 1989, p. 88
5. ↑ Marco Sigg: The Unterführer as General in Pocket Size - Theory and Practice of Mission Tactics in the German Army 1869 to 1945 , Paderborn 2014, p. 338f
6. ↑ Ulrich de Maizière: In derpflicht , Herford / Bonn 1989, p. 84
7. ↑ In detail: Ulrich de Maizière: In derpflicht , Herford / Bonn 1989, pp. 91–95
8. ↑ Marco Sigg: The Unterführer as General in Pocket Size - Theory and Practice of Mission Tactics in the German Army 1869 to 1945 , Paderborn 2014, p. 339f
9. ^ John Zimmermann: Ulrich de Maizière - General of the Bonn Republic 1912 to 2006 , Munich 2012, p. 87
10. ^ August Schmidt: History of the 10th Division, 10th Infantry Division (motorized), 10th Panzergrenadier Division 1935 - 1945 , Podzun-Verlag, Bad Nauheim 1963, passim.
11. ^ John Zimmermann: Ulrich de Maizière - General of the Bonn Republic 1912 to 2006 , Munich 2012, pp. 79, 87
12. ↑ 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 .
13. ↑ Walther-Peer Fellgiebel : The bearers of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939-1945 - The holder of the highest award of the Second World War of all parts of the Wehrmacht . Dörfler Verlag, Eggolsheim 2004, ISBN 3-7909-0284-5 , p. 66, 309 .