Curt Haase (officer)

Curt Haase (1941)

Curt Haase (born December 15, 1881 in Honnef , † February 9, 1943 in Berlin-Grunewald ) was a German officer , most recently Colonel General and Commander-in-Chief of the 15th Army in World War II .

Life

Haase joined the 4th Württemberg Field Artillery Regiment No. 65 of the Württemberg Army in Ludwigsburg on July 25, 1901 as a flag junior . He was appointed on 27 January 1902 Ensign appointed and on January 18, 1902 lieutenant promoted. From October 1, 1905, he was adjutant of the I. Department for a year and then until August 17, 1911 with the teaching regiment of the field artillery shooting school, where he had meanwhile become first lieutenant on October 18, 1910 . This was followed by his transfer back to his main regiment and his command at the Prussian War Academy from October 1, 1911 to July 10, 1914.

When the First World War broke out , Haase was appointed as a battery operator . After becoming captain on October 8, 1914 , he was transferred to the staff of the 51st Infantry Brigade in May 1915. From 1917 he was with the general staff of the 204th Division (3rd Royal Württembergische) and from the beginning of 1918 with the staff of the 28th Reserve Division . Towards the end of the war he was a member of the Armistice Commission in Spa and from October 1, 1919, after being accepted into the Reichswehr, acted as a teacher at the infantry school .

On April 1, 1923, Haase took over a battery in the III. Department of the 5th Artillery Regiment in Ludwigsburg, where he was promoted to major on February 1, 1925 . He then moved to the Reichswehr Ministry in Berlin on November 1 of that year as a consultant for the artillery inspection and became a lieutenant colonel on October 1, 1929 . On February 1, 1930, Haase became the commander of the 2nd Division of the 5th Artillery Regiment in Ulm . On October 1, 1932, he was promoted to colonel . As such, he acted from February 1, 1933 as commander of the Jüterbog artillery training staff .

From 1935 to March 1936 commander of the 3rd Infantry Division in Berlin, he was deployed from March 1, 1936 to October 1, 1937 as the commander of the 17th Infantry Division . On November 16, 1938 he took over as commanding general of the III. Army Corps and at the same time was also commander in Military District III until August 26, 1939 .

At the beginning of the Second World War, Haase continued to run the III. Army Corps. On May 15, 1940, he and his corps broke through the French defensive positions at Neuzon and Mezieres-Charleville, for which he received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on June 8, 1940 . On July 19, 1940, he was promoted to Colonel General.

Haase with other officers at the funeral of Kaiser Wilhelm II in Doorn, 1941

On June 4, 1941, he traveled to Haus Doorn in the Netherlands as a representative of the Commander-in-Chief of the Army for the funeral of the last German Emperor, Wilhelm II, and attended the funeral together with other officers. From November 14, 1940 to February 15, 1941 he was in the Führerreserve and then until November 30, 1942 Commander-in-Chief of the 15th Army . On December 1, 1942, he was transferred to the Führerreserve again.

Haase died on February 9, 1943 at the age of 62 due to a heart condition. He was buried in the Invalidenfriedhof in Berlin. The tomb has not been preserved.

Awards

• Iron Cross (1914) 2nd and 1st class
• Knight's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern with swords
• Knight's Cross of the Württemberg Military Merit Order
• Knight's Cross of the Order of Albrecht, 1st class with swords
• Knight's Cross of the Order of Frederick I. Class with swords
• Knight's Cross II. Class of the Order of the Zähringer Lion with Swords and Oak Leaves
• Hanseatic Cross Hamburg
• Medal in memory of March 13, 1938
• Wehrmacht service award IV. To I. class
• Clasp for the Iron Cross, 2nd and 1st class
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on June 8, 1940

literature

• Dermot Bradley (Ed.): The Generals of the Army 1921-1945. Volume 5: v. Haack-Hitzfeld. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1999, ISBN 3-7648-2538-3 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Ranking list of the German Imperial Army. Mittler & Sohn Verlag, Berlin, p. 118.
2. ↑ 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. 357.