Dietrich Kraiss

Dietrich Kraiss, 1942

Dietrich Kraiss (born November 16, 1889 in Stuttgart ; † August 6, 1944 near Saint-Lô ) was a German officer , most recently lieutenant general in World War II .

Life

Württemberg Army

Kraiss joined the infantry regiment "Grand Duke Friedrich von Baden" (8th Württembergisches) No. 126 on March 24, 1909 . With his regiment he went to the First World War as a lieutenant and was only active with it on the Western Front . First he was platoon leader , later in the regimental staff and then battalion commander. On June 18, 1915 he was promoted to lieutenant and on July 15, 1918 to captain . For his achievements during the war Kraiss was awarded both classes of the Iron Cross , the Knight's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern with Swords, the Knight's Cross II Class of the Order of the Zähringer Lion with Swords, the Knight's Cross of the Württemberg Military Merit Order and the Wound Badge in black .

Interwar years

After the end of the war in the Provisional Reichswehr , Kraiss found employment as a company commander in various infantry regiments. In the meantime, he was posted from 1925 to 1928 as a trainer at the infantry school in Dresden . On May 1, 1931, he was promoted to major with a simultaneous transfer to the Reichswehr Ministry in Berlin . He stayed there until the end of 1934 and took over as a lieutenant colonel (since October 1) and commander of a battalion in his native Württemberg . In March 1937 he was promoted to colonel and in October of the same year appointed commander of the 90th Infantry Regiment in Hamburg .

Second World War

At the beginning of the Second World War Kraiss and his regiment were initially involved in the attack on Poland . Then the unit was relocated back to Germany in preparation for the campaign in the west . From May 1940, the regiment took part in the occupation of the Netherlands and France as part of the 20th Infantry Division . He was promoted to major general on February 1, 1941. In March 1941, he gave command of the regiment to Colonel Erich Jaschke and was briefly transferred to the Führer Reserve .

From July 1941 to March 1943 Kraiss was entrusted with the leadership of the 168th Infantry Division and fought with it on the Eastern Front . He was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross for leading the division during the Battle of Kharkov . His last promotion to the rank of lieutenant general took place on October 1, 1942. In April 1943 Kraiss took over the newly established 355th Infantry Division , which was subsequently worn out so badly by the Red Army near Merefa that it had to be disbanded on November 9, 1943.

From November 1943 he was in command of the newly established 352nd Infantry Division , stationed in the Saint-Lô area , and which in 1944 stood with six other divisions on the invasion front of Normandy . Subsequently, it was moved to the coast in the areas of the later invasion beaches of Omaha and Gold . Contrary to Adolf Hitler's instructions to fight on the coast, Kraiss withdrew his division to a fortification line about 20 kilometers away. There he was able to prevent the Allied forces from advancing in this section of the front for several weeks.

Kraiss died on August 6, 1944 from a serious wound sustained on August 2 near Saint-Lô and was posthumously awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on August 11, 1944.

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 7: Knabe – Luz. Biblio Publishing House. Bissendorf 2004. ISBN 3-7648-2902-8 . Pp. 151-152.

Individual evidence

↑ Otto von Moser: Die Württemberger im Weltkriege , 2nd expanded edition, Chr.Belser AG, Stuttgart 1928.
↑ Ranking list of the German Imperial Army. Ed .: Reichswehr Ministry . Mittler & Sohn publishing house . Berlin 1924. p. 155.
↑ ^a ^b Joseph Balkoski: Beyond the beachhead: the 29th Infantry Division in Normandy. Stackpole Books, 2005, ISBN 978-0-8117-3237-6 , p. 68.
↑ 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. 470.
^ ^A ^b Mark Henry, Ken Ford, Steve Zaloga , Howard Gerrard: D-Day 1944 (1): Omaha. Osprey Publishing, 2003, ISBN 978-1-84176-367-5 , p. 16.
^ ^A ^b Barrett Tillman: Brassey's D-Day encyclopedia: the Normandy invasion A – Z. Brassey's, Washington DC 2004, ISBN 978-1-57488-760-0 , p. 132.

personal data
SURNAME	Kraiss, Dietrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Kraiss, Dietrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German officer, most recently lieutenant general in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH	November 16, 1889
PLACE OF BIRTH	Stuttgart
DATE OF DEATH	August 6, 1944
Place of death	at Saint-Lô

[1] Otto von Moser: Die Württemberger im Weltkriege , 2nd expanded edition, Chr.Belser AG, Stuttgart 1928.

[Rangliste1924-2] Ranking list of the German Imperial Army. Ed .: Reichswehr Ministry . Mittler & Sohn publishing house . Berlin 1924. p. 155.

[Balkoski-3] Joseph Balkoski: Beyond the beachhead: the 29th Infantry Division in Normandy. Stackpole Books, 2005, ISBN 978-0-8117-3237-6 , p. 68.

[Scherzer-4] 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. 470.

[D-Day-5] A ^b Mark Henry, Ken Ford, Steve Zaloga , Howard Gerrard: D-Day 1944 (1): Omaha. Osprey Publishing, 2003, ISBN 978-1-84176-367-5 , p. 16.

[Brassey's-6] A ^b Barrett Tillman: Brassey's D-Day encyclopedia: the Normandy invasion A – Z. Brassey's, Washington DC 2004, ISBN 978-1-57488-760-0 , p. 132.