Erich-Heinrich Clößner

Erich-Heinrich Clößner (born September 17, 1888 in Gießen ; † March 28, 1976 in Konstanz ) was a German officer , most recently a general of the infantry in World War II .

Life

On March 14, 1907, Clößner joined the 9th Rhenish Infantry Regiment No. 160 in Bonn as a lieutenant . From October 1, 1911, he was employed as an adjutant and court officer in the II battalion. With the outbreak of World War I and mobilization, he and his regiment were deployed on the Western Front . There he was wounded on September 10, 1914, was sent to the hospital , was promoted to lieutenant on December 18, 1914 and, after his recovery, on April 25, 1915, he was assigned to the regiment's replacement battalion. From July 28, 1915, he returned to the field as a company commander . Clößner was transferred on February 5, 1916 as 2nd Adjutant to the 29th Reserve Brigade and on June 30, 1916 as Ordonnanzoffizier in the staff of the 15th Division . This was followed by orders as 1st adjutant to Division Dumrath, as Ordonnanzoffizier to Division H and to Army Group Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria . As a captain (since October 5, 1916), Clößner was transferred here on November 1, 1916 in the role of 3rd orderly officer. He stayed there until May 12, 1917, then took over a general staff position in the 25th Landwehr Division and then with the XVIII. Reserve Corps . Left in this position, he was transferred to the Army General Staff on March 28, 1918.

In the interwar period , Clößner served first in Military District Command II and then in the staff of the 2nd Division , before joining the 5th (Prussian) Infantry Regiment as a company commander in 1924. In 1927 he was transferred to Group Command 1 and in 1929 to the staff of Infantry Leader VI. Here he was promoted to lieutenant colonel in April 1932 . After a year of service as the commandant of Neustettin , he was appointed commander of the 14th Infantry Regiment (at times referred to as the Constance Infantry Regiment) in 1934 and promoted to colonel on June 1, 1934 . After the annexation of Austria in 1938 he was appointed major general inspector of the Innsbruck military replacement inspection.

After his promotion to Lieutenant General , Clößner was appointed commander of the 25th Infantry Division on October 15, 1939 , which he led in the western campaign and after its motorization in Operation Barbarossa . On January 25, 1942 he was with the leadership of the LIII. Army Corps and after his promotion to General of the Infantry in March 1942 his commanding general . From April 1943 he led the 2nd Panzer Army on behalf of Colonel General Rudolf Schmidt, who was indicted before the court martial , but was transferred to the Führer Reserve after the Battle of Kursk in August 1943 . In October 1943 he was appointed as the commanding general of the IX. Army corps reactivated and transferred back to the Fuehrer's reserve in December. In early 1944 he was appointed General z. b. V. to Army Group F was added. From June to December 1944 he served as chief of the special staff I in the high command of the army . On January 1, 1945 he was transferred as General z. b. V. to the Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda , where he also saw the end of the war.

After the end of the war he was taken prisoner by the Allies , from which he was released in 1947.

Awards

Iron Cross (1914) 2nd and 1st class
Wound badge (1918) in black
Bavarian Order of Military Merit IV class with swords
Hessian bravery medal
Hanseatic Cross Hamburg
War Cross of Honor for heroic deed
Lippe War Merit Cross
Austrian Military Merit Cross III. Class with the war decoration
Iron crescent
Cross of honor for front fighters
Service award of the Wehrmacht IV. To I. Class
Clasp for the Iron Cross, 2nd and 1st class
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on September 29, 1940
German cross in gold on July 15, 1942
Medal Winter Battle in the East 1941/42

literature

Dermot Bradley : The Generals of the Army 1921-1945, Volume 2: v. Blanckensee-v. Czettritz and Neuhauß , Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1993, ISBN 3-7648-2424-7 , pp. 443-445.

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Ranking list of the German Reichsheeres , Ed .: Reichswehrministerium , Mittler & Sohn Verlag , Berlin 1925, p. 147
↑ ^a ^b Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearer 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. 190.

personal data
SURNAME	Clößner, Erich-Heinrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German officer, most recently General of the Infantry in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH	September 17, 1888
PLACE OF BIRTH	to water
DATE OF DEATH	March 28, 1976
Place of death	Constancy

[Rangliste1925-1] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Ranking list of the German Reichsheeres , Ed .: Reichswehrministerium , Mittler & Sohn Verlag , Berlin 1925, p. 147

[Scherzer-2] Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearer 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. 190.