Ernst-Anton von Krosigk

Ernst Anton Fritz Konstantin von Krosigk (* 5. March 1898 in Potsdam ; † 10. April 1945 in Kandau ( Kurland )), a German was General of Infantry of the Army in World War II .

Life

Ernst-Anton was the eldest son of the Prussian captain Gebhard Friedrich von Krosigk (* 1864) and his wife Helene, née Freiin von Bodenhausen (* 1874).

Early years and World War I

Krosigk joined the Guard Jäger Battalion on June 14, 1915 as a flag boy . With this he was deployed on the Western Front as part of the First World War and then until the regiment was demobilized on January 18, 1919. During this time, Krosigk completed an ensign training course in Döberitz from November 15, 1915 to February 1, 1916 and found in September 1916 also used in the storm battalion of the 12th Landwehr Division . In December 1916 he also completed a mortar throwing course with the 11th Army in Prilep , an MG course from April 16 to May 19, 1917 and a platoon and company commander course from May to June 1918 . Most recently he acted as a lieutenant and adjutant in his main regiment . In addition to both classes of the Iron Cross, Krosigk received the Wound Badge in Black, the Iron Crescent and the Military Order for Bravery, 4th class.

Interwar period

After his regiment was demobilized, Krosigk joined the Potsdam Regiment , where he remained until May 1, 1919. On that day he was accepted into the service of the Reichswehr and assigned as an adjutant to the 3rd Reichswehr Jäger Battalion. On May 16, 1920 he transferred to the 2nd Battalion of the 5th Infantry Regiment in the same function . Krosigk stayed there until January 1, 1920 and moved, again in the position of adjutant, to the training battalion of the 9th Infantry Regiment . Krosigk held this function until December 1, 1921 and then rose within his regiment to orderly officer in the regimental staff. From April 19, 1922 to November 1, 1927, he was a company officer of the 6th Company and completed various weapons courses, including a communications course.

On November 1, 1928, Krosigk moved as a company officer to the 8th Infantry Regiment , where he was deployed in the 8th Battalion there. On October 1, 1928, he left the regiment and completed his assistant command training in the Reichswehr Ministry in Berlin by October 1, 1930 . Subsequently, he served from October 1, 1930 to October 1, 1931 at the Berlin City Command . Subsequently, Krosigk acted until October 1, 1934 in the news department 6 in Hanover , where he was deployed from October 1, 1932, while being promoted to captain, as chief of the 2nd company. On October 1, 1934, he was posted to the Reichswehr Recruiting Office in Münster , where he remained until May 1, 1935. There he was assigned to the military replacement inspection, also based in Münster, on May 1, 1935. On November 20, 1935, Krosigks was reassigned to the 4th Department of the Army General Staff, where he was promoted to major on March 1, 1936 . In this rank, Krosigk was transferred to the staff of the 28th Infantry Division on October 6, 1936 , where he remained until August 1, 1938. On that day, Krosigk transferred to the Berlin War Academy as a teaching instructor, where he worked until August 26, 1939. In the course of mobilization , he was transferred to the General Staff of the Deputy General Command of the VIII Army Corps on that day , where he was deployed until September 10, 1939.

Second World War

During the ongoing attack on Poland , Krosigk served from September 10 to October 13, 1939 as First General Staff Officer (Ia) in Army Division A and then until November 27, 1939 at the border section command south. Then he was in the General Command of the XXII. Army corps , from where Krosigk served as first general staff officer from December 1, 1939 to September 20, 1940. On September 20, 1940, Krosigk was transferred to the Führerreserve in order to be deployed at the Air War Academy in Berlin-Gatow until mid-March 1941 . On March 15, 1941, Krosigk was appointed Chief of the General Staff to the Commander of the Rear Army Area South on the Eastern Front . Here he initially served under Karl von Roques , and from October 27, 1941, General of the Infantry Erich Friderici .

From December 26, 1941 to June 20, 1943, Krosigk was Chief of the General Staff of the 1st Army Corps and received the German Cross in Gold on August 9, 1942 . During this time he also served as commander of the 24th Infantry Division from February 14, 1943 until the end of the month . Then Krosigk was transferred to the Führerreserve at the Army High Command and was not entrusted again until July 1, 1943 with the leadership of the 1st Infantry Division . On September 1, 1943, while being promoted to major general , he became its commander. The division then fought under his command in the Third Ladoga Battle . In January 1944 the division was in the Vinnitsa area and Krosigk received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on February 12, 1944 . In March 1944, the division with Krosigk was included in the Kamenez-Podolski battle with the 1st Panzer Army . However, Colonel-General Hans-Valentin Hube succeeded with his idea of ​​the "wandering cauldron" to evade the largest part of the German units from the threatened destruction and to reach their own lines. In this context, Krosigk was mentioned in the Wehrmacht report on March 21, 1944 .

After the successful Kesselwanderung the 1st Infantry Division under Krosigk was relocated via Brody to East Prussia and from August 1944 was again in defensive battles with the Red Army in the Schloßberg area as part of the 4th Army. On October 1, 1944, Krosigk handed over command of the division to Lieutenant General Hans Schittnig and was reassigned to the Fuehrer's reserve by mid-December 1944. From there Krosigk was on December 15, 1944, initially with the leadership of the XVI. Army Corps , whose commanding general he became on January 30, 1945, after his appointment as General of the Infantry . The corps was subordinate to the Army Group North or, after its renaming in February 1945, to the enclosed Army Group Kurland there . On April 6, 1945, Krosigk gave command to Lieutenant General Gottfried Weber and on the same day was given the command of the 16th Army . On April 10, Krosigk was killed in an attack by the Soviet Air Force near Kandau and two days later he was posthumously awarded the Oak Leaves for the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (827th award). His successor was General of the Mountain Troop Friedrich Jobst Volckamer von Kirchensittenbach until the end of the war .

Involvement in the Holocaust

As head of the staff of Karl von Roques, von Krosigk was involved in the Holocaust . On August 25, 1941, he took part in a meeting at the headquarters of the Quartermaster General, which was devoted to the preparations for the establishment of the Reichskommissariat Ukraine by civil, military and police agencies planned for September 1, 1941 . At this meeting, the Higher SS and Police Leader Russia South Friedrich Jeckeln , who was not present , announced that he would carry out a mass murder of thousands of Jews:

“Major Wagner explained [...]. At Kamenetz-Podolsk the Hungarians pushed about 11,000 Jews across the border. The negotiations so far had not yet succeeded in bringing these Jews back. The Higher SS and Police Leader (SS-Obergruppenführer Jeckeln), however, hoped to have liquidated these Jews by September 1, 1941. [...] "

Despite the clarity of this announcement, the participants in the meeting remained unmoved and the project was not discussed further.

The historian Dieter Pohl described this as an appointment for genocide, because shortly after the meeting the Kamenez-Podolsk massacre began with 23,600 Jews shot.

literature

• Dermot Bradley : 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. Part IV, Volume 7: Knabe – Luz. Biblio Verlag, Bissendorf 2004, ISBN 3-7648-2902-8 .
• Wolfgang Keilig : The Generals of the Army 1939–1945. Podzun-Pallas-Verlag GmbH 1987, ISBN 978-3-7909-0202-0 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Gothaisches Genealogisches Taschenbuch der Uradlige houses. 1908. Ninth year, Justus Perthes , Gotha, 1907, p. 441.
2. ↑ Reichswehr Ministry (Ed.): Ranking list of the German Reichsheeres. ES Mittler & Sohn , Berlin 1924, p. 188.
3. ↑ Quoted from the Hamburg Institute for Social Research (ed.): Verbrechen der Wehrmacht. Dimensions of the War of Extermination 1941–1944. Exhibition catalog , Hamburger Edition, 1st edition, Hamburg 2002, p. 132, ISBN 3-930908-74-3 .
4. ^ Klaus-Michael Mallmann : The qualitative leap in the destruction process. The Kamenez-Podolsk massacre at the end of August 1941. In: Yearbook for Research on Antisemitism. Vol. 10 (2001), pp. 239-264, here p. 249.
5. ↑ “ Basically, the gentlemen agreed to commit genocide here. "(Dieter Pohl: The Rule of the Wehrmacht. German military occupation and native population in the Soviet Union 1941–1944. Oldenbourg, Munich 2008, p. 258, ISBN 3-486-58065-5 .)