Ernst von Leyser

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Ernst von Leyser (1941)
Leyser when he was sentenced in 1948

Ernst Ulrich Hans von Leyser (born November 18, 1889 in Steglitz near Berlin , † September 23, 1962 in Lüneburg , Lower Saxony ) was a German officer, most recently general of the infantry and commanding general of several corps in World War II . He was convicted as a war criminal in the Generals Trial in Southeastern Europe in 1948.

Military career

The son of the Prussian lieutenant general Hans von Leyser and Emilie von Wurmb joined the Prussian army as a lieutenant on March 24, 1909 . When the First World War broke out , he was employed in the 1st Guard Reserve Infantry Regiment. He was promoted to first lieutenant on July 15, 1918. At the end of 1920 he resigned from the Reichswehr , became a police officer and rose to the rank of police major as battalion commander (since April 29, 1922).

In 1935 he switched back to military service and was promoted to lieutenant colonel on March 16, 1936 . He briefly led an infantry regiment before commanding various anti-tank units. On March 1, 1937, he was promoted to colonel . At the outbreak of the Second World War, he took over command of the Infantry Replacement Regiment 6, which he gave up shortly afterwards to take over the Infantry Regiment 169. He led this in the western campaign .

During the attack on the Soviet Union , he took command of the 269th Infantry Division , which he led in northern Russia. On September 18, 1941, he received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross . With his promotion to Lieutenant General on October 1, 1942, he took over the leadership of the XXVI. Army corps in front of Leningrad (see also Leningrad Blockade ), which he led until October 1943. On December 1, 1942, he was promoted to General of the Infantry .

Then he led the XV. Army Corps . On April 14, 1943 Leyser was awarded the German Cross in Gold . Later he led the XXI. Mountain Corps in Croatia until he gave up his command on April 29, 1945. At the end of the war he became an American prisoner of war. In the hostage murder trial in Nuremberg in 1947/48 he was charged with war crimes and sentenced to ten years in prison. This concerned, among other things, the murder of Soviet prisoners of war according to the commissar's order by the 269th Infantry Division subordinate to him, executions contrary to international law (hostage shootings) and deportations for forced labor (see also Wehrmacht crimes in Yugoslavia ). He was released early on February 3, 1951.

literature

Web links

Commons : Ernst von Leyser  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Death register of the Lüneburg registry office No. 783/1962.
  2. ↑ Hostage Case, Judgment, US Military Tribunal, February 19, 1948, p. 1305
personal data
SURNAME Leyser, Ernst von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Leyser, Ernst Ulrich Hans von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German officer, general of the infantry in World War II, war criminal
DATE OF BIRTH November 18, 1889
PLACE OF BIRTH Steglitz near Berlin
DATE OF DEATH September 23, 1962
Place of death Luneburg