Erwin Fussenegger

Erwin Julius Fussenegger (born May 5, 1908 in Győr , Austria-Hungary , † March 4, 1986 in Vienna ) was the first General Troop Inspector of the Federal Army of the Second Republic of Austria .

Life

Erwin Fussenegger was born as the second child of the Austro-Hungarian officer Emil Fussenegger. His mother, who was only 25 years old, died just a few days after he was born. The father remarried; From this marriage comes Fussenegger's half-sister, the writer Gertrud Fussenegger . Like so many officer's children, Fussenegger spent his childhood traveling between his father's stationing in Hungary, Slovakia, Galicia, Tyrol and Vorarlberg.

In 1926 he passed the Matura in Dornbirn and enrolled at the University of Innsbruck .

In March 1927 he left this and joined Brigade Artillery Department 6 of the Federal Army . On April 24, he was accepted into the officers' academy in Enns , which he successfully completed on August 16, 1931 with promotion to lieutenant .

He then served in various Alpine hunter regiments in Upper Austria . After his promotion to first lieutenant , he was appointed as a tactics teacher at the Theresian Military Academy in Wiener Neustadt . In 1936 he began the "operational course" of the "higher officer courses", ie the camouflaged general staff training of the First Austrian Armed Forces in Vienna, which he had to break off on March 13, 1938 when Austria was annexed to the German Reich .

Instead, he was accepted into the Wehrmacht that day and continued the general staff course at the Berlin War Academy from July . In July 1939 he was promoted to captain and transferred to Heidelberg .

Second World War

During the Second World War , he initially served with the 2nd Mountain Division on the French border before he was relocated to Norway as part of the Weser Exercise company . In 1943 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel i. G. promoted and transferred as Chief of Staff (Ia) of the 292nd Infantry Division ( 9th Army ), with which he took part in the Citadel operation . In 1944 he was made chief quartermaster of the 7th Army in France. He took part in the Ardennes offensive and withdrew with it to the German border. On 8 May 1945, at the time of the German surrender , he surrendered to the room Marianske Lazne and fell briefly into American captivity .

post war period

After his release he went to Austria, where he worked in the private sector until 1955. On January 1, 1956 , he joined the new army as a colonel , where he initially became chief of staff and was assigned to serve alongside General Emil Liebitzky . On August 31, 1956 he became the first general troop inspector of the armed forces and section head of Section II. With this he had acquired a wealth of power that allowed him to shape the armed forces very much according to his wishes.

The coalition partner SPÖ was not informed of the intended appointment of Fussenegger. There would have been other candidates for this function who were completely unencumbered. Even Fussenegger's previous membership in the “National Socialist Soldiers' Ring” was no obstacle to this comprehensive blank check .

According to Karl Reinhardt Trauner, in 1958 Fussenegger even had " reservations about including Bernardis' names on the plaque of the fallen officers in Wiener Neustadt."

Shortly after taking office, he had to direct the armed forces to the threat posed by the suppression of the Hungarian uprising . He was then promoted to general of the infantry . As a result of the increasing tensions with the new Defense Minister Karl Schleinzer , he had to relinquish command of Section II in 1961 and had thus lost a large part of his power.

After the Prague Spring 1968, Fussenegger vehemently advocated strengthening the units north of the Danube . Contrary to Fussenegger's recommendation, military service was shortened to nine months from January 1, 1970. As a result of this affront to him as General Troop Inspector and the takeover of government by the SPÖ on April 22, 1970, as well as a budget reduction, there was massive tension between the conservative Fussenegger and Chancellor Bruno Kreisky . The new government planned a comprehensive army reform, which Fussenegger did not agree with. He was forced on October 2, 1970, he was transferred to the retirement submit. On December 16, he was adopted at the age of 62.

After his service

After his service, Fussenegger began studying prehistory , which he had to break off for health reasons. Erwin Fussenegger died on March 4, 1986 and was buried with military honors on March 14, 1986 in the Hietzinger Friedhof in Vienna .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Karl-Reinhardt Trauner: Mit Stauffenberg against Hitler, Lieutenant Colonel iG Robert Bernardis , Szentendre 2008, p. 140

literature

• Stefan Bader: General Erwin Fussenegger 1908 to 1986 Vienna 2003, ISBN 3-902455-00-4

• Karl-Reinhardt Trauner: With Stauffenberg against Hitler, Lieutenant Colonel iG Robert Bernardis , Szentendre 2008, ISBN 978-963-06-4558-4

Web links

• Pleiner, Horst: General Erwin Fussenegger (1908 to 1986) , in Troop Service , Episode 274, Issue 1, 2004