Ferdinand Heim

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Ferdinand Heim (1942)

Ferdinand Heim (born February 27, 1895 in Reutlingen , † November 14, 1971 in Ulm ) was a German officer, most recently lieutenant general in the Wehrmacht in World War II .

Life

Military career

Heim joined the field artillery regiment "King Karl" (1st Württembergisches) No. 13 of the Württemberg army on June 24, 1914 as a flag junior . After the outbreak of the First World War he came into the field with the 2nd battery and was appointed ensign there on November 10, 1914 . While he was assigned to the training course for officers in Beverloo, he was promoted to lieutenant on February 25, 1915 with a patent from June 23, 1913 . In the further course of the war Heim was with the 4th battery of his regiment, came briefly at the end of May 1916 as a department adjutant to inspect the replacement departments of the field artillery in Ludwigsburg and was then transferred back to the reserve field artillery regiment on June 3, 1916 No. 27 sent to the front. Here he served as a department and regimental adjutant and was promoted to first lieutenant on January 18, 1918 .

After the end of the war and return home, Heim was accepted into the provisional Reichswehr and assigned to Reichswehr Artillery Regiment 13. With the formation of the Reichswehr Heim was adjutant of the III. Department of the 5th Artillery Regiment in Ludwigsburg . On February 1, 1928, he was promoted to captain . After completing his assistant leadership training , he was promoted to major on August 1, 1934 . It was used in the Reichswehr Ministry . From May 1935 Heim was a teacher at the War Academy. On March 1, 1937, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel . He was transferred to the Army General Staff on March 10, 1937. From there he came on November 10, 1938 as first general staff officer in the staff of the XVI. Army Corps . With his promotion to colonel on August 1, 1939, he was appointed chief of staff.

On September 3, 1940, Heim became Chief of Staff under General Walter von Reichenau , while his 6th Army was waiting to be deployed as part of the Seelöwe Company . Heim was then involved in the planning of the Barbarossa company . On February 1, 1942, he was promoted to major general. From July 1, 1942 Heim led the 14th Panzer Division , which distinguished itself in the course of the Battle of Kharkov and the Battle of Rostov .

On November 1, 1942 he was promoted to Lieutenant General and on the same day he was given command of the XXXXVIII. Panzer Corps handed over. The XXXXVIII. Panzer Corps was assigned to the 6th Army during the Battle of Stalingrad . The XXXXVIII. Panzer Corps consisted of two weak German armored divisions, primarily equipped with Panzerkampfwagen 38 (t) , and a Romanian armored division . The Panzer Corps was in stables and barns in readiness. Lots of mice in the straw had eaten their way through the panels and electrical cables of the tanks, which meant that only about 30 tanks were operational in November 1942. The Panzer Corps was unable to stop the Red Army's attack on Operation Uranus from November 19-23, 1942. As a result of Operation Uranus, the 6th Army was encircled in Stalingrad. As the commander of the Panzer Corps, Ferdinand Heim subsequently served as a scapegoat and was expelled from the Wehrmacht. He was temporarily held in solitary confinement in Moabit . In July 1943, his expulsion from the army was converted into a farewell and he was retired as Lieutenant General . D. led.

In a post-war interview, Heim claimed that the only documentation for his arrest was Hitler's orders. There would be no charge, judgment or explanation. He learned unofficially that Hitler had been unwilling to blame the Romanians for the poor quality of their troops, so a German scapegoat was needed. The German army and army group leaders were too valuable, so that "... the only person left was the corps commander, and that was me."

Heim was reactivated on August 1, 1944 and four days later was appointed in command of Boulogne , which had been declared a fortress . In fact, the place could not be defended as a fortress, as neither the necessary facilities nor suitable forces were available in sufficient numbers. After heavy bombing and fighting, Heim surrendered to the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division on September 23, 1944.

After the end of the war

Heim went through a number of POW camps after the end of the war , including the officers' camp at Camp 18 in Featherstone Park near Haltwhistle , where he served as camp leader, and the so-called Island Farm in Great Britain and was released to Germany on May 12, 1948. He died in Ulm on November 14, 1971.

Awards

Heim (back row, second from left) with other generals and a colonel in the Trent Park prison camp

literature

  • Nigel Thomas, Stephen Andrew: The German Army 1939-45 (5).
  • 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 in the general rank. Volume 5: v. Haack – Hitzfeld, Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1999, ISBN 3-7648-2538-3 , pp. 240–242.
  • Frank Raberg : Biographical Lexicon for Ulm and Neu-Ulm 1802-2009 . Süddeutsche Verlagsgesellschaft im Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Ostfildern 2010, ISBN 978-3-7995-8040-3 , p. 159 .
  • Gerhard Granier: Heim, Ferdinand Karl Theodor. In: Baden-Württemberg biographies. Volume 2, pp. 207-209 ( leo-bw.de ).
  • Sönke Neitzel : bugged - German generals in British captivity 1942–1945. Propylaea, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-549-07261-9 . List paperback 2007, ISBN 978-3-548-60760-3 .

Web links

Commons : Ferdinand Heim  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Milton Shulman: Defeat in the West . Masquerade, Chailey, East Sussex 1995, ISBN 1-872947-03-4 , pp. 216-217 .
  2. ↑ Milton Shulman: Defeat in the West . Chailey, East Sussex: Masquerade. 1995, ISBN 1-872947-03-4 , pp. 216-217.
  3. ↑ Christopher Chant: The encyclopedia of codenames of World War II . Routledge & Kegan Paul, London 1986, ISBN 0-7102-0718-2 , pp. 330-331 .
  4. ↑ Held, Renate: Captivity of War in Great Britain - German soldiers of the Second World War in British custody. Munich 2008, p. 193 f.
  5. ^ Frank Raberg : Biographical Lexicon for Ulm and Neu-Ulm 1802–2009 . Süddeutsche Verlagsgesellschaft im Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Ostfildern 2010, ISBN 978-3-7995-8040-3 , p. 159 . According to other sources, the year of death is 1977, see Some of the Prisoners Held At Special Camp 11 : Lieutenant General Ferdinand Heim , accessed on May 30, 2019.
  6. ↑ a b c Reichswehr Ministry (Ed.): Ranking list of the German Reichsheeres. Mittler & Sohn Verlag, Berlin 1930, p. 147.
  7. ↑ 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. 375.
personal data
SURNAME Home, Ferdinand
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German officer, most recently lieutenant general in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH February 27, 1895
PLACE OF BIRTH Reutlingen
DATE OF DEATH November 14, 1971
Place of death Ulm