Ferdinand Noeldechen

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ferdinand Noeldechen (born April 26, 1895 in Preußisch Stargard , † October 20, 1951 in Hamburg ) was a German lieutenant general in World War II .

Live and act

Youth and First World War

In his youth Noeldechen was educated in a cadet school. On October 29, 1913, he joined the 2nd Silesian Field Artillery Regiment No. 42 in Schweidnitz . There he was promoted to lieutenant on June 18, 1914 , with the patent issued on June 22, 1913.

From 1914 to 1918 Noeldechen took part in the First World War, was wounded and awarded both classes of the Iron Cross , the Hamburg Hanseatic Cross and the Wound Badge in black.

Weimar Republic

After the collapse of the German Empire and the establishment of the Weimar Republic , Noeldechen was accepted into the Reichswehr in 1920. After he had been assigned to the 6th Artillery Regiment in 1919, he was finally transferred to the 3rd Artillery Regiment, where he was first employed in the department staff and later as a battery officer. In the spring of 1924 Noeldechen was used in the 16th battery of the 3rd (Prussian) Artillery Regiment in Sagan and from 1925 to 1926 in the 13th battery.

In October 1926 Noeldechen was appointed adjutant to the then major in the Reichswehr Ministry Kurt von Schleicher . When Schleicher rose to become a key figure in German politics in the following years, Noeldechen, who was constantly close to Schleicher because of his adjutant work, became one of the few direct witnesses to his work as head of the ministerial department in the Reichswehr Ministry (1929 to 1932), as Reichswehr Minister (1932 to 1933) and finally as Reich Chancellor (December 1932 to January 1933). After the Second World War, Noeldechen's knowledge of Schleicher's activities and plans behind the scenes, as well as his knowledge of Schleicher's personality, which he had gained through years of constant being together, made him an important witness for research into the end of the Weimar Republic in general and the role of Schleicher in particular . The documents handed over to Noeldechen by Schleicher for safekeeping from his personal registry of the general - which in this way, unlike the documents kept by Schleicher himself, escaped confiscation by the Gestapo - today form the core of Schleicher's estate in the Federal Archives-Military Archives .

time of the nationalsocialism

After the seizure of power (January 30, 1933) Noeldechen was reassigned to the troops at his own request. On April 1, 1937, Noeldechen was promoted to lieutenant colonel in the 18 Artillery Regiment . From there he was on April 1, 1938 as adjutant IIa to the newly formed XVIII. Army corps assigned in Salzburg . He held this position until March 1940; In that month he was appointed commander of the 12th Artillery Regiment, which he led during the French campaign in May / June 1940 and the attack on the Soviet Union in 1941. During this time he was promoted to colonel on April 1, 1940 and received the German Cross in Gold on December 15, 1941 . On February 1, 1942, Noeldechen gave up his command and was transferred to the Führerreserve . In October 1942 he was appointed commander of the 96th Infantry Division in the northern section of the Eastern Front. During this time he was promoted to major general on November 1, 1942 and lieutenant general on May 1, 1943, and was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on June 8, 1943 .

At the end of June 1943 Noeldechen gave up his command of the 96th Infantry Division and was again transferred to the Führerreserve. In October 1943 he was given command of the new 438 Division in Salzburg, which he retained until the end of the war in May 1945.

Fonts

  • Institute for Contemporary History: Witness literature No. 276 General a. D. Ferdinand Noeldechen.
  • Noeldechen's comments on Meissner's memoir of February 24, 1951, in: Werner Conze (Ed.): Zum Sturz Brüning. A documentation. In: Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte. 1/53, pp. 273-275 ( PDF ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Reichswehr Ministry (Ed.): Ranking list of the German Reichsheeres. ES Mittler & Sohn , Berlin 1930, p. 145.
  2. ↑ 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. 571.
personal data
SURNAME Noeldechen, Ferdinand
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Lieutenant General in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH April 26, 1895
PLACE OF BIRTH Prussian Stargard
DATE OF DEATH October 20, 1951
Place of death Hamburg