Friedrich-August Schack (officer)

Friedrich-August Schack

Friedrich-August Schack (born March 27, 1892 in Schmiedeberg in the Riesengebirge , † July 24, 1968 in Goslar ) was a German officer , most recently general of the infantry in World War II .

Life

Schack was the son of a Protestant pastor.

He kicked at his high school and theological studies after the outbreak of the First World War on August 6, 1914 as a volunteer in the Prussian Army and moved to the 1st Hussars Regiment. 1 into the field . In June 1915 he decided to become an officer and joined the 8th West Prussian Infantry Regiment No. 175 of the 36th Division . As a platoon commander , battalion - and regiment - adjutant he participated in the entire First World War in part and was awarded both classes of the Iron Cross and the Bulgarian Military Merit awarded V. class. On April 3, 1918 he was transferred to the grenadier regiment "Graf Kleist von Nollendorf" (1st West Prussian) No. 6 .

The provisional Reichswehr took him on as a lieutenant . In 1920 he joined the Reichswehr Infantry Regiment 9 in the 200,000-man transitional army . In the 100,000-man army he served in the 8th (Prussian) Infantry Regiment in Görlitz , Glogau and Lübben . In October 1923 he married Marie-Ilse von Kaincker. After five years as a company commander , he was transferred to the Dresden War School on April 1, 1934 as a tactics teacher .

Promotions

On October 1, 1938, he was appointed commander of a machine gun battalion with which he took part in the attack on Poland at the beginning of World War II . Since January 18, 1940 regimental commander , Schack led the infantry regiment 392 in the western campaign . In the German-Soviet War he fought in June 1941 in Russia . For taking Salla , he received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on July 24, 1941 .

On October 1, 1942, he became the commander of Fahnenjunkerschule III in Potsdam . As commander of the 216th Infantry Division (1943) he fought in the Citadel Company . His division suffered heavy losses in this, the largest tank battle in military history . The remnants were reorganized in France as the 272nd Infantry Division . For the leadership of this division in the Battle of Caen , Schack received the oak leaves for the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on September 21, 1944 . In the autumn of 1944 he was assigned to lead various army corps of the 5th Panzer Army and the 19th Panzer Army . In the meantime in the Führerreserve , he took over the leadership of the XXXII on March 26, 1945 . Army Corps , whose commanding general he became three weeks before the Wehrmacht surrendered .

He came into British and American captivity , from which he was released on March 24, 1948.

Samuel W. Mitcham: Defenders of Fortress Europe: The Untold Story of the German Officers During the Allied Invasion. Potomac Books. 2009. p. 49.

↑ ^a ^b ^c Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearers 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. 653.
↑ Reinhard Stumpf : The Wehrmacht Elite. Structure of rank and origin of the German generals and admirals 1933–1945. (Military history studies). Harald Boldt Verlag. Boppard am Rhein 1982. ISBN 3-7646-1815-9 . P. 264.
↑ Reichswehr Ministry (Ed.): Ranking list of the German Reichsheeres. ES Mittler & Sohn . Berlin 1924. p. 174.

personal data
SURNAME	Schack, Friedrich-August
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German officer, most recently General of the Infantry in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH	March 27, 1892
PLACE OF BIRTH	Schmiedeberg in the Giant Mountains
DATE OF DEATH	July 24, 1968
Place of death	Goslar