Friedrich Gollwitzer

General Friedrich Gollwitzer (front right) during his capture after the Battle of Vitebsk in front of the Soviet generals (from right) Ivan Tschernjachowski and Alexander Wassilewski (June 28, 1944)

Friedrich Gollwitzer (born April 27, 1889 in Bullenheim , † March 25, 1977 in Amberg ) was a German infantry general in World War II .

Life

Gollwitzer began his military career on 1 August 1908, entering as an officer cadet in the 13th Infantry Regiment "Franz Joseph I, Emperor of Austria and Apostolic King of Hungary," the Bavarian army . After attending the Munich War School , he was promoted to lieutenant on October 23, 1910 . As such, he was transferred to the 3rd Pioneer Battalion on May 28, 1913.

With the outbreak of World War I , Gollwitzer was appointed adjutant to the replacement battalion. In the same position he joined the 2nd Reserve Pioneer Battalion in mid-January 1915 and was promoted to lieutenant on June 1, 1915 . Gollwitzer ended the war as a captain , awarded both classes of the Iron Cross and the Order of Military Merit IV class with swords, with the staff of the General of Pioneers 6 .

After the war he switched to the Reichswehr and served in various units. During the Second World War he led the 88th Infantry Division as commander and received the German Cross in Gold on February 8, 1943, as well as the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Later in the war, Gollwitzer served as Commanding General of the LIII. Army Corps . In this function he was taken prisoner of war by the Soviets on June 28, 1944 during Operation Bagration , from which he was released on October 6, 1955.

In 1969, the public prosecutor in Amberg initiated legal proceedings against him because in September 1939, as commander of the 41st Infantry Regiment, he ordered his soldiers to shoot 18 residents of the Polish village of Torzeniec. He justified his decision with the attack by Polish partisans on his regiment. The court case was subsequently closed.

literature

• Dermot Bradley (ed.), Karl-Friedrich Hildebrand, Markus Rövekamp: The Generals of the Army 1921–1945. The military careers of the generals, as well as the doctors, veterinarians, intendants, judges and ministerial officials with the rank of general. Volume 4: Fleck – Gyldenfeldt. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1996, ISBN 3-7648-2488-3 , pp. 349-351.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 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. 342.
2. ^ [1] Article in Frankfurter Rundschau