Friedrich Weber (Lieutenant General)

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Friedrich Weber (born March 31, 1892 in Château-Salins , Lorraine , † September 2, 1974 in Deggendorf ) was a German officer , most recently lieutenant general in World War II .

Life

Weber attended high school in Metz , where his father was an imperial notary . After graduating from high school, he studied law at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich . On July 15, 1911, he joined the Corps Transrhenania Munich , his father's corps. He transferred to the Ruprecht-Karls-University of Heidelberg , where he also economics studied.

First World War

At the beginning of the First World War he joined the 2nd foot artillery regiment of the Bavarian Army as a flag junior . As an officer he fought on the Western Front in the battles of Verdun and Reims , on the Aisne , Artois and Ypres . At the end of the war he was first lieutenant and had received both classes of the Iron Cross and the Military Merit Order IV class with swords for his services .

Reichswehr

In 1919 he joined the Epp Freikorps . In the same year he was accepted into the Reichswehr and was stationed in Ingolstadt and Nuremberg . In 1926 he came to Amberg for the training battalion of the 20th (Bavarian) Infantry Regiment , where he was promoted to captain on April 1, 1928 . In 1930 he became company commander in Regensburg and in 1935 battalion commander in the 20th Infantry Regiment in Deggendorf .

When his corps in the era of National Socialism was suspended, he became a member of founded on June 19, 1938 Altkameradschaft "from the Pfordten" .

Second World War

Since 1939 lieutenant colonel in the Wehrmacht , in 1940 he fought initially in the 256th Infantry Division as commander of the 481 infantry regiment in the western campaign during the occupation of the Netherlands . On May 17, 1940, his regiment succeeded in penetrating the fortress area of ​​Rotterdam. Weber also excelled in the battles for Nieuwpoort and Dunkirk and was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on June 8, 1940. On October 1, 1940, he was promoted to colonel .

From January 4 to February 14, 1942, he served as the commander of the 256th Infantry Division. Temporarily in the Führerreserve , at the end of 1942 he took over the 334th Infantry Division he had set up in Tunisia . With his troops he stormed the Djebel Manson and was involved in the attack on Beja (Medjez el Bab). Shortly before the Africa Corps surrendered in April 1943, he was supposed to inform Hitler of the grievances in Africa, but was turned away by Field Marshal Keitel and removed from his position as commander.

In 1943 he was promoted to major general. On January 10, 1944, he succeeded General of the Artillery Heinrich Meyer-Bürdorf until the end of October 1944, commander of the 131st Infantry Division . On July 1, 1944 Weber was promoted to lieutenant general and from December 1944 was appointed commander of the fortress division "Warsaw" . Contrary to a no longer executed Führer's decree to keep the enclosed fortress, he led the crew back to the German main battle line, taking all the wounded with them and after breaking through the Russian front, which was already 60 kilometers away, for which he, formally transferred to the Führer reserve, was held by the Reich Court Martial for three years imprisonment was condemned. The execution was suspended for probation at the front .

post war period

From 1945 to 1947 Weber was a US prisoner of war . After his release, he pursued various activities. From 1949 he became involved in adult education . He participated in the establishment of the Deggendorf Adult Education Center and took over its management in 1951. He was chairman of the Niederbayern district working group of adult education centers and adult education centers and a member of the main committee of the Bavarian Adult Education Association . In 1961 he founded the Schloss Egg contemporary history education center . For many years he was chairman of the Deggendorf weapon ring.

family

Weber had been married since 1924 and had four sons.

Orders and honors

literature

  • Mitcham, Samuel W., Jr. (2007a). German Order of Battle. Volume One: 1st - 290th Infantry Divisions in WWII. PA; United States of America: Stackpole Books. P. 183 + 305, ISBN 978-0-8117-3416-5 .
  • Mitcham, Samuel W., Jr. (2007b). German Order of Battle. Volume Two: 291st - 999th Infantry Divisions, Named Infantry Divisions, and Special Divisions in WWII . PA; United States of America: Stackpole Books. Pp. 41 + 235, ISBN 978-0-8117-3437-0 .

Individual evidence

  1. a b c d e f Obituary in the Corps newspaper of the Transrhenania. No. 73 December 1974.
  2. Ranking list of the German Imperial Army. Ed .: Reichswehr Ministry . ES Mittler & Sohn . Berlin 1930. p. 148.
  3. a b c Veit Scherzer : The 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 , pp. 769 .