Fritz Kuehne

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Fritz Kühne (born June 14, 1883 in Neukirch , Province of Silesia , † April 5, 1972 in Paderborn ) was a German lieutenant general in World War II .

Life

As the son of a manor owner, Kühne attended the cadet institution Wahlstatt and Groß-Lichterfelde from 1899 to 1903 . On March 2, 1902, he joined the Prussian Army's No. 3 Railway Regiment in Hanau as an ensign , where he was promoted to lieutenant on January 27, 1904 . From 1907 to October 1913 he was adjutant of the 2nd battalion. From October 1910 to July 1913 he was assigned to the War Academy and on June 16, 1911 he was promoted to first lieutenant . For half a year from October 1913 to March 1914 he was a member of the No. 4 Railway Regiment. He was then transferred to the Great General Staff .

After the outbreak of the First World War, Kühne initially remained with the Great General Staff and, after his promotion to captain, was used as battalion leader in the 4th Lorraine Infantry Regiment No. 136 . He then worked in the same function with 4th Lower Alsatian Infantry Regiment No. 143 at the front in Flanders . From June 1915 he served three and a half months on the staff of the chief of the field railways. He was then transferred to the General Staff until April 1918. From there Kühne joined the General Staff of the 48th Reserve Division . From June 1918 he served as first general staff officer in the staff of the 19th Reserve Division , where he remained active until January 1919 after the end of the war.

From January 1919 he took on special assignments in the Lüttwitz General Command. On October 1, 1920, he joined the staff of the 2nd Division in Stettin . From October 1, 1922 to August 30, 1924 he was company commander in the 3rd (Prussian) Infantry Regiment in the Marienburg district near Hildesheim and was promoted to major on March 1, 1924 . With effect from October 1, 1924, he was transferred to the Reichswehr Ministry as a consultant. On February 1, 1927 he was appointed commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 7th (Prussian) Infantry Regiment in Hirschberg in the Giant Mountains . This was a unit of the mountain troops .

After Kühne had become lieutenant colonel on February 1, 1929 , he was transferred to Berlin on April 1, 1929. Here he was head of the army transport group in the troop office in the Reichswehr Ministry, the name of the troop office being a cover name for the future general staff . As a colonel (since October 1, 1931), he was appointed on October 1, 1932, commander of the 2nd (Prussian) infantry regiment in Allenstein . Here he was promoted to major general on August 1, 1934, and shortly thereafter, on October 1, 1934, he was appointed head of the Dortmund Army Service .

He took command of the 26th Infantry Division on March 7, 1936. With this command he participated in the occupation of the Rhineland . He retired from active service on October 31, 1938.

In the course of the preparation for the attack on Poland he was reactivated and on August 26, 1939 took command of the 253rd Infantry Division until March 7, 1941. The 253rd Infantry Division was in August 1939 as a division of the 4th wave of deployment in the Military district VI set up in Münster . After it was set up, it was transferred to the border guard on the German western border in September 1939 and trained there. In May and April 1940 he took part in the western campaign with his division . The division marched to France via Belgium . He was involved in heavy fighting with his division in the Lille area . The unit remained in France as an occupying force.

From March 7, 1941, he led the 526th Infantry Division in Aachen until December 15, 1941. As part of the replacement army, this division trained the new recruits of the 253rd Infantry Division. Kühne also held the position of site commander for Aachen. From December 1941 he was in command of various reserve divisions of the replacement army . On June 30, 1944, his mobilization provision was lifted. After that he did not take any more command.

Awards

literature

  • Dermot Bradley (Ed.): The Generals of the Army 1921-1945. Volume 7: Knabe-Luz. Biblio Verlag, Bissendorf 2004, ISBN 3-7648-2902-8 , pp. 288-289.
  • Christoph Rass: "Human material": German soldiers on the Eastern Front. Interior views of an infantry division 1939–1945. Schöningh Verlag, Paderborn 2003, ISBN 978-3-506-74486-9 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ West German Observer. Morning edition, Thursday October 29, 1936.
  2. ↑ Christoph Rass: Human material. Paderborn 2003. pp. 208-209.
  3. ↑ Wolfgang Keilig: The Generals of the Army 1939-1945. Podzun-Pallas-Verlag, Friedberg 1983, p. 192.
  4. ^ A b c d e f g h i Reichswehr Ministry (ed.): Ranking list of the German Reichsheeres. ES Mittler & Sohn , Berlin 1930, p. 116.
  5. ↑ Klaus D. Patzwall , Veit Scherzer : The German Cross 1941-1945. History and owner. Volume II. Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall, Norderstedt 2001, ISBN 3-931533-45-X , p. 547.
personal data
SURNAME Kühne, Fritz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Lieutenant General in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH June 14, 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH Neukirch , Province of Silesia
DATE OF DEATH April 5th 1972
Place of death Paderborn