Gerhard Feyerabend

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Gerhard Fritz Franz Feyerabend (born April 29, 1898 at Gut Dopsattel , Königsberg district , East Prussia ; † November 17, 1965 in Hanover ) was a German officer , most recently lieutenant general and commander of the 11th Infantry Division in World War II .

Life

Feyerabend's father was the manor owner Eugen Feyerabend (February 8, 1860– January 18, 1901), his mother Anna Claassen (April 20, 1870– January 13, 1943). His older brother Alfred Feyerabend (June 18, 1896 to January 13, 1971) was Ministerial Director of the Waterways Department of the Federal Ministry of Transport in the post-war period.

After being educated in his parents' house, Feyerabend attended high school in Königsberg from 1906 to 1911 .

At the age of almost thirteen he began his military career in 1911 by attending the Köslin cadet school and then from 1914 to 1916 attended the main cadet institute in Berlin-Lichterfelde .

Subsequently, after his appointment as ensign on March 29, 1916, from 1916 to 1918 , Feyerabend joined the 2nd Masurian Field Artillery Regiment No. 82, where he served on the Eastern Front after participating in the Battle of Kovel on November 8, 1916 was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd class and was promoted to lieutenant on December 5, 1916 . In 1917 he took part in the battle of Verdun in the west . After the end of the war, Feyerabend served as a professional soldier in the Reichswehr and was promoted to first lieutenant on July 31, 1925 .

Gerhard Feyerabend married Erna Reschke (born June 16, 1901) on July 18, 1924 in Bratricken, his daughter Marie-Louise was born on May 9, 1935.

Feyerabend was promoted to captain on April 1, 1933 and major on August 2, 1936 . Since 1937 he has been the First General Staff Officer (Ia) in the General Staff of the 24th Division. Feyerabend was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel on March 20, 1939 and took part in the attack on Poland in September 1939 .

On the western campaign in 1940 he was the XXXX's first general staff officer. Army corps involved in the 1941 Yugoslav campaign as first general staff officer of the 2nd Army . After he had assumed this function during the attack on the Soviet Union , Feyerabend was after his appointment as colonel on November 9, 1941, from December 15, 1941 Chief of Staff of the XXVII. Army Corps on the Eastern Front and was awarded the German Cross in Gold on January 30, 1943 .

Since August 2, 1943, Feyerabend was Chief of the General Staff of the 1st Army . As such, he was promoted to major general on February 20, 1944 and then served on the Western Front.

On November 9, 1944, Feyerabend was appointed commander of the 11th Infantry Division defending the Kurlandkessel as part of the 18th Army . After the 4th Battle of Courland, he was promoted to lieutenant general on February 23, 1945 .

On April 5, 1945, Gerhard Feyerabend was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross for holding the front of his division, which was already circled on both sides, against eight to ten Soviet divisions in the 6th Battle of Courland and thus for preventing the collapse of the entire Courland front .

After the rescue of numerous troops across the Baltic Sea in the last days of the war, Feyerabend went with the remnants of his division into Soviet captivity after the surrender of Army Group Courland on May 10, 1945.

Feyerabend's wife and ten-year-old daughter had already been killed on January 30, 1945 during the occupation of East Prussia by Soviet soldiers.

After returning from captivity in July 1947, Feyerabend lived in Rottach-Egern until the end of his life . In his second marriage he married the widow of Major General Hans Georg Schmidt von Altenstadt, who died in 1944 .

Awards

Feyerabend received the following military awards:

literature

  • Franz Thomas / Günter Wegmann: The Knight's Cross Bearers of the German Wehrmacht 1939–1945, Part III, Volume 6, 2003, pp. 251–254.
  • Edmund Strunz (editor) / Helmut Stechlau (editor): German Gender Book, Volume 133, 1964, p. 118.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Edmund Strunz (editor), Helmut Stechlau (editor): German gender book . Volume 133, 1964, p. 118.
  2. ^ Franz Thomas, Günter Wegmann: The knight's cross bearers of the German Wehrmacht 1939–1945 . Part III, Volume 6, 2003, p. 254.
  3. ↑ Ranking list of the German Imperial Army . Mittler & Sohn Verlag, Berlin 1930, p. 134.
personal data
SURNAME Feyerabend, Gerhard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Feyerabend, Gerhard Fritz Franz (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German officer, most recently lieutenant general in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH April 29, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH Gut Dopsattel, Samland district
DATE OF DEATH November 17, 1965
Place of death Hanover