Gerhard Matzky

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Gerhard Matzky (born March 19, 1894 in Küstrin ; † June 9, 1983 in Bad Godesberg ) was a German infantry general in the Wehrmacht in World War II and later a lieutenant general in the Bundeswehr .

Life

After graduating from high school, Matzky joined the 4th Upper Silesian Infantry Regiment No. 63 of the Prussian Army in Opole as a flag junior in 1912 . After attending the war school in Neisse , he was promoted to lieutenant in 1913 . First he was assigned to the NCO School in Treptow as a teaching officer . From August 1914, during the First World War, he worked as a platoon commander and later as a company commander and orderly officer in his main regiment. Matzky was promoted to first lieutenant in 1916 . For his achievements during the war Matzky received both classes of the Iron Cross and the Wound Badge in silver.

After the end of the war, he served in the Eastern Border Guard in Silesia until he was accepted as a first lieutenant in the Reichswehr . Matzky was deployed in early 1920 in the transitional army of the Reichswehr Infantry Regiment 15 and later transferred to the 7th (Prussian) Infantry Regiment . On October 1, 1921, he was deployed as a squadron officer in the 4th (Prussian) cavalry regiment in Potsdam. In November 1923 Matzky was promoted to captain and in 1924 transferred to the 4th battery of the 4th artillery regiment in Bautzen.

From 1924 to 1927 he was a member of the General Staff of Group Command 2 in Kassel. In 1928 he was appointed to the Reichswehr Ministry in Berlin and was later involved in the Geneva disarmament negotiations . Matzky was then transferred to the staff of the 3rd (Prussian) cavalry regiment in Rathenow and in October 1930 he was chief of the 3rd company of the 2nd (Prussian) infantry regiment in Ortelsburg. During this period he was promoted to major in 1932 and then repeatedly appointed to the Ministry of Defense. In April 1934 he was transferred as the first general staff officer to the staff of the 7th Division in Munich. In October 1934 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel.

In the spring of 1935 he was appointed First General Staff Officer of the General Command of the VII Army Corps in Munich and in October 1936 in the same function at Group Command 1 in Berlin. There he was promoted to colonel in April 1937 . From September 15, 1938 to November 30, 1940, Matzky was a military attaché at the German embassy in Tokyo . From January 1941 he was senior quartermaster in the Army General Staff and was promoted to major general there in April 1941 . In November 1942 he was transferred to the Führerreserve and from January 1943 he was commander of the 21st Infantry Division . There he was promoted to lieutenant general on April 20, 1943. In March 1944 Matzky took over the management of the XXVIII. Army Corps , was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on April 5, 1944 and named in the Wehrmacht report six days later . From May to July 1944 he was back in the Führerreserve and was then with the leadership of the XXVI. Army Corps instructed. He was promoted to general of the infantry in September 1944 and at the same time to commanding general of the XXVI. Army Corps appointed. In April 1945 he was also commanding general of the LV General Command . Army Corps . On April 12, 1945 he was appointed fortress commander of Pillau . At the end of the war he managed to escape to Schleswig-Holstein and Matzky was taken prisoner by the British until the beginning of 1948.

After the war until 1951, Matzky worked as a bookseller and writer. From 1951 he was commissioned as an inspector to help set up the Federal Border Police. In 1952 he was appointed commander of the West Border Guard. In 1956 Matzky joined the Bundeswehr and became the commanding general of the 1st Corps in Münster. He retired in February 1960. Matzky was chairman of the Association of German Soldiers (VdS) from 1965 to 1978 . In April 1967 he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit with a Star .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. Reichswehr Ministry (Ed.): Ranking list of the German Reichsheeres. ES Mittler & Sohn , Berlin 1924, p. 163.
  2. 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. 530.
  3. The High Command of the Wehrmacht announces ... The German Wehrmacht report. Volume 3: 1944-1945 and register. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1982, ISBN 3-7648-1282-6 , p. 78.