Gerhard Poel
Gerhard Poel (born February 7, 1886 in Wulmenau ; † August 8, 1947 in Krasnogorsk , Soviet Union ) was a German officer , most recently lieutenant general in World War II , and a well-known tournament rider.
Life
On October 3, 1903 Poel joined the Uhlan Regiment "Graf zu Dohna" (East Prussian) No. 8 of the Prussian Army and was promoted to lieutenant on January 27, 1905 . At the beginning of the First World War in August 1914 he was first lieutenant in the 1st Badische Leib-Dragoons Regiment No. 20 , on April 18, 1915 he became a captain .
In 1920 he was retired as a major from active service and transferred to the police force. On November 30, 1922, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel in the police. On December 19, 1933, he became a colonel in the police force, and on April 1, 1935, he became head of the state police riding school in Potsdam . After the expansion of the Reichswehr , Poel was taken over as a colonel in the newly founded Wehrmacht on October 1, 1935 with a patent from June 1, 1934 .
On April 1, 1936, he became the commander of the military district school in Aalen , a command that he retained at the beginning of the Second World War . On July 1, 1941 he was promoted to major general, on January 1, 1942 he was appointed city commander of Vitebsk . On November 5, 1942 he became city commander of Smolensk . From December 1943 he took over command of Oberfeldkommandantur 400. In the spring of 1944 his staff moved from Baranowitschi to Vilna as a result of the German withdrawal . There he was also appointed commander of Vilna . During the Russian summer offensive in 1944, he gave up his command on July 10th to General Rainer Stahel and was transferred to the Führer Reserve . For his achievements in the defense of Vilnius, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on October 16, 1944 . On October 1, 1944, he was appointed Commander of Brno and on January 30, 1945, he was promoted to Lieutenant General.
During the surrender of Army Group Center on May 8, 1945, he was taken prisoner by the Soviets near Tabor . On November 2, 1946, he was sentenced to death by a Soviet military tribunal for war crimes and executed the following year in the Krasnogorsk prisoner of war camp .
Awards
- Iron Cross (1914) 2nd and 1st class
- Clasp for the Iron Cross, 2nd and 1st class
-
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with oak leaves
- Knight's Cross on October 16, 1944
- Oak leaves on November 25, 1944
Individual evidence
- ↑ Wolf Keilig : The Generals of the Army. Podzun-Pallas-Verlag GmbH. 1983. p. 259. ( limited preview on Google Book Search ).
- ↑ 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 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Poel, Gerhard |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German officer, most recently lieutenant general |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 7, 1886 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Wulmenau |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 8, 1947 |
| Place of death | Krasnogorsk , Soviet Union |