Gustav Harteneck

Gustav Harteneck (born July 27, 1892 in Landau in the Palatinate ; † February 7, 1984 in Großhesselohe ) was a German cavalry general . During the Second World War he was the commander of a cavalry unit, which is referred to as the “last large cavalry unit in war history”.

Life

Harteneck's military career began unusually for a future general. In 1912, at the age of 20, he was retired from the Landsturm without a weapon and then began to study medicine. As a student, Harteneck became a member of the AGV Munich .

At the beginning of World War Harteneck occurred on April 7, 1914 as a volunteer in the third Chevaulegers Regiment "Duke Karl Theodor" the Bavarian army and was the end of the year as a cadet in the fifth Chevaulegers regiment "Archduke Frederick of Austria" offset. Here he was promoted to lieutenant on August 25, 1915 without a patent . Most recently he served at the commandant's office in Kiev and was awarded both classes of the Iron Cross , the Military Merit Order IV. Class with Swords and the Austrian Military Merit Cross III. Class awarded with war decoration. He served on many fronts in the war: Flanders, Poland, Pripet Marshes, Transylvania, Romania, Ukraine, the Caucasus.

After the armistice of Compiègne , the return home and demobilization , Harteneck briefly joined the Archery Villages Free Corps , with which he participated in the suppression of the Munich Soviet Republic . Subsequently, he was transferred to the Provisional Reichswehr , Harteneck was assigned to Infantry Leader 22 as Ordonnanzoffizier and in mid-August 1919 transferred to the Reichswehr Cavalry Regiment 21. Even before the formation of the Reichswehr, in May 1920 he joined the 17 rider regiment , the so-called "Bamberg riders". Here followed on 1 May 1923 was promoted to lieutenant and as such was Harteneck since April 19, 1924 leaders of the MG - train . From October 1, 1924, he completed his assistant leadership training at Military District Command VI and the 6th Division staff . After a brief assignment to the 14th (Baden) Infantry Regiment , Harteneck was transferred to the Reichswehr Ministry on October 1, 1926 . After further assignments he was a cavalry master from October 1, 1931 to June 30, 1933, a teacher at the cavalry school in Hanover . Subsequently transferred to the staff of the 1st Cavalry Division , he was transferred to the staff of the 3rd Division on August 1, 1934 , and a fortnight later . As part of the expansion of the Reichswehr, Harteneck was deployed from October 1, 1934 in Military District III as First General Staff Officer of the Commander in Military District III, and later in III. Army Corps. On March 1, 1937, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel i. G. On November 10, 1938 he was appointed commander of the 9th Cavalry Regiment. In this function, he was promoted to Colonel i on August 1, 1939 . G.

With the mobilization for World War II, Harteneck became first general staff officer in the staff of the 1st Army . On November 10, 1940 he followed Major General Hans Zorn as Chief of the General Staff at the XXVII. Army Corps after. On October 26, 1941 he became Chief of the General Staff of the 2nd Army . On February 1, 1942, Harteneck rose to major general. In this capacity he was awarded the German Cross in Gold on March 20, 1942 , and on April 1, 1943 he was promoted to Lieutenant General . From February 13, 1944, Harteneck was responsible for the reorganization of the Generalgouvernement Infantry Division . This was incorporated into the 72nd Infantry Division on March 23, 1944 , with Harteneck as division commander until mid-June 1944. Then he took over the leadership of the I. Cavalry Corps , in which he became General of the Cavalry on September 1, 1944 promoted and became the commanding general . With his corps he took part in battles in the northern section of the Eastern Front, in East Prussia and finally in Hungary and East Styria. On September 21, 1944 he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross . In 1944 the Harteneck Cavalry Corps was initially deployed on the borders of East Prussia before it was relocated to Lake Balaton in Hungary for one of the last larger offensives at the end of the war . After the surrender, he was captured by the British. Harteneck succeeded in negotiations with British and American agencies to ensure that the two cavalry divisions and the 23rd Panzer Division of the corps could return to Germany and that the horses of the units could be used for agriculture in the US-occupied part of Germany.

In 1947 he was released from captivity and found a job at a scientific institute in Munich. At the age of 70 he - meanwhile head of the literature department - retired .

literature

• Dermot Bradley (Ed.): The Generals of the Army 1921-1945. The military careers of the generals, as well as the doctors, veterinarians, intendants, judges and ministerial officials with the rank of general. Volume 5: v. Haack-Hitzfeld. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1999, ISBN 3-7648-2538-3 , pp. 119-121.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Heinz Ratdke: The last tab-United Federation of military history. Festschrift for the 90th birthday of General of the Cavalry Gustav Harteneck. 1982.
2. ↑ ^{a b c} newspaper report from August 13, 1977 on the occasion of his 85th birthday , accessed on April 11, 2016
3. ^ Association of Alter SVer (VASV): Address book and Vademecum. Ludwigshafen am Rhein 1959, p. 52.
4. ↑ Reichswehr Ministry (Ed.): Ranking list of the German Reichsheeres. ES Mittler & Sohn , Berlin 1924, p. 174.
5. ↑ 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. 367.
6. ↑ Newspaper report of August 8, 1981 , p. 17, accessed April 11, 2016.