Hans-Karl von Esebeck

Hans-Karl von Esebeck

Hans-Karl Freiherr von Esebeck (born June 10, 1892 in Potsdam , † January 5, 1955 in Dortmund - Bodelschwingh ) was a German officer, most recently a general of the tank troops in World War II and resistance fighter against National Socialism .

Life

Esebeck occurred on 25 September 1911 as an ensign in the 3rd Guards Lancers and was there on 19 June 1912 Ensign appointed. From May 4, 1912 to January 18, 1913 he was assigned to the Anklam War School. This was followed by promotion to lieutenant on February 18, 1913 . As such, he came to the front with his regiment after the outbreak of the First World War . From there, Esebeck was commanded in February 1915 for a month in the Guard Jäger Battalion . On June 6, 1916 he was first lieutenant and in mid-August 1917 in the staff of VI. Army Corps transferred. He stayed here until February 24, 1918, when he became an adjutant in the 3rd Guards Cavalry Brigade.

During the Second World War, von Esebeck met Count von Stauffenberg in Poland in 1939 , and he became his personal friend. After the campaign in the west , he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on July 4, 1940 as commander of the 6th Rifle Brigade. He later commanded various armored divisions and corps .

Most recently he held the rank of General of the Panzer Force and in July 1944 he was in charge of General of the Infantry Albrecht Schubert , who was on a cure in Slovakia , and Commander of Military District XVII (Vienna) .

After the assassination attempt on July 20, 1944 , he was expelled from the Wehrmacht . Together with his chief of staff, Colonel i. G. Heinrich Kodré and Colonel Rudolf Graf von Marogna-Redwitz the Operation Valkyrie in Vienna after preparation by his friend Lieutenant Colonel Robert Bernardis successful, although the orders completely wrong from the long retired Field Marshal Erwin von Witzleben signed and therefore even at first glance were identified as invalid. Esebeck was therefore imprisoned in a concentration camp after the failure of the coup .

Awards

• Iron Cross (1914) 2nd and 1st class
• Knight's Cross 2nd Class of the Order of Frederick with Swords
• Waldeck's Cross of Merit IV Class with Swords on July 24, 1915
• Austrian Military Merit Cross III. Class with the war decorations on October 2, 1916
• Finnish Order of the Cross of Freedom 2nd class with swords on May 7, 1918
• Commemorative medal from the Finnish War of Freedom (1918) on August 15, 1918
• Cross of Honor of the World War
• Order of the Silesian Eagle II level
• Wound badge (1939) in silver
• Clasp for the Iron Cross, 2nd and 1st class
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on July 4, 1940
• German cross in gold on August 23, 1942

Promotions

• 1923 Rittmeister
• 1933 major
• 1936 Lieutenant Colonel
• 1938 Colonel
• 1941 major general
• 1942 Lieutenant General
• 1944 General of the Panzer Force

literature

• Ludwig Jedlicka : July 20, 1944 in Vienna , Herold, Vienna 1965.
• Dermot Bradley : The Generals of the Army 1921–1945, Volume 3: Dahlmann-Fitzlaff ; Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1994, ISBN 3-7648-2443-3 , pp. 375-376.
• Karl Glaubauf : Robert Bernardis - Austria's Stauffenberg , Statzendorf 1994.
• Karl Glaubauf: Colonel i. G. Heinrich Kodré - A Linz knight's cross bearer in the military resistance. In: Documentation Archive of the Austrian Resistance (Ed.), Yearbook 2002.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Ranking list of the German Reichsheeres , Ed .: Reichswehrministerium , Mittler & Sohn Verlag , Berlin 1930, p. 137.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearer 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. 299.
3. ↑ Hans-Karl von Esebeck in the online version of the edition files of the Reich Chancellery. Weimar Republic