Hans Christern

Hans Christern (born January 24, 1900 in Lauenburg / Elbe ; † June 17, 1966 in Georgenhof near Oldenburg in Holstein ) was a German officer , most recently a colonel in World War II and the last commander of the 7th Panzer Division .

Life

Hans Christern was a son of the doctor Wilhelm Adolf Christern (* 1863 in Grünhof , † 1930 in Lübeck ). Alfred Christern was his uncle, Hermann Christern his cousin. He grew up in Lübeck.

In 1917 he became a flagjunker in the Emperor Franz Guard Grenadier Regiment No. 2 and in 1918 a lieutenant . He was awarded the Iron Cross II. Class and the Hanseatic Cross. Shortly before the end of the First World War , he was seriously wounded. The consequences of the wound led to his health-related discharge from the Reichswehr in 1921 . He became a farmer on Georgenhof, a former Meierhof of the Putlos estate near Oldenburg in Holstein (today part of the Putlos military training area ).

On the recommendation of Heinrich Eberbach , he was reactivated in 1936 and initially came as a captain to anti-tank department 12.

On January 31, 1941, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross as a major . At that time he was in command of the 2nd Division of the 35th Panzer Regiment. In 1943 he was promoted to colonel . From May 1944 he was regimental commander of the 35th Panzer Regiment.

On March 26, 1945, Colonel Christern took command of the 7th Panzer Division after Lieutenant General Karl Mauss had to resign due to a serious injury. In order to escape the Soviet captivity , the 7th Panzer Division surrendered under his command to the British Army in Schwerin on May 8, 1945 .

After the war he worked as a farmer at Georgenhof again. He was involved in the CDU , for which he ran unsuccessfully as a constituency candidate in the 1949 federal election.

Works

The red devils and their commander. Franz-Eher-Verlag , Munich 1941

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c Christian Hartmann : Wehrmacht in the Eastern War. Front and military hinterland 1941/42. (= Sources and representations on contemporary history. Vol. 75). Oldenbourg, Munich 2009; 2nd edition 2010, ISBN 978-3-486-70225-5 , p. 172
↑ 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. 259.
↑ Veit Scherzer (Ed.): German troops in World War II , Volume 3, Scherzers Militaer-Verl., Ranis / Jena 2008, ISBN 978-3-938845-13-4 ; P. 390

personal data
SURNAME	Christern, Hans
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German officer of the Wehrmacht and bearer of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
DATE OF BIRTH	January 24, 1900
PLACE OF BIRTH	Lauenburg / Elbe
DATE OF DEATH	June 17, 1966
Place of death	Georgenhof near Oldenburg in Holstein

[Hartmann-1] Christian Hartmann : Wehrmacht in the Eastern War. Front and military hinterland 1941/42. (= Sources and representations on contemporary history. Vol. 75). Oldenbourg, Munich 2009; 2nd edition 2010, ISBN 978-3-486-70225-5 , p. 172

[Scherzer-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. 259.

[3] Veit Scherzer (Ed.): German troops in World War II , Volume 3, Scherzers Militaer-Verl., Ranis / Jena 2008, ISBN 978-3-938845-13-4 ; P. 390