Hans Degen

Hans Karl Christian Degen (born February 18, 1899 in Rosenheim , † November 8, 1971 in Bad Tölz ) was a German officer , most recently lieutenant general in World War II .

Life

Degen was the eldest son of a customs officer in Rosenheim . After graduating from the Humanist Gymnasium in Lohr am Main, he began his military career.

At the age of 17 Degen joined the 2nd Bavarian Jäger Battalion of the Bavarian Jäger Regiment 1 in Aschaffenburg as a flagjunker , in which he was a group and platoon leader in the theaters of war in Romania , Italy and Serbia in the Association of the German Alpine Corps from 1917 to 1918 participated.

Promoted to lieutenant on February 10, 1918 , he last fought as a company commander in France , where he was slightly wounded in the defensive battle on the Somme in August 1918 , but remained with the troops.

After the First World War he was a battalion adjutant in the III. Battalion of the 45th Infantry Regiment in Aschaffenburg. He was taken over into the Reichswehr on January 1, 1921. After that, he was first lieutenant from April 1, 1925, until 1929 first as a battalion adjutant of the 2nd battalion of the 20th Infantry Regiment in Ingolstadt and then as platoon leader of the MG company of the same association used. From 1929 to 1930 platoon leader and deputy company commander in the motor vehicle department 7 in Munich and Würzburg , from 1930 to 1933 he took part in an assistant driver training in military district VII and at the war academy in Berlin . After being promoted to captain on April 1, 1933, he served until 1937 as a General Staff Officer in the 4th Department of the General Staff of the Army in the Army High Command in Berlin. On October 1, 1936, he was promoted to major . In 1937 and 1938 Degen was company commander in the Mountain Infantry Regiment 100 in Brannenburg . From November 10, 1938 he was used as 1st General Staff Officer (Ia) of the 2nd Mountain Division in Innsbruck . There he was promoted to lieutenant colonel on March 1, 1939 .

When the Second World War broke out , Degen and the 2nd Mountain Division attacked Poland in September 1939 . After its end he was transferred from October 16, 1939 as 1st General Staff Officer to the 1st Mountain Division . In this position he took part in the western campaign until the end of 1940 . On January 1, 1941 he became Chief of Staff of the VI. Army corps that was used as part of Army Group Center at the beginning of the Russian campaign in June 1941 in the central section of the Eastern Front. On February 1, 1942 Degen was made Colonel i. G. promoted. From July 1, 1942 he was Chief of the General Staff of the XIX. Mountain Army Corps deployed on the Arctic Front. There he took over as commander of the 2nd Mountain Division on November 1, 1943. On January 1, 1944, promotion to major general and on August 1, 1944, promotion to lieutenant general . After withdrawing from the Arctic Front and marching back through Norway in winter , he still led the division in the defensive battles in the Colmar / Vosges area, where he was seriously wounded on February 6, 1945.

In the military hospital in Bad Tölz he was taken prisoner by the Americans on May 2, 1945 , from which he was released on October 15, 1947.

In the post-war period he lived as a pensioner in Upper Bavaria .

Awards

Iron Cross (1914) 2nd class
Wound badge (1918) in black
Iron Cross (1939) 1st class
Clasp for the Iron Cross, 2nd class
German cross in gold on March 12, 1942
Finnish Freedom Cross 1st Class ( Mannerheim Order) 1944
Honorary clasp of the German Army on February 23, 1945
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on March 11, 1945

Individual evidence

↑ Bosch, Ursula, Lieutenant General Degen - Military curriculum vitae, Bad Tölz 2005.
↑ 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 .
↑ Walther-Peer Fellgiebel : The bearers of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939-1945 - The holder of the highest award of the Second World War of all parts of the Wehrmacht . Dörfler Verlag, Eggolsheim 2004, ISBN 3-7909-0284-5 , p. 134 .

personal data
SURNAME	Sword, Hans
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Sword, Hans Karl Christian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German officer, most recently lieutenant general in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH	February 18, 1899
PLACE OF BIRTH	Rosenheim
DATE OF DEATH	November 8, 1971
Place of death	Bad Tölz

[1] Bosch, Ursula, Lieutenant General Degen - Military curriculum vitae, Bad Tölz 2005.

[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 .

[3] Walther-Peer Fellgiebel : The bearers of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939-1945 - The holder of the highest award of the Second World War of all parts of the Wehrmacht . Dörfler Verlag, Eggolsheim 2004, ISBN 3-7909-0284-5 , p. 134 .