Hans von Boineburg-Lengsfeld

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Hans von Boineburg-Lengsfeld , with full name Wilhelm Georg Gustav Botho Rudolf Hans Baron von Boineburg-Lengsfeld (born June 9, 1889 in Eisenach , † November 20, 1980 in Altenburg , Hesse) was a German officer , most recently Lieutenant General of the Wehrmacht in the Second World war .

Life

origin

Hans von Boineburg-Lengsfeld came from the originally Lower Hessian - Thuringian noble family Boyneburg . He was the son of the Imperial Baron , Grand Ducal Saxon Chamberlain and Hessian Hussar - Rittmeister Konrad (Curt) Emil Moritz Rudolf von Boineburg-Lengsfeld (born August 8, 1855) and his wife Helene, nee. von Hopffgarten (born October 21, 1866). The family owned goods in Altenburg in today's Schwalm-Eder district and in Weilar and Herda in today's Wartburg district .

First World War

Hans von Boineburg-Lengsfeld went to school in Kassel and Weimar , from which he graduated from high school. On 1 October 1910, he joined as a cadet in the situated on this day Regiment hunters on horseback no. 6 of the Prussian army in Erfurt one. It was on May 22, 1912. Patent on May 18, 1910. Lieutenant appointed and took with this regiment of the Association of the 38th Cavalry Brigade ( 8th Cavalry Division ) in the First World War in August 1914 fighting in Lorraine and then off Participated in the Battle of the Masurian Lakes (September 9-15), the Battle of Warsaw (October 9-10) and the Battle of Łódź (November 16 - December 15, 1914) on the Eastern Front . On July 8, 1915, he was assigned to the staff of the 8th Cavalry Division as an orderly officer , promoted to first lieutenant on October 18, 1915 and permanently transferred to the division staff on February 1, 1916. The division and the regiment fought in the Baltic States until the ceasefire on December 7, 1917, and then again from February 18 to April 4, 1918 as part of Operation Faustschlag , when they fought first in a coup d'état and then large areas between Lake Peipus and the occupied upper Daugava .

On 4th / 5th April 1918, the 8th Cavalry Division was disbanded, and Boineburg came back to the Jäger Regiment on Horseback No. 6. The regiment moved to the Zossen military training area , where it was trained infantry. From May 1918, the now called Jäger-Schützen-Regiment on Horseback No. 6 , part of the former 38th Cavalry Brigade renamed as Kavallerie-Schützen-Kommando 38 and belonging to the Guard Cavalry Rifle Division, fought in the defensive battles on the western front in the Soissons - Reims area . Boineburg himself was sent to Maubeuge to train as the division command of the division until May 31, 1918 and only then returned to the regiment. The division fought from July 15 in the Battle of the Marne and in Champagne , from August 17 to September 4 between Oise and Aisne , and finally covered the retreat of the 1st Army from October as an intervention reserve .

Interwar period

After the end of the war, the regiment began to march back to Germany on November 12, 1918. It arrived in Berlin on December 10th and was then used during the Christmas battles on December 24th, 1918 as part of the Guard Cavalry Rifle Division against the mutinous People's Navy Division, entrenched in the Berlin City Palace and the Marstall . During the demobilization of the regiment, which began in January , the active members, including Boineburg, were involved in the suppression of the so-called Spartacus uprising in January 1919 and in the March fighting in Berlin .

On January 1, 1920 Boineburg was taken over as first lieutenant and squadron officer in the Reichswehr Cavalry Regiment 103 of the so-called Provisional Reichswehr . When it was reduced to the 200,000-man transitional army with effect from April 1, 1920, he came with parts of his regiment to the 3 rider regiment ( 1st cavalry division ), and when it was later taken over to the 100,000-man army of the Reichswehr in the now renamed 3rd (Prussian) Cavalry Regiment in Rathenow , where he was promoted to Rittmeister on September 28, 1921 and appointed Chief of the 2nd Squadron on October 1, 1923  . On October 1, 1925, he was transferred to Langensalza as chief of the 4th (Prussian) squadron in the 16th Cavalry Regiment ( 3rd Cavalry Division ) . On April 1, 1931 he became chief of the 2nd (Prussian) squadron in the 16th cavalry regiment in Hofgeismar , where he was also the site's senior. On November 1, 1931, he became chief of the 6th (Hessian) squadron in the 16th cavalry regiment and senior officer in Langensalza. On October 1, 1932, he was promoted to major .

On April 1, 1934, he was transferred to the Dresden Cavalry Command as an adjutant; By renaming this staff during the expansion of the Reichswehr on October 1, 1934, he became adjutant of the 4th Cavalry Brigade. On May 27, 1935 he was assigned to the Gera Reiter Regiment, where he was promoted to lieutenant colonel on June 1, 1935 . When the units were exposed on October 15, 1935, he became commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 1st Rifle Regiment in the 1st Panzer Division in Weimar, which was formed from the 3rd Cavalry Division and renamed accordingly . The promotion to colonel took place on October 1, 1937.

Second World War

On November 10, 1938, Boineburg was appointed commander of the 1st Rifle Regiment, with whom he took part in the attack on Poland from September 1, 1939 and advanced in northern Poland towards Warsaw .

After the end of the fighting in Poland, on October 23, 1939, he took over command of the 4th Rifle Brigade in the 4th Panzer Division on the Lower Rhine , with which he then took part in the western campaign. His brigade distinguished itself in the fighting at the Dyle position and the Forêt de Mormal and especially on May 27, 1940 when it breached through the enemy positions on the La Bassée Canal north of Béthune . Boineburg received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on July 19, 1940 . From May 15 to 19 and again from July 24 to September 7, 1940, he was in charge of the 4th Panzer Division.

Since he was passed over in the promotion of colonels to generals after the victorious campaign in the west, he reported sick out of annoyance and with reference to a previous serious pelvic injury caused by a tank accident, for which he was still under medical treatment. He was the leader Reserve of the Army High Command transferred and retired to his estate in Weilar back. He only returned to the army in October 1940. From October 5, 1940 to September 10, 1941 he was in command of the 7th Rifle Brigade in the 7th Panzer Division under Major General Erwin Rommel in the west. With this he took from June 1941 now under Major General Hans Freiherr von Funck , on Operation Barbarossa , the invasion of the Soviet Union , in part.

On September 10, 1941, he was briefly transferred to the OKH's Führerreserve, before he received the order to set up the 23rd Panzer Division in the Paris area on September 13 and was appointed its commander on September 25, 1941. A few days later, on October 1, 1941, he was promoted to major general . In April 1942 he moved with his division to the southern section of the Eastern Front, where the division was deployed in the association of Army Group South in the Kharkov area and then made available near Wolnjansk for the " Blue Fall ", the German summer offensive of 1942.

As early as July 20, 1942, he was replaced by Major General Erwin Mack and transferred back to the Fuehrer's Reserve, as his first general staff officer had fallen into Soviet hands with plans for the "Blue case" and he was therefore to answer to the Reich Court Martial. He was initially imprisoned in the " Wolfsschanze " in East Prussia and charged with the lost papers, but then released after ten days on word of honor in his home town. At the subsequent hearing of the Reich Court Martial in Berlin, chaired by Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring , who conducted the hearing alone in the presence of the High Court Judges, Boineburg was acquitted, and he was given command of his old division again at his own request. After taking a cure in Badgastein , on August 26th - the day General Mack fell - he was again commander of the 23rd Panzer Division, and at the end of the advance towards the Caucasus , after heavy fighting on the Terek, southeast of Prochladny, led it and Nalchik came to a standstill in Kabardino-Balkaria . During these battles he was promoted to lieutenant general on November 16, 1942 .

After the 6th Army was encircled in Stalingrad on November 22, 1942 , Boineburg's 23rd Panzer Division was ordered back from the Caucasus to - with other large formations - in Operation Wintergewitter (December 12-23) to remove the trapped army from the pocket to free. Which finally on December 12th only by the 6th and 23rd Panzer Divisions of the LVII. The relief attack on Stalingrad that had begun by the Panzer Corps was repulsed by the Red Army after twelve days of heavy fighting. The 23rd Panzer Division had to withdraw further and further in extremely harsh winter conditions and suffered heavy losses. Due to his injury from the First World War, Boineburg had to call in sick again at the end of 1942. He was then transferred to the Führerreserve with effect from December 28, 1942.

With effect from April 1, 1943 he was transferred to France and assigned to the French military commander , General of the Infantry Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel , and on May 1, as the successor to Lieutenant General Ernst Schaumburg, he was in command of "Greater Paris" and commander of the 325th Security Division appointed. He and his chief of staff, Colonel Karl von Unger, unconditionally supported General Stülpnagel in planning the Paris actions for the planned attack on Hitler .

During the Walküre operation on July 20, 1944, he was involved in a leading position in the arrest of leading Gestapo and SS officers, including the Higher SS and Police Leader in France, SS Gruppenführer Carl Oberg , and their units in Paris . The arrest of the approximately 1200 SS and SD men stationed in Paris was carried out by Security Regiment 1 of the 325th Security Division under Lieutenant Colonel d. R. Kurt von Kraewel carried out. When the failure of the attack was reported a few hours later and those arrested in Paris were released, Boineburg explained the action to them as an "exercise". He was extremely lucky and was not recognized as a co-conspirator, since General von Stülpnagel remained silent, Lieutenant General Hans Speidel , Chief of Staff of the Commander-in-Chief West , General Field Marshal Günther von Kluge , covered him and SS-Gruppenführer Oberg made no fuss.

However, Boineburg's continued stay in Paris was unacceptable for Hitler and the OKH because of his involvement in the arrest of high SS officers. He was replaced on August 7, 1944 by General Dietrich von Choltitz and was again transferred to the OKH's leadership reserve. On September 23, 1944, he was assigned as head of the defense staff to Commander-in-Chief West, Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt , and on October 18, 1944, he was assigned to the command of the western fortress area. From November 1 to December 15, 1944 he was in command of the Rhine fortifications in the Freiburg im Breisgau area . After another waiting period in the OKH's leader reserve, he became the commander of the Bergen military training area in the Lüneburg Heath on February 20, 1945 .

post war period

When he surrendered on May 8, 1945, he was taken prisoner by the Americans , from which he was released on May 30, 1946.

After his release, he devoted himself to agriculture and forestry on his estate in Altenburg in what is now the Schwalm-Eder district in northern Hesse , which had been family-owned since the 16th century. He died there on November 20, 1980. With a special permit, his urn was buried in the garden behind the manor house. He was the last male offspring of the Boyneburg-Lengsfeld tribe in Germany.

Marriage and offspring

Hans von Boineburg-Lengsfeld married the Finnish shipowner's daughter Gunnel Töttermann in 1920. The marriage had two daughters, both of whom remained unmarried and who lived on the family estate in Altenburg after the Second World War:

  • Beatrix Wilhelmine Sigrid Gunnel Freiin von Boineburg-Lengsfeld (1921–2012), forest manager
  • Brita Hildegard Helene Freiin von Boineburg-Lengsfeld (* 1927), doctor

Awards

literature

  • Dermot Bradley (ed.), Karl-Friedrich Hildebrand, Markus Rövekamp: 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 2: v. Blanckensee – v. Czettritz and Neuhauß. Biblio Publishing House. Osnabrück 1993. ISBN 3-7648-2424-7 . Pp. 127-128.

Web links

  • Newsletter No. 29 , Association for the Promotion of the Memorial and the Breitenau Archive; Kassel, March 2010 (pdf, 37 pages (1–2 + 33–67), here: p. 61); Thomas Schattner: November 20, 1980: "The resistance fighter Hans von Boineburg-Lengsfeld is dead" ; accessed on July 20, 2019.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Gothaisches genealogical pocket book of noble houses, 1901, p.118
  2. ^ Ranking list of the Royal Prussian Army and the XIII. (Royal Württemberg) Army Corps for 1913. Ed .: War Ministry . Ernst Siegfried Mittler & Son . Berlin 1913. p. 403.
  3. ↑ The horses had already been surrendered in October / November 1916, as they were no longer of use in the now prevailing positional battle.
  4. ↑ On June 19, 1942, shortly before the start of the German summer offensive, the First General Staff Officer of the 23rd Panzer Division, Major Reichel, had to make an emergency landing on a reconnaissance flight behind the Soviet lines, and maps and plans for the first phase of the operation fell into the hands of the enemy. As a result, the code names for the offensive were later changed, and the Blau case became the Braunschweig company .
  5. ↑ Also indicted were his superior, the commander of July 9, 1942 by renaming the XXXX. Army corps and consisting of the 3rd Panzer Division and the 23rd Panzer Division as well as minor army and corps troops XXXX. -Panzer-Korps , General of the Panzer Troop Georg Stumme , and his Chief of Staff , Colonel i. G. Gerhard Franz. Stumme was sentenced to five years, Francis to two years imprisonment convicted. However, both were dismissed after a few weeks because of appeals from several high-ranking officers and transferred to the Africa Corps .
  6. ↑ The 17th Panzer Division was not added until December 17th.
  7. ↑ According to other reports, he was hit by a tank and suffered numerous broken bones (Samuel W. Mitcham, Jr .: Retreat to the Reich: The German Defeat in France, 1944. Stackpole Books, Mechanicsville, Pa., 2007, ISBN 978- 0-8117-3384-7 , p. 58); However, this is likely to be confused with the pelvic fracture suffered in the First World War.
  8. ↑ An alleged request to be passed was not accepted.
  9. ↑ Later Colonel a. D. and owner of the paper mill in Zell am Harmersbach.
  10. ↑ several letters (pdf, 27 pages), Institute for Contemporary History, Munich; accessed on July 20, 2019.
  11. ↑ a b c d Ranking list of the German Imperial Army. Ed .: Reichswehr Ministry . Mittler & Sohn publishing house . Berlin 1924. p. 157.
  12. ↑ 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. 232.
personal data
SURNAME Boineburg-Lengsfeld, Hans von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Boyneburg, Hans von; Boineburg, Hans Reichsfreiherr too
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German officer, lieutenant general in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH June 9, 1889
PLACE OF BIRTH Eisenach
DATE OF DEATH November 20, 1980
Place of death Felsberg-Altenburg