Harald von Elverfeldt

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Harald Freiherr von Elverfeldt (born February 6, 1900 in Hildesheim , † March 6, 1945 in Cologne-Nippes ) was a German lieutenant general and commander of the 9th Panzer Division in World War II .

Life

family

Harald came from the noble family Elverfeldt and was the son of the Prussian major Ferdinand Johann Georg von Elverfeldt, who worked in the imperial embassy in St. Petersburg . Elverfeldt married Elizabeth von Berg in 1923 and had two daughters with her in 1924 and 1929.

Military career

During the First World War, Elverfeldt joined the 1st Guards Regiment on foot of the Prussian Army on March 25, 1918 as an ensign . On May 10, 1918, he was transferred to the regiment in the field, took part in the fighting on the Western Front and was awarded the Iron Cross, 2nd class.

After the armistice of Compiègne Elverfeldt returned with the remains of his regiment in the homeland and joined after the demobilization of the as volunteer corps in the Baltic active detachment of Schauroth on. He was then taken over as a lieutenant in the Reichswehr in April 1920 , initially employed in the 5th Reichswehr Infantry Regiment and transferred to the 9th (Prussian) Infantry Regiment on January 1, 1921 . Here he served in the following years as an orderly officer and as an adjutant of the training battalion. After his promotion to first lieutenant on January 1, 1926, he was assigned to the Dresden Infantry School from October 1926 to February 1927 and from October 1927 to March 1928 for a weapons training course in Döberitz . From October 1931 to April 1933 Elverfeldt completed his assistant leadership training with the headquarters of the 6th Division in Münster .

He was then made available to the Chief of Army Command and commanded to the Reichswehr Ministry . This was followed from June 1, 1933 to April 30, 1934, when he was assigned to the commandant's office in Berlin and was temporarily promoted to captain on September 1, 1933. Elverfeldt was then transferred to the Reichswehr Ministry, which was renamed the Reich War Ministry shortly afterwards, and here in the department T 5 used. As a major, he returned to service on October 12, 1937 and was company commander in the 83rd Infantry Regiment until November 9, 1938. Elverfeldt was then transferred to the staff of the 3rd Light Division as the first general staff officer.

With the division, Elverfeldt was involved in the attack on Poland at the beginning of the Second World War and received the repeat clasp for the Iron Cross 2nd class and the Iron Cross 1st class. On November 1, 1939, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel. Elverfeldt was also involved in the campaign in the west and in Operation Barbarossa , the attack on the Soviet Union in 1941. In March 1942 he was promoted to colonel and received the German Cross in Gold on March 16, 1942 . In the remainder of 1942 and early 1943 he took part in various anti- partisan operations ( Eisvogel company and Gypsy baron company ). In September 1943 he was promoted to major general and was from then on in the Crimea . After the 9th Panzer Division had fought in Normandy , Elverfeldt was assigned to lead the division on September 21, 1944 until he was wounded on December 28, 1944. For his achievements during this time, Elverfeldt was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on December 9, 1944 . On January 1, 1945, he was appointed commander of the 9th Panzer Division. Elverfeldt fell in a street fight in Cologne-Nippes.

On March 23, 1945, he was posthumously awarded the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (801st award) and retrospectively promoted to Lieutenant General on March 1, 1945.

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 3: Dahlmann – Fitzlaff. Biblio Publishing House. Osnabrück 1994. ISBN 3-7648-2443-3 . Pp. 329-330.
  • Samuel W. Mitcham Jr .: Panzer Commanders of the Western Front: German Tank Generals in WW II. Mechanicsburg PA. UNITED STATES. StackPole Books. ISBN 978-0-8117-3507-0 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c 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. 293.


personal data
SURNAME Elverfeldt, Harald von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Elverfeldt, Harald Freiherr von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Lieutenant General in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH February 6, 1900
PLACE OF BIRTH Hildesheim
DATE OF DEATH March 6, 1945
Place of death Cologne trinkets