Heinz Günther Guderian

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Heinz Günther Guderian (born August 23, 1914 in Goslar ; † September 25, 2004 in Bonn - Bad Godesberg ) was a German officer in the Wehrmacht and the Bundeswehr . In the Bundeswehr he was, among other things, stage manager of the tank troops and general of the combat troops in the Army Office .

Life

Guderian was born as the son of the later colonel general of the German armed forces Heinz Guderian . After he had finished school with the Abitur in Berlin-Zehlendorf , he entered the military on April 1, 1933 as a flag boy . He began his career in the motor vehicle department 3 in Wünsdorf . On April 1, 1935, he was promoted to lieutenant . He was then platoon leader , department and regimental adjutant and finally company commander in Panzer Regiment 1 in Erfurt and in Panzer Regiment 35 in Bamberg .

At the beginning of the Second World War he was awarded the Iron Cross, 2nd and 1st class, during the attack on Poland . During the western campaign he was wounded twice. In 1942 he attended the War Academy and was then employed in the staff of various tank units. From May 1944 he was a member of the General Staff of the 116th Panzer Division as Ia and stayed there until the end of the World War. On October 5th, as a major , he received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross for leading the remains of his division out of the Falaise pocket . Guderian took part in the Ardennes offensive and the fighting in the Huertgen Forest . The war ended for Guderian in April 1945 with the surrender in the Ruhr basin .

In 1947 Guderian was released from prisoner-of-war captivity and subsequently became involved in the Gehlen organization for several years . In 1956 he joined the Bundeswehr as an officer. In the Bundeswehr, Guderian was first commander of tank battalions 3 and 174, then he was commander of tank brigade 14 . He became head of department and subdivision in the command staff of the army and finally stage manager of the armored forces and general of the combat forces.

From the GDR propaganda he was listed in the 1960s under "Hitler General Staff in the command posts of the Bundeswehr" in the so-called Brown Book .

Family grave in Goslar

In 1972 Guderian was awarded the Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and retired in 1974.

In retirement, Guderian published on military history topics. In his book The Last Year of the War in the West , he described the history of the 116th Panzer Division and examined, among other things, the question of whether the division was withheld on D-Day to enable overturning plans against Hitler or whether it was to be retained as a reserve acted for a feared second invasion. He came to the conclusion that historiography could not clarify such secret plans.

Publications

  • Heinz Günther Guderian: The last year of the war in the West: The history of the 116th Panzer Division, Greyhound Division, 1944–1945 . 2., revised. Edition. SZ-Offsetdruck-Verlag, Sankt Augustin 1997, ISBN 3-932436-01-6 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 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. 354.
  2. ↑ Norbert Podewin (Ed.): "Brown Book". War and Nazi criminals in the Federal Republic and West Berlin. State, economy, administration, army, justice, science. Edition Ost, Berlin 2002. ISBN 3-360-01033-7 (reprint of the 3rd edition from 1968), p. 225
  3. ↑ Announcement of awards of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. In: Federal Gazette . Vol. 25, No. 85, May 8, 1973.
personal data
SURNAME Guderian, Heinz Günther
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German officer
DATE OF BIRTH August 23, 1914
PLACE OF BIRTH Goslar
DATE OF DEATH September 25, 2004
Place of death Bonn