Heinz Ziegler

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Heinz Ziegler (born May 19, 1894 in Darkehmen , † August 21, 1972 in Göttingen ) was a German officer , most recently general of the artillery in World War II .

Life

Ziegler was before the outbreak of the First World War officer and served in the war as a lieutenant various artillery - regiments . He was later accepted into the Reichswehr . From the mid-1920s he was alternately deployed with the troop service in the Reichswehr Ministry, where he took care of organizational matters.

In the meantime , Ziegler was promoted to Colonel and became Chief of Staff in the General Army Office , which coordinated the Wehrmacht's substitute system. In this function he became an important confidante of the then head of office General Friedrich Fromm . When he was appointed commander of the replacement army on September 1, 1939 , Ziegler remained its chief of staff until he was appointed chief of staff in Wehrkreis IV (Dresden) on September 13 . On February 1, 1940, he took over the position of Chief of Staff of the XXXXII. Army corps , which took part in the western campaign , but without seeing major operations. After a period of occupation on the Channel Coast , the corps was relocated to the Eastern Front in August 1941 , where it participated in the Leningrad blockade . In autumn 1941 the corps was transferred to the 11th Army (General Erich von Manstein ) to participate in the upcoming conquest of the Crimea . After the breakthrough through the Isthmus of Ishun, the army high command wanted to overtake the defeated Soviet troops in order to relocate them to Simferopol , Kerch or Sevastopol . However, there was no quick bandage. Therefore, an improvised motorized brigade was put together from a Romanian motorized regiment, as well as German reconnaissance and artillery departments, and Ziegler took over its command. Ziegler's "Brigade" advanced south across the Alma and reached the coast near Yalta. In doing so, it had blocked the route to Sevastopol for many Soviet associations, but could not attack the fortress itself.

In the spring of 1942, Ziegler, meanwhile Major General , was transferred back to Berlin, where he again served with the chief of the replacement army. At the end of the year, Ziegler's career took another turn. In December 1942 he was promoted to lieutenant general and appointed deputy commander-in-chief of the 5th Panzer Army in Tunis . That was unusual in that the regular cast in the German army had no substitutes. The new commander-in-chief, Colonel - General Hans-Jürgen von Arnim , did not have a high opinion of his deputy, who had not yet led anything bigger than a brigade. On February 20, 1943, Ziegler took over the leadership of the German Africa Corps for the wounded General Gustav Fehn , before he was transferred to the staff of Army Group Africa at the beginning of March 1943 . Although he was not an outstanding troop leader, he succeeded with the destruction of 98 tanks of the 1st Armored Division , which earned him the knight's cross .

Ziegler was evacuated before the fall of the Tunis bridgehead and, from May 24, 1943, headed the reorganization of the 334th Infantry Division . From October 20 to November 25, 1943 he represented General Hermann Breith as commander of the III. Panzer Corps on the Eastern Front. On January 1, 1944, Ziegler reached the high point of his career when he was promoted to general of the artillery . In February 1944 he became head of a combing commission ("Special Commissioner for the Standardization of Defense Economic Organizations"), which was supposed to replace the Unruh Commission . Colonel i. G. Curt Pollex appointed. He continued to be very close to Colonel General Fromm. After he was arrested after the assassination attempt on July 20, 1944 , Ziegler went to the SD to testify in favor of Fromm, but this was in vain. From October 24 to November 22, 1944, Ziegler was Commander-in-Chief of the 14th Army in Italy . He was then transferred to the Führerreserve and no longer used.

Ziegler was captured by the Allies. After he returned, he settled in Göttingen , where he died on August 21, 1972.

Awards

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Bernhard R. Kroener: Friedrich Fromm - Eine Biographie , Paderborn / Munich / Vienna / Zurich 2005, pp. 453, 480.
  2. ^ A b Samuel W. Mitcham: Rommel's Desert Commanders - The Men who Served the Desert Fox , Westport 2007, p. 168.
  3. ↑ Erich von Manstein: Verlorene Siege , Munich 1976, p. 229f.
  4. ↑ 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. 805.
  5. ^ A b Samuel W. Mitcham : Rommel's Desert Commanders - The Men who Served the Desert Fox , Westport 2007, p. 170.
  6. ^ Bernhard R. Kroener: Friedrich Fromm - Eine Biographie , Paderborn / Munich / Vienna / Zurich 2005, p. 642.
  7. ^ Bernhard R. Kroener: Friedrich Fromm - Eine Biographie , Paderborn / Munich / Vienna / Zurich 2005, p. 722.
  8. ↑ 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. 370 .
personal data
SURNAME Ziegler, Heinz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German officer, most recently general of the artillery in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH May 19, 1894
PLACE OF BIRTH Darkehmen
DATE OF DEATH August 21, 1972
Place of death Goettingen