Helmut Bechler

Helmut Bernard Franz Bechler (born June 2, 1898 in green ; † January 9, 1971 in Kassel ) was a German major general in the Wehrmacht in World War II .

Life

He came from the Bechler family of merchants and industrialists in Vogtland .

During the First World War , Bechler joined the 16th Royal Saxon Infantry Regiment No. 182 on June 10, 1915 as a flag junior . After the end of the war, Bechler came to the storm infantry regiment of the Guard Cavalry Rifle Division at the end of March 1919 as platoon leader and deputy adjutant of the 1st Battalion . In June 1919 he was accepted into the provisional Reichswehr until Bechler was finally released from active military service on December 31, 1920.

Bechler took part in the war against Poland at the beginning of the Second World War in September 1939 as a major and battalion leader and from May 1940 in the western campaign. From 22 June 1941, he took in the section 87th Infantry Division on Operation Barbarossa , the German invasion of the Soviet Union in part. Appointed lieutenant colonel on January 18, 1942 , he took over the command of the 173 infantry regiment on the Eastern Front on February 25, 1942 . Promoted to colonel on February 15, 1943 , he commanded the 504 Grenadier Regiment of the 291st Infantry Division from October 15, 1943 . In March 1944, when the 1st Panzer Army withdrew from Schepetowka to Proskurow , his regiment was trapped in a wandering cauldron . For the latter service, Bechler received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on March 26, 1944 . On October 11, 1944, he was assigned the deputy command of the 275th Infantry Division . This was followed from November 22, 1944, the deputy leadership of the 85th Infantry Division on the Western Front until Bechler was commissioned on December 7, 1944 with the leadership of this large unit . In this position, promoted to major general on January 30, 1945, he was seriously wounded in the battle in the Huertgen Forest on February 4, 1945. Bechler was then in a hospital , was on 15 March 1945 in the Führerreserve added, and in the military hospital after Koenigstein im Taunus transferred.

literature

• Dermot Bradley , 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 1: Abberger – Bitthorn. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1993, ISBN 3-7648-2423-9 , pp. 247-248.

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. 208.