Helmuth Weidling

Helmuth Weidling (1943)

Helmuth Otto Ludwig Weidling (born November 2, 1891 in Halberstadt , † November 17, 1955 in the Wladimirowka prison camp in Wladimir ) was a German artillery general in World War II .

Life

Weidling joined the field artillery regiment "von Peucker" (1st Silesian) No. 6 of the Prussian Army in Breslau in 1911 , then came to the airship battalion No. 1 in Berlin-Tegel and became a lieutenant on August 10, 1912 promoted. After the beginning of the First World War and the mobilization , Weidling was deployed on the Western Front . After training to become an airship commander, he drove as an officer on watch on various zeppelins and later took over the management of LZ 97 (hull number LZ 67) and LZ 113 (LZ 83) as commander. After the cessation of the army airships in the spring of 1917, he was transferred to the old weapon. There he was used as an artillery observer and battery leader in his main regiment. Weidling was awarded both classes of the Iron Cross , the Knight's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern with Swords and the Hanseatic Cross Lübeck, the Austrian Military Merit Cross III. Class with the war decorations and the commemorative badge for the crew of the airships .

After the end of the war, Weidling was accepted into the Reichswehr and on June 1, 1922, was appointed captain of the 4th Artillery Regiment . From January 1, 1931, he was chief of the 3rd battery of the regiment and then joined the staff of Infantry Leader I in the 1st Division in Königsberg . In this function he was appointed major on June 10, 1932 .

This was followed by the promotion on September 1, 1935 Lieutenant Colonel and on March 1, 1938 Colonel . On November 10, 1938, he became the commander of the 56th Artillery Regiment, with which he took part in the attack on Poland after the start of World War II . Subsequently, he was assigned to Artillery Regiment 20 and on April 10, 1940 to Artillery Commander  128 (Arko 128) at XXXX. Panzer Corps with which he took part in the French campaign from May 1940 . On February 1, 1942, he was appointed major general .

From June 1941 Weidling took part in the war against the Soviet Union . On January 1, 1942, he was commander of the 86th Infantry Division , in this capacity awarded the German Cross in Gold on June 23, 1942 , and promoted to Lieutenant General on January 1, 1943. On January 15, 1943, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross at the end of 1942 for the success of his division in repelling enemy attacks west of Rzhev . On October 20, 1943 he became the commanding general of the XXXXI. Armored Corps and promoted to General of Artillery on January 1, 1944. For his leadership in the heavy defensive battles between Pripjet and Beresina , he was awarded the Knight's Cross on February 22, 1944.

During the summer offensive of the Red Army in 1944 (" Operation Bagration ") his corps was almost completely destroyed. Only on the Vistula did he succeed in forming a new front line with the remnants of the unit. Weidling was awarded the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves on November 28, 1944. On April 10, 1945 he was transferred to the Führerreserve . On April 12, 1945 he became the commanding general of the LVI. Panzer Corps.

Memorial plaque on the house on Schulenburgring 2, in Berlin-Tempelhof

On April 22, 1945 he was sentenced to death by shooting due to a misunderstanding on the part of Adolf Hitler , but shortly afterwards after the sentence was overturned on April 24, 1945 he was appointed combat commander of the Battle of Berlin . In this activity he also explored the handover to the advancing Red Army , but was not allowed to surrender according to Hitler's instructions. After Hitler's suicide, he surrendered Berlin by giving the order to cease fighting in the morning hours of May 2, 1945. The command said accordingly:

“On April 30, 1945, the Führer committed suicide, abandoning everyone who had sworn allegiance to him. True to the order of the Fuehrer, you, German soldiers, were ready to continue the fight for Berlin, although your ammunition was running low and the general situation made further resistance pointless. I order the immediate cessation of all resistance. Every hour that you continue to fight prolongs the terrible suffering of the civilian population of Berlin and our wounded. In agreement with the high command of the Soviet troops, I urge you to stop fighting immediately. Weidling, former commander of the Berlin Defense Area. "

The wording of the surrender order differs from this text.

Helmuth Weidling died in 1955 in a Soviet prisoner of war to heart failure .

Trivia

In the film The Downfall , General Weidling is portrayed by Michael Mendl .

literature

• Hand Dollinger: The Decline and Fall of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 67-27047, Verlag Gramercy 1995, English ISBN 0-517-12399-1 ; Chancellor, 1997, ISBN 0-7537-0009-3 . The conversation with the Soviet generals before the handover is quoted on page 240.

Web links

Commons : Helmuth Weidling  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Reichswehr Ministry (Ed.): Ranking list of the German Reichsheeres. Mittler & Sohn Verlag, Berlin 1925, p. 135.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} 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. 773.