Hermann Breith

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Hermann Breith shortly after the award of the swords to the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on February 24, 1944 in the rank of General of the Armored Force

Hermann Albert Breith (born May 7, 1892 in Pirmasens ; † September 3, 1964 in Pech ) was a German officer , most recently a general of the armored forces in World War II, and holder of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords.

Life

Hermann Breith first attended elementary school for three and a half years and then for seven and a half years the Progymnasium in his hometown and another grammar school in Kaiserslautern . He then went to Berlin to work there for two and a half months at the Dr. Fishermen to spend. On April 16 1910 he finally entered as a cadet in the Infantry Regiment "Margrave Karl" (7 Brandenburg) no. 60 in White Castle , where he was appointed a cadet corporal on 13 August 1910. In the same year, Breith was assigned to the war school in Hersfeld , where he received his certificate of maturity as an ensign on November 10, 1910 . He then continued to serve in his regular regiment, where he was appointed lieutenant on September 13, 1911 .

First World War

After the outbreak of World War I , Breith and his regiment were initially involved in border guard battles in Lorraine , which lasted from August 9th to 19th, 1914. He was then used from August 23 to September 11, 1914 in the Battle of Nancy-Epinal, then from September 23 to October 6, 1914 in the Battle of the Somme. On October 12, 1914, Breith was transferred to the "Hessen-Homburg" Infantry Regiment No. 166, where he became the leader of the MG company. Subsequently, the fronts on the Somme stagnated, so that Breith took part in the trench warfare from October 7 to December 31, 1914. As early as December 5, 1914, he was recalled as a company commander and appointed adjutant of III. Battalion has been appointed. In this function, Breith was then, from January 1 to March 24, 1915, involved in further trench warfare on the Somme. On April 12, 1915, he returned to his main regiment and was again given command of the MG company, with which he was involved in the fighting over the Priesterwald from May 1915 until the end of the year. Here Breith was appointed regimental adjutant on September 4, 1915. The fighting in the priest forest dragged on until March 1, 1916. Immediately thereafter, the regiment was relocated near Verdun , where Breith and his machine-gun company got into the battle for Verdun . His deployment here lasted from March 11th to April 20th, 1916. Immediately afterwards, his company was again involved in the trench warfare on the Somme and Oise (May 7th to June 23rd 1916), and then from June 25th to June 9th, 1916. To take part in the Battle of the Somme July 1916 .

After heavy losses, the regiment was withdrawn from the western front , refreshed at home and transferred to the eastern front from mid-July 1916 . There Breith and his company were involved in the battle for Kovel , which lasted from July 28 to November 4, 1916. During the following battles on the upper Styr - Stochod (November 5 to December 17, 1916), Breith was promoted to first lieutenant (with patent) effective November 25 . At the turn of the year 1916/1917, the positional battles between Smorgon and the battle of Lake Naratsch began for him and his machine-gun company , which lasted until May 18, 1917.

Then his regiment was transferred back to the Western Front, where Breith and his unit were involved in the fighting before and in the Siegfried Line from June 12 to July 8, 1917. From August 16 to September 23, 1917, Breith was deployed as part of the Third Battle of Flanders and was then involved in the Franco-German fighting between the Meuse and Moselle (October 6 to October 20, 1917). On this October 20, 1917 he was first assigned to the staff of the 121st Infantry Division , where he was appointed Ordonnanzoffizier in the staff on October 22, 1917. From April 30 to July 31, 1918 he was again involved in the trench warfare in Flanders. During this time Breith was entrusted with the management of the business as adjutant of the 241st Infantry Brigade . While maintaining his adjutantage he was transferred back to the infantry regiment "Margrave Karl" (7th Brandenburgisches) No. 60 on July 18, 1918, in order to then take part in the further fighting between Oise and Aisne . From August 10 to September 8, 1918 he was used in the defensive battle between Somme and Aisne. During this time, Breith was appointed adjutant of the 241st Infantry Brigade on August 14, 1918 .

In the last months of the First World War, Breith was still deployed in the battle between Cambrai and St. Quentin (September 9 to October 8, 1918) and in the battles for the Hermann position (October 9 to November 4, 1918). On November 12, 1918, the occupied territories were evacuated and Breith and his company set out on the march home.

Interwar period

Promotions

  • August 13, 1910 Ensign NCO
  • December 20, 1910 Ensign with patent
  • September 13, 1911 Lieutenant with patent
  • November 25, 1916 First lieutenant with patent
  • July 1, 1922 seniority from November 25, 1916 received
  • March 17, 1924 Hauptmann with effect from March 1, 1924
  • December 1, 1933 Major
  • April 20, 1936 Lieutenant Colonel with effect from April 1, 1936
  • December 31, 1938 Colonel with effect from January 1, 1939
  • July 12, 1941 Major General with effect from August 1, 1941
  • November 16, 1942 Lieutenant General with effect from November 1, 1942
  • February 13, 1943 General of the Panzer Force with effect from March 1, 1943

On January 3, 1919, Breith's company in Bad Orb was demobilized. Subsequently, on January 6, 1919, he was transferred to the replacement battalion of the 60th Infantry Regiment, where he was appointed regimental adjutant on February 13. However, he only kept this position for a few months, from May 17, 1919 he was transferred to the cycling company of the von Lettow division . On September 1, 1919, he was transferred to the Reichswehr-Schützen-Regiment 18 , where he initially acted as a company officer in the 1st MG Company from December 16, 1919 and rose to Adjutant of the 1st Battalion on February 16, 1920. From September 1920 to November 1921 he moved as an adjutant first to the 17th Infantry Regiment and then to the 6th Infantry Regiment , where he passed the military district examination on March 13, 1922. Then he was in the staff of III. Battalion, where he was promoted to captain on March 17, 1924 . On October 1, 1925, Breith moved to the 6th Motor Vehicle Department and was then, from January 1, 1927, company commander of the 1st Company of the 1st Motor Vehicle Department . At the end of 1928 he completed a gas protection course in Berlin and in October 1929 another course at the motor vehicle training command of the 3rd motor vehicle department .

On June 1, 1931, Breith was assigned to the Reichswehr Ministry, where he worked as a consultant for tanks and anti-tank defense from October 1, 1931. Here he received his promotion to major on December 1, 1933 . On August 1, 1934, he was transferred to the motor vehicle training command in Zossen , before he became commander of the 2nd Division of the 5th Panzer Regiment in Wünsdorf on October 15, 1935 . He then held this position for almost three years before he was appointed commander of the 36th Panzer Regiment on November 10, 1938 .

Second World War

Hermann Breith (center) in conversation with General of the Panzer Force Werner Kempf (right) and Lieutenant General Walter Chales de Beaulieu (left) during the Citadel operation near Kursk on June 21, 1943

As commander of the 36th Panzer Regiment, Breith was involved in the Blitzkrieg against Poland as part of the 4th Panzer Division , whose armored spearheads only came to a standstill before Warsaw. Subsequently, on February 15, 1940, he was given command of the 5th Panzer Brigade . This brigade served as the command staff for Panzer Regiments 35 and 36, which in turn were subordinate to the 4th Panzer Division.

With the 5th Panzer Brigade , Breith took part in the campaign in the west via Belgium , where he was wounded in a gun battle on May 15, 1940. During this tank battle, which took place near Merdorp , his tank brigade destroyed more than 30 French tanks, for which he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on June 3, 1940 as Colonel and Commander of the 5th Tank Brigade. After the end of the campaign in the west, Breith was first assigned to the Army High Command (OKH) on November 14, 1940, where he was assigned to the staff of the General of the Rapid Troops. On January 25, 1941, he again took command of the 5th Panzer Brigade , which was tactically subordinate to the 3rd Panzer Division . However, on June 3, 1941, Breith was first transferred to the OKH's Führerreserve based in Schweinfurt . On July 7, 1941 he was assigned to the staff of the General of the Rapid Troops, where he was promoted to Major General on July 12, 1941 .

On October 16, 1941, Breith was transferred to the headquarters of the 3rd Panzer Division ( Army Group Center ), whose command he took over on October 22, 1941. This division was then involved in the Battle of Moscow until the beginning of December 1941 and then went into defensive position in the Kursk area until the end of February 1942. During one of these defensive battles, on January 30, 1942, the 3rd Panzer Division to the northeast of Kursk made several successful counterattacks, which led to high tank losses on the part of the Red Army. For these achievements, Breith was awarded the Oak Leaves Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on January 31, 1942, and he and his division were mentioned in the Wehrmacht report of January 31, 1942.

In March 1942, Breith's Panzer Division was relocated to Kharkov , where it was subordinated to Army Group South . After the beginning of the Blue case , the Panzer Division crossed as part of the XXXX. Panzer Corps with the 1st Panzer Army down the Don at Nikolayevka. At the end of September 1942 he gave up command of the Panzer Division, only to be reassigned to the Fuehrer's Reserve on October 2, 1942. Here he was promoted to lieutenant general on November 16, 1942 . With effect from January 1, 1943, Breith was assigned to the staff of Army Group A , where he was at the disposal of General Ewald von Kleist . Just two days later, on January 3, 1943, he was appointed to lead the III. Panzer Corps (Army Group South), whose commanding general he became on March 1, 1943. He had previously been appointed General of the Panzer Force with effect from February 13, 1943 . The Panzer Corps fought under his command from March 1943 in the Donets Basin , near Kharkov and Belgorod , in the Citadel company and at the end of the year on the Dnepr .

In the course of the main detachment attack of the Cherkassy pocket in February 1944, the armored divisions under the leadership of Breith enabled the German units to break out partially. During the fighting, which lasted until February 18, 1944, 728 tanks of the Red Army were destroyed. For these achievements of his Panzer Corps, Breith was awarded the Swords for Oak Leaves of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on February 21, 1944, as the 48th bearer. He and his units had previously been mentioned again in the Wehrmacht report of February 20, 1944. The Panzer Corps then fought in Kamenez-Podolsk , Galicia , Zloczow ( Poland ) and on the Vistula .

At the beginning of September 1944 the Panzer Corps was on the Vistula bridgehead west of Baranow , where the generals of the armored forces Hermann Breith and Fritz-Hubert Gräser and the general of the infantry Hermann Recknagel tried unsuccessfully to remove the Soviet bridgehead. The Red Army lost 650 tanks and self-propelled guns between August 3 and September 7, 1944, for which Breith's Panzer Corps and himself were mentioned for the third time in the Wehrmacht report on September 9, 1944. After that, the Panzer Corps was moved to Hungary under Breith , where it was then involved in heavy fighting with the Hungarian armed forces. In October 1944 it was in the Debrecen area . For the three-week defensive battle in southern Hungary, Breith and his tank corps were mentioned again in the Wehrmacht report on October 30, 1944. The Panzer Corps then took part in the Battle of Budapest and the remnants of the corps withdrew under his leadership until April 1945 via the southern Hungarian region into the Alpine foothills and Austria , where Breith and the remaining units surrendered to the American troops on May 8, 1945 . In May 1947 he was released from captivity .

Awards

literature

  • Manfred Dörr: The Knight's Cross Bearers of the German Wehrmacht , Part VIIIa Panzertruppe Volume 1 A – E, pp. 190–194
  • Dermot Bradley : The Generals of the Army 1921-1945 Volume 2: Bl-Cz , Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1993, ISBN 3-7648-2423-9 .

Web links

Commons : Hermann Breith  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Ranking list of the German Reichsheeres , Ed .: Reichswehrministerium , Mittler & Sohn Verlag , Berlin 1930, p. 139.
  2. ↑ 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. 242.
personal data
SURNAME Breith, Hermann
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Breith, Hermann Albert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German officer, most recently General of the Armored Force in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH May 7, 1892
PLACE OF BIRTH Pirmasens
DATE OF DEATH 3rd September 1964
Place of death bad luck