Hermann Recknagel (General)

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Hermann Recknagel (born July 18, 1892 in Hofgeismar , † January 23, 1945 near Petrikau ) was a German officer , most recently general of the infantry in World War II .

family

Recknagel was born in the shrub mill on the Lempe between the two present-day Hofgeismar districts of Carlsdorf and Gesundbrunnen . He was the youngest son of the landlord Adolf Recknagel and his wife Maria, née von Hof. Recknagel married Carola von Hertzberg on October 28, 1924 in Beulwitz (born February 23, 1903 in Borkau , † September 19, 1961 in Kassel ).

career

First World War

After his school days he joined the infantry regiment "von Wittich" (3rd Kurhessisches) No. 83 as an officer candidate on September 25, 1913 . Shortly after the outbreak of the First World War , he was promoted to lieutenant on August 6, 1914 and transferred with his regiment to the Western Front, where he served as platoon leader . At the end of 1914 the regiment was deployed on the Eastern Front . He was wounded several times in the fighting there. As regimental adjutant, Recknagel was promoted to first lieutenant on April 18, 1918 .

Interwar period

After his conditional discharge at the end of the war, Recknagel first joined the Maercker Freikorps , but was then taken over into the Reichswehr's 200,000-man transitional army in June 1919 when the Maercker Freikorps (the so-called Freiwillige Landesjägerkorps) became Reichswehr Brigade 16 in the army was taken over. There he served first in the staff of this brigade in Weimar , then from October 1, 1919 in the Reichswehr Infantry Regiment 32 of Reichswehr Brigade 16, also in Weimar. From October 1, 1920 he served in the 12th Infantry Regiment in Halberstadt . In 1921 he became an adjutant in the same regiment. From October 1, 1921 to September 30, 1922, he was assigned to the 4th Artillery Regiment in Dresden for the training of assistant leaders (the camouflaged general staff training) . From October 1, 1922, he served again in his regular regiment in Halberstadt, where he became regimental adjutant on November 1, 1923 and was promoted to captain on October 1, 1926 . From April 1, 1928 he was chief of the 14th company, and in 1930 he switched to the 7th company of the regiment in Quedlinburg .

On August 1, 1934, he was promoted to major and on October 1, 1934 he was appointed commander of the 2nd Battalion of the Glogau Infantry Regiment , which was renamed to 54th Infantry Regiment on October 15, 1935 when it was exposed. In this position he was promoted to lieutenant colonel on March 1, 1937 .

Second World War

Shortly before the start of the Second World War, Recknagel was appointed commander of the regiment on August 26, 1939, which he initially commanded during the attack on Poland . On February 1, 1940 he became a colonel , and from May 1940 he led his regiment in the western campaign . For the conquest of the city of Dunkirk by his regiment, he received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on August 5, 1940 .

After the end of the fighting in France, the regiment was relocated to the east in preparation for Operation Barbarossa and was there with the start of the attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941. On July 15, 1941, Recknagel was wounded near Vinnytsia in the Ukraine . After a stay in the hospital and recovery, Recknagel was initially commissioned from January 1, 1942 to lead the 111th Infantry Division, and on May 1, 1942, he was appointed its commander while being promoted to major general . As such, he was promoted to lieutenant general on June 1, 1943 .

From August 15 to August 31, 1943, he commanded, under Army High Command 6 , the Recknagel Corps Group , which had been trapped on the Sea of ​​Azov north of Taganrog , but was then able to free itself from the encirclement; for this Recknagel received on November 6, 1943 the oak leaves for the Knight's Cross. From September 1, 1943, he again commanded his previous division. On October 30, 1943, he was briefly transferred to the Führerreserve and then on November 15, 1943 to Special Staff I (Operations Department East) in the Army High Command (OKH), which he headed until February 25, 1944. In March 1944 Recknagel was with the reorganization of the XXXXII. Army Corps instructed. On April 28th he was given the deputy leadership and on June 15th with the leadership of this corps as commander. On July 1, 1944 he was promoted to general of the infantry and at the same time to commanding general of the XXXXII. Army Corps appointed. He was awarded the Knight's Cross on October 23, 1944 for his work in the fighting of retreat in the Balkans .

After that was his corps - the 72nd , 88th , 291st and 342nd Infantry Division - in the winter of 1944-45 as part of the 17th Army and Army Group A on the defensive battles against the Red Army involved. When the Army Group collapsed in January 1945, the corps was encircled in the bend of the Vistula in eastern Poland and attempted to reestablish the connection with the German front, which had meanwhile been pushed far to the west , in fierce battles with Soviet army troops and Polish partisans . Most of the corps was destroyed by January 23. Recknagel himself was shot on January 23, 1945 by partisans between Petrikau and Tomaszów Mazowiecki .

Awards

swell

  • Ranking list of the German Reichsheeres , Ed .: Reichswehr Ministry , Mittler & Sohn Verlag, Berlin 1920–1921; 1923-1932.
  • Occupation of the German Reichsheeres , Ed .: Reichswehrministerium, Berlin 1933–1934.
  • Occupation of the German Army , Ed .: Heerespersonalamt , Berlin 1935–1938.
  • Ranking list of the German Army 1944/45 , publisher: Heerespersonalamt.
  • Florian Berger: With oak leaves and swords. The most highly decorated soldiers of the Second World War. Self-published by Florian Berger, 2000, ISBN 3-9501307-0-5 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ On October 1, 1934, the formation of the 18th Infantry Division began in Silesia , but the open designation was not used until October 15, 1934. The 54th Infantry Regiment was composed of the 2nd Battalion Glogau and parts of the 12th Infantry Regiment from Halberstadt.
  2. ↑ It consisted of the 336th Infantry Division , the 17th Infantry Division , the 15th Air Force Field Division , parts of the 13th Panzer Division and his own 111th Infantry Division.
  3. ↑ a b c d Ranking list of the German Reichsheeres , Ed .: Reichswehrministerium , Mittler & Sohn Verlag, Berlin 1930, p. 144.
  4. ↑ a b Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearer 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. 616.
personal data
SURNAME Recknagel, Hermann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German officer and general of the infantry
DATE OF BIRTH July 18, 1892
PLACE OF BIRTH Hofgeismar
DATE OF DEATH January 23, 1945
Place of death Piotrków Trybunalski