Hermann von Witzleben (Major General, 1892)

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Hermann Job Wilhelm von Witzleben (born March 19, 1892 in Langensalza , † August 27, 1976 in Munich ) was a German major general .

Life

origin

He came from the Thuringian noble family von Witzleben and was the eldest son of Major General Hermann von Witzleben (1864–1938).

Military career

Witzleben joined the 1st Brandenburg Dragoon Regiment No. 2 of the Prussian Army on October 15, 1911 as a flag junior . With a patent from November 19, 1912, he was promoted to lieutenant on November 15, 1912 .

He was promoted to colonel on August 1, 1938 . On November 24, 1938 he became Chief of the General Staff of the VII Army Corps . In this capacity he took part with the corps in the attack on Poland and in the western campaign. On November 1, 1940, he became Chief of the General Staff of the 2nd Army . In April 1941, the 2nd Army carried out successful attacks against Yugoslavia in the Balkan campaign . At the beginning of Operation Barbarossa , the 2nd Army was still an Army Reserve, but was then deployed on the southern wing of Army Group Center on the Eastern Front. Then she fought in the double battle near Vyazma and Bryansk . On October 26, 1941, v. Due to a serious illness, Witzleben was transferred to the Army Reserve Reserve, in which he was promoted to major general on June 1, 1942 .

From August 1, 1942, he was a German general (liaison officer) in the Hungarian 2nd Army on the Don Front south of Voronezh. He experienced the destruction of the Hungarian 2nd Army in Operation Ostrogoschsk-Rossosh , an offensive by the Red Army in January 1943. Field Marshal General (from February 1, 1943) Maximilian von Weichs , Commander in Chief of Army Group B , sent v. Witzleben to the commander of the Hungarian 2nd Army Colonel-General Gusztáv Jány on January 15, 1943 , in order to unofficially persuade him to order an immediate retreat, as an encirclement threatened during the ongoing attacks. v. Weichs himself did not want to give a direct withdrawal order because that would have contradicted Hitler's instructions. Jány then gave the order to withdraw on January 17th.

On August 1, 1943, v. Witzleben Commander of the newly established 243rd Infantry Division in France. On January 10, 1944, he had to give up command and was again transferred to the Führerreserve . Because of his relatives to the resistance fighter Erwin von Witzleben , Hermann von Witzleben was arrested by the Gestapo on November 20, 1944 . On December 31, 1944, he retired from military service.

In 1973 he was awarded the Cross of Merit 1st Class of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Works

  • Tactics primer. Open words publishing house, Berlin 1935.
  • Brief outline of the tactics. Open words publishing house, Berlin 1941.

literature

  • Gothaisches aristocratic paperback. Gotha 1940, p. 685.
  • Wolfgang Keilig : The Generals of the Army 1939–1945. Podzun-Pallas-Verlag, Friedberg 1983, ISBN 3-7909-0202-0 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Genealogical handbook of the nobility . Noble houses A Volume XXIV, Volume 111 of the complete series, CA Starke Verlag, Limburg (Lahn) 1996, ISSN  0431-1299 , p. 482.
  2. ↑ Wolfgang Keilig: The Generals of the Army 1939-1945. Podzun-Pallas-Verlag, Friedberg 1983, p. 375.
  3. ↑ Peter Gosztony. The Stalingrad of Hungarians In: The Time. Vol. 48, No. 2, 1993, ISSN  0044-2070 , p. 62.
  4. ↑ Wolfgang Keilig: The Generals of the Army 1939-1945. Podzun-Pallas-Verlag, Friedberg 1983, p. 375.
  5. ↑ Announcement of awards of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. In: Federal Gazette . Vol. 25, No. 111, June 16, 1973.
personal data
SURNAME Witzleben, Hermann von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Witzleben, Hermann Job Wilhelm von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German major general
DATE OF BIRTH March 19, 1892
PLACE OF BIRTH Langensalza
DATE OF DEATH August 27, 1976
Place of death Munich