Joachim Witthöft

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Joachim Witthöft (born September 23, 1887 in Marienwerder ; † July 7, 1966 in Dalheim-Rödgen ) was a German army and police officer , most recently General of the Infantry of the Wehrmacht .

Life

On March 12, 1906, Witthöft joined the Prussian Army as a flag junior and served in the 3rd Thuringian Infantry Regiment No. 71 . After attending the war school with a patent on February 14, 1906, promoted to lieutenant , he worked as a trainer at the Biebrich non-commissioned school, where he moved to Wetzlar . After the First World War he was retired from military service as a captain on January 17, 1920 . He went to the police , where he rose from major to colonel .

On April 1, 1936, when he was accepted as a colonel in the Wehrmacht, Witthöft was appointed commander of the 6th Infantry Regiment in Lübeck on October 6, 1936 and, two years later, the 26th Infantry Regiment in Düsseldorf . By October 1, 1938, he had received his promotion to major general . During the mobilization for the Second World War in the summer of 1939, he became the commander of the new 86th Infantry Division on August 26, 1939 . After taking up positions with her in the West, he led her in the western campaign in the spring of 1940 and stayed with her as an occupying force in France until the summer of 1941.

Since October 1, 1940 Lieutenant General , Witthöft led from July 1941 his division in the Eastern campaign in the Army Group Center . At the beginning of 1942 with the leadership of the XXVII. Commissioned Army Corps in Central Russia and promoted to General of the Infantry on March 1, 1942, he was Commanding General of the XXVII. Army Corps. On June 30, 1942, he handed over his command to Lieutenant General Walter Weiss and was transferred to the Führerreserve . On July 21, 1942 he was Commanding General of security troops and commander of army area B . In February 1943 he was appointed Commander Army Area South by renaming the staff .

Since August 26, 1943, Witthöft was the successor of Valentin Feurstein responsible for the countermeasures in the Axis case . On September 10, 1943, he ordered "that permission to replenish your own equipment from the Italian army should in no case lead to looting or attacks by individuals that would defile the honor of the German soldier" . In addition, the Italian prisoners of war should be granted all reasonable facilities. In October 1943 Witthöft was appointed military commander in Northern Italy .

Three days after the failed attack on Adolf Hitler on July 20, 1944 , Gerd von Tresckow revealed himself to his superior General Joachim Witthöft as an accomplice to the conspiracy. He was arrested and taken to the Lehrter Strasse cell prison in Berlin. As a result of the "exacerbated interrogations" (torture) carried out by members of the Reich Security Main Office, Gerd von Tresckow died on September 6th in the state police hospital. He has been driven to suicide and tries to cut his wrists.

From May to September 1944 Joachim Witthöft was in command of the Venetian Coast . After seven months in the Führerreserve, he was appointed Special Representative to Commander- in -Chief West on March 16, 1945 and in April 1945 as Commanding General of the General Command "Witthöft", which he under General Field Marshal Ernst Busch in the Lüneburg Heath until the surrender on May 8, 1945 led.

On May 11, 1945, the British Army assigned him responsibility for security and order in restricted area G for a few months.

Awards

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Prussian War Ministry (ed.): Ranking list of the Royal Prussian Army and the XIII. (Royal Württemberg) Army Corps for 1914. Ernst Siegfried Mittler & Son . Berlin 1914. p. 348.
  2. ↑ Barbara Orth: Gestapo in the operating room: Report by the hospital doctor Charlotte Pommer . Lukas, Berlin 2012, p. 50.
personal data
SURNAME Witthöft, Joachim
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German army and police officer, most recently general of the infantry in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH September 23, 1887
PLACE OF BIRTH Marienwerder
DATE OF DEATH July 7, 1966
Place of death Dalheim-Rödgen