Joachim von Siegroth
Joachim von Siegroth and Schlawikau (born December 25, 1896 in Oberlobendau, Lower Silesia , † May 2, 1945 near Halbe ) was a German major general in the Wehrmacht.
Life
Siegroth attended the aristocratic monastery in Breslau from 1903 to 1907 and was educated in the cadet institution in Wahlstatt from 1907 . At Easter 1913 he was transferred to the main cadet school in Berlin, where he left in August 1914 as a portepée ensign . On August 11, 1914, he joined the Prussian Army as a flag junior . With the Fusilier Regiment "Graf Roon" (East Prussian) No. 33 , he took part in the First World War from August 1914 . In the battle of Tannenberg he suffered a severe leg wound from shrapnel. In 1915 he was promoted to lieutenant and wounded a second time. In the same year his brother also fell. From June 1918 until the end of the war it was used on the Western Front . Awarded the Iron Cross 2nd class, the Hanseatic Cross and the Wound Badge in black, he initially worked for the border guard in Sankt Annaberg / Upper Silesia after the end of the war , before Siegroth left military service in the course of reducing the army and went to the police in 1919 . There he was promoted to police captain in 1926 and to police major in 1933 as head of the higher police school Potsdam-Eiche .
On October 1, 1935 he was taken over as a major in the army of the Wehrmacht , where he came to the traditional 9th Infantry Regiment of the 23rd Infantry Division . On New Year's Day 1938 he became a tactics teacher at the Dresden War School . When mobilizing for the Second World War , he was initially at the Döberitz Infantry School before he became battalion commander in the 122nd Infantry Regiment on the Siegfried Line on January 26, 1939 .
In the second phase of the western campaign , he led the 1st Battalion of Infantry Regiment 122 u. a. in the heavy fighting on the Chemin des Dames . At the beginning of October 1940 he was regimental commander of the new Infantry / Grenadier Regiment 255, which he led in June 1941 in the association of the 110th Infantry Division in the German-Soviet War during the attack on Central Russia . The regiment fought near Vilna , Smolensk , Vyazma , Klin and Rzhev until the end of 1941 . On December 19, 1941 Siegroth received the German Cross in Gold.
On February 1, 1942 he was promoted to colonel and remained regimental commander, which was used throughout 1942 with the 9th Army in the Rshew area. From April 1943, the 110th Infantry Division was in action near Bryansk and on November 15, 1943, Siegroth, as Colonel and Commander of Grenadier Regiment 255, received the honorary clasp for his outstanding achievements in the fighting in the Kurbaki area. In the spring of 1944 he was on the 10th division leader course in Hirschberg and was then commander of the Fahnenjunkerschule VI in Metz on July 1, 1944 . With a combat group from the school, he proved himself in the battle for Metz , especially in the defense of the Crown Prince Fortress . For this he received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on October 18, 1944 . To commemorate the successful deployment of the combat group named after him, the Metz 1944 cuff bracelet was donated on October 24, 1944 at his suggestion , for which he was authorized to award.
Since February 1, 1945 he was in command of the 712th Infantry Division on the Oder near Küstrin and led it in the battle of the Seelow Heights . After he was proposed to Eichenlaub by General of the Infantry Theodor Busse on April 19, 1945 , he and his division were trapped in the Halbe pocket six days before the Wehrmacht surrendered and probably fell there while attempting to break out. The exact circumstances are still unknown.
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Count Matthias von Schmettow, Ingrid Countess von Schmettow (Hrsg.): Memorial book of the German nobility: supplement. CA Starke Verlag, Limburg (Lahn) 1980, p. 46.
- ↑ a b c 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. 705.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Siegroth, Joachim von |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Siegroth and Schlawikau, Joachim Ferdinand Max von (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German major general in World War II |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 25, 1896 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Oberlobendau, Lower Silesia |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 2, 1945 |
| Place of death | at half |