Johannes Mayer (General)

Johannes Mayer (born September 6, 1893 in Stepenitz , Pritzwalk , † August 7, 1963 in Hamburg ) was a German officer , most recently general of the infantry in World War II .

Life

Johannes Mayer was born the son of a pastor. He attended the Schulpforta high school , where he passed his Abitur as the best in his class. He then took up a degree in theology .

At the beginning of the First World War he registered as a volunteer with the infantry regiment “Prince Moritz von Anhalt-Dessau” (5th Pomeranian) No. 42 . Mayer was promoted to lieutenant on November 5, 1915 (with a patent from March 23, 1914) and took part in the battles in France , Russia, Macedonia and Romania, most recently as first lieutenant and regimental adjutant . Because of his personal bravery, he was awarded the Iron Cross, 2nd and 1st class.

After the war, Mayer was accepted into the Reichswehr and promoted to captain in 1928 , but interrupted his military service to study economics at the University of Greifswald . He finished his studies with a doctorate as Dr. rer. pol., was then assigned to the Technical University of Charlottenburg , where he was also promoted to Dr. Ing. PhD. Mayer then worked in industrial companies and in the arms office until he returned to the troops in 1932.

In 1935 Mayer became a major tactics teacher at the war school in Potsdam . Promoted to Lieutenant Colonel on October 1, 1937 , he took over command of the 1st Battalion of the 65th Infantry Regiment in Delmenhorst on November 10, 1938, and in 1939 went into the field with an airborne battalion at the beginning of the Second World War. On February 6, 1940, Mayer was appointed Colonel in command of the newly established 501 Infantry Regiment and took part in the French campaign . The regiment excelled in breaking through the Weygand Line and taking Soissons . Then Mayer came to the Eastern Front with the 290th Infantry Division and was the first soldier in the division to receive the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on September 13, 1941 . In 1942 he led a snowshoe combat group that operated south of Staraya Russa . On March 27, 1942, Johannes Mayer took over the command of the 329th Infantry Division , which particularly proved itself during the opening of the Demjansk pocket and the defensive battles south of Lake Ilmen .

On April 1, 1942, Johannes Mayer was appointed major general and on February 1, 1943, lieutenant general.

Until he was wounded in July 1944, he led his division with great skill and was considered a commander with a particularly close bond with his soldiers. Because of his services, he was awarded the oak leaves on April 13, 1944 as the 453rd soldier and on August 23, 1944 as the 89th soldier the swords for the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.

After his recovery, John Mayer was promoted to general of infantry commander of the II. Corps and flew despite still incomplete recovery in the Courland Pocket until he be transferred to a military hospital because of his deteriorating health status in April 1945, had and Führerreserve of OKW displaced has been.

After the war he worked as an engineer in an industrial company.

Fonts

• Pricing and Price Checking in the War Economy. Hanseatische Verlagsanstalt, Hamburg 1937. (publications on war economics research and training)

literature

• Klaus Pape: 329th Infantry Division: Cholm - Demyansk - Courland. Scherzer's military publishing house. ISBN 3-938845-10-4

Web links

• Historic.de - biography and pictures

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{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. 532.