Karl-Friedrich von der Meden
Karl-Friedrich von der Meden , also Carl Friedrich (born December 3, 1896 in Samplau , † December 26, 1961 in Hanover ) was a German lieutenant general in the Wehrmacht during the Second World War .
Life
Karl-Friedrich von der Meden was the son of the manor owner Julius Otto von der Meden and the Adelheid Anna Elise Papendieck.
At the beginning of the First World War on August 18, 1914, Meden joined the hunter battalion No. 12 of the Saxon Army in Saint-Avold as a war volunteer . On December 31, 1914, he transferred to the Jäger Regiment 4 in Graudenz as a flag boy . With a patent from April 1, he became a lieutenant on August 18, 1917 and was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd class for his services . After the end of the war he was accepted into the Reichswehr , where he a. a. served in the 1st (Prussian) cavalry regiment and rose to first lieutenant on April 1, 1925 . Between October 1, 1928 and September 30, 1930, he was posted to the cavalry school in Hanover and on February 1, 1932, he was appointed squadron chief.
In the further course of his military career he rose in the newly founded Wehrmacht on April 1, 1933 to Rittmeister and on October 1, 1936 to major .
After the outbreak of the Second World War, he fought as commander of the reconnaissance division 12 in the Polish and Western campaigns , on March 1, 1940 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel. After the attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941, Lieutenant Colonel Meden was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on August 8, 1941 . Reconnaissance Division 12 stood on the northern section of the Eastern Front and took part in the Leningrad blockade . Meden was promoted to colonel on October 1, 1941 , took over the 1st Rifle Regiment on February 1, 1942 with which he took part in the Demyansk Kessel Battle . After his unit for Panzer Grenadier Regiment 1 was not named, which took place on July 5, 1942, Meden came into the Führer Reserve for the first time on March 14, 1943 . Four months later, on July 22nd, he was assigned the command of the 17th Panzer Division . On October 1, 1943, after being promoted to major general, he took command of this armored division. His troops took part in the Battle of the Dnieper , the Dnepr-Carpathian Operation and the Cherkassy Kettle Battle (Korsun-Shevchenkovsky Offensive). The 17th Panzer Division was also used in the Kamenez-Podolski Kessel Battle and also in the Lviv-Sandomierz operation . On July 1, 1944, Meden was promoted to Lieutenant General. Relocated to the Fuehrer's Reserve on September 20, 1944, he took over command of Panzer Division No. 178 on October 1, 1944. After this Panzer Division was disbanded in January 1945, large parts of it were transferred to the Tatra Panzer Division . From February 6, 1945 Meden acted as commander of the "Special Staff of the Meden" in the section of the 4th Panzer Army in Silesia. After the end of the war until 1947 in American captivity. Most recently in the general camp in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. He had been married to Anneliese von Wedderkop since September 3, 1921.
Individual evidence
- ↑ 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. 533.
- ↑ a b Reichswehr Ministry (Ed.): Ranking list of the German Reichsheeres. ES Mittler & Sohn , Berlin 1924, p. 190.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Meden, Karl-Friedrich von der |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Meden, Carl-Friedrich von der |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German Lieutenant General of the Wehrmacht during the Second World War |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 3, 1896 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Samplau |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 26, 1961 |
| Place of death | Hanover |