Karl-Hans Giese

Karl-Hans Giese (born October 11, 1904 in Giesenfelde , Pomerania , † September 19, 1980 in Bad Oeynhausen ) was German major general of the Wehrmacht and director of the North American representation of Daimler-Benz .

Life

Military career

As a volunteer, Karl-Hans Giese joined the training battery of the 2nd (Prussian) Artillery Regiment on February 1, 1925, from where he was transferred to the 9th battery of the regiment on October 1, 1925. From June to July 1926 he took the Fahnenjunker examination at the Jüterbog Artillery School and was appointed Fahnenjunker on July 15, 1926 . He completed a course at the infantry school from November 1926 to September 1927 and another course at the artillery school from October 1927 to August 1928. On July 1, 1929, Giese was promoted to lieutenant and transferred as a battery officer to the 7th battery of Artillery Regiment 2. On October 1, 1930, he joined the 4th Squadron of Driving Department 5. After being promoted to first lieutenant on April 1, 1933, he became adjutant of the 5th Artillery Regiment in Ulm on October 1, 1934 . On October 15, 1935 he was then adjutant of the II. Division of the Artillery Regiment 51. After his promotion to captain on August 1, 1936, he was transferred to the Reichswehr Artillery Regiment 15 on October 6, 1936 as a regimental adjutant. From October 12, 1937 he was in charge of the 5th battery of the 29th Artillery Regiment.

On August 26, 1939, he was promoted to Commander of Division II of the 90 Artillery Regiment. His assignment to general staff courses took him to Berlin on January 15, 1940, from where he was assigned to the General Staff of Army Group C on April 7, 1940. After being transferred to the General Staff of Army Group C on April 15, 1940 , he joined the staff of the 16th Panzer Division on August 5, 1940 . On January 30, 1941, he was transferred to the Army General Staff; on June 12, 1942, he was transferred to the Reserve Command of the Army High Command (OKH). Promoted to lieutenant colonel on August 1, 1942 , he joined the organizational department of the Army General Staff on the same day. From November 5, 1943, he headed the General Staff of the XXIV Panzer Corps . Transferred to the Fuehrer's Reserve on June 5, 1944, he became Chief of the General Staff of the XIV Panzer Corps on June 20, 1944 . His transfer to the Führerreserve on August 10, 1944, was followed on September 25, 1944 by assignment to a regimental commander course at the Panzer Troop School I in Bergen . On September 29, 1944 he was given command of Grenadier Regiment 551 of the 329th Infantry Division . In March 1945 he was then assigned to lead the 205th Infantry Division . His promotion to major general on April 1, 1945 also brought him command of the division.

After the Second World War

Captivity

On May 8, 1945, he was taken prisoner by the Soviets in Courland , which he spent in prisoner-of-war camp 5110/48 Woikowo , where he worked in the bakery, among other things. In 1950 he was released from the camp.

Daimler-Benz of North America, Inc.

After a consultant for Daimler-Benz in India Giese 1954 worked as director of North American representative of the group Daimler-Benz of North America, Inc . He wanted to have it manufactured in North America, which the parent company in Stuttgart refused for reasons of quality assurance for passenger cars. In 1957 Giese opened up the Studebaker-Packard Corporation's 2,500 dealer network for the sale of Mercedes models. In 1957, Daimler-Benz delivered around 7,000 vehicles to the USA and Canada, mainly as an initial stock for expanding the dealer network and not because of the increase in real demand. However, only a small number of the Studebaker dealers received contracts for the sale of Mercedes-Benz vehicles; initially only 200, at the peak of activity around 430.

In 1958 the sales figures fell again in America, which Giese initially tried to cover up by banning all contact between his American employees and the headquarters in Stuttgart. In February 1958, the German management sent a commission of inquiry, which u. a. many of the unsold cars were still found at their ports of arrival in the open air. Shortly afterwards, Giese's employment relationship was terminated. He later worked as an export manager for Curtiss-Wright in Bermuda .

In court for denunciation

Leopold Graf Fugger von Babenhausen (retired major general) was the speaker for eleven other Wehrmacht generals who had returned late in 1957 in a protest at Fritz Könecke (general director of Daimler-Benz AG in Stuttgart) against Giese's employment. He had "collaborated with the Russians in the general camp Woikowo and denounced comrades". Koenecke insisted on clarification of the allegations before an ordinary court, since the general honorary court suggested by him failed due to the resistance of the protesting party (quote from Siegfried Thomaschki (General der Artillerie ret . The judicial dispute was decided in 1960 in the last instance at the Federal Court of Justice , which rejected the Gieses appeal against the decision of the Stuttgart Higher Regional Court and confirmed that Giese had denounced his comrades in Soviet captivity.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Giese, Karl-Hans . In: Lexikon der Wehrmacht, lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Personenregister/G/GieseKH.htm
2. ↑ ^{a b} Generalsfeme. The revenge of the late comers. In: Der Spiegel , issue 48 from November 27, 1957
3. ↑ German car factory in the USA. In: Die Zeit of May 19, 1955
4. ↑ ^{a b c} Josef Ernst: Daimler Marketing and Sales History ( Memento of the original from August 15, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Daimler Communications, Stuttgart 2009, pp. 155–157. 
5. ↑ Heacock Classic: Mercedes-Benz in America - Max Hoffman and the New Frontier Postwar. from March 27, 2015
6. ^ Karl Ludvigsen: Wisconsin. An American Success Story.
7. ^ Heinz Hoppe: Serving the Star around the World. ( Memento of the original from August 15, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Südwest Press 1992 ISBN 3-51701-360-9 , p. 325. 
8. ↑ Der SPIEGEL reported in No. 48/1957 Affären - Die Rache. In: Der Spiegel . No. 9 , 1958 ( online - Feb. 26, 1958 ).
9. ↑ Der SPIEGEL reported in No. 48/1957 Affären - Generalsfeme and in No. 9/1958 Rückspiegel. In: Der Spiegel . No. 34 , 1960 ( online - Aug. 17, 1960 ).