Karl Eglseer

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Karl Eglseer (born July 5, 1890 in Ischl , † June 23, 1944 in Waldbach (Styria) ) was an Austrian, from 1938 German officer , most recently a general of the mountain troops during the Second World War .

Life

Karl was born as the son of the director of the Klagenfurt City Theater Franz Eglseer . He attended the infantry cadet school in Marburg . On August 18, 1908, he joined the Styrian Infantry Regiment "Freiherr von Succovaty" No. 87 as a deputy cadet officer . From December 20, 1910, he was employed there as a company officer and as a regimental telegraph officer. May 1911 promoted to lieutenant .

Memorial plaque at the Schlosshotel Velden, Carinthia

First World War

At the beginning of the First World War, he then moved to the front with his regiment as a first lieutenant . There he was wounded for the first time on September 8, 1914 and returned to his regiment on November 1, 1914 after being in a hospital. From December 10, 1914, he was back at the front , was seriously wounded on December 24, 1914 and was taken prisoner by the Russians . He then spent the following years in various Russian hospitals, did not return from St. Petersburg as an exchange invalid until March 18, 1918 , and was transferred to the XIX military hospital in Grinzing . On May 14, 1918, he was promoted to captain with effect from August 1, 1917 . It was then no longer used before the end of the war.

Memorial plaque in Rosegg, Carinthia

Carinthian defensive battle

At the beginning of the Carinthian defensive battle , Eglseer reported to the Commander-in-Chief for Carinthia, Ludwig Hülgerth, and was assigned to the Velden group. He was on 5./6. January 1919 involved in the storm on the Rosegger Draubrücke, as a result of which the entire Rosental was liberated. In April 1919 Eglseer was the commandant of the Rosenbach section, under him were five companies with 13 artillery pieces and 20 machine guns. He and his troops were able to repel the attack by the SHS troops, which began on April 29, and subsequently even take the Rosenbach tunnel on May 4.

1st republic

After the First World War he was taken over into the Austrian army . He was used there for the next few years with the 11th Jäger Regiment. A year after his appointment as major in the autumn of 1927, he switched to the general staff service. After his promotion to lieutenant colonel in the late summer of 1932, Eglseer worked in the military department of the Lower Austrian 3rd Brigade under chief of staff Robert Kolbe in 1933 and was promoted to colonel in June 1935 .

Second World War

In the spring of 1938, after the annexation of Austria , he was taken over as a colonel in the German armed forces and on August 1, 1938, he was appointed commander of the 136th Mountain Infantry Regiment of the 2nd Mountain Division .

During the mobilization for the Second World War in the summer of 1939, he gave up this command. For this he was appointed Chief of the General Staff of the Deputy General Command XVIII. Army corps appointed in Salzburg . On November 1, 1940, he was appointed commander of the 4th Mountain Division while being promoted to major general . He then first led this division into combat in the spring of 1941 in the Balkan campaign . There he was awarded the Iron Cross, 2nd and 1st class. He then led the division in the summer of 1941 in the attack on southern Russia. There he was wounded at the beginning of October 1941 and had to give up his command. On October 23, 1941, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross . In November 1941 he again took command of the 4th Mountain Division. On October 22, 1942, he gave up his command in the Caucasus after being wounded again and was transferred to the Fuehrer's reserve.

On February 1, 1943, he was promoted to lieutenant general. On March 20, 1943 he was appointed commander of the new 114th Jäger Division . With this he was now used in the Balkans. On December 1, 1943 he gave up his command and was on December 10, 1943 with the leadership of the XVIII. Mountain Army Corps commissioned in Lapland . With simultaneous promotion to general of the mountain troops on March 1, 1944 he was appointed commanding general of the XVIII. Mountain Corps.

On June 23, 1944 he flew together with Colonel General Eduard Dietl , General of the Infantry Thomas-Emil von Wickede and Lieutenant General Franz Rossi to a meeting on Obersalzberg . The machine crashed on the Styrian side of the Hochwechsel in Waldbach-Breitenbrunn.

Awards

literature

  • Roland Kaltenegger : edelweiss and gentian; the war chronicle of the 4th Mountain Division 1940–1945 . Austrian Militia Publishing House
  • Dermot Bradley: Die Generale des Heeres 1921–1945 Volume 3 Dahlmann-Fitzlaff , Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1994, ISBN 3-7648-2443-3 , pp. 282–283

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Anton Kreuzer: Carinthian Biographical Sketches . Kärntner Druck und Verlagsgesellschaft, Klagenfurt 1995, ISBN 3-85391-128-5 , pp. 134-136.
  2. ^ Awards in the armed forces. In:  Innsbrucker Nachrichten , December 2, 1937, p. 16 (online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / ibn.
personal data
SURNAME Eglseer, Karl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian, then (from 1938) German officer, finally general of the mountain troops
DATE OF BIRTH July 5, 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH Bad Ischl
DATE OF DEATH June 23, 1944
Place of death Waldbach (Styria)