Karl Wilhelm Thilo

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Karl Wilhelm Thilo (born February 23, 1911 in Lahr ; † April 8, 1997 in Oberammergau ) was a General Staff Officer of the Wehrmacht and Lieutenant General of the Bundeswehr .

Life

After graduating from high school in 1930, Thilo joined the Bavarian Infantry Regiment 19 of the Reichswehr .

As a captain and regimental adjutant in the 40th Infantry Regiment, he was deployed on the Eastern Front near Bryansk , Orel and Tula . After attending the War Academy , he served as a general staff officer in the operations department of the Army High Command until December 1942 . Thilo was indirectly involved in war crimes in the Balkans . On June 10, 1943, he telegraphed the order to the commanders of the regiments: “No man fit for military service leaves the boiler alive.” In a memo he wrote: “All armed men will be shot. Villages that are being shot from are burned down, all men shot. ”As the First General Staff Officer (Ia) of the 1st Mountain Division responsible for planning operations , Thilo ordered the shooting of suspected partisans in Greece and Montenegro. In April 1992 peace activists from Pax Christi and the member of the state parliament Raimund Kamm ( Bündnisgrüne ) submitted files that were supposed to prove Thilo's participation in the atonement measures in the Balkans. At the end of the war, Thilo was involved in the operational planning of the OKH. It should u. a. Wroclaw, Danzig, Konigsberg and Berlin are held as fortresses to the last man, regardless of the civilian population.

In the Second World War he was awarded the Iron Cross 1st Class.

In October 1947, Thilo returned from American captivity. He became a businessman and authorized signatory at an Augsburg paper factory, as he was not allowed to study due to his military past. When the Bundeswehr was founded, Thilo became a soldier again: in August 1956, he began as the leader of the advance staff of Army Staff II and became the first chief of Staff II. Corps in Ulm. He was later from October 1, 1961 to December 31, 1964, Deputy Inspector of the Army , and from 1965 to 1967 commander of the 1st Mountain Division . He then served as Lieutenant General Commanding General (KG) of the II Corps in Ulm until his early release (October 1970).

Thilo formulated a basic statement on the Bundeswehr's understanding of tradition: It was "a cut of honor" that the exceptional achievements of the mountain troops were not recognized.

Own publications

  • A young officer sees Hitler ; In: Europäische Wehrkunde, Munich, 30 (1981), pp. 413-419.
  • The use in the Balkans ; In: Hubert Lanz : Gebirgsjäger. The 1st Mountain Division 1935–1945 , Bad Nauheim 1954.
  • Thoughts on tradition of the mountain troops ; In: Die Gebirgstruppe , magazine of the comrades circle of the mountain troops , 2/1985.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hermann Frank Meyer, Bloody Edelweiss. The 1st Mountain Division in World War II , Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-86153-447-1 , p. 123
  2. ^ National Archives (NA): T-315 / 70-1134, daily report of October 3, 1943
  3. ↑ Conny Neumann: "Particularly cruel raged" / protest against an old warrior / Wehrmacht general should no longer speak on the day of national mourning , in: Süddeutsche Zeitung of April 18, 1992.
  4. ↑ From: Thilos record of April 6, 1945, The value of fortresses in the present stage of the war, BA-MA, RH 2/335, pp. 203-206.
  5. ^ The construction and rebuilding of the army from 1056 to 1970, p. 233. Retrieved on January 5, 2018 .
  6. ↑ DER SPIEGEL (June 8th, 1970) "GENERALE / THILO: Finely dosed". Retrieved January 5, 2018 .
  7. ↑ Thoughts on the tradition of the mountain troops ; In: Die Gebirgstruppe , magazine of the comrades circle of the mountain troops 2/1985
personal data
SURNAME Thilo, Karl Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German officer, General Staff Officer of the Wehrmacht and Lieutenant General of the Bundeswehr
DATE OF BIRTH February 23, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH Lahr
DATE OF DEATH April 8, 1997
Place of death Oberammergau