Karl von Graffen

Karl von Graffen (born June 6, 1893 in Plön , † November 1, 1964 in Grödersby ) was a German lieutenant general in World War II .

Life

Karl came from the old noble von Graffen family . He joined the Grand Ducal Mecklenburg Field Artillery Regiment No. 60 in Schwerin on April 3, 1911 , coming from the cadet corps as an ensign . After being assigned to the Neisse War School , he was promoted to lieutenant on August 18, 1912 . From May 1, 1914, Graffen was sent to the military gymnastics school and, with the outbreak of World War I, was transferred to the Lauenburg Field Artillery Regiment No. 45 . He came on December 29, 1914 to the Reserve Field Artillery Regiment No. 65 and acted there from May 18, 1915 as deputy battery leader. From December 3, 1917 to January 23, 1918 he was commanded to take a shooting course at the Artillery Mountain School Sonthofen , where he was promoted to first lieutenant on December 15, 1917 .

After the end of the war, he was transferred back to his main regiment on February 6, 1919 and Graffen was accepted into the provisional Reichswehr . There he served from May 1, 1919 in the Reichswehr Artillery Regiment 9 and then from April 27, 1920 in Schwerin in the 2nd (Prussian) Artillery Regiment. From October 1, 1923, Graffen completed his assistant command training at Military District Command II and was briefly assigned to the 4th (Prussian) Infantry Regiment from July 1 to September 30, 1924 . On February 1, 1926, he was promoted to captain . From December 1, 1926, he served as an intelligence officer of the 2nd (Prussian) Artillery Regiment. On October 1, 1929, he was transferred to the 6th battery , of which he was appointed a month later. From October 1, 1931 he was chief of the 10th battery. After his transfer to the Artillery Teaching and Experimental Command on April 1, 1934, he was promoted to Major on July 1, and on October 1, 1934 he was appointed Commander of the 4th Division of the Schwerin Artillery Regiment. Graffen returned to Jüterbog on October 15, 1935 , where he was initially an adjutant and, from October 6, 1936, head of the test staff and the regulations office of the artillery school. In this capacity he became lieutenant colonel on January 1, 1937 .

With simultaneous promotion to Colonel , Graffen came to the Army High Command on October 1, 1939, as a clerk for artillery and ammunition issues with the General of the Artillery . On February 24, 1941, he was briefly included in the Führerreserve , and on March 8, 1941, he was appointed commander of the 129th Artillery Regiment. From November 28, 1941 Graffen served as the artillery commander of the 18th Infantry Division . On March 27, 1942, he was entrusted with the leadership of the 58th Infantry Division and on July 1, 1942, while being promoted to major general, he was appointed division commander. On January 1, 1943, he was promoted to lieutenant general. On September 15, 1943 he was reassigned to the Führerreserve and on September 22, 1943 he was appointed Higher Artillery Commander 316. Shortly before the end of the war he was still with the leadership of the LXXVI. Panzer Corps commissioned. He fell in the German surrender in US captivity . From May 18, he was head of the POW camp near Rimini for two months before he was taken prisoner by the British . He was released on March 3, 1948.

Awards

Iron Cross (1914) 2nd and 1st class
Hanseatic Cross Hamburg
Knight's Cross of the Mecklenburg Order of Griffins
Mecklenburg Military Merit Cross II. And I. Class
Austrian Military Merit Cross III. Class with the war decoration
Wehrmacht service award IV. To I. class
Clasp for the Iron Cross, 2nd and 1st class
German cross in gold on December 24, 1941
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on August 13, 1942

literature

Wolfgang Dürr: Over 1000 years of Graffen. Dry Stuttgart 2005.
Dermot Bradley (Ed.): The Generals of the Army 1921-1945. Volume 4: Fleck – Gyldenfeldt. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1996, ISBN 3-7648-2488-3 , pp. 390-391.

Web links

Commons : Karl von Graffen - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Reichswehr Ministry (Ed.): Ranking list of the German Reichsheeres. Mittler & Sohn publishing house. Berlin. P. 142.
↑ ^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. 344.

personal data
SURNAME	Graffen, Karl von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German Lieutenant General in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH	June 6, 1893
PLACE OF BIRTH	Plön
DATE OF DEATH	November 1, 1964
Place of death	Grödersby

[Rangliste-1] Reichswehr Ministry (Ed.): Ranking list of the German Reichsheeres. Mittler & Sohn publishing house. Berlin. P. 142.

[Scherzer-2] 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. 344.