Kurt Himer

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Kurt Himer (* December 21, 1888 in Cottbus , † April 4, 1942 Hospital in Simferopol , then Soviet Union ) was a German officer , most recently lieutenant general of the Wehrmacht , and military attaché .

Life

Kurt Himer joined the Prussian Army as a flag junior on April 21, 1908 after completing his schooling and was first assigned to the 4th Infantry Regiment No. 157 . In August 1909 he was promoted to lieutenant and from July 1912 was appointed adjutant in the same regiment . Shortly after his promotion to lieutenant , in early 1915, he moved to the MG - Company and then he took over until the end of 1916 the post of regimental adjutant. A year later he was promoted to captain and was at the end of the war in the general staff of the 7th Landwehr Division and the XXII. Reserve Corps active.

After the dissolution of the Imperial Army in 1919 he came to 41. Reichswehr - Brigade . Here, too, he was initially employed as an adjutant and in other staff positions until he became company commander in the 2nd Infantry Regiment in 1921 . In 1923 further staff duties followed in the 6th Division , then from 1928 in the 4th Infantry Division and in 1929 in the 6th Infantry Regiment . From 1930 he worked in various command offices and from April 1931 he was assigned to the Reichswehr Ministry in Berlin. Here he was head of Department III of the Abwehr until December 1934 and was promoted to lieutenant colonel in April of the same year . His successor as head of department was Rudolf Bamler . In the years up to 1937 he was employed as regimental commander in several regiments and was promoted to colonel in January 1936 .

From November 10, 1938 he was a military attaché at the German embassy in Warsaw . For Himer, his time in Warsaw was marked from the start by the preparations for the planned German attack on Poland . When the war began, the embassy in Warsaw was closed and he acted as chief of staff at Border Guard Section Command 1, which was subordinate to the independent Kaupisch Corps during the attack on Poland . In the course of the dissolution of Border Guard Section Command 1 in November 1939, he was appointed Chief of Staff of the resulting Higher Command, e.g. V. XXXI, under Artillery General Leonard Kaupisch. On April 8, 1940, his General Command was involved in the occupation of Copenhagen . In September 1940 he took over the 216th Infantry Division on the Northern Western Front and was promoted to major general. From April 1941 he was briefly transferred to the Führerreserve of the High Command of the Army (OKH) and from April 1941 acted as an authorized general of the German armed forces in Hungary during the Balkan campaign . On October 1, 1941, he was promoted to lieutenant general and in September took over the leadership of the 46th Infantry Division , which he held as commander until March 1942. With this division he fought in the Crimea .

When Soviet forces landed at Feodosia on December 29, 1941 during the Kerch-Feodosia operation , Hans von Sponeck ordered the evacuation of the Kerch peninsula without consulting his superior command authority, the 11th Army under Erich von Manstein . Himer withdrew his division leaving behind military material, but could not return to the original positions after the cancellation of the withdrawal order by von Manstein. Sponeck was brought before a court martial . Field Marshal Walter von Reichenau blocked all awards for the 46th Infantry Division. His successor, Field Marshal Fedor von Bock , revoked this order.

He was seriously wounded in a Soviet mortar attack on March 26, 1942. Thereupon he was again transferred to the Führer Reserve because of the injury and a leg amputation that had become necessary. He died of his wounds on April 4, 1942 in the Simferopol hospital.

plant

literature

  • Dermot Bradley (ed.), Karl-Friedrich Hildebrand, Markus Rövekamp: The Generals of the Army 1921–1945. The military careers of the generals, as well as the doctors, veterinarians, intendants, judges and ministerial officials with the rank of general. Volume 3: Dahlmann – Fitzlaff. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1994, ISBN 3-7648-2443-3 , pp. 171-173.
  • Manfred Kehring: The re-establishment of the German military attaché service after the First World War (1919–1933). Harald Boldt Verlag, Boppard am Rhein 1966, p. 228.
  • Ottmar Krug, German Generals 1918–1945, Federal Archives Freiburg, Sig MSG 109/10853

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Reichswehr Ministry (Ed.): Ranking list of the German Reichsheeres. ES Mittler & Sohn , Berlin 1930, p. 165. And born in 1932
  2. ^ Samuel W. Mitcham: German Order of Battle: 1st-290th Infantry divisions in World War II . Stackpole Books, 2007, ISBN 978-0-8117-3416-5 , pp. 269 ( google.de [accessed on February 13, 2020]).
  3. ^ Ottmar Krug, German Generals 1918–1945, Federal Archives Freiburg, Sig MSG 109/10853
  4. ↑ Robert Forczyk: Where the Iron Crosses Grow: The Crimea 1941-44 . Bloomsbury Publishing, 2014, ISBN 978-1-78200-975-7 , pp. 122 ( google.de [accessed June 1, 2020]).
  5. ↑ Marcel Stein: Field Marshal Von Manstein: The Janushead - A Portrait . Helion & Company Limited, 2007, ISBN 978-1-906033-02-6 , pp. 39 ( google.de [accessed June 1, 2020]).
  6. ↑ Marcel Stein: The Janus Head: Field Marshal von Manstein. A reassessment . Biblio, Bissendorf 2004, ISBN 978-3-7648-2387-0 , p. 39, 41 ( google.de [accessed June 1, 2020]).
  7. ↑ Dermot Bradley (ed.), Karl-Friedrich Hildebrand, Markus Rövekamp: Die Generale des Heeres 1921–1945. The military careers of the generals, as well as the doctors, veterinarians, intendants, judges and ministerial officials with the rank of general. Volume 3: Dahlmann – Fitzlaff. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1994, ISBN 3-7648-2443-3 , pp. 171-173.
  8. ↑ Germany Heer Oberkommando: Army Ordinance Sheet . 1942, p. 243 ( google.de [accessed on February 15, 2020]).
personal data
SURNAME Himer, Kurt
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German lieutenant general, military attaché
DATE OF BIRTH December 21, 1888
PLACE OF BIRTH cottbus
DATE OF DEATH April 4, 1942
Place of death Simferopol