Nikolaus von Vormann

Nikolaus von Vormann (born December 24, 1895 in Neumark ( West Prussia ), † October 26, 1959 in Berchtesgaden ) was a German officer , most recently a general of the armored forces and a military writer .

Life

At the beginning of the First World War , Vormann entered on August 3, 1914 as a volunteer in the infantry regiment "Prince Leopold von Anhalt-Dessau" (1st Magdeburg) No. 26 of the Prussian Army . There he received the officer's license on January 29, 1915 and in 1917 took over the leadership of the storm troop division of the 7th Infantry Division .

After the end of the war, Vormann came as a volunteer to the Oven detachment and later to the Magdeburg volunteer regiment. He was accepted into the provisional Reichswehr and served for a few months in the Reichswehr-Schützen-Regiment 7. On February 1, 1926 Vormann was promoted to first lieutenant , on October 1, 1930 to captain and on June 1, 1935 to major . On June 1, 1938 he was appointed Chief of Staff of the X Army Corps and two months later he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel .

When the war broke out in 1939, Vormann was the army liaison officer at the Fuehrer's headquarters , where he read situation lectures to Hitler . But he only fulfilled this function for a short time until he took the post of Chief of Staff of the III. Army Corps . He held this until May 7, 1940 and then joined the XXVIII in the same function . Army Corps (with effect from June 1, 1940), where he was promoted to colonel on September 1 . This unit foreman took on 22 June 1941 as part of the Army Group North on the war against the Soviet Union in part. This army group advanced on Leningrad . On February 26, 1942, he was replaced from this post.

On December 26, 1942, Vormann finally received a troop command as commander of the 23rd Panzer Division . This was followed by the appointment of major general with effect from January 1, 1943 . This division was deployed as part of Army Group Don at the focal point of the front and, after the Stalingrad disaster, played a major role in the defense of the major Soviet offensive in the winter of 1942/43. In the summer she defended the German position on the Mius and got into defensive battles against the Red Army , in the course of which she withdrew to the Dnieper . Vormann kept this command until October 25, 1943 and was promoted to Lieutenant General (July 1, 1943) during this period .

On December 26, 1943, Vormann took command of the XXXXVII. Panzer Corps, which was also deployed on the southern wing of the Eastern Front and was soon involved in heavy fighting during the Battle of Cherkassy , but was relieved on March 12, 1944. It was not until June 27 that he was promoted to General of the Panzer Troops and received a new command as Commander-in-Chief of the 9th Army , which belonged to Army Group Center and was engaged in heavy defensive battles against the Soviet summer offensive in the Babrujsk area ( see: Operation Bagration ). Most of the army was already encircled, so that Vormann only commanded the remnants of an army with which he was in defensive battles until autumn. On September 21, 1944, he was relieved and a few days later, on October 5, he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the fortress area southeast . The last employment of Vormann during the war was from May 4, 1945 the post of commander of the Alpine fortress . At the end of the war he went into Allied captivity.

After the war, Vormann wrote several books in which he wrote down his memories. His report on his period of service at the Fuehrer's headquarters and his military study of the attack on Poland acquired some significance . Due to his position during September 1939, Vormann had a good overview of the development of the situation and the decision-making in the General Staff. Although part of his book contains strongly chauvinistic and ideological statements about the Polish people, the analysis of the military course is still considered the standard work on the operations of the Wehrmacht during this campaign . Vormann died on October 26, 1959, just a short time after this book was published.

Awards

Iron Cross (1914) 2nd and 1st class
Knight's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern with swords
Wound badge (1918) in gold
Wehrmacht service award IV. To I. class
Clasp for the Iron Cross, 2nd and 1st class
German cross in gold on March 12, 1942
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on August 22, 1943

Web links

Literature by and about Nikolaus von Vormann in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c Ranking list of the German Imperial Army. Mittler & Sohn. Berlin. P. 161.
↑ ^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. 762.

personal data
SURNAME	Foreman, Nikolaus von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German officer, most recently general of the tank troops and military writer
DATE OF BIRTH	December 24, 1895
PLACE OF BIRTH	Neumark ( West Prussia )
DATE OF DEATH	October 26, 1959
Place of death	Berchtesgaden

[RL-1] Ranking list of the German Imperial Army. Mittler & Sohn. Berlin. P. 161.

[RKT-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. 762.