Otto Stapf (General)
Otto Stapf (born November 13, 1890 in Hellmitzheim , † March 30, 1963 in Munich ) was a German officer , most recently a general of the infantry in World War II .
Life
Stapf occurred on August 1, 1910 as a cadet in the Bavarian Army and was on 28 October 1912 22nd Infantry Regiment of Lieutenant promoted. With this unit he also took part in the First World War. After the war he was accepted into the Reichswehr . From November 1938 he served as Oberquartiermeister III in the Army General Staff and liaison officer to the Air Force. On April 1, 1939, he was promoted to major general . In this rank he was the first commander of the 111th Infantry Division from the time it was set up on November 5, 1940 until the end of 1941. On August 31, 1941, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross for his services as a commander . In the meantime he was appointed lieutenant general on April 1, 1941 and finally infantry general on April 1, 1942 . From January to March 1942 he was the commanding general of the XXXXIV. Army Corps .
On August 3, 1942, Stapf took over the management of the East Economic Staff. The Eastern Economic Staff, formed on March 25, 1941, was the executive body of the Eastern Economic Management Staff , whose task was the economic exploitation of the occupied eastern territories. Stapf headed the East Economic Staff until it was dissolved in autumn 1944. On September 9, 1944, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the War Merit Cross with Swords for his work . He is the only person who has received these two high awards.
Although Stapf was not actively involved in the resistance, he was “a particularly sharp opponent of Hitler” and in the spring of 1944 he “expressed his hope for the coming coup” to Joachim Kuhn, the resistance fighter of July 20, 1944 . Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg had therefore designated him as the new railway minister after the overthrow.
Awards
- Iron Cross (1914) 2nd and 1st class
- Hohenzollern Cross of Honor III. Class with swords
- Bavarian Order of Military Merit IV class with swords and crown
- Friedrich-August-Kreuz 1st class
- Wound badge (1918) in black
- Clasp for the Iron Cross, 2nd and 1st class
- Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on August 31, 1941
- War Merit Cross (1939) 2nd and 1st class with swords
- Knight's Cross of the War Merit Cross with Swords
- Bavarian Order of Merit (1961)
literature
- Klaus D. Patzwall : The knight's cross bearers of the War Merit Cross 1942–1945. Patzwall Militaria Archive, Hamburg 1984.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Federal Archives for Economic Administration in the Occupied Eastern Territories ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Peter Hoffmann : Stauffenberg's friend: the tragic story of the resistance fighter Joachim Kuhn. CH Beck, 2007, ISBN 3-406-55810-0 , p. 94. Restricted preview in the Google book search
- ↑ a b c d e Ranking list of the German Imperial Army. Mittler & Sohn, Berlin, p. 133.
- ↑ 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. 717.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Stapf, Otto |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German officer and general of the infantry in World War II |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 13, 1890 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Hellmitzheim |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 30, 1963 |
| Place of death | Munich |