Otto von Knobelsdorff

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Otto von Knobelsdorff (born March 31, 1886 in Berlin ; † October 21, 1966 in Hanover ) was a German officer , most recently a general of the armored force in World War II .

Life

Tomb of the families of Wilhelm von Knobelsdorff and Sophie , née Countess von der Pahlen , Baroness von Astrau as well as Otto von Knobelsdorff and Alix , née Baroness von Schmising , called Korff ;
Engesohde city cemetery , Hanover

Otto came from the noble family which von Knobelsdorff and entered after visiting the Military Academy Bensberg and Hauptkadettenanstalt in Gross-Lichterfelde on 25 April 1905 as a cadet in the Infantry Regiment "Grand Duke of Saxony" (5 Thüringisches) no. 94 in Weimar a . There he was promoted to lieutenant on August 18, 1906 . Shortly before the beginning of World War I , he became a regimental adjutant ; on August 18, 1914 he was promoted to first lieutenant . On March 22, 1916 Knobelsdorff was promoted to captain and deployed as a general staff officer in various divisions. He completed the General Staff Course in Sedan and was wounded several times during the war, the last time on October 28, 1918.

After the war he was accepted into the Reichswehr and served in staff and troop assignments until 1928. In October 1928 he began a one-year training course as part of the " Reinhardt Courses " and was promoted to major on February 1, 1929 . He then served until 1933 as First General Staff Officer (Ia) in the staff of Artillery Leader III in Berlin. On June 1, 1933, in the position of Chief of Staff of the Commandant of Berlin, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and - in the course of rearmament  - to colonel on June 1, 1935 . In the same year he became commander of the 102nd Infantry Regiment in Chemnitz ; in this position took place on January 1, 1939, his promotion to major general .

From February to September 1939, von Knobelsdorff was in command of fortifications in the Opole area and when the attack on Poland began, he became chief of the staff of Border Guard Section 3 under Georg Brandt . On October 9, 1939, Adolf Eichmann and his colleague Rolf Günther received support for planned deportations of Jews from Katowice and the surrounding area from him and from the head of civil administration in the Katowice section, Otto Fitzner .

On February 1, 1940, he was appointed commander of the 19th Infantry Division , which he led during the western campaign . The division was converted into the 19th Panzer Division in 1940 . This led Otto von Knobelsdorff, Lieutenant General since December 1940 , from June 1941 in Russia. For the division's successes in August 1941, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on September 17, 1941 . On January 6, 1942, he had to give up the leadership of his division because of a serious illness. After his recovery, he took over the Xth Army Corps on May 1, 1942, and on June 1, 1942 he became the Commanding General of the II Army Corps . From July to October 1942 he led the "Knobelsdorff Corps" named after him. On August 1, 1942, he was promoted to General of the Panzer Force . On October 10, 1942 he took over the XXIV. Panzer Corps and on December 1, 1942 the XXXXVIII. Panzer Corps , which he led in the Battle of the Tschir. As commander of this corps, he took part in Operation Citadel in July 1943 .

In autumn 1943 there was heavy fighting in the Bjelgorod area , after which he was awarded the oak leaf on November 12, 1943. On October 9, 1943, he was again seriously ill and in the leader Reserve of the Army High Command added. On February 1, 1944 he was reactivated and commanding general of the XXXX. Panzer Corps in the bridgehead of Nikopol . On September 6, 1944 he became Commander-in-Chief of the 1st Army in the West and distinguished himself in the battle for Metz . For this he was awarded the Knight's Cross on September 21, 1944. On November 30, 1944, he was reassigned to the OKH's Führerreserve . He remained without a command until the end of the war and was taken prisoner by the US on April 6, 1945 , from which he was released on December 21, 1947.

Knobelsdorff had SS / SD leaders arrested in 1942 (?) When they were about to carry out the shooting of Jews on the Russian front. They were only released through intervention by Himmler himself (minutes of the Nuremberg trials , questioning of Manstein by the Soviet prosecutor).

Awards

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Document 19, in: The persecution and murder of European Jews by National Socialist Germany 1933–1945 , Volume 3, pp. 118f.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h Ranking list of the German Reichsheeres , (Ed.): Reichswehr Ministry , Mittler & Sohn Verlag, Berlin 1925, p. 145.
  3. ↑ 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. 453.
personal data
SURNAME Knobelsdorff, Otto von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German officer, most recently General of the Armored Force in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH March 31, 1886
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH October 21, 1966
Place of death Hanover