Paul-Georg Kleffel

Paul-Georg Kleffel (born September 7, 1920 in Billerbeck , Pyritz district , † February 19, 2020 in Bonn ) was a lieutenant general in the Bundeswehr .

Life

World War II and post-war period

Kleffel joined the Wehrmacht at the beginning of the Second World War in 1939 and completed his training as an officer with a promotion to lieutenant in 1941 . He then took part in the Russian campaign as a member of the 3rd Panzer Division and was initially platoon leader and later first lieutenant and company commander of 4th / Panzer Reconnaissance Division 3. In this role, he received the German Cross in Gold on November 16, 1943 and on November 14 , 1943 May 1944 the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross . Kleffel was wounded seven times during the war and promoted to captain in 1944 .

After the end of the Second World War, Kleffel completed a commercial apprenticeship and then worked in the film industry from 1949 to 1956.

armed forces

In 1956 he joined the army of the Bundeswehr as a captain . After completing his general staff training, he was a G 3 staff officer in the Panzergrenadierbrigade 13 between 1959 and 1963 and was then employed at the command academy of the German Armed Forces in Hamburg from 1963 and 1964 , before he was chief of the German Army between October 1, 1964 and March 31, 1968 Staff of the 3rd Panzer Division in Buxtehude .

After being promoted to Colonel , Kleffel became a consultant for medium-term planning in the Federal Ministry of Defense in 1968, and in this role played a key role in the development of Army Structure III 1970–1979 . On April 1, 1970, he replaced Colonel Werner Manns as commander of Panzergrenadierbrigade 16 "Duchy of Lauenburg" and remained in this post until April 30, 1972, whereupon Colonel Joachim Bruhn on May 1, 1972 succeeded him there. He then acted between April 1972 and September 1973 as head of the III. Corps in Koblenz before he succeeded Major General Hans Teusen on October 1, 1973 as commander of the 12th Panzer Division in Veitshöchheim . He held this position until September 30, 1976, after which Major General Gert Bastian became his successor on October 1, 1976.

Kleffel himself took over on October 1, 1976 from Major General Alexander Frevert-Niedermein as Chief of Staff in the Army Command (FüH) and held this position until March 31, 1978. On April 1, 1978, Major General Eberhard Erich Burandt was his successor as chief of the staff. Most recently, Kleffel succeeded Lieutenant General Franz Pöschl as Commanding General of the III. Corps in Koblenz. During his employment as the commanding general of III. Corps, the corps combat exercise "Sankt Georg" took place in September 1980, which was attended by Federal Chancellor Helmut Schmidt and Federal Defense Minister Hans Apel . He did this until his retirement on September 30, 1980, whereupon Lieutenant General Wolfgang Altenburg became his successor as Commanding General on October 1, 1980.

After retirement

After he retired from active military service, Kleffel took over from Dietrich Willikens in 1980 as federal manager of Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe (JUH). In 1987 he was followed by Andreas von Block-Schlesier .

literature

• Clemens Range : The generals and admirals of the Bundeswehr. ES Mittler , Herford 1990, ISBN 3-8132-0350-6 .

Web links

• Paul-Georg Kleffel in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely accessible)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Paul-Georg Kleffel: Obituary notice. In: trauer.general-anzeiger-bonn.de. General-Anzeiger Bonn , February 22, 2020, accessed on March 6, 2020.
2. ↑ Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearers 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. 446.
3. ↑ 3rd Panzer Division in the German Digital Library (DDB)
4. ↑ Homepage of the Panzer Grenadier Brigade 16, HERZOGTUM LAUENBURG
5. ↑ Defense. Volume 23, Verlag Europäische Wehrkunde, 1974, p. 99
6. ↑ Dieter E. Kilian : Politics and the military in Germany: the Federal Presidents and Federal Chancellors and their relationship to the soldiery and the Bundeswehr. 2011, ISBN 3-937885-36-6 , p. 464.
7. ↑ European Defense. Volume 29, Verlag Europäische Wehrkunde, 1980, p. 308.
8. ^ Albert Oeckl : Pocket book of public life . Volume 35, 1986, p. 558.
9. ↑ Change in the federal management of the JUH. In: ZS-Magazin - magazine for civil protection, disaster control and self-protection, issue 10/1980 , p. 60.

predecessor	Office	successor
Dietrich Willikens	Federal Managing Director of Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe 1980–1987	Andreas von Block-Schlesier