Philipp Kleffel

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Philipp Kleffel (born December 9, 1887 in Birkenfelde , † October 10, 1964 in Coburg ) was a German officer , most recently a general of the cavalry in World War II .

career

On November 25, 1905, Kleffel joined the Uhlan Regiment "von Schmidt" (1st Pomeranian) No. 4 of the Prussian Army as a flag squire . There he was promoted to lieutenant on May 18, 1907 with a patent from April 14, 1907 .

After the outbreak of World War I , Kleffel and his regiment were deployed on the Eastern Front in conjunction with the 1st Cavalry Division . He took part in the fighting at Gumbinnen , Tannenberg and the Masurian Lakes and rose to regimental adjutant in September 1914. On December 24, 1914, he was promoted to lieutenant . At the beginning of April 1916, Kleffel became adjutant of the 41st Cavalry Brigade and on October 5, 1916 Rittmeister . As such, he had various general staff assignments from April 30, 1917 until the end of the war , most recently from June 28, 1918 in the General Staff of the XXXXI. Reserve Corps .

After the end of the war and returning home, Kleffel joined a free formation after being demobilized and was head of the 1st Thorn volunteer squadron from February 22 to July 10, 1919 . Subsequently taken over into the provisional Reichswehr , Kleffel was active in the general staff of the Army High Command North Border Guard and acted as adjutant of the 1st Cavalry Division from February 9 to August 28, 1920 . He was then transferred to the staff of the 10th Cavalry Regiment and was assigned to the Reichswehr Ministry as a squadron chief of the mounted command . On May 1, 1922, Kleffel joined the 4th (Prussian) cavalry regiment and commanded the 2nd squadron in Perleberg for the next two years . Subsequently transferred to the General Staff of Group Command 1 in Berlin, Kleffel became the First General Staff Officer on October 1, 1926, on the Staff of the Cavalry Inspection (In 3) in the Reichswehr Ministry . There he was promoted to major on October 1, 1929, and on October 1, 1930, he became the first general staff officer in the staff of Infantry Leader III in Potsdam . In the same function Kleffel was two years later, the staff of the 2nd Cavalry Division operating was there on December 1, 1933 Lieutenant Colonel and on October 1, 1935 Colonel . As such, on April 1, 1936, now in the army of the Wehrmacht , he was appointed commander of the 14th Cavalry Regiment in Ludwigslust . In February 1938 Kleffel took over the position of higher cavalry officer 4 based in Hanover , where he was promoted to major general on June 1, 1939 .

Even after the mobilization for the Second World War , Kleffel initially remained stationed in Hanover and became Chief of the General Staff of the Deputy XI. Army Corps (also Military District Command XI with headquarters in Kassel ). It was not until April 15, 1940 that he took command of the 1st Infantry Division , which he commanded until January 1942 (with an interruption due to illness). During this time Kleffel and his division took part in the French campaign and the attack on the Soviet Union , where they were deployed on the northern section of the Eastern Front. On June 1, 1941, he was promoted to lieutenant general. As the successor to General Lindemann , Kleffel was first leader in January 1942 and then from March commanding general of the L. Army Corps . As a result, he was promoted to General of the Cavalry on March 1st. After a temporary assignment as deputy leader of the I. Army Corps from March to July 1942, Kleffel returned to the L. Army Corps, which he commanded until he fell ill again in September 1943. He has now been transferred to the Führer Reserve .

After a further assignment as the commanding general of the deputy IX. Army Corps in Kassel (at the same time commander in military district IX ) from January to April 1944 Kleffel was commander of the "Special Staff I" in the OKH and in July 1944 commanding general of the XVI. Army Corps on the Eastern Front. On October 20th he became the commander of the "Army Department Kleffel" (formerly "Army Department Grasser " or " Army Department Narva "), which had emerged from the LIV Army Corps . At the beginning of November he returned to the XVI Army Corps again before he was in the middle He was called to the occupied Netherlands on December 31st to take over the re-established XXX Army Corps and was also deputy leader of the 25th Army from March 28th to April 7th, 1945. At the end of the war, Kleffel was taken prisoner by the British he was released on October 20, 1947.

Awards

literature

  • Dermot Bradley (Ed.): 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 6: Hochbaum – Klutmann. Biblio Publishing House. Bissendorf 2002. ISBN 3-7648-2582-0 . Pp. 498-499.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Ranking list of the German Imperial Army. Ed .: Reichswehr Ministry . Mittler & Sohn publishing house . Berlin 1924. p. 150.
  2. ↑ 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. 446.
personal data
SURNAME Kleffel, Philipp
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German officer, most recently general of the cavalry in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH December 9, 1887
PLACE OF BIRTH Birkenfelde
DATE OF DEATH October 10, 1964
Place of death Coburg