Richard Graf von Schwerin
Richard Hugo Ernst Graf von Schwerin (* May 24, 1892 in Peitschendorfswerder , Sensburg district , † July 23, 1951 in Dobrock ) was a German lieutenant general in World War II and u. a. Commander of the 79th Infantry Division .
Life
Richard was a son of the district administrator of the Sensberg district Georg von Schwerin (1856–1923), gentleman on Peitschendorfswerder. His grandfather, the district deputy and manor owner Otto Engelhard von Schwerin, was district administrator of Sensburg from 1868 to 1892 before his father.
Schwerin participated in the First World War, in part, advanced to May 1918 Lieutenant and was awarded for his work in addition to the two classes of the Iron Cross , the Wound Badge in black. After the end of the war he was accepted into the Reichswehr . Here he was assigned to the 9th (Prussian) Infantry Regiment and rose to captain on December 1, 1926 . With the beginning of the Second World War, Schwerin was appointed as a lieutenant colonel (since March 1, 1937) commander of the 212 infantry regiment.
On January 14, 1942, he was given supreme command of the 79th Infantry Division . The 79th Infantry Division did not intervene in the Battle of Stalingrad until October 20, 1942 and received the order together with the 100th Jäger Division to take over the “Red October” steelworks. With the exception of the Martinofenhalle / Hall 4, a large part of the steel foundry was occupied in numerous raid operations. Captain Helmut Welz from PiBtl. 179 received the order to finally demolish the Martinsofenhalle on November 10, 1942. Welz initially resisted this order because, in his estimation, the battalion had already suffered too great losses in the previous battles. A successful attack on the hall therefore did not seem feasible to him, which, however, did not interest von Schwerin:
“ I do not need your advice and refuse to give myself these teachings. If you understand it better otherwise: Divisional order, you will attack Hall Four on November 10th and push through to the Volga, understand? "
Captain Welz suspected that the suicidal undertaking in Hall 4 was the result of Schwerin's efforts to earn the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross at the expense of the lives of his soldiers . Chuikov later noted that the division commander from a position 10 km away would not have been able to judge the feasibility of such an undertaking.
In November 1942 the Schwerin group was to play a prominent role in the final offensive on the last Soviet bridgeheads. Further raiding troops were supposed to deceive the enemy about the actual extent of the attack front. The following companies, Schwerin I and II, were no longer realized in November 1942 due to the sharp decline in German forces.
Individual evidence
- ^ Genealogical handbook of the nobility . Noble houses A. Volume XX. Volume 93 of the complete series, CA Starke Verlag, Limburg (Lahn) 1988, ISSN 0435-2408 , p. 369.
- ↑ Reichswehr Ministry (Ed.): Ranking list of the German Reichsheeres. ES Mittler & Sohn . Berlin 1930. p. 150.
- ↑ Helmut Welz : Betrayed Grenadiers. Berlin 1967, pp. 49-80.
- ↑ Helmut Welz: Betrayed Grenadiers. Berlin 1967, p. 56.
- ↑ Wassili Tschuikow: The battle of the century. Berlin 1988, p. 281.
- ^ Manfred Kehrig: Stalingrad. Analysis and documentation of a battle. Stuttgart 1979, p. 42f.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Schwerin, Richard Graf von |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Schwerin, Richard Hugo Ernst Graf von (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German Lieutenant General in World War II |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 24, 1892 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Peitschendorfswerder , East Prussia |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 23, 1951 |
| Place of death | Dobrock |