Richard Heidrich
Richard Heidrich (born July 28, 1896 in Lawalde in Saxony ; † December 22, 1947 in Hamburg-Bergedorf ) was a German parachute general in World War II .
Life
Heidrich joined the Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 101 of the Saxon Army as a war volunteer on August 18, 1914 and was promoted to lieutenant in August 1915 . During the First World War , he worked initially as a platoon commander and later as a company commander, most recently as a regimental adjutant in the 16th Infantry Regiment No. 182 . Winner of both classes of the Iron Cross and the Knight's Cross II. Class of the Saxon Order of Merit with Swords, the Knight's Cross II. Class of the Albrechts Order and the Wound Badge in Black he joined after the war, a volunteer corps in Lithuania and was in the 1920 Reichswehr adopted . There he was active in various commandos before he was assigned to the war school in Potsdam in October 1935 and later to Munich. In the meantime he had been promoted to first lieutenant in 1925 and to captain in 1931 .
In 1937 he was transferred to the Parachute Infantry Company in Stendal and in June 1938 commander of the Parachute Infantry Battalion. This was followed on January 1, 1939, when he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and transferred to the air force.
When the Second World War broke out, he was initially transferred back to the army and took part in the raid on Poland as commander of the 4th Infantry Replacement Regiment . On June 1, 1940, he was reassigned to the Air Force and at the same time commander of the Parachute Fighter Regiment 3. He had previously been promoted to colonel on April 1, 1940 .
With his association he was involved in Operation Merkur on May 20, 1941 and was largely responsible for the occupation of the island of Crete. In August 1942 he was promoted to major general, at the same time entrusted with the leadership of the 7th Aviation Division and finally on November 1, 1942 its commander. Subsequently, he was deployed in front of Leningrad and in mid-1943 commander of the now 1st Parachute-Jäger-Division and on July 1, 1943 Lieutenant General . With his division he was transferred to Italy and took part in the Battle of Monte Cassino . In October 1944 he was promoted to general of the parachute troops . From November 16, 1944 to May 3, 1945 he was Commanding General of the I. Parachute Corps .
Heidrich became a British prisoner of war on May 3, 1945 and was released in July 1947. He died on December 22, 1947 in a hospital in Hamburg-Bergedorf.
Awards
-
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with oak leaves and swords
- Knight's Cross on June 14, 1941
- Oak leaves on February 5, 1944 (382nd award)
- Swords on March 25, 1944 (55th award)
- German cross in gold on March 31, 1942
- Cuff bracelet Crete
literature
- Franz Thomas, Günter Wegmann: The knight's cross bearers of the German Wehrmacht 1939–1945. Part II: Paratroopers. ISBN 3-7648-1461-6 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Reichswehr Ministry (Ed.): Ranking list of the German Reichsheeres. Mittler & Sohn Verlag, Berlin 1926, p. 155.
- ↑ 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. 374.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Heidrich, Richard |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German general of the parachute force |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 28, 1896 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Lawalde , Saxony |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 22, 1947 |
| Place of death | Hamburg-Bergedorf |