Rolf Wuthmann

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Rolf Wuthmann (born August 26, 1893 in Kassel , † October 20, 1977 in Minden ) was a German officer , most recently general of the artillery in World War II and commander of the German troops on Bornholm.

Career

Wuthmann occurred on 9 April 1912 as a cadet in the Altmärkische Field Artillery Regiment. 40 and was on 10 November 1913 Lieutenant promoted. With the outbreak of the First World War , the regiment was used as part of the 7th Field Artillery Brigade on the Western Front . Wuthmann acted as a battery officer and was wounded several times. After the end of the war and demobilization, his regiment formed a. a. the Wuthmann volunteer battery. In 1920 he was taken over by the Reichswehr and Wuthmann joined the 15th Artillery Regiment. In 1921 he was transferred to the staff of the 2nd (Prussian) Artillery Regiment in Schwerin as an adjutant . There he was promoted to first lieutenant in 1922 . From 1924 to 1926 he served in several field batteries in Itzehoe / Schleswig-Holstein . In 1927 he was employed in the Army Statistical Department (T 3) in Berlin in the Reichswehr Ministry and promoted to captain a year later on February 1, 1928 . After a further transition period in the 2nd Artillery Regiment, he returned to the Reichswehr Ministry to spend three years in the Army Department (T 1) in the Troops Office (TA). In 1932 Wuthmann was transferred to the 1st battery of the 6th (Prussian) Artillery Regiment in Münster and on January 1, 1937, was promoted to lieutenant colonel in the 5th division of the Army General Staff. In 1938 he exercised the function of First General Staff Officer (Ia) in the new Group Command 6 in Hanover and was promoted to colonel on August 1, 1939 . As a result of the general mobilization of the army, Wuthmann was appointed First General Staff Officer of the 4th Army on August 26, 1939 . He exercised this function during the attack on Poland and the Western campaign. On November 15, 1940, he was appointed Chief of the General Staff of the 16th Army .

In 1941 he took part in the eastern campaign in northern Russia. In February 1942, Wuthmann was briefly transferred to the Führer Reserve . On April 1, 1942 he became major general and briefly deputy chief of the General Staff of the 15th Army . On May 2, 1942, he was given command of the 295th Infantry Division , which was part of the 1942 Blue Company's summer offensive in the south of the Soviet Union, from September 1942 in Stalingrad during the attacks on the city center and Mamayev Hill . On November 16, 1942, Wuthmann handed his division over to Colonel Otto Korfes and became Plenipotentiary General for Transport in the southern section of Russia. On March 1, 1943, he was promoted to lieutenant general . From April 2 to June 19, 1943, Wuthmann was chief of transport in the Army High Command (OKH) and was appointed commander of the 112th Infantry Division on June 20, 1943 , which he won in the heavy fighting over the Orelbogen and the "Hagen position" led. Even before the division was disbanded (November 2, 1943), Wuthmann gave up command on September 3, 1943 and was transferred to the Army Reserve's Reserve.

From December 5, 1943 Wuthmann was with the leadership of the IX. Army corps assigned to Army Group Center . On February 1, 1944, he was appointed commanding general and promoted to general of the artillery. During the Soviet summer offensive ( Operation Bagration ), the front of his corps was breached shortly after June 22, 1944, but some of the troops under his command were able to escape the encirclement. Due to his involvement in the retreat in the Lepel area , General Wuthmann was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on August 22, 1944. After the breakthrough of the Soviets, the IX. Corps pushed south on Kelmė - Raseinen. In October 1944, fighting followed behind the Dubysa in the direction of Tauroggen and finally to the south bank of the Memel. After the start of the Soviet winter offensive, the corps had to give up the Memel section and the city of Tilsit on January 20, 1945 and withdrew to the Samland . On April 20, 1945, Wuthmann received the order, as commandant of the Danish island of Bornholm, to defend it against Soviet landings. With the total surrender, Wuthmann had to hand over Bornholm to the Soviets on May 9, 1945 and go into captivity, from which he did not return to Germany until autumn 1955.

Awards

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Rolf Hinze: Collapse of Army Group Center, p. 30 f.
  2. ↑ a b Reichswehr Ministry (Ed.): Ranking list of the German Reichsheeres. Mittler & Sohn Verlag, Berlin 1930, p. 147.
  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. 800.
personal data
SURNAME Wuthmann, Rolf
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German officer, most recently general of the artillery in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH August 26, 1893
PLACE OF BIRTH kassel
DATE OF DEATH 20th October 1977
Place of death Minden

Literature Georg Tessin: Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS in the Second World War 1939-1945 ", Volumes 6-10, 71-130, 281-370, Frankfurt / Main and Osnabrück 1966ff. Wolf Keilig: Die Generale des Heeres, Friedberg 1983, page 378. Rolf Hinze: The collapse of the Army Group in mid-1944, Stuttgart 1992. Kurt Diekert / Horst Großmann: The battle for East Prussia, Stuttgart 1976.