Smilo von Lüttwitz

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Smilo von Lüttwitz, around 1960
Smilo von Lüttwitz in Bundeswehr uniform, around 1960

Smilo Walther Hinko Oskar Constantin Wilhelm Freiherr von Lüttwitz (born December 23, 1895 in Strasbourg , † May 19, 1975 in Koblenz ) was a German officer who served as a general of the tank troops in World War II . After the Second World War he was a leader in the Johanniter Accident Aid before he became Lieutenant General and Commanding General of the III. Corps joined the Bundeswehr .

Life

Smilo von Lüttwitz was the son of Walther von Lüttwitz . After graduating from high school in 1914, he joined the Leib-Dragoon Regiment (2nd Grand Ducal Hessian) No. 24 in Darmstadt as a flag squire . With this he took part in the First World War. He remained in the military during the Weimar Republic and served in various cavalry associations, including in Breslau and Pasewalk . After the beginning of National Socialist rule , von Lüttwitz joined the tank troops in 1934.

In 1939 he was a lieutenant colonel and served as an adjutant in the XV. Army Corps . During the Second World War he was, among other things, commander of the 12th Rifle Regiment and the 4th Rifle Brigade. He served on the Eastern Front . Later he was commander of the 26th Panzer Division in Italy. In 1944 von Lüttwitz was appointed general of the armored troops, and subsequently commanding general of the LXXXV. Army Corps and at the end of the same year charged with leading the 9th Army . During this time, during the fighting on the Eastern Front, he rejected the unjust criminal justice demanded by the state leadership. For this he had to answer to the Reich Court Martial together with two other generals from his area of ​​command . This procedure had no consequences and von Lüttwitz remained the commanding general of his army corps. During the Second World War he was wounded five times.

He was released from captivity in 1947. He then worked at the Evangelical Academy in Friedewald . From 1954 to 1956 he was the general manager of Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe based in Rolandseck . He contributed greatly to the growing importance of the previously small organization. At the same time he was administrative director of a Protestant academy.

Lüttwitz joined the Bundeswehr on June 1, 1957 with the rank of lieutenant general . He was commanding general of the III. Corps in Koblenz . He was retired in 1960. In 1963 he became chairman of the Society for Military Studies .

In 1955, von Lüttwitz was accepted into the Order of St. John as an honorary knight and eight years later made a legal knight . In 1963 von Lüttwitz took over the presidency of Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe. During his five-year term of office, among other things, the first Johanniter ambulance stations were founded.

In addition to the large Federal Cross of Merit with a star, he was awarded the American Legion of Merit .

Awards

literature

Web links

Commons : Smilo Freiherr von Lüttwitz  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ genealogics.org
  2. ↑ a b c d e Ranking list of the German Reichsheeres , Ed .: Reichswehrministerium , Mittler & Sohn Verlag, Berlin 1930, p. 154
  3. ↑ a b c 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. 519.
predecessor Office successor
- Federal Managing Director of Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe
1956–1966 		Klaus von Heimendahl
personal data
SURNAME Lüttwitz, Smilo from
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lüttwitz, Smilo Freiherr von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German officer and general of the German Wehrmacht and Bundeswehr
DATE OF BIRTH December 23, 1895
PLACE OF BIRTH Strasbourg
DATE OF DEATH May 19, 1975
Place of death Koblenz