Walter von Brockdorff-Ahlefeldt

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Walter Kurt Thilo Graf von Brockdorff-Ahlefeldt (born July 13, 1887 in Perleberg , † May 9, 1943 in Berlin ) was a German officer, most recently a general of the infantry .

Life

origin

Walter was the son of the Prussian Rittmeister Ernst Graf von Brockdorff -Ahlefeldt (1854–1931) and his wife Elisabeth, née von Jagow .

Military career

In 1907 Brockdorff-Ahlefeldt joined the Brandenburg Jäger Battalion No. 3 of the Prussian Army in Lübben as a Fahnenjunker . As a lieutenant (patent dated September 17, 1906) he was initially an adjutant in the Reserve Jäger Battalion No. 3, with which he participated in the First World War . He was promoted to first lieutenant on November 18, 1914 . On April 18, 1916, he was promoted to captain . He was seriously wounded as a company commander in the Battle of Verdun in 1916. When he was operational again in 1917, he was assigned to general staff training. After his general staff training, he was employed in the staff of the General Command of the IV Army Corps until the end of the First World War . Brockdorff-Ahlefeldt received both classes of the Iron Cross for his work

In 1919 he fought in the Freikorps "Dohna". Like only 3,000 other officers, he was accepted into the Reichswehr and deployed as a company commander in the Reichswehr Infantry Regiment 30. When the 100,000-man army was finally formed, he became company commander in the 8th (Prussian) Infantry Regiment . From October 1, 1924 to February 28, 1930 he was employed in the staff of the 2nd Division . His promotion to major took place on April 1, 1927. From March 1, 1930 he was employed in the staff of Infantry Leader II in Stettin . On October 1, 1931, he was transferred to the 9th (Prussian) Infantry Regiment in Potsdam and at the same time promoted to lieutenant colonel. He was appointed commander of the 1st Battalion on February 1, 1932. From March 1, 1934, he was commander of the 8th (Prussian) Infantry Regiment. On April 1, 1934, he was promoted to colonel . From October 1, 1934, he was in command of the Frankfurt Infantry Regiment. This regiment was renamed the 8th Infantry Regiment on October 15, 1935. On April 1, 1937, he was appointed major general and took over as commander of the 23rd Infantry Division on March 1, 1938 . On March 1, 1939, he was promoted to lieutenant general .

With the division he took part in the attack on Poland at the beginning of World War II . On June 1, 1940, he was appointed Commanding General of the XXVIII. Army corps , which was used in the western campaign in France. On June 21, 1940 he became the commanding general of the II Army Corps . He was promoted to General of the Infantry on August 1, 1940. With his corps, he was part of Army Group North during the attack on the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941. For the victory of his II Army Corps in the fighting around Kovno, he was awarded on 15. July 1941 awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross . As a result of a counter-offensive by the Red Army , the II Army Corps was trapped near Demyansk from January 18 to April 21, 1942 . For his use in this battle Brockdorff-Ahlefeldt was awarded the Oak Leaves for the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (103rd award) on June 27, 1942.

Due to illness, he was in January 1943 in the Führerreserve the OKH displaced, but died already on May 9, 1943 in the reserve hospital 123 in Berlin-Zehlendorf . He was honored with a state ceremony in the Berlin armory ; this was also discussed in detail in the newsreel of May 19, 1943.

family

Brockdorff-Ahlefeldt had 1923 in Penkun Marie Auguste von der Osten (1891-1962), daughter of Prussian Chamberlain Friedrich Wilhelm von der Osten , member of the Prussian manor Auguste, née Countess of, and his wife Eickstedt -Peterswaldt married. The journalist Cay Graf von Brockdorff-Ahlefeldt , long-time member of the daily newspaper Die Welt , was a son.

literature

  • Genealogical manual of the count's houses. Volume 9 (= Genealogical Handbook of the Nobility, Volume 72). CA Starke, Limburg an der Lahn 1979, p. 93.
  • Franz Thomas, Günter Wegmann: The knight's cross bearers of the infantry. Volume 3 (= The Knight's Cross Bearers of the German Wehrmacht. Part III, Volume 3). Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1993, ISBN 3-7648-1734-8 , ISBN 3-7648-1153-6 (complete works), pp. 132-134 (with picture).
  • Dermot Bradley (ed.), Karl-Friedrich Hildebrand, Markus Rövekamp: 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 2: Bl-Cz. Biblio-Verlag, Osnabrück 1993, ISBN 3-7648-2424-7 , ISBN 3-7648-2422-0 , pp. 274-275.

Individual evidence

  1. Reichswehr Ministry (Ed.): Ranking list of the German Reichsheeres. ES Mittler & Sohn , Berlin 1924, p. 148.
  2. 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. 245.
  3. Newsreel at archive.org , accessed on March 24, 2017
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