Walter Heitz

Lieutenant General Heitz (1936)

Walter Heitz (born December 8, 1878 in Berlin , † February 9, 1944 in Moscow ) was a German army officer (since 1943 Colonel General ). During the Second World War he was used as a commander of large units of the army in various theaters of war.

Life

Empire and First World War

Heitz joined the 2nd West Prussian Field Artillery Regiment No. 36 on March 7, 1898 and took part in the First World War as captain and battery chief . During this war, in addition to the Iron Cross II and I Class, the Wound Badge in Black and the Prussian Service Award Cross, he also received the Knight's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern with Swords and the Hamburg Hanseatic Cross .

Weimar Republic

He then served in the Reichswehr as a teacher at the Jüterbog artillery school ; he was transferred to the artillery inspection department in the Reichswehr Ministry on March 1, 1922. As of April 1, 1922, he was promoted to major. In 1927 he was appointed commander of the 1st Division of the 4th (Saxon) Artillery Regiment; in the summer of the same year he was promoted to lieutenant colonel. In 1929 he was transferred to the Jüterbog military training area to serve as commander of the artillery shooting school; here in 1930 he was promoted to colonel. At the end of 1931 he became the commandant of the Königsberg Fortress , a position he held until 1936.

time of the nationalsocialism

Pre-war period

As commandant of the Königsberg Fortress, he was promoted to major general on February 1, 1933 and to lieutenant general on October 1, 1934 .

Heitz was considered a staunch supporter of the National Socialist system. This may have played a role in the fact that he was appointed first president of the Reich Court Martial on August 1, 1936 . In this capacity he was promoted to General of the Artillery on April 1, 1937 .

Second World War

When the war broke out in 1939, Heitz was already 60 years old and was actually about to retire, especially since he was not in command of the troops. Nevertheless, his request to be allowed to take part in the war as a combatant was granted. After a four-week interlude as Commander Danzig-West Prussia , he was appointed Commanding General of the VIII Army Corps in October 1939 .

For more than three years, Heitz was at the head of his corps, with which he took part in the western campaign in 1940 and from 1941 to 1943 in the war against the Soviet Union . This exceptionally long period for the Second World War suggests that the Wehrmacht leadership was completely satisfied with his achievements, but also considered him too old to climb even higher in the military hierarchy . Although he received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on September 4, 1940 for the crossing over the Oise , where he personally scouted the river crossings under enemy fire , he was not promoted to Colonel General in contrast to some other corps commanders of the western campaign .

Stalingrad and death

In 1942, Heitz and his 8th Army Corps belonged to the 6th Army under Colonel General Friedrich Paulus and was trapped with this in the Stalingrad pocket. Heitz was one of the most fanatical followers of the of Hitler rallying issued and threatened with martial law shootings all defeatists . On January 29, 1943, a corps order from Heitz read, among other things: "Whoever surrenders will be shot! Whoever shows the white flag will be shot! Whoever does not immediately deliver a bread or a sausage that is dropped by our planes," is shot!" Other generals such as Artillery General Walther von Seydlitz-Kurzbach had already given their regimental and battalion commanders permission to act independently and also to capitulate according to local conditions on January 25th. On January 31, 1943, German soldiers who had capitulated were shot in the back as a result of this order.

When the end of the kettle was imminent and Paulus was promoted to field marshal , Heitz was also promoted to colonel general on January 30, 1943, which he had been denied in 1940. Shortly before, on December 21, 1942, it was decorated with the oak leaves for the Knight's Cross. Although he had previously spoken out in favor of continuing the fight “to the last cartridge”, like Paulus he went into Soviet captivity . On January 29, 1943, he had asserted that he would seek a soldier's death while defending his command post. In contrast to the other generals, he turned up in the prison camp with a large amount of personal baggage. In the prison camp he vehemently refused to cooperate with the Free Germany National Committee and even threatened its relatives with beatings. After a year in captivity, Heitz died of cancer on February 9, 1944 in Moscow and was buried in Krasnogorsk .

literature

• Gerd F. Heuer: The Colonel General of the Army. Owner of the highest German command posts . Moewig Verlag, Rastatt 1988, ISBN 3-8118-1049-9 , pp. 104-107.
• Julia Warth: traitor or resistance fighter? Wehrmacht General Walther von Seydlitz-Kurzbach . Oldenbourg, Munich 2006, pp. 113 f., 134 f.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ranking list of the German Reichsheeres , Ed .: Reichswehrministerium , Mittler & Sohn Verlag , Berlin 1925, p. 130.
2. ↑ Peter Stockert: Die Eichenlaubträger 1940-1945 , Bad Friedrichshall (self-published) 2012
3. ↑ Gerd F. Heuer: The Colonel General of the Army, owner of the highest German command posts , Moewig Verlag, Rastatt 1988, ISBN 3-8118-1049-9 , p. 105.
4. ↑ Joachim Wieder: Stalingrad and the responsibility of the soldier , FA Herbig, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-7766-1778-0 , pp. 287-293.
5. ^ Gerd F. Heuer: The Colonel General of the Army, owner of the highest German command posts , Moewig Verlag, Rastatt 1988, ISBN 3-8118-1049-9 , p. 106.
6. ↑ Joachim Wieder: Stalingrad and the responsibility of the soldier , FA Herbig, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-7766-1778-0 , pp. 293-294.