Walter Krüger (SS member)

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Krüger (left) with Colonel General Erich Hoepner in October 1941 on the Eastern Front

Walter Krüger (born February 27, 1890 in Strasbourg ; † May 22, 1945 near Libau ) was a German SS-Obergruppenführer and general of the Waffen-SS .

Life

Walter was the son of the later Prussian colonel and commander of the infantry regiment "Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia" (2nd Magdeburg) No. 27 Alfred Krüger († August 6, 1914 near Liège) and his wife Helene, née Glünder († 1930 ). His younger brother was the later SS-Obergruppenführer and general of the Waffen-SS Friedrich-Wilhelm Krüger .

After visiting the cadet institutions in Karlsruhe and Berlin-Lichterfelde , Krüger joined the 2nd Baden Grenadier Regiment Kaiser Wilhelm I. No. 110 on March 19, 1908 as a lieutenant with a patent from June 19, 1908 .

During World War I he served in the Alpine Corps , among other things , was promoted to captain on August 18, 1915 and commanded a battalion at the end of the war . After the war he joined the Westphalian Freikorps von Pfeffer and fought in the Baltic States and the Ruhr area. Krüger was then taken over into the provisional Reichswehr and head of the MG company of III. Battalions in the Reichswehr Rifle Regiment 13 in Paderborn. At his own request, he retired from active service in December 1920.

From the summer of 1921 onwards, Krüger initially completed an apprenticeship at the Vogler private bank in Halberstadt and then worked as a banker at the Reichsbankstelle Halberstadt until 1925.

In 1935 he joined the SS disposal force (SS no. 266.184) and was entrusted with the formation of the 2nd battalion of the SS standard "Germania". He later taught at the SS Junker School in Bad Tölz . As First General Staff Officer (Ia) of the SS Police Division , he took part in the campaign in the West before returning to the SS Junk School in Bad Tölz in August / September 1940, from where he again moved to the SS Headquarters in Berlin in October 1940 .

From August 18 to November 16, 1941, when he was appointed inspector of the infantry in the SS headquarters, Krüger was in command of the SS Police Division. After Herbert-Ernst Vahl was wounded , he took over command of the SS Panzer Grenadier Division "Das Reich" , which he led during the Citadel operation in the Belgorod area . At the end of 1943 he was then commanding general of the IV. SS Panzer Corps and from March 15 to July 24, 1944, commander of the Waffen SS in the Reich Commissariat Ostland . On July 25, 1944 he took over as commanding general of the VI. Waffen-Army Corps of the SS (Latvian) in Army Group North , which he commanded in the defense of the advancing Red Army in Courland . The circumstances of his death are unclear, but apparently at the end of the war he tried to make his way to East Prussia with a troop of soldiers , but was caught by a Soviet patrol in a forest on May 22, 1945, whereupon he shot himself.

Promotions

Awards

literature

  • Dermot Bradley (ed.), Andreas Schulz , Günter Wegmann: The generals of the Waffen-SS and the police. The military careers of the generals, as well as the doctors, veterinarians, intendants, judges and ministerial officials with the rank of general. Volume 2: Hachtel – Kutschera. Biblio Verlag, Bissendorf 2005, ISBN 3-7648-2592-8 , pp. 610-618.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ranking list of the active service status of the Royal Prussian Army and the XIII. (Royal Württemberg) Army Corps. As of October 6, 1912. Berlin, p. 270.
  2. ↑ James Lucas: The Empire. The Military Role of the 2nd SS Division. London 1981, ISBN 0-304-35199-7 , p. 214.
  3. ^ Gregory L. Mattson: SS-Das Reich. The Story of the Second SS Division 1939-45. Staplehurst 2002, ISBN 1-86227-144-5 , p. 180.
  4. ↑ 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. 479.
personal data
SURNAME Kruger, Walter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German SS-Obergruppenführer and general of the Waffen-SS
DATE OF BIRTH February 27, 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH Strasbourg
DATE OF DEATH May 22, 1945
Place of death Libau