Wilhelm Crisolli

Wilhelm Crisolli (born January 20, 1895 in Berlin ; † September 12, 1944 at Porretta Terme or in Modena , Italy ) was a German major general in World War II .

Life

Wilhelm Crisolli was the son of the lawyer Rudolf Crisolli (1854–1922), his brothers were the lawyers Julius (* 1894) and Karl-August Crisolli (1900–1935).

At the beginning of the First World War, on August 4, 1914, he joined the Jäger Regiment on Horseback No. 4 in Stolp as a flag boy . After completing a Fahnenjunker course in Döberitz , he was in the field from December 14, 1914 and was promoted to lieutenant at the end of 1915 . He spent most of the war on the Eastern Front , and in 1918 he served in France. Crisolli had received both classes of the Iron Cross for his behavior .

After the war he first served in a volunteer corps in Pomerania and was then accepted into the Reichswehr and stationed in Stolp. In 1925 he was promoted to first lieutenant . In 1928 he began general staff training at the Infantry School in Dresden, in 1930 he was promoted to Rittmeister , in 1935 to Major , and in 1938 to Lieutenant Colonel . From 1935 to 1938 he taught as a tactics teacher at the war school in Potsdam . On November 9, 1938, he became the commander of the 1st Division of the 9th Cavalry Rifle Regiment in Sorau .

In 1939 he took part in the attack on Poland , and in early 1940 he was deployed on the Western Front. In 1941 he took part in the conquest of Belgrade and received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on July 15, 1941 . On August 1, 1941, he was promoted to colonel . On January 31, 1942, he was seriously wounded on the Russian front and was then taken to a health hospital in Marienbad for six weeks . From May to the end of October 1942 he was in command of Rifle Brigade 13 on the Russian front. Subsequently, Crisolli was transferred to the Führerreserve and at the same time was temporarily entrusted with the command of the 13th and 16th Panzer Divisions as well as the 333rd Infantry Division and the 6th Panzer Division . On November 1, 1943, he took over the 20th Air Force Field Division stationed in Jutland . On February 1, 1944, he was appointed its commander and major general. In May 1944 he fought with this division in Upper and Central Italy. In the second week of September 1944, Crisolli was ambushed by Italian partisans in the Apennines and was wounded in an open bucket car. He died of a severe head injury on September 12, 1944 either at Porretta Terme or in a hospital in Modena. On March 25, 1945 he was posthumously promoted to lieutenant general with effect from September 1, 1944 .

He was initially buried in Modena and is now in the German military cemetery on Passo della Futa .

In 2004 his grandson Thomas Medicus wrote a book about his grandfather and the silence in his family about his death.

literature

• 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: v. Blanckensee – v. Czettritz and Neuhauß. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1993, ISBN 3-7648-2424-7 , pp. 478-479.
• Thomas Medicus : In the eyes of my grandfather. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-421-05577-7 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 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 .