Wilhelm Schmalz

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Wilhelm Schmalz
Wilhelm Schmalz (first from left) as a member of the competition team in 1928

Wilhelm Schmalz (born March 1, 1901 in Reußen , Saxony , † March 15, 1983 in Weilmünster ) was a German officer , last lieutenant general in World War II .

Military career

Schmalz's career as an officer began in the 3rd Marine Brigade on April 1, 1919. He was then accepted into the Reichswehr and at the beginning of April 1920 he switched to the 15th Cavalry Regiment , where he remained in various positions until early 1933.

From 1926 to 1932 he was also a team member of the German Olympic riding team.

At the beginning of 1933 Schmalz was assigned to the Hanover cavalry school . From October 1, 1934, he was then an officer in the motorized cavalry regiment  16 in Eisenach . When this was absorbed by the Wehrmacht in 1935 , Schmalz was transferred to the 2 Kradschützen Battalion of the 2nd Panzer Division and, in October 1936, to the Reich Ministry of War in Berlin . In 1938 Schmalz joined the regimental staff of the 11th Cavalry Rifle Regiment in the 4th light division , and from the beginning of 1940 in the 9th Panzer Division in Waidhofen . His promotion to commander of the 1st division of the 11th Cavalry Rifle Regiment took place on April 1, 1939. On November 1, 1940, Schmalz led the motorcyclist battalion 59 of the 9th Panzer Division as battalion chief until January 31, 1942. He then became the commander of the 11th Rifle Regiment, the former 11th Cavalry Rifle Regiment, which he continued to lead after the renaming in early July 1942 to the 11th Panzer Grenadier Regiment.

He gave up this command on December 31, 1942, when he received the order to set up the new Hermann Göring division in the Mont-de-Marsan area in France . For this he switched to the Air Force on January 1, 1943 and became the commander of the tank brigade in the Hermann Göring Panzer Division . In April 1944 Schmalz was appointed commander of the Parachute-Panzer Division 1 Hermann Göring , formerly the Hermann Göring Division , as the successor to Paul Conrath . With this division he fought in Italy, where the division was involved in fights with partisans and committed serious war crimes against civilians. After withdrawing from Italy, he led the division to the Warsaw area . On October 1, 1944, he was promoted to command of the Hermann Göring Parachute Panzer Corps and on January 30, 1945, he was promoted to Lieutenant General. With the Panzer Corps he took part in the East Prussian operation, among other things, the Battle of Heiligenbeil . With the surrender of Germany , he dissolved the staff of the Panzer Corps and the members were supposed to make their way to the west, which failed due to the enemy forces. At the end of World War II, Schmalz was taken prisoner by the Americans.

From 1936 he was married to Luise Henriette Princess of Prussia (1912–1973), the second oldest daughter of Friedrich Wilhelm Prince of Prussia .

War Crimes Proceedings

Schmalz was charged with war crimes in Italy , including the Civitella massacre in Val di Chiana, Cornia and San Pancrazio on June 29, 1944, in which 146 civilians were murdered by soldiers from Hermann Göring's Parachute Panzer Division 1 . He was tried and acquitted by a court on July 12, 1950 in Rome and released from prison.

Awards

Another award he received. were the Royal Bulgarian Order of Bravery IV. Class, I Level, the Medal Winter Battle in the East 1941/42 and the Air Force Ground Combat Badge .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Germany Reichswehr Ministry: Army Ordinance Sheet . 1921, p. 963 ( google.de [accessed on January 4, 2020]).
  2. ^ Germany Reichswehr Ministry: Ranking list of the German Reichsheeres . ES Mittler & Sohn., 1930, p. 64 ( google.de [accessed on January 4, 2020]).
  3. ^ Gordon Williamson: The Hermann Göring Division . Bloomsbury Publishing, 2012, ISBN 978-1-78096-566-6 , pp. 12 ( google.de [accessed on January 4, 2020]).
  4. ^ Gordon Williamson: The Hermann Göring Division . Bloomsbury Publishing, 2012, ISBN 978-1-78096-566-6 , pp. 14 ( google.de [accessed on January 4, 2020]).
  5. ↑ a b c Lieutenant General Wilhelm Schmalz - (HIST, GER) (English), on Deviantart. Retrieved October 12, 2019
  6. ↑ Civitella in Val di Chiana June 29, 1944 . In: Atlante degli stragi naziste e fasciste in Italia . Retrieved September 18, 2018. 
  7. ↑ 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 .
  8. ↑ Walther-Peer Fellgiebel : The bearers of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939-1945 - The holder of the highest award of the Second World War of all parts of the Wehrmacht . Dörfler Verlag, Eggolsheim 2004, ISBN 3-7909-0284-5 , p. 65 .
personal data
SURNAME Schmalz, Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German officer, most recently lieutenant general in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH March 1, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Reussen , Saxony
DATE OF DEATH March 15, 1983
Place of death Weilmünster