Wolfgang Fischer (General)

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Wolfgang Fischer (born December 11, 1888 in Carolath , † February 1, 1943 in Sbikka , Tunisia ) was a German officer , most recently a general of the armored forces in World War II .

Career

Promotions

Fischer joined the 5th Lower Silesian Infantry Regiment No. 154 in Jauer on March 18, 1910 as a flag boy .

With the outbreak of the First World War , he was transferred to Landwehr Infantry Regiment No. 7 on August 2, 1914, with which Fischer was deployed as platoon and company commander on the Eastern Front . From November 1, 1915 to October 8, 1917 he then acted as adjutant of the 3rd Landwehr Division . He was then transferred as an adjutant to the 22nd Landwehr Infantry Brigade, where Fischer stayed after the end of the war.

After demobilization , he joined the Volunteer Battalion 15 . On September 10, 1919, he was accepted into the Provisional Reichswehr and assigned to the Reichswehr Rifle Regiment 58 . In February 1920 he was transferred to the 12th Infantry Regiment , which he left again in September of the same year. On September 27, 1920, Fischer was assigned to the 3rd (Prussian) Infantry Regiment in Deutsch-Eylau , where he served as regimental adjutant from 1923 to 1927 and then as chief of the 14th company until January 31, 1929 . In the same function he then took over the 7th Company of the 6th Infantry Regiment in Eutin until September 30, 1934 .

On October 1, 1934, he was appointed battalion commander in the 46th Infantry Regiment , which he led for the next three years until he was transferred to the regimental staff of the 69th Infantry Regiment . On February 4, 1938 he was appointed its commander .

After the outbreak of World War II , he led the regiment during the attack on Poland . On October 27, 1939 appointed commander of the 10th Rifle Brigade (as part of the 10th Panzer Division ), he then led it in the western campaign . On June 3, 1940, Fischer received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross for the services of his brigade during the campaign . After the fighting in France ended, his brigade remained as an occupying power . At the beginning of the Eastern campaign , Fischer's brigade advanced as part of the 10th Panzer Division at Army Group Center via Dęblin , Bug , Slonim and Jelnja , where it first had to be refreshed after its losses. Here Fischer was appointed commander of the division on August 2, 1941, replacing his predecessor Lieutenant General Ferdinand Schaal . Under Fischer's command, the division took part in the following double battle at Vyazma and Bryansk and in the advance on Moscow . After the failure of the offensive, the division withdrew to the Gschatsk area.

In May 1942, the division was relocated from the Eastern Front to France to refresh. There she was assigned to the Africa Corps in November 1942 and transferred to Tunisia . Here, on December 9, 1942, Fischer was awarded the Oak Leaves for the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross for leading his division. He had previously been awarded the German Cross in Gold on April 22, 1942 . On the African theater of war, Fischer's division took part in Rommel's advance and the subsequent defensive battles as part of the 5th Panzer Army . During a reconnaissance mission at the Mareth position on February 1, 1943 , Fischer got into a minefield with his vehicle . There his driver drove into a mine, whereupon the vehicle exploded. After Fischer's death, Friedrich Freiherr von Broich took over the leadership of the division .

literature

  • Dermot Bradley: The Generals of the Army 1921-1945 Volume 3: Dahlmann-Fitzlaff Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1994, ISBN 3-7648-2424-7 , pp. 503-504.
  • Wolfgang Keilig: The Generals of the Army 1939–1945 . Podzun-Pallas-Verlag, Friedberg 1983, ISBN 3-7909-0202-0 , p. 91.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Janusz Piekalkwicz: The Second World War. Weltbild Verlag, 1993, ISBN 3-89350-544-X , p. 836
personal data
SURNAME Fischer, Wolfgang
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German officer, most recently General of the Armored Force in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH December 11, 1888
PLACE OF BIRTH Carolath
DATE OF DEATH February 1, 1943
Place of death Sbikka