General Kurt Mälzer

[Potsdamerplatz]

Can anyone give me a biography of Luftwaffe General Kurt Maelzer. There seems to be very little information about him online. This is all I have been able to find:

General Kurt MÄLZER:

Tried by a U.S. military court at Florence, Italy, and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment on 14.9.46 (7 years remitted), for parading U.S. prisoners of war through the streets of Rome. General MÄLZER was also tried by a British court and sentenced to death on 30.11.46, together with General von Mackensen (q.v.), for complicity in the Ardeatine Caves massacre. Sentence confirmed, but death penalty commuted to life imprisonment (4.7.47).

Thanks in advance for all help.

Best regards,

[Potsdamerplatz]

Problem solved. I found the biography on Mr. Miller's site:

http://www.geocities.com/~orion47/WEHRM ... _KURT.html

Any other further anecdotes from anyone would be appreciated though. I gather he was quite a character.

Best regards,

[Phil Nix]

A drunk I have heard
Phil Nix

[Potsdamerplatz]

A drunk I have heard
Phil Nix

This is correct Phil and it is because of his love for alcohol that he gained a reputation for being a bit of a "character" as I said above.

[Igor Karpov]

Generalmajor Kurt Mälzer (at the extreme right).

Regards,
Igor

[Elwyn W]

Very interesting. If this was Mälzer, then surely from the link this was him too with all the San Marco Division soldiers there. He was Kmdt of Rome. Hard to ignore that.
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=147523&p=1279009&hilit=M%C3%A4lzer#p1279009

The reason why I rejected Mälzer initially was because of the Belgium LF3 pic. Dieter had identified LWGen next to Falkenhausen as Mälzer. I had always filed him under Mälzer but now I realize he never won DKiG or DKiS. My tentative suggestion was Transpspeer's man confirmed Mälzer (if you don't mind citing your source) and so was the LW Gen in the Bundesarchiv pics. Which probably leaves Biblio Verlag wrong.

But who was mystery Gen in Belgium LF3 pic?

Lastly, I now have just found a real Rieke

Cheers
Freiherr

[Elwyn W]

On close examination, Transpspeer's pic was of the same occassion as one of the Bundesarchiv pics!

I can also add that in the Belgien Nordfrankreich pic, in the second row in the middle was Wilhelm Heider CdS to Falkenhausen. Rare bird.

Cheers
Freiherr

[Gareth Collins]

Which is the mystery general you refer to? I think I see Walter Sommé in the group pic. And is that Generalleutnant Friedrich Kärst second from right in front row?

Also a possible is Gen.d.Flak Dr. Eugen Weissmann on left.

PS: I agree with Elwyn. If that is Mälzer THERE it's Mälzer in the linked imaged from the BA.

[Elwyn W]

Hi gareth,

The ID of the LW Gen on the extreme left hand side in the front row was actually made by Miocid -- correctly -- as Frölich (Kmdr of IX Fl Korps based in Holland). But he mis-identified the RKT Heer Gen second from right. That was indeed Kärst, Kmdt of Brussels. There were pics of him in the same uniform from other occassiosn from Cegesoma Image Bank

Cheers
Freiherr

[Elwyn W]

The excellent book about 29 SSPzGr "Sentire - Pensare - Volere" by Sergio Corbatti captioned this as "Melzer" in Rome February 1944. Only minor issue is it said he was reviewing the famous commandoes from the Decima Flottiglia Xmas. I think that is wrong as Xmas personnel wore slighly different lapel insignia.

Cheers
Freiherr