Österreichs Generale im Deutschen Heer 1938-1945

[Ruslan M]

I think this is Franz Böhme on the right side of Hubicki.

Best wishes
Ruslan

[Elwyn W]

Yes, Böhme it was. I missed the glasses. Beofre him was Materna, as seen from earlier pics of the same series.

Cheers
Elwyn

[Frech]

Hi,

found this pic of Böhme today on ebay:

http://www.ebay.at/itm/Gebirgsjager-Gen ... 4845a4a6ec

Regards

Christian

[JakeV]

"Lexicon der Wehrmacht" lists a person named Viktor Sore as Generalmajor; I have searched and found, among others, the following about him:

Viktor Sore
* 13.09.1887 in Wien
† 24.05.1965 ebenda

25.09.1934 Oberst im Bundesministerium für Heereswesen (BMH)
01.10.1937 Vorstand der Personalabteilung
31.10.1938 ausgeschieden

(source: "Protokolle des Ministerrates der Ersten Republik, 1918-1938")

Being listed in Lexicon der Wehrmacht maybe means he became (Char. ?) Generalmajor der Wehrmacht sometime? In such case, I believe we have another person in our list...

Jake

[JakeV]

I also want to add another Austrian General, Offizier der Pioniere, to the list (this one's certainly legitimate):

GM Johann Simmler
* 22.06.1895 in Sarajewo
† 1944 (according to "Opfergang der Generale", however I don't think it's correct) or 1946 (according to Keilig and "Sammlung Krug") or 1947 (according to Lexikon der Wehrmacht) apparently in Österreich (verunglückt)

Jake

[JakeV]

I've found this portrait of GM Ing. Oskar Kubitza.

(source: Bildarchiv Austria, http://www.bildarchivaustria.at/Pages/I ... ID=3913651)



GM Ing. Oskar Kubitza
* 10.07.1891 Wigstadtl/Bezirkshauptmannschaft Troppau/Österreichisch–Schlesien, heute Vítkov/Okres Oprava/Tschechien
† 15.11.1942 in Rußland (verunglückt); "Olitz" (his place of death according to ABR) doesn't seem to match any place in Russia.

another short bio of Kubitza: http://www.biographien.ac.at/oebl/oebl_K/Kubitza_Oskar_1891_1942.xml

Jake

[JakeV]

According to "Doppeladler oder Hakenkreuz? Das „Heeresarchiv Wien“ 1938–1945" by Michael Hochedlinger (http://www.austria.gv.at/DocView.axd?CobId=46696):

Char. GM Heinrich Klein
* 10.07.1881 in Wien
† 04.12.1953 ebenda

00.00.1931 österr. Oberst
00.00.1933 österr. Generalmajor (Titel)
00.00.1940 Char. Generalmajor

Also, "Lexicon der Wehrmacht" lists Ing. Alois Veselý (* 00.00.1885 in ???; † 00.00.1945 in ???) as Generalmajor. Veselý was promoted to Generalmajor on 22.06.1936 while assigned to the Kriegstechnischer Stab in the Bundesministerium für Landesverteidigung. He was present, along with other Bundesheer generals, on Hitler's visit to Wien on 14.03.1938. (According to Erwin Pitsch" "Alexander Löhr Band 2: Der Luftflottenchef", p. 15.)

In Alexander Mejstrik (Hrsg.): "Berufsschädigungen in der nationalsozialistischen Neuordnung der Arbeit: vom österreichischen Berufsleben 1934 zum völkischen Schaffen 1938-1940", p. 362, it is stated that during April and October 1938 two Generalmajor—Ingenieure were recommended for "Verabschiedung milde Form": these were Generalmajor Ing. Emil Hickmann (* 12.07.1884 Preßburg; † 10.10.1968 Wien) and Generalmajor Ing. Alois Veselý. This probably means that Veselý remained on duty after the Anschluss, until he was retired. In addition, we have a photo of Emil Hickmann in Wehrmacht uniform (http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=161283#p1576453). So, perhaps Veselý could also belong to the list — yet I wasn't able to find concrete proof of that.

Alois Veselý was married to Maria, geb. von Seidel (a Gräfin); Herbert Vesely (* 31. März 1931 Wien; † 13. Juli 2002 München), the film director, was his son. (Alexander Horwath, Lisl Ponger, Gottfried Schlemmer: "Avantgardefilm. Österreich. 1950 bis heute", p. 95; http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Vesely).

Jake

[Cartaphilus]

Dear friends, I have a question related to this topic. When the Austrian generals became part of the German Army, they retained their own ranks that they had in the Austrian Army? For example, a Generalleutnant in the Austrian Army was automatically Generalleutnant at the German Army?

[Stauffenberg II]

Hi,

when the Austrian officer corps was transferred into the German Armed Forces on 15. March 1938 the officers were transferred with their officer ranks currently held in the Austrian Army. The only exception was Feldmarschalleutnant (the Austrian Generalleutnant): These guys were transferred as Generalleutnants into the GE Armed Forces.

However the following notes need to be added:

The Austrian Officer rank lists listed also listed the officers by seniority date (Rangdienstalter), although an additional seniority number (Ordnungszahl) was not given in Austria. The easiest and fair approach would have been to rank the Austrian officers within the new combined officer corps by seniority date. But this did not happen. Examining the ranking in detail shows that the Austrian officers were pretty much disadvantaged: The Austrian officers were ranked at the end of each rank class because their seniority was not counted as German “Patent” amongst the other German officers but only as 2nd class promotion “Ernannt-Promotion” (Ern.), the Ern. officers being listed at the end of each officer rank.

Examples (from the Army rank list 1938 as per as Jan. 3rd, 1939)

... end of Gen. Maj. rank list:
Wintzer (GE): 01.10.1938 (1)
Witthöft (GE): 01.10.1938 (2)
Gunzelmann (GE): 01.10.1938 (4)
Maderholz (GE): 01.10.1938 (5)
Bayer (GE): 01.10.1938 (7)
Heunert (GE): 01.10.1938 (8)
Edl. v. Kiesling (GE): 01.10.1938 (10)
(v.) Nagy (AT): Ern. 26.01.1934
Feurstein (AT): Ern. 25.06.1935
Dr. [iur. Ritter v.] Hubicki (AT): Ern. 24.12.1935
[Ing.] Hammer (AT): Ern. 22.12.1936
Ing. Moro (AT): Ern. 26.06.1937
Basler (AT): Ern. 01.01.1938
Glasner (AT: Ern. 01.01.1938

Some of the Austrian Generalmajors instead were already given German Patents, but with a later date than their original seniority date:

Materna (Fritz) received 01.04.1938 (21a) instead of: 25.06.1935
Böhme received 01.04.1938 (21b) instead of: 24.12.1935

Some others highly qualified Generalstab Generalmajors were tranferred to the Wehrmacht but had to retire from active duty in the second half of 1938: Ritter v. Wittas, Bornemann, v. Wessely.

Whilst all other German colonels up to Oberst RDA 01.04.1935 were already promoted to Gen. Maj. the Austrian Colonels up to Oberst RDA 01.04.1935 were not (Sohn, Krischer Edl. v. Wehregg, Ing. Kubitza, Mlaker, Dr. iur. Hinghofer, Meissner, Schwab, Brauner v. Haydringen, Zellner, Dr. iur. Klepp, Brantner, Markgraf ... with de Angelis the only one of them being promoted to Gen. Maj. 01.04.1938 (22).

Some of the Austrian officers were transferred to the E-officer corps in Germany, which did neither exist in the Imperial German Army nor the Austrian Army. The most famous officers here are the General Staff Colonels Peyerl and Osmann.

A further disadvantage the Austrian Officer Corps suffered was predominatly using them in minor positions. For example the majority of the Austrian general staff officers were not used in general staff positions but as troop officers, although there was a lack of general staff officers in Germany. They were not even given regimental or bataillon commands by their army branch but only received staff positions, the few exceptions being Brauner v. Haydringen, Eglseer and Windisch amongst others:

Hegedüs: RSt I. R. (mot.) 5
Schönherr Edl. v. Schönleiten: RSt I. R. 9
Hellrigl Edl. v. Rechtenfeld: RSt I. R. 21
Dr. iur. Klepp: RSt. I. R. 30
Dr. Franek: RSt I. R. 32
Magschitz: RSt I. R. 36
Klein: RSt I. R. 44
Schalber Edl. v. Schalberg: RSt I. R. 45
Ortner: RSt I. R. 50
Markgraf: RSt I. R. 63
Graß: RSt I. R. (mot.) 66
Sinzinger: RSt I. R. 89
Buchwiser: RSt Geb. Jäg. R. 99
Meissner: RSt I. R. 118
Krischer Edl. v. Wehregg: RSt A. R. 10
Dr. iur. Koske: RSt A. R. (mot.) 29
Pauer v. Arlau: RSt A. R. 56
Steinhardt Edl. v. Radlow: a General Staff Colonel commanding II./A. R. 60
Schwab: z. Verf. d. Ob. Bef. d. H.
Kremling Edl. v. Eggholf: RSt K. R. 10
Ing. Kubitza: St. Insp. d. West-Befestigungen
Eberle: St. Insp. d. Ost-Befestigungen
Werner: St. Kdr. d. Nachr. Tr. VII

Jürgen