Karl Koetz, 21. Infanterie-Division

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Kelvin
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Karl Koetz, 21. Infanterie-Division

#1

Post by Kelvin » 26 Jul 2008, 19:45

Hi anyone have data on major general Karl Koetz commander of 21st infantry division ?

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Georges JEROME
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Re: Karl Koetz 21st infantry division

#2

Post by Georges JEROME » 26 Jul 2008, 21:39

Karl KOETZ
8.02.1808 at Neukölln
1.11.1925 join Reichswehr as Schütze Inf.Rgt. 9
1.11.1937 Lt (Inf.Rgt.106)
1938 Inf. Rgt. 105
1.12.43 Oberstlt
1.6.44 Oberst
1.12.44 Generalmajor

1939 Kompanie Chef in Inf. Rgt 80
1941 Kdr II/Inf.Rgt. 463
1943 kdr Inf. Rgt . 185
1944 sept - march 1945 Kdr Inf. Div. 349 (heavy lost in Ost Prussia remains went to ID 21)
1945 Kdr Inf. Div. 21 (as a Kampfgruppe in Ostprussia)

RK on 13/11/42 as Major and bat kdr
Eichenlaub (374) on 24/1/44 as Oberstlt and Rgt kdr


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Dieter Zinke
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Re: Karl Koetz 21st infantry division

#3

Post by Dieter Zinke » 26 Jul 2008, 22:39

Kelvin,

I' m sure you don' t know Michael Millers & Gareth Collins' work here

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

Enjoy !


Dieter Z.

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Georges JEROME
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Re: Karl Koetz 21st infantry division

#4

Post by Georges JEROME » 26 Jul 2008, 23:23

what a successfull war career : he rose in ranks and duties so fast.
general at 36 y.o.
commander of a cie on 1940 and of a division on 1944

impressive

JG

Kelvin
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Re: Karl Koetz 21st infantry division

#5

Post by Kelvin » 27 Jul 2008, 04:17

Thank so much for all people

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Re: Karl Koetz 21st infantry division

#6

Post by Kelvin » 21 Aug 2008, 14:39

He find him was commander of 5th Panzer divison for just several days in April 1945

Jan-Hendrik
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Re: Karl Koetz 21st infantry division

#7

Post by Jan-Hendrik » 24 Aug 2008, 10:24

Source?

Kdr. till 9th April 1945 GM Hoffmann-Schoenborn, Fhr. till 17th April Oberst Herzog. Source: Scherzer!

Jan-Hendrik

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Colonel Kurtz
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Re: Karl Koetz 21st infantry division

#8

Post by Colonel Kurtz » 25 Oct 2009, 01:29

Hello Jan-Hendrik (and others),

I agree with you that Gen.Maj. Karl Koetz did not command 5 PzD beginning on 18. April 1945. This is posted on the Axis History Factbook page for the division.

http://www.axishistory.com/index.php?id=1277

I do not possess any primary sources that would back this up.

The Soviets had reduced the Königsberg fortress on 10. April and opened a new offensive in Samland on 13. April against Gen.d.Inf. Matzky's XXVI AK under which 5 PzD was fighting alongside the battered remnants of 28 JgD, 58 ID, 1 ID, 21 ID and 561 VGrD.

Christopher Duffy's Red Storm on the Reich (Da Capo, 1993, New York) quotes A.D. Plato's Die Geschichte der 5. Panzerdivision 1938 bis 1945 (1978 - Regensburg) saying that Oberst Herzog would have ordered a general sauve qui peut (every man for himself) at 15h30 on 16. April 1945. Herzog's order came about when 5 PzD was cut off in the Peyse peninsula as the Russians reached Fischhausen further west.

I therefore see Obst.d.R. Herzog as last commander of 5 PzD. Remnants must have found their way to Pillau, but did they fight as an organized unit under the banner of 5 PzD ???

Here are the fates of the commanders above mentioned units,

XXVI AK : Gen.d.Inf. Gerhard Matzky - surrendered to the British in May 1945.
28 JgD : Obst. Hans Tempelhof - unknown to me ???
58 ID : Gen.Lt. Curt Siewert - wounded on 13. April 1945. Surrendered to the British on 4. May 1945.
1 ID : Gen.Lt. Henning von Thadden - wounded on 26. April 1945. Shipped to Denmark. Died on 18. May 1945.
21 ID : Gen.Maj. Karl Koetz - taken ill on 16. April 1945. Surrendered to the British on 15. July 1945.
561 VGrD : Obst. Felix Becker - served as a Russian-English interpretor for the Wehrmachts-Führungsstab in May 1945. May have surrendered to the British ???
5 PzD : Obst.d.R. Hans Herzog - unknown to me. Commands 5 PzD til 18. April 1945. Probably surrendered to the Soviets on that date in Peyse ???

Most of them escaped by sea via Pillau, including Gen.Maj. Karl Koetz. His successor is unknown to me.

Russ Schneider’s Gotterdammerung 1945 (Eastern Front Warfield Books, Philomont, Va. 1998, pp. 515-520) mentions 83 ID was shipped to Pillau via the Hela peninsula on 24. April 1945. The division encountered the Soviets’ final onslaught on 25. April and surrendered on the morning of 26. April 1945. He quotes from Geschichte der 83. Infanterie-Division 1939 - 1945 by Reinhard Tiemann (Podzun, Bad Nauheim, 1960).

According to Duffy (p.219), the last Germans to fight in the Samland, Batterie Lehmberg under command of Major Karl Henke, were wiped out at Pillau on 27. April 1945.

Unless it was from a medical bed before boarding ship from Pillau (until the last week of April ?), I don't see how Koetz could have commanded 5 PzD up to 8. May 1945.

Any comments or additions ?

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genstab
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Re: Karl Koetz, 21. Infanterie-Division

#9

Post by genstab » 18 Mar 2018, 19:09

Pulling this one out of the past because of a 1-2-10 post (page 4), Generals Commanding Divisions) on GenLt Karl Guembel, I have this to add about the last commanders of a few divisions:
28 Jaeger Div- I have Obst. Tempelhoff 12-4-45 to 28-4-45: Dieckert and (Gen d. Inf) Horst Grossmann, Der Kampf um Ostpreussen
(Gen. Grossmann was last commander of VI. Armeekorps)
58 ID- Obst Fritz Klaesing 13-4-45 to __5-45 (Mehner)
83 ID- Obst Dr Helmuth Raatz 27-4-45 to end (several Google posts including AHF "Colonels Commanding Divisions" page 4, 12-6-08
561 VG- Obst Felix Becker 23-2-45 to 9-4-45 (Dieckert/Grossmann)- Gen Gorn after being sick from 23 Feb went to 710 ID from 15-4-45 (Bradley)

Best,
Bill

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