The Generals of 1945

Discussions on the personalities of the Wehrmacht and of the organizations not covered in the other sections. Hosted by askropp and Frech.
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askropp
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Re: The Generals of 1945

#46

Post by askropp » 07 Oct 2018, 18:58

As promised, now a few words on General der Gebirgstruppe August Winter. Winter was promoted after Hitler's death. A date of 01.05.1945 is given by LdW (also on Wikipedia), and I thought this could have been the RDA before I knew his Karteikarten. Those give 20 April and 30 January as dates (obviously, this can only be the Wirkung and / or RDA date). As the annotations to the last Handliste der Generalstabsoffiziere also say 30 January, Absolon may be right when he assumes this was the correct date. If so, Winter should have gotten the (7).

A very special case, of course, is Ernst Kaether with his well-known "temporary" promotion to GL on 22.04.1945 (this may have been with or without a RDA). As we know, this short-lived promotion was cancelled after two days.
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Re: The Generals of 1945

#47

Post by askropp » 07 Oct 2018, 19:44

Generale mit RDA vom 01.05.1945

There shouldn't be any, because 20 April was to be used instead of 1 May, but after Hitler's death this could have been ignored. Although all those claims are rather unlikely, at least one promotion is confirmed.

Generaloberst
Carl Hilpert

Hilpert was promoted during his last hours of command, if not after the surrender. A RDA of 01.05.1945 is given by Bradley, but not confirmed by original sources. Absolon does even list him as "unconfirmed" (but we have a Karteikarte and post surrender documents that confirm his promotion).

Generalleutnant z.V.
Bodo Zimmermann

This is the only confirmed promotion to general's rank mit RDA vom 01.05.1945. We also have the following unconfirmed claims:

Generalleutnant
Rudolf Reichert
Albert Henze
Georg Reinicke
Eberhard Thunert


Generalmajor
Wilhelm Knüppel
Hans Kreppel
Werner Büning


Keilig says that Knüppel's promotion is confirmed by his Soldbuch, but the question remains who made this entry (and when). As a last oddity, there is the Soldbuch of Walter Dornberger that says he was promoted to Generalleutnant mit RDA vom 01.06.1945! (I would have posted a photo, but I am unsure of the copyright status because it appeared on the website of an auctioneer.)
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Re: The Generals of 1945

#48

Post by Aisingioro » 08 Oct 2018, 18:38

Hi askropp,

Do you have any evidence that Wallenberg was promoted to GM 20.04.1945 ?

Aisin

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Re: The Generals of 1945

#49

Post by askropp » 08 Oct 2018, 18:50

He isn't mentioned anywhere, but thanks for reminding me of that claim. If I understand it right, he was a retired z.V.-Offizier who joined the Volkssturm in Berlin 1945. I can't see why he should have promoted at a point where youths like Bärenfänger became Generals. Has anybody more info on Wallenberg's previous career and promotions?
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Re: The Generals of 1945

#50

Post by askropp » 09 Oct 2018, 11:59

So, this is my current state of knowledge. Any additions, corrections etc. are always welcome. I am particularly interested in the following points:

1.) We know the order numbers for the vast majority of 20 April 1945 promotions. They beginn with 1255 (Denkert) and end with 1286 (Hemmann). But I'm still missing orders Nr. 1263 and 1280. It is highly probable that those numbers belong to one of the generals listed without known number, not an entirely unknown new mystery general, but if someone should happen to stumble over those two promotions, please let me know.

2.) Even more important, according to Absolon, those 14 officers are said to have been planmäßig promoted to GM in 1945:

Karl Jakwerth
Josef Dahme
Wilhelm Jolas
Joseph Brüning
Karl-Adolf von Bodecker
Hubert Strohmaier
Kurt Adam
Alfred Heisig
Rudolf Pühringer
Heinrich von Nordheim
Gustav Enke
Richard Bulcke
Paul von Mayer
Wilhelm Fox

For none of those officers, I have been able to find any original evidence of a promotion. As it seems, Absolon was apparently very hesistant to list unwarranted claims. Therefore, he doubtlessly made some errors of omission, but it seems unlikely he would have listed those officers without any evidence in the form of original documents. The question is, which and where are those documents? Of course it may have been tempting to believe the claim of an officer who was evidently eligible for a planmäßige Beförderung, even although this does not mean it must have really happened. But it seems probable that at least some of those 14 officers could have been real generals. Any input is very welcome!
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Re: The Generals of 1945

#51

Post by Aisingioro » 03 Mar 2019, 14:10

Hi Askropp!
Thanks for your great work. I have two additions:

1)Karl-Gustav Sauberzweig (06.01.1945 GL)

2)following unconfirmed
01.04.1945 (GL)Steinmüller, Walter
20.04.1945 (GM)Schwarzmüller, Ludwig
http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Per ... ungS-R.htm

and
20.04.1945 (GM)Wallenberg, Gustav-Adalbert von
http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Per ... ungW-R.htm

Aisin

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Re: The Generals of 1945

#52

Post by askropp » 03 Mar 2019, 15:46

I know that Sauberzweig is said to have been transferred back into the Heer, but if so, his RDA will have remained unchanged and thus he was no "General of 1945". On Steinmüller, I am not aware of any claim of his promotion to GL. That he is listed as such on LdW may be a simple typo.

Schwarzmüller definitely did NOT get a planmäßige Beförderung (although he would have been due on 01.01.1945), and I don't see why he should have been promoted after this point. His last known command was the totally insignificant Landesschützenersatz- und Ausbildungsregiment 3.

I shared my opinion on Wallenberg with you only two posts ago, so I don't see why you bring him up again.
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Re: The Generals of 1945

#53

Post by JakeV » 07 Mar 2019, 08:19

Re Schwarzmüller, his Sterbeurkunde reads: "Der General außer Dienst Ludwig Schwarzmüller", so he probably somehow got some kind of official recognition for a Generalmajor promotion.

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Re: The Generals of 1945

#54

Post by askropp » 21 Apr 2019, 17:55

According to a handwritten note in a list of Arkos from T-78 R-947, Karl Patzak was indeed promoted to GM mit RDA vom 30.01.1945.
This also makes the alleged promotions of Jakwerth and Dahme more likely.
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Re: The Generals of 1945

#55

Post by Aisingioro » 22 Apr 2019, 14:44

Karl Patzak
GM mit RDA vom 30.01.1945 (12 ??)

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Re: The Generals of 1945

#56

Post by askropp » 22 Apr 2019, 22:26

No. I don't think he got an Ordnungsnummer, but it should have been the (4a).
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Re: The Generals of 1945

#57

Post by Stauffenberg II » 21 May 2019, 20:43

askropp wrote:
07 Oct 2018, 12:21
Generale mit RDA vom 20.04.1945 (Teil 4)

Generalmajore (bevorzugte Beförderungen)
Hubert Ritter von Heigl
Emanuel von Kiliani - Order Nr. 1272
Robert Bader
Bruno Schatz - Order Nr. 1265
Georg Scholze - Order Nr. 1277
Hans Kohlsdorfer
Karl-Richard Koßmann - Order Nr. 1275
Rudolf Langhaeuser - Order Nr. 1262
Gerhard Lindner - Order Nr. 1268
Maximilian Roßkopf - Order Nr. 1284
Ernst Merk
Curt-Ulrich von Gersdorff
Rolf Scherenberg - Order Nr. 1276
Karl Klotz - Order Nr. 1238
Ivo-Thilo von Trotha - Order Nr. 1231
Friedrich Holzhäuer
Werner Neumann - Order Nr. 1267
Johann Steets - Order Nr. 1274
Max Lemke
Erhard Berner - Order Nr. 1271
Bernhard Ueberschär - Order Nr. 1261
Hinrich Warrelmann - Order Nr. 1266
Willy Langkeit - Order Nr. 1273
Ottomar Hansen
Josef Rauch - Order Nr. 1281
Ernst Biehler
Friedrich Drescher
Walter Scheunemann

Erich Bärenfänger

Generalmajor d.R.
Gerd von Below - Order Nr. 1279

And, of course, we have a whole bunch of unconfirmed claims listed below (note that none of those officers are listed by Absolon): Wilhelm Zuber, Siegfried Heine, Hellmuth Dorn, Volkmar Schöne, Theodor Pilling, Ottomar Babel, Carl Stollbrock, Gustav Tigör, Hans Meiser, Gustav Knabe, Lothar Berger, Max Stiotta (Edler von Hockenjos), Max Schirmeister, Werner Frotscher, Alfred Kuhnert, Dietrich Beelitz, Fritz von Arnim, Fritz Fullriede, Walter Drück, Horst von Usedom, Ernst Klasing, Fritz Poleck, Johannes Hölz, Franz Bäke (d.R.) and Helmuth von Ilsemann (z.V.)
A further good evidence leading to the assumption that Dietrich Beelitz was not promoted to Gen. Maj. is the fact that he wrote 3 military studies for the Western Allies (B-265, B-267 und B-268). In these studies Beelitz rank is given as Oberst. I am sure that Beelitz knew his last rank when writing these studies ...

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Re: The Generals of 1945

#58

Post by Stauffenberg II » 26 Jun 2019, 11:44

askropp wrote:
08 Mar 2018, 22:04

After 01.03.1945, no Ordnungsnummern were assigned in original sources. Ordnungsnummern for 01.04. and 20.04. that have been circulated in the web (including this forum) are post-war compilations. Judging after the RDA, there was still a handful of planmäßige promotions in April. Why they didn't get any Ordnungsnummern, I don't know. As there was ample time for the HPA to prepare the lists of planmäßige Beförderungen for both 01.04. and 20.04. (the deadlines were 01.03. and 01.04., when the HPA was still fully operational), those promotions should have been added to the officer and unit Karteikarten and also the last Stellenbesetzung. If they are missing, it makes a promotion of the officer in question unlikely.
Dear Albert,

for completeness officers up to Oberst (DAL T incl. General Staff officers) obviously did get seniority numbers (Ordnungsnummern) after 01.03.1945. I was astonished to see in an Austrian master thesis, that there was a promotion order for Obersten 20.04.1945 incl. seniority numbers ...

see:
http://othes.univie.ac.at/224/1/10-16-2007_9920920.pdf

The source according to Ref. Nr. 794 is:
Bundesarchiv/Militärarchiv Freiburg, HPA Nr. 3201/45 PA/Ag P 1/1 (Zentral-)Abt/IIIb (1) vom 15. April 1945, Mai-Folge. (Anm.: Die dienstliche Bekanntgabe hatte am 20. April 1945 zu erfolgen!)
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Re: The Generals of 1945

#59

Post by askropp » 27 Jun 2019, 23:52

Thanks, Jürgen. Now I wonder if this file is also in NARA!

What a lousy Taschenspielertrick to claim that technically no Austrian served in the Wehrmacht after 27 April 1945! This argumentation is invalid anyway because there were virtually no promotions dated 1 May. As the source confirms, they were announced on 20 April, so Holzinger was already a Wehrmacht Oberst on 27 April. I read there is also a discussion whether he was transferred (not only kommandiert) to the Waffen-SS.
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Re: The Generals of 1945

#60

Post by Frech » 28 Jun 2019, 05:47

Holzingers entry in his Soldbuch just lists his promotions up to Oberstleutnant complete with date and RDA. "Oberst" ist just added without date and RDA.

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