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Siegfried Handloser

2025-06-05T02:08:49Z

2600:1700:1A10:1C70:711C:A78C:4A91:8B35: Caption correction

{{Short description|Nazi physician and war criminal (1885–1954)}}
{{More sources|date=November 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Siegfried Handloser
| image = Generaloberstabsarzt Siegfried Handloser (1885-1954).jpg
| image_upright = .75
| caption = Handloser, {{circa|1942}}
| order =
| office = Chief of the German Armed Forces Medical Services
| term_start = 28 July 1942
| term_end = 13 August 1944
| deputy =
| predecessor =
| successor =
| birth_name = Siegfried Adolf Handloser
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1885|03|25|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Konstanz]], [[German Empire]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1954|07|03|1885|03|25|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Munich]], [[West Germany]]
| death_cause = Cancer
| resting_place =
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| relations =
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| parents = Konstantin Handloser (father) Anna Maria (mother)
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| education =
| alma_mater = Kaiser Wilhelm Medicinal Academy [[University of Giessen]]
| occupation =
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| allegiance = [[German Empire]] [[Nazi Germany]]
| branch = [[German Army (1935-1945)|German Army]]
| serviceyears =
| rank = ''[[Generaloberstabsarzt]]''
| unit =
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| battles = [[World War I]]{{hr}}[[World War II]]
| mawards = 
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| image_size = 200px
}}

'''Siegfried Adolf Handloser''' (25 March 1885 – 3 July 1954) was a [[List of Nazi doctors|Nazi physician]] and convicted [[War crime|war criminal]], convicted for overseeing [[Nazi human experimentation|medical atrocities]] at [[Nazi concentration camps|concentration camps]].

He was convicted at the 1947 [[Doctors' Trial]] during the [[subsequent Nuremberg trials]] and sentenced to life imprisonment. His sentence was ultimately reduced to a 20-year term, though Handloser was released in 1954 and died of cancer the same year.

== Nazi Party membership ==
Born in [[Konstanz]], he had been a member of the German Army Medical Service since the [[First World War]].

Handloser joined the committee of the German Society for Internal Medicine (DGIM) in 1937 as a de facto [[Nazi Party|Nazi]] emissary.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Handloser, Siegfried - Biography ° Gedenken und Erinnern, DGIM |url=https://www.dgim-history.de/en/biography/Handloser;Siegfried;1126 |access-date=2023-04-27 |website=www.dgim-history.de}}</ref> In 1938, Handloser was promoted to the position of Army Group [[physician]] of the [[Wehrmacht|Nazi]] Army Group Command 3. In October, 1939, he was named honorary professor.

From February 1941 during [[World War II]], he held the position of Chief of the Medical Services of the [[Wehrmacht]], the most important medical position in the Nazi Armed Forces and [[Waffen-SS]]. He was also Doctor Professor [[Doctor of Medicine|of Medicine]] and [[Generaloberstabsarzt]] (Four stars, NATO Rank OF-9) of the German Armed Forces Medical Services.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Handloser, Siegfried - Biography ° Gedenken und Erinnern, DGIM |url=https://www.dgim-history.de/en/biography/Handloser;Siegfried;1126 |access-date=2022-11-01 |website=www.dgim-history.de}}</ref>

=== War crimes ===
Handloser attended a meeting on December 29, 1941, at which it was decided to conduct [[Nazi human experimentation|human experiments]] to test [[typhus]] vaccines at [[Buchenwald concentration camp]]. They resulted in the deaths of about 100 people.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Handloser, Siegfried - Biography ° Gedenken und Erinnern, DGIM |url=https://www.dgim-history.de/en/biography/Handloser;Siegfried;1126 |access-date=2023-04-27 |website=www.dgim-history.de}}</ref>

Handloser actively operated the organization of forced prostitution in the territories occupied by the German Reich, in his position as chief of Wehrmacht Medical Service. Handloser strove to minimize the danger of venereal disease and to prevent "sexual intercourse with Jewish women."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Handloser, Siegfried - Biography ° Gedenken und Erinnern, DGIM |url=https://www.dgim-history.de/en/biography/Handloser;Siegfried;1126 |access-date=2023-04-27 |website=www.dgim-history.de}}</ref>

== Conviction and death ==
He was convicted by the American Military Tribunal No. 1 (the [[Doctors' Trial]]) in August 1947, and sentenced to life imprisonment.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sentences — United States Holocaust Memorial Museum |url=https://www.ushmm.org/information/exhibitions/online-exhibitions/special-focus/doctors-trial/sentences |access-date=2022-11-01 |website=www.ushmm.org}}</ref> This was later reduced to 20 years. He was released on health grounds in 1954 shortly before dying of cancer in [[Munich]] at the age of 69.

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Handloser, Siegfried}}
[[Category:1885 births]]
[[Category:1954 deaths]]
[[Category:German Army generals of World War II]]
[[Category:Physicians in the Nazi Party]]
[[Category:People from Konstanz]]
[[Category:People from the Grand Duchy of Baden]]
[[Category:German people convicted of war crimes]]
[[Category:German people convicted of crimes against humanity]]
[[Category:German prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment]]
[[Category:People sentenced to life imprisonment by the United States Nuremberg Military Tribunals]]
[[Category:Nazi human subject research]]
[[Category:Deaths from cancer in Germany]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Knights Cross of the War Merit Cross]]
[[Category:Generals of the German Army (Wehrmacht)]]
[[Category:German military doctors]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Baden-Württemberg]]

Erhard Milch

2025-06-04T22:17:36Z

2600:1700:1A10:1C70:711C:A78C:4A91:8B35: Tree list addition

{{Short description|German general (1892–1972)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Infobox military person
|honorific_prefix =
|name = Erhard Milch
|honorific_suffix =
|image = Erhard Milch.jpg
|image_upright =
|alt =
|caption = Milch in 1942
|birth_name =
|other_name =
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|birth_date = {{birth date|1892|3|30|df=y}}
|birth_place = [[Wilhelmshaven]], [[Grand Duchy of Oldenburg]], [[German Empire]]
|death_date = {{death date and age|1972|1|25|1892|3|30|df=y}}
|death_place = [[Düsseldorf]], [[North Rhine-Westphalia]], [[West Germany]]
|placeofburial =
|placeofburial_label =
|placeofburial_coordinates = 
|allegiance = {{plainlist|
* [[German Empire]]
* [[Weimar Republic]]
* [[Nazi Germany]]
}}
|branch = [[Imperial German Army]] ''[[Luftstreitkräfte]]'' ''[[Luftwaffe]]''
|branch_label = Branch
|serviceyears = 1910–1922 1933–1945
|serviceyears_label =
|rank = ''[[Generalfeldmarschall#Nazi Germany|Generalfeldmarschall]]''
|rank_label =
|servicenumber =
|unit =
|commands = [[Luftflotte 5]] [[Jägerstab]]
|battles = {{tree list}}
*[[World War I]]
*[[World War II]]
**[[Battle of Britain]]
**[[Norwegian campaign]]
{{tree list/end}}
|battles_label =
|awards = [[Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross]]
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|relations = [[Werner Milch]] (brother)
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'''Erhard Milch''' (30 March 1892 – 25 January 1972) was a German ''[[Generalfeldmarschall]]'' of the ''[[Luftwaffe]]'' who oversaw its founding and development during the [[rearmament of Germany]] and most of [[World War II]]. Milch served as [[State Secretary]] in the [[Reich Ministry of Aviation]] from May 1933 to June 1944 and as [[Inspector General]] of the ''Luftwaffe'' from February 1939 to January 1945.

Milch was an early member of the ''[[Luftstreitkräfte]]'' during [[World War I]] and worked as an [[airline]] director in the German [[civil aviation]] industry after the war. Milch was appointed deputy of [[Hermann Göring]] in the Aviation Ministry in 1933, heading the organisation and development of the ''Luftwaffe'' from 1936. Milch led [[Nazi Germany]]'s [[aircraft]] production and supply from 1941, adopting a policy of [[mass production]], and utilising the [[Forced labour under German rule during World War II|forced labour of foreign workers]] under inhumane conditions to supply the ''Luftwaffe''. Milch was removed from his important Aviation Ministry positions after supporting a failed attempt to remove Göring in June 1944 and sidelined until his capture by [[Allies (World War II)|Allied]] forces in May 1945.

Milch was tried at the [[Milch Trial]] in 1947, convicted of [[war crimes]] and [[crimes against humanity]] for his exploitation of forced labour for the ''Luftwaffe'', and sentenced to [[life imprisonment]]. Milch's sentence was [[Commutation (law)|commuted]] to 15 years by [[John J. McCloy]], the [[Allied High Commission | U. S. High Commissioner for Germany]], in 1951. Milch was [[Parole|paroled]] in 1954 and died in [[West Germany]] in 1972.

==Early life==
Erhard Milch was born on 30 March 1892 in [[Wilhelmshaven]], the son of Anton Milch, a [[pharmacist]] in the [[Imperial German Navy]], and his wife Clara Wilhelmine ([[née]] Vetter). Anton had converted from [[Judaism]] which made Milch a ''[[Mischling]]'' (mixed-race) under the [[Nuremberg Laws]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Bunyan |first=Anita |date=21 March 2003 |title=Half-shadows of the Reich |publisher=[[Times Higher Education]] |url=http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/175487.article}} A review of {{harvnb|Rigg|2002|}}.</ref> However, he would not have been considered Jewish according to [[Orthodox Judaism|Jewish orthodoxy]] (or ''[[halakha]]''), which states that a person’s Jewish status is passed down [[Matrilineality in Judaism|through the mother]]. The [[Gestapo]] began to investigate Milch's alleged Jewish heritage in 1935 after rumours began to circulate. The investigation was halted by [[Hermann Göring]], the [[commander-in-chief]] of the ''Luftwaffe'', who produced an [[affidavit]] by Milch's mother stating that his biological father was her uncle, Karl Brauer, meaning he was a product of [[incest]] but not a ''Mischling''. Milch was then issued with a [[German Blood Certificate]] though his legal paternity was never changed.<ref>P. Kaplan, ''Fighter Aces of the RAF in the Battle of Britain'', p132.</ref> Those events and the later extension of the "Certificate of German Blood" were the background to Göring's statement, "I decide who is a Jew in the air force".

Author and [[Holocaust denial|Holocaust denier]] [[David Irving]] claimed in his book ''The Rise and Fall of the Luftwaffe: The Life of Field Marshal Erhard Milch'' that Milch asked him not to reveal the truth about his parentage, so although Irving states that Erhard's father was not Anton Milch and concentrates on his wealthy great-uncle Karl Brauer (who died in 1906), he does not actually name Brauer as his father.<ref>''The Rise and Fall of the Luftwaffe. The Life of Field Marshal Erhard Milch'' p.VII & p2-3</ref> However, Irving, who claimed to have had access to the Field Marshal's private [[diary]] and papers, says the rumours about Milch's parentage began to spread in the autumn of 1933, and that Erhard Milch personally obtained a signed statement by his putative father Anton that he was not the father of Clara's children. Furthermore, Irving claimed that Clara Milch had already written to her son-in-law Fritz Herrmann in March 1933 explaining the circumstances of her marriage, and that Göring had initiated his own investigation that identified his real father.<ref>Irving p340.</ref> During the [[Nuremberg trials]] in 1946, Milch was again questioned about his alleged Jewish father and Göring's role in the matter by Chief United States Prosecutor, [[Robert H. Jackson]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Testimony of Field Marshal Erhard Milch |url=https://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/03-11-46.asp |website=Nuremberg Trial Proceedings Vol. 9: Seventy-eighth day |publisher=Avalon Project: Lillian Goldman Law Library |pages=93–94 |date=11 March 1946}}</ref>

==World War I and interwar career==
Milch enlisted in the [[Imperial German Army]] in 1910, where he rose to the rank of ''[[Leutnant]]'' and commanded an artillery unit in [[East Prussia]] at the beginning of [[World War I]]. In September 1914, he saw action against the [[Imperial Russian Army]] on the [[Deyma River|River Deime]] and in February 1915 on the Angerapp Line. In July 1915, he was transferred to the ''[[Luftstreitkräfte#Founding|Fliegertruppe]]'' and trained as an [[aerial observer]] on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]], seeing action on the [[Somme (river)|Somme]] in 1916 (through the period of it becoming the ''[[Luftstreitkräfte]]'' in October that year) and later in [[Flanders]] during 1917. After a spell as a [[Company (military unit)|company]] commander in the [[Trench warfare|trenches]] in the spring and summer of 1918, in the waning days of the war, he was promoted to ''[[Hauptmann]]'' and appointed to command a [[fighter wing]], ''Jagdgruppe 6'', even though he had never trained as a [[Aircraft pilot|pilot]] and could not fly himself.{{sfn|Franks|Bailey|Guest|1993|p=32, Irving ''Milch'' p7-10}}

Milch resigned from the ''[[Reichswehr]]'' in 1920 to pursue a career in [[civil aviation]] as a result of Germany being forbidden from maintaining an air force in the [[Treaty of Versailles]]. Milch formed a small airline ''Lloyd Luftdienst'', under the banner of [[Norddeutscher Lloyd]]'s union of regional German airlines, with squadron colleague [[Gotthard Sachsenberg]] in [[Gdańsk|Danzig]]. The airline linked Danzig to the [[Baltic States]]. In 1923, Milch became the managing director of its successor company. From there, Milch and Sachsenberg went to work for rival [[Junkers Luftverkehr]], where Milch was appointed a managing director in 1925. Milch was named a managing director (one of three) of the newly-formed airline [[Deutsche Luft Hansa]] in 1926.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7fgwDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT44|title=Command and Leadership in the German Air Force|last=Suchenwirth|first=Prof Richard|date=11 July 2017|publisher=Pickle Partners Publishing|isbn=9781787206755|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1972/01/29/archives/erhaltd-milch-9-luftwaffe-chief-goering-protege-convicted-of-war.html|title=Erhard Milch, 79, Luftwaffe Chief|date=29 January 1972|work=The New York Times|access-date=10 August 2019|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Milch joined the [[Nazi Party]] ([[List of Nazis (F–K)|membership number]] 123,885) on 1 April 1929, but his membership was not officially acknowledged until March 1933, because [[Adolf Hitler]] deemed it desirable to keep the fact hidden for political reasons.{{sfn|Boog|1994|p=499–503}}{{sfn|Angolia|1976|p=351–7}}

[[File:Field-marshal Erhard Milch.jpg|thumb|Milch with [[Wolfram von Richthofen]] in 1940.]]
On 5 May 1933, Milch took up a position as [[State Secretary]] of the newly formed [[Ministry of Aviation (Nazi Germany)|Reich Ministry of Aviation]] (RLM), answering directly to Göring. In this capacity, he was instrumental in establishing the ''[[Luftwaffe]]'', the air force of [[Nazi Germany]]. Milch quickly used his position to settle personal scores with other [[aviation industry]] personalities, including [[Hugo Junkers]] and [[Willy Messerschmitt]]. Specifically, Milch banned Messerschmitt from submitting a design in the competition for a new [[Fighter aircraft|fighter]] aircraft for the ''Luftwaffe''. However, Messerschmitt outmanoeuvred Milch, circumventing the ban and successfully submitting the [[Messerschmitt Bf 109|Bf 109]] design under the corporate name ''[[Messerschmitt|Bayerische Flugzeugwerke]]'', which proved to be the winner. Messerschmitt maintained its leading position within the German aircraft industry until the failure of the [[Me 210]] aircraft. Even after that, Milch did not depose him, but put him in an inferior position.<ref>{{cite book |first=A.|last=Tooze|title=The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy|location=New York |publisher=Viking|year=2007 |page=579 |isbn=978-0670038268}}</ref>

== World War II ==
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1997-0923-500, Albert Speer und Erhard Milch.jpg|thumb|[[Albert Speer]] (front) and Erhard Milch (back) during a visit to an armaments factory.]]
In a reorganization of 1 February 1939, Milch with the rank of ''[[Generaloberst]]'' was given the additional job of [[Inspector-General]] of the ''Luftwaffe''.{{sfn|Suchenwirth|2017|p=65}} After the outbreak of [[World War II]] in September, Milch commanded ''[[Luftflotte 5]]'' during [[Operation Weserübung]] in [[Norway]]. Following the [[France during World War II|defeat of France]], Milch was promoted to ''[[Generalfeldmarschall]]'' (field marshal) during the [[1940 Field Marshal Ceremony]].<ref>{{cite web |year=2014 |title=Erhard Milch |work=HistoryLearningSite.co.uk |url=http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/erhard_milch.htm }}</ref> Following the suicide of the ''Luftwaffe'''s [[research and development]] chief [[Ernst Udet]] in November 1941, Milch succeeded him as ''Generalluftzeugmeister'', in charge of all ''Luftwaffe'' aircraft production, armament and supply. In April 1942, he was named to the [[Central Planning Board]] along with [[Albert Speer]] ([[Reich Minister of Armaments and War Production]]), [[Paul Körner (Nazi official)|Paul Körner]] (State Secretary of the [[Four Year Plan]]), and [[Walther Funk]] ([[List of German economics ministers|Reich Minister for the Economy]]) in an effort to coordinate control over all industrial war production.<ref>{{cite web | title = Trials of the War Criminals Before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals, Volume II: The Milch Case, p. 374 | publisher = United States Printing Office| date = 1950 | url = https://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/Military_Law/pdf/NT_war-criminals_Vol-II.pdf| access-date = 13 June 2021}}</ref>

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-H28426, A. Speer, E. Milch, W. Messerschmitt.jpg|thumb|right|Milch (centre) with Minister of Armaments [[Albert Speer]] (left) and aircraft designer [[Willy Messerschmitt]] (right)]]

Milch cancelled production of the ineffective and dangerous Messerschmitt Me 210 and [[Heinkel He 177]], and put them back in development. Under his direction, the ''Luftwaffe'''s aircraft production focused on [[mass production]] of the tested and tried models. Output doubled in the summer of 1943 in comparison with the winter of 1941–1942. [[Adam Tooze]] wrote "For the first time, the German aircraft industry was able to achieve substantial [[economies of scale]]. The resources pumped into the Luftwaffe in 1940–41 were now concentrated in mass assembly".{{sfn|Tooze|2007|p=715}} To achieve this level of mass production, the Armaments Ministries and the industry cooperated with the [[Schutzstaffel|SS]] to procure [[Forced labour under German rule during World War II|forced labour]] from the [[Nazi concentration camps]]. Due to Milch's connections with the SS, the ''Luftwaffe'' had an advantage in obtaining forced labour over the other armed forces.{{sfn|Tooze|2007|p=715}} To increase the quantity, Milch also made some sacrifices in quality, notable in the case of the Messerschmitt Bf 109. When the [[United States Army Air Forces]] began to directly challenge the fighter forces of the ''Luftwaffe'', the cost of Milch's decisions was shown as the handling of the Bf 109 G was so bad that they became, in the words of Tooze, "little more than death traps".{{sfn|Tooze|2007|p=584}}

In January 1943, Milch was tasked by Hitler with ensuring the [[Airlift|air supply]] of the [[6th Army (Wehrmacht)|6th Army]], which was [[Encirclement|encircled]] at the [[Battle of Stalingrad]]. Hitler valued Milch's organizational talent and the task required him to travel to the [[front line]] for the first time in the war. He found the situation to be impossible: there were too few [[aircrew]], too little fuel and, in particular, no suitable [[Aerodrome|airfield]]s or landing sites within reach of [[Volgograd|Stalingrad]]. By this time, Milch had passed the peak of his career with the increasingly intense [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] air raids on German territory from the summer of 1943 onward, and the resulting loss of [[air supremacy]] ultimately led to a loss of confidence from Göring and Hitler.

On 10 August 1943, Milch finally addressed Germany's lack of a truly "four-engined" [[heavy bomber]] to carry out raids against the [[United Kingdom]]. He endorsed [[Arado Flugzeugwerke]] to be the subcontractor for the [[Heinkel He 177#Further development-the Heinkel He 177B|Heinkel He 177B]] separately engined heavy bomber design. Only three flyable [[prototype]]s were completed by early 1944.{{sfn|Griehl|Dressel|1998|p=162}} From March 1944, Milch, together with Speer, oversaw the activities of the ''[[Jägerstab]]'' ("Fighter Staff"), a governmental task force whose aim was to increase the production of fighter aircraft, in part by moving the production facilities underground. In cooperation with the SS, the task force played a key role in the exploitation of forced labour for the benefit of the German aircraft industry and the ''Luftwaffe''.{{sfn|Buggeln|2014|p=46}}

When the agitation among the legions of foreign workers in his factories threatened production, Milch was able to refer to his association with ''[[Reichsführer-SS]]'' [[Heinrich Himmler]]:

<blockquote>I spoke to Himmler recently about this, and told him his main task must be to see to the protection of German industry if unrest breaks out among this foreign scum.

If, for instance, there is a [[mutiny]] at X, an officer with a couple of men, or a lieutenant with thirty troops, must appear in the factory and let fly with their machine-guns into the mob. The object is to lay out as many people as possible, if mutinies break out. This is the order I have issued, even if the people are our own foreign workers.

Every tenth man is to be picked out, and every tenth man will be shot in front of the rest.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Irving |first1=David John Cawdell |title=The rise and fall of the Luftwaffe : the life of Field Marshal Erhard Milch |date=1974 |publisher=Little, Brown |location=Boston, Mass. |isbn=9780316432382 |page=287 |edition=1st American}}</ref></blockquote>

Milch's loss of power within the Aviation Ministry intensified when, in early 1944, Milch was forced to hand over fighter production, the bulk of German air armament, to the ''Jägerstab'' after the devastating [[Big Week]] on German cities and military targets.

In June 1944, Milch sided with Himmler and [[Joseph Goebbels]], the propaganda minister, in attempting to convince Hitler to remove Göring from command of the ''Luftwaffe''. When Hitler refused, Göring retaliated by forcing Milch out of his positions as State Secretary and ''Generalluftzeugmeister'' on 20 June, and eventually as ''Luftwaffe'' Inspector General in January 1945.{{sfn|Brett-Smith|1976|p=122}} From August 1944, Milch worked under Speer in the ''[[Rüstungsstab]]'' (Armaments Staff) as his deputy, but was sidelined and achieved little. He was injured in a car accident in the fall of 1944 and hospitalized for several weeks. Finally placed into the ''[[Führerreserve]]'' in March 1945, he was not reassigned for the remainder of the war.{{sfn|Faber|1977|p=58}}

===Capture and assault===
On 4 May 1945, Milch was apprehended by the British [[No. 6 Commando]] on the [[Baltic Sea]] coast and taken to the unit's command post of Brigadier [[Derek Mills-Roberts]] in [[Neustadt in Holstein]], a man who was known to have a short temper. When Milch arrived, Mills-Roberts was said to be still seething from the suffering and atrocities he had seen during the liberation of [[Bergen-Belsen concentration camp]]. Milch reportedly addressed Mills-Roberts in a haughty manner, demanding good treatment, waving his ''Generalfeldmarschall'''s [[Baton (military)|campaign baton]] around, and dismissing concerns about the inmates of several satellite ''[[Arbeitslager]]'' of [[Neuengamme concentration camp]] in the area.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Nuremberg Interviews: Conversations with the Defendants and Witnesses|author= Leon Goldensohn |year= 2007|page=358|isbn= 9781844139194|publisher= Pimlico|editor= Robert Gellately}}</ref> Mills-Roberts became so incensed with Milch's tone, the British officer snatched the field-marshal's baton from him and began beating Milch over the head with it until it broke. He then grabbed a [[champagne]] bottle and continued, fracturing Milch's [[skull]]. The bloodied field-marshal was then pulled up from the floor and driven back to [[List of castles in Schleswig-Holstein#Kreis_Pinneberg|Sierhagen Castle]] where he had been staying, and robbed at gunpoint by British soldiers (which included his ceremonial jewel-encrusted Generalfeldmarschall baton). He was then sent to a holding camp for Nazi prisoners at [[Lüneburg Heath|Lüneburg]] near the [[German surrender at Lüneburg Heath|field HQ]] of British Field Marshal [[Bernard Montgomery]].<ref>{{cite book |title=D-Day 1944 – voices from Normandy |first1=Robin |last1=Neillands |first2=Roderick de |last2=Normann |publisher=Cold Spring Press |location=New York |url=https://archive.org/details/dday1944voicesfr0000neil_z4m1/page/238/mode/2up |year=1993 |page=238 |isbn=1593600127 }}</ref>

A few days later Mills-Roberts went to the British HQ and, upon entering the commander's tent, Montgomery is said to have covered his head with his hands, quipping "I hear you've got a thing about Field Marshals". Mills-Roberts apologised for his actions but no further action was taken against him.<ref>{{cite book|title=Bolt Action: Campaign: D-Day: Overlord|isbn= 9781472838957|year= 2019|publisher= Bloomsbury Publishing|author= Warlord Games}}</ref>

==Trial and conviction at Nuremberg==
{{Main article|Milch Trial}}
[[File:Erhard-Milch-(left)-2.jpg|thumb|Erhard Milch, facing camera, confers with his brother and [[defense lawyer]], Dr. Werner Milch, in the special consulting room provided for defendants on trial at Nuremberg.]]

Milch was tried as a [[war criminal]] in 1947 by a United States [[Subsequent Nuremberg Trials|Military Tribunal in Nuremberg]] for his widespread use of forced labour in the ''Luftwaffe'''s production. His [[Criminal defense lawyer|defence]] was represented by his brother Werner Milch. He was convicted on two counts:
# [[War crimes]], by participating in the ill treatment and use of the forced labour of [[prisoner of war|prisoners of war]] (POWs) and the deportation of civilians to the same ends.
# [[Crimes against humanity]], by participating in the murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, imprisonment, [[torture]], and the use of [[slave labour]] of civilians who came under German control, German nationals and prisoners of war.

Milch was sentenced to [[life imprisonment]] and sent to Rebdorf Prison near [[Munich]]. Unlike the vast majority of other Nazi war criminals who were tried under U.S. military law, Milch was not immediately sent to [[Landsberg Prison]] to serve his sentence, but was eventually transferred to Landsberg. Milch's sentence was [[clemency|commuted]] to 15 years imprisonment in 1951, and he was [[Parole|paroled]] in June 1954. He lived out the remainder of his life in [[Düsseldorf]], where he died in 1972 as the last living ''Generalfeldmarschall'' of the ''Luftwaffe''.

==Popular culture==

In the 1969 film ''[[Battle of Britain (film)|Battle of Britain]]'', Milch was portrayed by German actor Dietrich Frauboes.

American actor [[Robert Vaughn]] portrayed Milch in the 1982 television film, ''[[Inside the Third Reich (film)|Inside the Third Reich]]''.

==Awards==
*[[Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross]] on 4 May 1940 as ''[[Generaloberst]]'' and chief of [[Luftflotte 5]] and ''Befehlshaber Nord'' (commander-in-chief north).{{sfn|Scherzer|2007|p=545}}
* Grand Cross with Swords of the [[Order of the White Rose of Finland]] on 30 March 1942 as ''[[Generalfeldmarschall]]''.{{sfn|Matikkala|2017|p=516}}

==References==
'''Citations'''
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book |last=Angolia |first=John R. |year=1976 |title=For Führer and Fatherland: Military Awards of the Third Reich |publisher=R. James Bender |pages=351–7 |isbn=978-0912138145 }}
* {{cite book |last=Boog |first=Horst |author-link=Horst Boog |year=1994 |chapter=Milch, Erhard |title=Neue Deutsche Biographie |volume=17 |pages=499–503 |language=de |url=http://www.deutsche-biographie.de/sfz63340.html#ndbcontent }}
*{{cite book |last= Brett-Smith |first= Richard |title= Hitler's Generals |publisher= Presidio Press |location= San Rafael, CA |year= 1976 |isbn= 0-89141-044-9}}
*{{cite book |last=Buggeln |first=Marc |title=Slave Labor in Nazi Concentration Camps |date=2014 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=9780198707974}}
* {{cite book |last=Faber |first=Harold |title=Luftwaffe: A History |publisher=Times Books |location=New York |year=1977 |isbn=0-8129-0725-6}}
*{{cite book
|first1=Norman L. R.
|last1=Franks
|first2=Frank W.
|last2=Bailey
|first3=Russell
|last3=Guest
|title=Above the Lines: The Aces and Fighter Units of the German Air Service, Naval Air Service and Flanders Marine Corps, 1914–1918
|publisher=Grub Street
|location=London
|isbn=0948817739
|year=1993
}}
*{{cite book
|last1=Griehl
|first1=Manfred
|last2=Dressel
|first2=Joachim
|title=Heinkel He 177-277-274
|year=1998
|publisher=Airlife Publishing
|location=Shrewsbury, UK
|isbn=1-85310-364-0
}}
* {{cite book
| last = Matikkala
| first = Antti
| year = 2017
| title = Kunnian ruletti: Korkeimmat ulkomaalaisille 1941–1944 annetut suomalaiset kunniamerkit
| trans-title = The Roulette of Honour: The Highest Finnish Orders to Foreigners 1941–1944
| language = fi
| location = Helsinki
| publisher = Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura
| isbn = 978-952-222-847-5
}}
* {{cite book |last=Rigg |first=Bryan Mark |author-link=Bryan Mark Rigg |year=2002 |title=Hitler's Jewish Soldiers: The Untold Story of Nazi Racial Laws and Men of Jewish Descent in the German Military |location=Lawrence|publisher=[[University Press of Kansas]] |isbn=978-0700613588 }}
* {{Cite book
|last=Scherzer
|first=Veit
|year=2007
|title=Die Ritterkreuzträger 1939–1945 Die Inhaber des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939 von Heer, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm sowie mit Deutschland verbündeter Streitkräfte nach den Unterlagen des Bundesarchives
|trans-title=The Knight's Cross Bearers 1939–1945 The Holders of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939 by Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and Allied Forces with Germany According to the Documents of the Federal Archives
|language=de
|location=Jena, Germany
|publisher=Scherzers Militaer-Verlag
|isbn=978-3-938845-17-2
}}

==External links==
* {{PM20|FID=pe/012246}}

{{S-start}}
{{s-mil}}
{{Succession box|
before=none|
after=Generaloberst [[Hans-Jürgen Stumpff]]|
title=Commander of [[Luftflotte 5]]|
years=12 April 1940 – 10 May 1940
}}
{{S-end}}
{{Nuremberg Trials}}
{{GFMofWWII}}

{{Authority control}}
{{Subject bar
|portal1=Biography
|commons=y
|q=y
}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Milch, Erhard}}
[[Category:1892 births]]
[[Category:1972 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Freikorps personnel]]
[[Category:German Army personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:German Jewish military personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:German Jewish military personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:German people convicted of crimes against humanity]]
[[Category:German people of Jewish descent]]
[[Category:German prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment]]
[[Category:Grand Officers of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus]]
[[Category:Lufthansa people]]
[[Category:Luftstreitkräfte personnel]]
[[Category:Luftwaffe personnel convicted of war crimes]]
[[Category:Luftwaffe World War II field marshals]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Lower Saxony]]
[[Category:Military personnel from the Province of Hanover]]
[[Category:Nazi Party members]]
[[Category:People from Wilhelmshaven]]
[[Category:People sentenced to life imprisonment by the United States Nuremberg Military Tribunals]]
[[Category:Recipients of the clasp to the Iron Cross, 1st class]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Phoenix (Greece)]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Sacred Treasure]]

Heinrich von Vietinghoff

2025-06-04T07:31:53Z

2600:1700:1A10:1C70:711C:A78C:4A91:8B35: Link correction

{{Short description|German general (1887–1952)}}
{{Infobox military person
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Heinrich von Vietinghoff
| caption = Vietinghoff in 1944
| birth_date = {{birth date|1887|12|6|df=y}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1952|2|23|1887|12|6|df=y}}
| image = Heinrich von Vietinghoff.jpg
| image_size =
| birth_place = [[Mainz]], [[Grand Duchy of Hesse]], [[German Empire]]
| death_place = [[Pfronten]], [[Bavaria]], [[West Germany]]
| nickname =
| allegiance = {{tree list}}
* [[German Empire]]
** [[Kingdom of Prussia]]
* [[Weimar Republic]]
* [[Nazi Germany]]
* [[West Germany]]
{{tree list/end}}
| serviceyears = 1903–1945
| rank = ''[[Generaloberst#Nazi Germany|Generaloberst]]''
| commands = [[XIII Army Corps (Germany)|XIII Corps]] [[XXXXVI Panzer Corps]] [[15th Army (Wehrmacht)|15th Army]] [[10th Army (Wehrmacht)|10th Army]] [[Army Group C]] [[Army Group Courland]]
| unit =
| battles = [[World War I]] [[World War II]]
| awards = [[Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves]]
| laterwork =
| relations =
}}

'''Heinrich Gottfried Otto Richard von<ref>{{German title von}}</ref> Vietinghoff genannt Scheel''' (6 December 1887<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ww2gravestone.com/people/vietinghoff-genannt-scheel-heinrich-gottfried-von/|title=Vietinghoff genannt Scheel, Heinrich Gottfried von|website=WW2 Gravestone|language=en-US|access-date=2019-04-15}}</ref> – 23 February 1952<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://spartacus-educational.com/GERvietinghoff.htm|title=Heinrich Vietinghoff|website=Spartacus Educational|language=en|access-date=2019-04-15}}</ref>) was a German general (''[[Generaloberst]]'') of the [[Wehrmacht]] during [[World War II]]. He was a recipient of the [[Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves]]. Vietinghoff commanded the German troops in [[Italian Social Republic|German-occupied Italy]] in 1945.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/timeline/factfiles/nonflash/a1057411.shtml|title=BBC - WW2 People's War - Timeline|website=www.bbc.co.uk|access-date=2019-04-15}}</ref>

==Career==
On 24 November 1938, Vietinghoff was appointed commander of the [[5th Panzer Division (Wehrmacht)|5th Panzer Division]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.flamesofwar.com/hobby.aspx?art_id=248|title=Hobby|website=www.flamesofwar.com|access-date=2019-04-15}}</ref> and took part in the [[invasion of Poland]] under [[Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb]]. He was promoted to General in June 1940 after which he led the German [[XLVI Panzer Corps]] in the [[invasion of Yugoslavia]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tracesofwar.com/persons/1058/Vietinghoff-gen-Scheel-von-Heinrich-Gottfried.htm|title=Vietinghoff gen. Scheel, von, Heinrich-Gottfried - TracesOfWar.com|website=www.tracesofwar.com|access-date=2019-04-15}}</ref>

During [[Operation Barbarossa]], his Corps was part of [[Army Group Centre]] under Field Marshal [[Fedor von Bock]]. As did all commanders of the German corps on the Eastern Front during the invasion, Vietinghoff implemented the criminal [[Commissar Order]].{{sfn|Stahel|2009|p=28}} Vietinghoff also later served with General [[Heinz Guderian]] in the [[2nd Panzer Army]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://italy1943-45.blogspot.com/2015/06/heinrich-gottfried-von-vietinghoff.html|title=The War in Italy 1943-45 and Environs…: Heinrich Gottfried von Vietinghoff genannt Scheel, (1887–1952)|last=Williamson|first=Mitch|date=2015-06-10|website=The War in Italy 1943-45 and Environs…|access-date=2019-04-15}}</ref>

From December 1941 to August 1943, he was Commander-in-Chief of the [[15th Army (Wehrmacht)|German Fifteenth Army]] in [[France]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/daily/wwii/in-the-shadow-of-sunrise-the-secret-surrender-of-italy/|title=In the Shadow of Sunrise: The Secret Surrender of Italy|website=warfarehistorynetwork.com|access-date=2019-04-15|archive-date=2019-10-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191027153258/http://warfarehistorynetwork.com/daily/wwii/in-the-shadow-of-sunrise-the-secret-surrender-of-italy|url-status=dead}}</ref> In [[Italy]] from August 1943 he commanded [[10th Army (Wehrmacht)|German Tenth Army]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ww2incolor.com/german/GenVietingnhoff.html|title=German Forces - Heinrich von Vietinghoff|website=www.ww2incolor.com|access-date=2019-04-15}}</ref> which was responsible for the delaying actions through the successive defensive lines built across Italy. Notable in this context were the defences on the [[Winter Line]] from November 1943 to May 1944 and the fighting in the autumn of 1944 on the [[Gothic Line]].

In October 1944, he was temporarily raised to overall command in Italy ([[Army Group C]]) when Field Marshal [[Albert Kesselring]] was seriously injured in a car crash.{{sfn|Blaxland|1979|p=226}} In January 1945, on Kesselring's return, he left Italy to command [[Army Group Courland]] in East Prussia. When Kesselring was moved in March 1945 to command [[OB West|German Army Command West (''OB West'')]] in France, Vietinghoff returned as the supreme German commander in Italy.{{sfn|Blaxland|1979|p=246}}

At the end of April 1945, he made contact with the Allied forces and on 29 April, his representative General [[Karl Wolff]] signed on his behalf at the Royal Palace in [[Caserta]] the [[Surrender of Caserta|instrument of surrender]] on 2 May 1945 at noon. Afterwards he spent two and a half years in British captivity at Bridgend [[Island Farm|Island Farm (Special Camp XI)]] among high-ranking German prisoners.

After the war Vietinghoff was a member of the expert group dealing with the question of [[Wiederbewaffnung|German rearmament]]. In October 1950 he wrote the [[Himmerod memorandum]], named after the [[Himmerod Abbey]] where it was written, on behalf of the [[Adenauer]] government, on West German contributions to European defence. He died on 23 February 1952 in [[Pfronten]].

==Awards==
* [[Kingdom of Prussia]]: Royal [[House Order of Hohenzollern]], Knight’s Cross with Swords - 26 March 1918<ref name="BArch PERS 6/61">Bundesarchiv, Personalakte von Heinrich von Vietinghoff, BArch PERS 6/61</ref>
* Kingdom of Prussia: [[Iron Cross]] (1914) 1st Class (23 April 1915) & 2nd Class (13 September 1914){{sfn|Thomas|1998|p=400}}
* [[Kingdom of Saxony]]: [[Albert Order]], Knight 1st Class with Swords (5 July 1917)<ref name="BArch PERS 6/61"/>
* [[Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin]]: [[Military Merit Cross (Mecklenburg-Schwerin)|Military Merit Cross]], 2nd Class (17 September 1917)<ref name="BArch PERS 6/61"/>
* [[Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen]]: [[Cross for Merit in War]] (2 August 1915)<ref name="BArch PERS 6/61"/>
* [[Lübeck]]: [[Hanseatic Cross]] (11 July 1917)<ref name="BArch PERS 6/61"/>
* [[German Empire]]: [[Wound Badge]] in Black (3 June 1918)<ref name="BArch PERS 6/61"/>
* [[Nazi Germany|Germany]]: [[Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918]]<ref name="BArch PERS 6/61"/>
* Germany: [[Wehrmacht Long Service Award]], 4th class to 1st Class (for 25 years' service)<ref name="BArch PERS 6/61"/>
* Germany: 1939 [[Clasp to the Iron Cross]] 1st Class (28 September 1939) & 2nd Class (21 September 1939){{sfn|Thomas|1998|p=400}}
* Germany: [[Eastern Front Medal|Medal for the Winter Campaign in Russia 1941-1942]] (15 July 1942)<ref>Bundesarchiv, Generalskartei von Heinrich von Vietinghoff, BArch PERS 6/301189</ref>
* Germany: [[Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves]]
** Knight's Cross on 24 June 1940 as ''[[General der Panzertruppe]]'' and commanding general of XIII. Armeekorps{{sfn|Scherzer|2007|p=759}}
** 456th Oak Leaves on 16 April 1944 as ''[[Generaloberst]]'' and commander-in-chief of the 10. Armee{{sfn|Scherzer|2007|p=759}}
* Germany: [[German Cross]] in Gold - 22 April 1942 as ''[[General der Panzertruppe]]'' and commanding general of the XXXXVI Panzerkorps{{sfn|Patzwall|Scherzer|2001|p=486}}
* [[Austria-Hungary]]: [[Order of the Iron Crown (Austria)|Order of the Iron Crown]], 3rd Class (2 January 1914)<ref name="BArch PERS 6/61"/>
* Austria-Hungary: [[Order of Franz Joseph]], Knight's Cross (17 May 1910)<ref name="BArch PERS 6/61"/>
* Austria-Hungary: [[Military Merit Cross (Austria-Hungary)|Military Merit Cross]], 3rd Class with War Decoration (25 July 1915)<ref name="BArch PERS 6/61"/>
* [[Kingdom of Bulgaria]]: [[Order of Military Merit (Bulgaria)|Military Merit Order]], Officer's Cross (11 October 1917)<ref name="BArch PERS 6/61"/>
* [[Ottoman Empire]]: [[Ottoman War Medal]] (also known as the "Gallipoli Star" or "Iron Crescent") (22 December 1917)<ref name="BArch PERS 6/61"/>

==References==

===Citations===
{{Reflist|25em}}

===Bibliography===
{{Refbegin}}
* {{cite book
|first=Gregory
|last=Blaxland
|title=Alexander's Generals (the Italian Campaign 1944-1945)
|publisher=William Kimber & Co
|location=London
|year=1979
|isbn=0-7183-0386-5
}}
* {{Cite book
|last1=Patzwall
|first1=Klaus D.
|last2=Scherzer
|first2=Veit
|year=2001
|title=Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941 – 1945 Geschichte und Inhaber Band II
|trans-title=The German Cross 1941 – 1945 History and Recipients Volume 2
|language=German
|location=Norderstedt, Germany
|publisher=Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall
|isbn=978-3-931533-45-8
}}
* {{Cite book
|last=Scherzer
|first=Veit
|year=2007
|title=Die Ritterkreuzträger 1939–1945 Die Inhaber des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939 von Heer, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm sowie mit Deutschland verbündeter Streitkräfte nach den Unterlagen des Bundesarchives
|trans-title=The Knight's Cross Bearers 1939–1945 The Holders of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939 by Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and Allied Forces with Germany According to the Documents of the Federal Archives
|language=German
|location=Jena, Germany
|publisher=Scherzers Militaer-Verlag
|isbn=978-3-938845-17-2
}}
* {{Cite book
|last=Stahel
|first=David
|authorlink=David Stahel
|year=2009
|title=Operation Barbarossa and Germany's Defeat in the East
|url=http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/history/military-history/operation-barbarossa-and-germanys-defeat-east
|location=Cambridge, UK
|publisher=Cambridge University Press
|isbn=978-0-521-76847-4
}}
* {{Cite book
|last=Thomas
|first=Franz
|year=1998
|title=Die Eichenlaubträger 1939–1945 Band 2: L–Z
|trans-title=The Oak Leaves Bearers 1939–1945 Volume 2: L–Z
|language=German
|location=Osnabrück, Germany
|publisher=Biblio-Verlag
|isbn=978-3-7648-2300-9
}}
{{Refend}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-mil}}
{{succession box
|before=none
|after=''Generalleutnant'' [[Max von Hartlieb-Walsporn]]
|title= Commander of [[5th Panzer Division (Wehrmacht)|5th Panzer Division]]
|years=2 September 1939 – 8 October 1939
}}
{{succession box
|before=''General of the Cavalry'' [[Maximilian von Weichs]]
|after=''General of the Infantry'' [[Hans Felber]]
|title= Commander of [[XIII Army Corps (Germany)|XIII. Armeekorps]]
|years=26 October 1939 - 25 October 1940
}}
{{succession box
|before=none
|after=''General of the Infantry'' [[Hans Zorn]]
|title= Commander of [[XXXXVI Panzer Corps|XXXXVI. Armeekorps]]
|years=20 June 1940 - 11 June 1942
}}
{{succession box
|before=''Generaloberst'' [[Curt Haase]]
|after=''Generaloberst'' [[Hans von Salmuth]]
|title=Commander of [[15th Army (Wehrmacht)|15. Armee]]
|years=1 December 1942 – 7 August 1943
}}
{{succession box
|before=''Generalfeldmarschall'' [[Walter von Reichenau]]
|after=''General der Panzertruppe'' [[Traugott Herr]]
|title=Commander of [[10th Army (Wehrmacht)|10. Armee]]
|years=15 August 1943 – 14 February 1945
}}
{{succession box
|before=''Generalfeldmarschall'' [[Albert Kesselring]]
|after=''Generalfeldmarschall'' [[Albert Kesselring]]
|title=Commander of [[Army Group C]]
|years=26 October 1944 - 15 January 1945(temporary)
}}
{{succession box
|before=''Generaloberst'' [[Lothar Rendulic]]
|after=''Generaloberst'' [[Lothar Rendulic]]
|title=Commander of [[Army Group Courland]]
|years=27 January 1945 – 10 March 1945
}}
{{succession box|
|before=''Generalfeldmarschall'' [[Albert Kesselring]]
|after=''General of the Infantry''[[Friedrich Schulz]]
|title=Commander of [[Army Group C]]
|years=10 March 1945 – 30 April 1945
}}
{{s-end}}

{{Generaloberst of the Third Reich}}
{{Himmerod memorandum}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Subject bar
| portal1=Biography
| commons=y
| commons-search=Heinrich Gottfried von Vietinghoff-Scheel
}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vietinghoff, Heinrich von}}
[[Category:1887 births]]
[[Category:1952 deaths]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Mainz]]
[[Category:People from Rhenish Hesse]]
[[Category:Colonel generals of the German Army (Wehrmacht)]]
[[Category:Prussian Army personnel]]
[[Category:German Army generals of World War II]]
[[Category:German Army personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Gold German Cross]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Hanseatic Cross (Lübeck)]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of Military Merit (Bulgaria)]]
[[Category:German prisoners of war in World War II held by the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Recipients of the clasp to the Iron Cross, 1st class]]
[[Category:Himmerod meeting participants]]
[[Category:Reichswehr personnel]]
[[Category:Vietinghoff family|Heinrich von Vietinghoff]]

Erich Brandenberger

2025-06-04T07:25:34Z

2600:1700:1A10:1C70:711C:A78C:4A91:8B35: Link addition

{{Short description|German general}}
{{morefootnotes|date=February 2023}}
__NOTOC__
{{Infobox military person
|name=Erich Brandenberger
|birth_date={{Birth date|1892|7|15|df=y}}
|death_date={{death date and age|1955|6|21|1892|7|15|df=y}}
|birth_place= [[Augsburg]], [[German Empire]]
|death_place= [[Bonn]], [[West Germany]]
|image=Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-209-0086-12, Russland-Nord, Erich von Manstein, Brandenberger.jpg
|image_size=250px
|caption=Erich Brandenberger (left) with [[Erich von Manstein]] in the [[Soviet Union]], 1941
|nickname=
|allegiance= [[German Empire]] [[Weimar Republic]] [[Nazi Germany]]
|branch=[[German Army (1935-1945)|German Army]]
|serviceyears=1911–1945
|rank=''[[General der Panzertruppe]]''
|commands=[[8th Panzer Division (Wehrmacht)|8th Panzer Division]] [[XXIX Army Corps (Wehrmacht)|XXIX Army Corps]]
|unit=
|battles=[[World War I]]
------
[[World War II]]
|awards=[[Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves]]
|laterwork=}}

'''Erich Brandenberger''' (15 July 1892 – 21 June 1955) was a German general in the [[Wehrmacht]] of [[Nazi Germany]] during [[World War II]]. He was a recipient of the [[Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves]].

==Biography==
{{unreferencedsect|date=February 2023}}
In [[World War I]] Brandenberger served as an officer in the 6th Bavarian Field Artillery Regiment. He started [[World War II]] as Chief of the General Staff of the [[XXIII Army Corps (Wehrmacht)|XXIII Army Corps]] (16 September 1939 - 15 February 1941) on the [[Siegfried Line|Westwall]]. He commanded [[German 8th Panzer Division|8th Panzer Division]] (20 February 1941 - 16 January 1943), [[LIX Army Corps (Wehrmacht)|LIX Army Corps]] (January — March 1943) and [[XXIX Army Corps (Wehrmacht)|XXIX Army Corps]] (November 1943 - Jun 1944) on the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]].

In late 1944 and early 1945, Brandenberger led the [[7th Army (Wehrmacht)|7th Army]] on the [[Western Front (World War II)|Western Front]] during the German [[Battle of the Bulge|Ardennes Offensive]]. He surrendered to the American forces commanded by [[Edward H. Brooks]] on 6 May 1945 as the commander of [[19th Army (Wehrmacht)|19th Army]] in [[Innsbruck]]. He was interned until 1948.
[[File:Brandenberger Luger Edward H Brooks.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Luger pistol]] surrendered by Brandenberger to Brooks, currently in the collection of the Sullivan Museum and History Center, Norwich University.]]

==Awards==
* [[Iron Cross]] (1914) 2nd Class (21 October 1914) & 1st Class (7 September 1916)<ref name="Thomas p71">Thomas 1997, p. 71.</ref>
* [[Clasp to the Iron Cross]] 2nd Class (24 December 1939) & 1st Class (15 May 1940)<ref name="Thomas p71"/>
* [[Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves]]
** Knight's Cross on 15 July 1941 as [[Generalmajor]] and commander of the 8. Panzer-Division<ref name="Scherzer p238">Scherzer 2007, p. 238.</ref>
** Oak Leaves on 12 November 1943 as [[General der Panzertruppe]] and commander of the XXIX. Armeekorps<ref name="Scherzer p238"/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
{{Refbegin}}
* {{Cite book
|last=Scherzer
|first=Veit
|year=2007
|title=Die Ritterkreuzträger 1939–1945 Die Inhaber des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939 von Heer, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm sowie mit Deutschland verbündeter Streitkräfte nach den Unterlagen des Bundesarchives
|trans-title=The Knight's Cross Bearers 1939–1945 The Holders of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939 by Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and Allied Forces with Germany According to the Documents of the Federal Archives
|language=German
|location=Jena, Germany
|publisher=Scherzers Militaer-Verlag
|isbn=978-3-938845-17-2
}}
* {{Cite book
|last=Thomas
|first=Franz
|year=1997
|title=Die Eichenlaubträger 1939–1945 Band 1: A–K
|trans-title=The Oak Leaves Bearers 1939–1945 Volume 1: A–K
|language=German
|location=Osnabrück, Germany
|publisher=Biblio-Verlag
|isbn=978-3-7648-2299-6
}}
{{Refend}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-mil}}
{{succession box
|before=[[General of the Infantry (Germany)|General der Infanterie]] [[Kurt von der Chevallerie]]
|after=General der Infanterie [[Kurt von der Chevallerie]]
|title=Commander of [[LIX. Army Corps (Wehrmacht)|LIX Army Corps]]
|years=17 January 1943 - 15 March 1943
}}
{{succession box|
before=General der Infanterie [[Hans von Obstfelder]]|
after=Generalleutnant [[Anton Reichard von Mauchenheim genannt Bechtolsheim|Anton Bechtolsheim]]|
title=Commander of [[XXIX Army Corps (Germany)|XXIX Army Corps]]|
years=May 1943 – 30 June 1944
}}
{{succession box|
before=General der Infanterie [[Wilhelm Schneckenburger]]|
after=General der Gebirgstruppen [[Hans Kreysing]]|
title= Commander of [[XVII Army Corps (Wehrmacht)|XVII Army Corps]]|
years=1 August 1943 – 1 November 1943
}}
{{succession box|
before= General [[Heinrich Eberbach]]|
after= General [[Hans Felber]]|
title= Commander of [[7th Army (Wehrmacht)|7th Army]]|
years=3 September 1944 – 21 February 1945
}}
{{succession box|
before= General der Infanterie [[Hans von Obstfelder]]|
after= disbanded|
title= Commander of [[19th Army (Wehrmacht)|19th Army]]|
years=March 1945 – April 1945
}}
{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}
{{Subject bar
| portal1=Biography
}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brandeberger, Erich}}
[[Category:1892 births]]
[[Category:1955 deaths]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Augsburg]]
[[Category:Military personnel from the Kingdom of Bavaria]]
[[Category:German Army personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:Generals of Panzer Troops]]
[[Category:Recipients of the clasp to the Iron Cross, 1st class]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves]]
[[Category:German prisoners of war in World War II held by the United States]]
[[Category:Reichswehr personnel]]