Albin Freiherr von Reitzenstein

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Albin Freiherr von Reitzenstein
SS-Obersturmbannführer Albin Freiherr von Reitzenstein.jpg
SS-Obersturmbannführer Freiherr von Reitzenstein
Birth name Albin Joseph Bodo Erdmann Freiherr von Reitzenstein
Birth date 4 March 1911
Place of birth Berlin, Province of Brandenburg, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire
Death date ⚔ 30 November 1943 (aged 32)
Place of death Zhitomir-Kiev road, Soviet Union
Allegiance  National Socialist Germany
Service/branch Flag Schutzstaffel.png Allgemeine SS
Flag Schutzstaffel.png Waffen SS
Years of service 1931–1943
Rank SS-Obersturmbannführer
Battles/wars World War II
Awards Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
Relations ∞ 1940 Olga Amelia Martens

Albin Joseph Bodo Erdmann Freiherr von Reitzenstein (wrongly also Hans-Albin; 4 March 1911 – 30 November 1943) was an officer the SS rune.png and the Waffen SS during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, which was awarded to recognize extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership.

Life

Albin Freiherr von Reitzenstein is shown wearing a tailor made oak leaves camouflage (Eichenlaubmuster) in the spring of 1943.
Albin Joseph Bodo Erdmann Freiherr von Reitzenstein.JPG

Albin Freiherr von Reitzenstein was born in Berlin on 4 March 1911. He attended a Realgymnasium and achieved his Abitur in March 1930. He then strated training in business with a Berlin-based company. In May 1930, he joined the NSDAP (NSDAP-Nr.: 249 943), in January 1931, he joined the Allgemeine SS (SS-Nr.: 4 533). In 1933, after completing his commercial apprenticeship, was transferred to the new Leibstandarte (1. Sturm/SS-Stabswache Berlin). In 1936, he was commander of the 1. Sturm/I. Sturmbann/SS-Standarte „Deutschland“ of the SS-Verfügungstruppe. The Standarte was renamed SS-Standarte 1 „Deutschland“ in München und SS-Standartenführer Felix Steiner in 1938. Freiherr von Reitzenstein served with his Sturm (Company) during the Anschluss of Austria and during the liberation of the Sudetenland only months later.

WWII

In 1939, he served in the Polish Campaign. He was severely wounded in action on 28 September 1930 and spent until the summer of 1940 in military hospital and on convalescence leave. On 1 August 1940, he was assigned as a Taktiklehrer (tactics instructor) to the SS-Junkerschule Bad Tölz (de).

On 15 December 1940, von Reitzenstein was posted to the newly formed SS Wiking Division that was being formed from an influx of foreign volunteers, particularly from Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands and Norway. He was named the commander of its 5th Reconnaissance Battalion (Kommandeur der SS-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 5). On 20 April 1942, he was transferred to the Das Reich Division and assumed command of the 2nd SS Reconnaissance Battalion, which was stationed in Russia. He remained in command of the Reconnaissance Battalion until March 1943, when he replaced Herbert Ernst Karl Vahl as the commander of the 2nd SS Panzer Regiment.

Von Reitzenstein, promoted to SS-Obersturmbannführer, was in command of the Panzer Regiment for the Battle of Kursk (Operation Citadel), during which he was awarded the Knight's Cross for the Regiment's actions at Belgorod, the Mius, Kharkov and Kolomak, when it destroyed 839 tanks, 18 assault guns, 334 anti-tank weapons and 32 other guns.

Knight's Cross recommendation

Von Reitzenstein’s Knight’s Cross recommendation, submitted on 17 October 1943, reads as follows:

“Following the conclusion of the winter battle of 1943, SS-Obersturmbannführer Freiherr von Reitzenstein (hitherto the commander of I. Abteilung) took over command of the Panzer-Regiment. As the Division was being reconstituted, SS-Obersturmbannführer von Reitzenstein rebuilt the medium Panzer-Abteilung and the heavy Tiger Kompanie, and was responsible for creating the new III./Pz.Rgt. (T-34). To this end, he restored the tank factory at Kharkov with men from his Regiment, and, following much strenuous work, they managed to construct the Panzers for his III. Abteilung from the captured Russian materiel. The I./Pz.Rgt. (Panther) remained in the Reich for its establishment. The Regiment resumed operations on the 05.07.1943, and up until the 23.09.1943 it destroyed the following enemy materiel during the operations at Belgorod, the Mius, Kharkov, Kolomak and the withdrawal movements up to Krementschug:
  • 839 enemy tanks
  • 18 assault guns
  • 334 anti-tank guns
  • 32 artillery pieces
  • 1 Katyusha rocket launcher
  • 1 armoured car
Thanks to superior tactics and leadership, the Panzer-Regiment only suffered 57 total losses during this same time period. During this time, SS-Obersturmbannführer von Reitzenstein especially distinguished himself in the area north of Belgorod on the 08.07.1943. On this day, SS-Obersturmbannführer von Reitzenstein commanded the armoured group of the Division, and his mission was to detach from the bulk of his Division (oriented towards the east) and attack towards the Psel river alongside the armoured group of the SS-Pz.Gren.Div. ‘LSSAH’. The goal of this move was to facilitate the advance of the units in the neighbouring Korps. Although the armoured group was unable to assemble all its forces in time due to the heavy defensive battles that were occurring on the same day, SS-Obersturmbannführer von Reitzenstein decided to set out anyways with the available troops on hand in order to both leave behind enough troops for the defensive battle whilst simultaneously carrying out his original mission of striking the overwhelming enemy armoured forces that had just arrived in front of the neighbouring Korps. This independent decision led to a total success despite there being a persistent threat to the flanks. Following harsh combat, a total of 53 enemy tanks were destroyed, and 10 km of ground was taken. The outstanding personal actions of the regimental commander guaranteed the success of this extremely difficult operation. Noticeable relief was subsequently felt on the right wing of the left neighbouring Korps. A possible expansion of this success and a joint operation with the armoured group of the LSSAH (which was advancing from south to north 10 km further to the west) was countermanded, as the group was summoned back to the main area of the Division in order to assist in its precarious defensive battle. The exemplary personal actions and flexible leadership of SS-Obersturmbannführer von Reitzenstein have also been exhibited in the other operations of the Regiment. At the Mius he and his Regiment destroyed 51 enemy tanks in the time period 30.07. to 02.08.1943. On the 06.07.1943, it destroyed 81 enemy tanks during the breakthrough of the SS-Pz.Gren.Rgt. ‘Der Führer’ through the final Russian line near Lutschki. During the armoured battle near Bogoduchoff (12.–16.08.1943) the Regiment destroyed 73 tanks, and near Kolomak (12.–14.09.1943) it destroyed another 60. I believe SS-Obersturmbannführer von Reitzenstein to be worthy of being awarded the Knight’s Cross to the Iron Cross on account of his bravery and outstanding feats of arms.”[1]

Death

Albin Freiherr von Reitzenstein was ⚔ on 30 November 1943 on the Zhitomir-Kiev road at the Eastern Front. The SS-Panzer-Regiment 2 was taken over by Christian Tychsen. Post-war rumors claim, Freiherr von Reitzenstein committed suicide due to an alleged affair with a female Russian or Ukrainian volunteer (Hiwi cook), but this is completely unsubstantiated, there is no mention of this in any official file.

Family

Albin was the son of the factory director and senior engineer (member of the German Physical Society from 1907 to 1918), later a merchant in Pichelsdorf near Spandau, Bodo Albin Curt Freiherr von Reitzenstein (1885–1944) and his wife Käthe Anna Adelheid, née Hoerter (1889–1939). He had two siblings, sister Gerda (b. 11 February 1913 in Perchtoldsdorf near Vienna; rolf hölbling) and brother Gert, who was to become SS-Hauptsturmführer.

His grandfather was Albin Friedrich Wilhelm Theodor Freiherr von Reitzenstein (1852–1927), a Prussian Lieutenant Colonel and, for many years, a Lieutenant General in Chinese service. One of many distant relatives was SS-Standartenführer Friedrich Freiherr von Reitzenstein.

The parents' marriage was divorced between the wars, and Albin's father later married Anna Maria Elsbeth Ohnesorge. Brother Gert survided the war, was a POW from 1944 to 1948, lived with his family in Bavaria, and advised authors on their military history books, for example Hubert Meyer for his book Kriegsgeschichte der 12. SS-Panzerdivision „Hitlerjugend“, which was published 1982.

Marriage

On 30 March 1940 in Hamburg, SS-Hauptsturmführer Freiherr von Reitzenstein married his German Cuban fiancée (German father from Hamburg) Olga Amelia Martens (b. c. 1920 in Santiago de Cuba). They had two children, their first-born Albin (b. 1 February 1941 in Bad Tölz; d. 15 September 1995 in Miami, Florida). Their second child, son Berud, was born c. 1942/43 in Hamburg.

In 1948, Olga, her two children (7 and 5 years old) and younger brother Johann Martens (at the time, 21 years old), who had all survived the terror of Operation Gomorrah, took the SS Nieuw Amsterdam from Rotterdam (also having Cuban passports) and emigrated to the USA, arriving in New York City. Olga later married the Cuban entrepreneur Ciro Martinez (b. 11 August 1919) with whom she resided in Venezuela and had three further children, including Patricia Anastasia, married Kern.

Promotions

Awards and decorations

SS-Obersturmbannführer Albin von Reitzenstein and SS-Sturmbannführer Christian Tychsen at the inauguration of the memorial to the fallen at the divisional cemetery in Kharkov in June 1943.

References

  1. ↑ Reitzenstein, Freiherr von, Albin (Waffen SS)
  2. ↑ Dienstaltersliste der Schutzstaffel 1936, p. 72 f., Nr. 1616
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