Fritz von Scholz

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Fritz von Scholz
Fritz von Scholz II.jpg
Dipl.-Chem.-Ing. SS-Brigadeführer von Scholz
Birth name Friedrich Max Karl Scholz
Birth date 9 December 1896(1896-12-09)
Place of birth Pilsen, Austria-Hungary
Death date ᛣ⚔ 28 July 1944 (aged 47)
Place of death Narva, Reichskommissariat Ostland, Eastern Front
Allegiance  Austria-Hungary
 Austria
 National Socialist Germany
Service/branch Gelbe Fahne der k. u. k. Armee.jpg Austro-Hungarian Army
Deutschösterreichische Volkswehr.jpg Deutschösterreichische Volkswehr (German-Austrian Militia)
Freikorps Flag.jpg Freikorps
SA-Logo.png Sturmabteilung
Flag Schutzstaffel.png Austrian SS Legion
Flag Schutzstaffel.png SS-Verfügungstruppe
Flag Schutzstaffel.png Waffen-SS
Years of service 1914–1918
1918–1919
1921
1932–1933
1933–1944
Rank Oberleutnant (1st Lieutenant)
SS-Gruppenführer
Service number NSDAP #1,304,071
SS rune.png #135,638
Commands held 1. SS-Infantrie-Brigade
11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nordland
Battles/wars World War I

World War II

Awards Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords
Relations ∞ 12 April 1941 Marianne Josefa Mühlig

Friedrich "Fritz" Max Karl Scholz, since 25 August 1917 von Scholz Edler von Rarancze (1896–1944), was a German officer of Austria and the German Reich, finally SS-Gruppenführer and Generalleutnant of the Waffen-SS as well as recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords in World War II and a chemical engineer.

Life

SS-Standartenführer von Scholz
SS-Brigadeführer von Scholz in February 1943 congratulating the wounded SS volunteer Gerardus Leonardus Mooyman (more pictures) after the message was received, the young Dutchman would receive the Knight's Cross.

Fritz was born the son of later Major General Ferdinand Karl Scholz (1856–1922), nobilized on 25 August 1917 (Scholz Edler von Rarancze), and his wife Caroline, née Hopfengärtner (1874–1964). He had two siblings, the sisters Caroline and Lini. After attending schools in Hungary, Bohemia and Austria, he graduated in July 1914 with Abitur.[1]

Chronology

  • August 1914 (other sources state July) Joined the Austro-Hungarian Army
  • 1 October 1914 k. u. k. Feldkanonenregiment Nr. 22
  • 1 May 1915 k. u. k. Feldhaubitzregiment „Erzherzog Wilhelm“ Nr. 3
  • 1 September 1915 k. u. k. Feldkanonenregiment Nr. 40 (telegraph officer)
  • 22 December 1916 k. u. k. Feldkanonenregiment Nr. 31
  • November 1917 k. u. k. Feldartillerieregiment Nr. 125
    • reconnaissance and battery officer, later adjutant
  • November 1918 to September 1919 Student at the Export Academy Vienna
  • 30 April 1919 Officially dismissed from the Deutschösterreichische Volkswehr (German-Austrian Militia)
  • October 1919 to March 1922 Studied Chemical Engineering at the Engineering College in Köthen
    • April to July 1921 Volunteer during the Polish insurrection in Upper Silesia as a member of the Studentenkompanie Köthen (Köthen Student Company; Stuko) with the Freikorps „Oberland“
  • 1923 to September 1933 Employed in Klagenfurt, Munich, Leipzig and Tyrol
  • 9 October 1932 Joined the Austrian NSDAP
  • 10 October 1932 Joined the SA-Sturm 3/1; Platoon leader in Lützow, Munich and the SA group “Nordwest”
  • 10 June 1933 Joined the SS rune.png-Sturm 2/II. Sturmbann/37. SS-Standarte (Linz)
  • 3 September 1933 Moved from Austria to the German Reich
  • 19 December 1933 Member of the Austrian SS Legion (Österreichische Legion)
    • The Austrian Legion was founded in June 1933 as a paramilitary unit, consisting of militant Austrian SA members, who fled in their thousands to neighboring Bavaria, especially after the NSDAP was banned in Austria on 19 June 1933. The Lechfeld camp (Augsburg district) served as the first collective accommodation for the Austrian National Socialists. The camps were financed with Reich funds, and the Reichswehr supplied the legionnaires with weapons. As the "armed arm" of the banned Austrian SA, the Legion was under the command of the Austrian SA-Obergruppenführer Hermann Reschny (1898-1971), who was appointed head of the Austrian SA by Adolf Hitler in 1926 and took up his headquarters in June 1933 moved to Munich.
  • 3 July 1934 Referent (consultant) Ic/SS-Oberabschnitt Österreich
  • 26 August to November 1934 Adjutant of the SS-Hilfswerk in Dachau
    • The SS Relief Organization, founded in 1934, was subordinate to the “NSDAP Relief Organization for Refugees and Survivors.” This simply had the popular name “SS vocational school” and offered Austrian SS and SA members retraining and integration into the German SS.
  • Subsequently assigned to the 7. Sturm/II. Sturmbann/1. SS-Standarte
  • 22 January to 11 April 1935 Commander of the 5. Sturm/II. Sturmbann/1. SS-Standarte
  • Subsequently transferred to the 1. Sturm/II. Sturmbann/1. SS-Standarte
  • 17 May 1935 to 1 April 1938 Commander of the 8. (Machine Gun) Sturm/II. Sturmbann/1. SS-Standarte
  • 1 April 1938 Commander of the II. Sturmbann/3. SS-Standarte „Der Führer“

WWII

  • After the start of the Second World War, he led the 2nd Battalion of the SS Regiment “Der Führer” (renamed 1939) of the SS-Verfügungsdivision during the Battle of France.
  • December 1940 Commander of the Regiment "Westland"/SS-Division "Wiking"
  • Operation Barbarossa Commander of the SS-Regiment "Nordland"/SS-Division (mot.) "Wiking"
  • 29 December 1942 Commander of the 1. SS-Infanterie-Brigade (mot.)
  • 26 January 1943 Commander of the 2. SS-Infanterie-Brigade (mot.) with mainly Latvian volunteers
  • 16 March 1943 with effect from 20 April 1943 Transferred to the 14th SS Division and assigned to lead the 14th SS Division; this volunteer division would later become the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Ukrainian)
  • 20 April 1943 Commander of the formation staff of the Germanische Freiwilligen-Division (Germanic Volunteer Division) at the Mielau military training area (some sources state, still holding the command of the 2. SS-Infanterie-Brigade)
  • 1 May 1943 to 27 July 1944 Commander of the SS Panzergrenadier Division 11 (Germanic) / 11th SS Volunteer Panzergrenadier Division Nordland

Oak Leaves

The "Recommendation for the Bestowal of the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross" was signed by Felix Steiner; Von Scholz was to be awarded the Oak Leaves for his brilliant defense of the Narva isthmus near Leningrad in 1944.

"...During the engagements in the Northern part of the Eastern Front, from 16 January until now, SS-Brigadefuhrer Fritz von Scholz continually proved himself... His division had the task of pushing itself forward along the track Kipen-Narwa against the superior enemy forces... On 28 January 1944 the enemy succeeded to break through... now the dangerous threat to the Battle Group 'Lohmann'... were surrounded by the enemy... Scholz conducted a counterattack... and reopened the runway, throwing the enemy back... In spite of strong attacks by the enemy tanks, parts of the division succeeded in breaking up their continuous attacks... created the basis for the orderly occupation of the Narwa bridgehead... made it possible to win time for the introduction of the Panzer Grenadier Division 'Feldherrnhalle'... his rigidness drove the troops... this exemplary steadfastness... carried this still young division along..."[2]

Death

In late July 1944, after the launch of the Soviet Narva Offensive, the III SS Panzer Corps under Army Group North retreated from the city of Narva and the Narva river in general, to the Tannenberg defences at the Sinimäed Hills. On 27 July 1944, Fritz von Scholz was seriously wounded (mortal head wound) during a Soviet tank attack (caught in an artillery barrage) and died in the military hospital a day later. His successor as division commander was Joachim Ziegler, who would fall during the Battle of Berlin on 2 May 1945 near the Weidendammer Bridge respectively in the north of Berlin during an attempt to break out of the city by the remnants of the SS-Division “Nordland” and the “Mohnke” combat group.

Promotions

Imperial and Royal Army

  • 1.5.1915: k. u. k. Kadett (Officer cadet)
  • 1.9.1915: k. u. k. Leutnant (2nd Lieutenant)
  • 1.11.1917: k. u. k. Oberleutnant (1st Lieutenant)

Sturmabteilung

Schutzstaffel

Awards and decorations

Fritz von Scholz IV.jpg

References

  1. ↑ 85. Schwerterträger Fritz von Scholz
  2. ↑ Recommendation document (Archive)
  3. ↑ Thierry Tixier: Allgemeine SS – Polizei – Waffen SS, Volume 3, 2016
  4. ↑ SS-Gruppenführer Ing. Fritz von Scholz
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