Hans Schmidt (Generalleutnant)

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Hans Schmidt
Schmidt, Hans (1895).jpg
Birth date 14 March 1895
Place of birth Bayreuth, Upper Franconia, Kingdom of Bavaria, German Empire
Death date 28 November 1971 (aged 76)
Place of death Weiden in der Oberpfalz, Bavaria, West Germany
Allegiance  German Empire
 Weimar Republic
 National Socialist Germany
Service/branch Iron Cross of the Luftstreitkräfte.png Imperial German Army
Freikorps Flag.jpg Freikorps
War Ensign of the Reichswehr, 1919 - 1935.png Reichswehr
Balkenkreuz.jpg Heer
Years of service 1914–1945
Rank Lieutenant General
Commands held Infanterie-Regiment 245
68. Infanterie-Division
275. Infanterie-Division
Battles/wars World War I
World War II
Awards Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
Relations ∞ 1921 Sophie Münch
Other work Insurance salesman

Hans Schmidt (14 March 1895 – 28 November 1971) was a German officer of the Imperial German Army, the Reichswehr and the Wehrmacht, finally Lieutenant General and Recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross during World War II.

Life

Hans Schmidt, 1922 (Reichswehr).jpg
Lieutenant General Hans Schmidt.jpg

Hans Schmidt attended Gymnasium in Bayreuth from 1905 to 1914 achieving his Abitur. He joined the Königlich Bayerisches 7. Infanterie-Regiment „Prinz Leopold“ of the Royal Bavarian Army as part of the Imperial German Army on 10 August 1914 as a war volunteer and was sworn-in on the next day. On 24 June 1915, he was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant in the Königlich Bayerisches Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 23 (Royal Bavarian 23rd Reserve Infantry Regiment). As such, he was then deployed as a company officer.

  • 4 July 1915 Transferred to the III. Battalion/Royal Bavarian 23rd Reserve Infantry Regiment and appointed close combat officer
    • 18 to 20 July 1915 commanded to the close combat officer course with the 8th Royal Bavarian Division in Sülzbach
  • 7 January to 1 June 1916 Appointed deputy adjutant of the III. Battalion/Royal Bavarian 23rd Reserve Infantry Regiment
  • 1 June to 9 August 1916 Appointed communications-gas protection-close combat weapons officer of the III. Battalion/Royal Bavarian 23rd Reserve Infantry Regiment
  • 10 August 1916 Appointed adjutant of the III. Battalion/Royal Bavarian 23rd Reserve Infantry Regiment
    • 15 May to 27 August 1917 Commanded to the Hungarian k.u. Landwehr (Honvéd) Husaren Regiment 1 and appointed commander of a rifle squadron
    • 22 March 1918 fallen ill, military hospital
  • 2 April 1918 Return to the III. Battalion/Royal Bavarian 23rd Reserve Infantry Regiment
  • 20 September 1918 Appointed regimental adjutant
  • 9 November 1918 Return to the III. Battalion as adjutant
  • 23 December 1918 Transferred to the post-command of the Royal Bavarian 7th Infantry Regiment "Prince Leopold" for the purpose of demobilization
  • 21 March 1919 Transferred to the 1st People's Militia Battalion Bayreuth, also known as the "Utz" Security Battalion, as company officer
  • 19 April 1919 Appointed leader of the 2nd Company/"Utz" Security Battalion
  • 17 June 1919 Transferred to the 5th Company/46th Reichswehr Infantry Regiment as platoon leader.
  • 17 October 1919 Newly sworn-in
  • 18 November to 7 December 1919 Appointed deputy adjutant of the II. Battalion/46th Reichswehr Infantry Regiment
  • 22 December 1919 Appointed auxiliary and court officer with the Garrison Oldest Bayreuth
    • 13 October 1920 Granted permission to marry

When the 100,000-man army of the Reichswehr was formed on 1 January 1921, he was then transferred to the 21st (Bavarian) Infantry Regiment. In this he was then used for the next few years as a company officer. He was then as such no later than the spring as adjutant of the III. Battalions of the 21st (Bavarian) Infantry Regiment deployed in Bayreuth. On 1 October 1924, he was then transferred as a company officer to the 12th (MG) company of the 21st (Bavarian) Infantry Regiment (Reichswehr), also in Bayreuth. He was then used for several years. On 1 May 1928, he was promoted to Captain and commander of the 15th company of the 21st (Bavarian) Infantry Regiment in Erlangen. He was again employed in this function for several years. On 1 April 1932, he was appointed commander of the 2nd company of the 21st (Bavarian) Infantry Regiment in Würzburg. When the associations were exposed, he was appointed on 15 October 1935 to commander of the III. Battalion of the 41st Infantry Regiment in Erlangen.

At the beginning of World War II, he led his battalion in the summer of 1939 in the Polish campaign. At the end of January 1940, he relinquished his command. He was appointed commander of Infantry Replacement Regiment 46 in Bayreuth on 23 January 1940. After a few weeks he relinquished his command and was transferred to the leader reserve. On 21 March 1940, he was appointed commander of the 245th Infantry Regiment. Then he led his regiment at the end of spring 1940 in the second part of the Western Campaign (Westfeldzug). At the end of 1941, he led his regiment in the Eastern Campaign in the attack on southern Russia. Even when the regiment was renamed Grenadier Regiment 245, he was still its commander.

Effective 24 January 1943 (arriving at headquarters on 26 January, taking over on 27 January), he was, as the successor to Lieutenant General Robert Meissner, delegated with the leadership of the 68th Infantry Division in the Voronezh area. He was then, after being promoted to Major General, officially appointed commander of the 68th Infantry Division. He continued to lead the division in heavy fighting in the southern sector of the Eastern Front. From 15 June to 10 July 1943, he attended the 10th Division Commander Course. In the fall of 1943, he relinquished his command of the 68th Infantry Division. On 25 November 1943, he was then transferred again to the Führerreserve. In early December 1943 he was then appointed commander of the 275th Infantry Division in western France were he fought during the Invasion at Normandy. Schmidt was wounded on 12 September 1944 west of Fouron le Comte not far from the West Wall, a staff officer and his driver were shot, he managed to walk back to his own lines with a gunshot wound. An attempt to free the captured comrades failed.

On 10 October 1944, during the Battle of Hürtgen Forest, he relinquished his command of the division (officially commander until 22 November 1944, but deputized by Knight's Cross recipient Oberst, later Generalmajor, Helmut Bechler) due to his wounds and was again transferred to the Führerreserve (OKH)/Army High Command Leader Reserve. According to his military files, he had fallen severely ill on 2 October 1944 and returned to the bled dry and barely existing division on 19 November 1944 which, after the arrival of large reinforcements, would become the new 275th Infantry Division in the Flensburg area. With this he was then transferred to the Eastern Front. He remained in command until the division was destroyed in the spring of 1945 in the Halbe pocket (Kessel von Halbe).

POW and post-WWII

On 6 May 1945, Schmidt was taken prisoner of war by the British near Tangermünde. It is said that he was finally handed over to the US-Americans, which was not unusual, presumably for use by the Operational History (German) Section of the Historical Division of the United States Army. Released from captivity in 1947, he took up residence in Weiden in the Upper Palatinate. On 21 December 1953, he became a corps ribbon wearer (Corps) at Guestphalia Erlangen. He worked successfully as an insurance salesman until 1970. In his hometown of Bayreuth, he was chairman of the Bavarian Soldiers' Association (Bayerischer Soldatenbund) for many years.

Family

Hans was the son of wholesaler Georg Schmidt and his wife Johanna, née Heinz (d. 11 January 1922). On 8 September 1921 in Bayreuth, 2nd Lieutenant Schmidt married his Protestant fiancée Sophie Münch (b. 1901), daughter of Captain (Ret.) Schmidt in Bayreuth. They would have two daughters:

  • Hildegard (b. 26 May 1920 in Erlangen)
  • Elisabeth (b. 14 October 1932 in Würzburg)

Promotions

  • 10 August 1914 Kriegsfreiwilliger (War Volunteer)
  • 2 October 1914 Fahnenjunker (Officer Candidate)
  • 1 November 1914 Fahnenjunker-Gefreiter (Officer Candidate with Lance Corporal rank)
  • 20 November 1914 Fahnenjunker-Unteroffizier (Officer Candidate with Corporal/NCO/Junior Sergeant rank)
  • 24 June 1915 Fähnrich (Officer Cadet); simultaneously commissioned
  • 24 June 1915 Leutnant (2nd Lieutenant) without Patent
    • 9 October 1917 received Patent as 2nd Lieutenant from 15 November 1913
    • 1 July 1922 received new Rank Seniority (RDA) from 1 April 1914
  • 1 October 1923 Oberleutnant (1st Lieutenant)
  • 1 May 1928 Hauptmann (Captain)
  • 1 March 1935 Major (5)
  • 31 December 1937 Oberstleutnant (Lieutenant Colonel) with effect and RDA from 1 January 1938 (14)
  • 20 October 1940 Oberst (Colonel) with effect and RDA from 1 November 1940 (9)
  • 20 April 1943 Generalmajor (Major General) with effect and RDA from 1 April 1943 (17a)
  • 8 November 1943 Generalleutnant (Lieutenant General) with effect and RDA from 1 October 1943 (12b)

Awards and decorations

Career (in German)

WWII

Writings

Further reading

  • Walther-Peer Fellgiebel: Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939–1945 — Die Inhaber der höchsten Auszeichnung des Zweiten Weltkrieges aller Wehrmachtteile (in German), Podzun-Pallas, Wölfersheim 2000, ISBN 978-3-7909-0284-6
    • English: The Bearers of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939–1945 — The Owners of the Highest Award of the Second World War of all Wehrmacht Branches, expanded edition, 2000
  • Klaus D. Patzwall / Veit Scherzer: Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941–1945 Geschichte und Inhaber, Band II (in German), Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall, Norderstedt 2001, ISBN 978-3-931533-45-8
  • Veit Scherzer: 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 (in German), Scherzers Miltaer-Verlag, Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2

Sources

  • German Federal Archives: BArch PERS 6/910 and PERS 6/300814

References

  1. ↑ Fellgiebel 2000, p. 310.
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