Heinrich Baron von Behr

Heinrich Baron von Behr
Baron von Behr in Italy
Birth name	Heinrich Alexander Ferdinand Baron von Behr
Birth date	26 June 1902(1902-06-26)
Place of birth	Rönnen, Kreis Talsen, Courland Governorate, Russian Empire (now Kuldīga Municipality, Latvia)
Death date	14 August 1983 (aged 81)
Place of death	Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany
Allegiance	Weimar Republic National Socialist Germany West Germany
Service/branch	Baltische Landeswehr Reichswehr Heer Bundeswehr
Years of service	1919–1945 1956–1962
Rank	Major General
Commands held	90th Light Infantry Division 5th Armoured Division (Bundeswehr)
Battles/wars	World War II Poland Campaign Battle of France Operation Barbarossa North African Campaign Operation Crusader Battle of Gazala Battle of Bir Hakeim First Battle of El Alamein Second Battle of El Alamein Italian Campaign Battle of Monte Cassino Operation Shingle Gothic Line
Awards	Iron Cross Close Combat Clasp Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Relations	∞ 1936 Jutta Seydel

Heinrich Alexander Ferdinand Baron von Behr (26 June 1902 – 14 August 1983) was a Baltic German officer of the Reichswehr, the Wehrmacht and the Bundeswehr as well as recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves in World War II. He must not be confused with Lieutenant General Heinrich Anton Wilhelm Johannes von Behr.

Life

Divisional commander General Ernst-Günther Baade and Heinrich Baron von Behr (left)

Heinrich Baron von Behr (Knight's Cross) and Joseph Goebbels on the cover of Die Frontsoldaten von Monte Cassino (2009)

Colonel Barn von Behr and the Battle of Monte Castellone (Monte Cassino)

• 7 January 1919 Joined the II. Battalion/Regiment Libau of the Baltische Landwehr as cavalryman
  • The commanding general, Major General Rüdiger von der Goltz, was in charge of the Libau Governorate, the Baltic Landeswehr, the Iron Division (Eiserne Division), the incoming 1st Guard Reserve Division and various smaller Freikorps.
• 1920 Immigrated to the German Reich
  • The properties and the manor of the von Behr family were illegally seized during the Latvian agrarian reform in 1920, expropriating land of Baltic German nobles.
• 7 January 1920 Start of vocational training as an engineer
• 1 April 1922 Joined the 16. Reiter-Regiment of the Reichswehr in Kassel
• 1 December 1926 Transferred to the 6. (Preußisches) Reiter-Regiment
  • Commissioned in the 1st Squadron in Pasewalk
• 1 April 1929 Appointed leader of the regimental signals platoon/6. (Preußisches) Reiter-Regiment
• 19 March 1934 Military district examination
• 1 October 1934 Adjutant of the Higher Signals Officer with the Inspection of the Cavalry, Department N/Reich Ministry of Defence (Reichswehrministerium)
• 15 October 1935 Commander of the 2nd Company/Signals Battalion 39 in Potsdam
  • now his rank was renamed Hauptmann (Captain); during this time, he passed the Russian interpreter exam.
  • 1 July to 18 August 1936 Commanded to the Olympic Village in Berlin as a support officer for international guests and athletes during the 1936 Summer Olympics
• 1 April 1937 Trainer for modern pentathlon and course leader at the Army Sports School Wünsdorf (Heeressportschule Wünsdorf)
• 1 September 1939 Commander of the 2nd Company/Nachrichten-Ersatz-Abteilung (mot.) 81
  • renamed Panzer-Nachrichten-Ersatz-Abteilung 81 on 1 October 1942
• 24 September 1939 Appointed commander of the Nachrichten-Abteilung 198 (Signals Battalion 198) with the 98. Infanterie-Division
• 20 April 1940 Appointed commander of the Panzer-Nachrichten-Abteilung 39; Western Campaign
• 15 September 1941 Appointed local commander of Lochwitza in the central sector of the Eastern Front
• 20 October 1941 Appointed commander of the Panzer-Korps-Nachrichten-Abteilung 424
• 16 December 1941 Führerreserve (OKH)
• 15 January 1942 Appointed commander of the Panzerkorps-Nachrichten-Abteilung 475 of the German Africa Corps (DAK)
  • later appointed deputy Army Signals Commander of the Panzer Army Africa (Panzerarmee Afrika)
  • October/November 1942 Transferred back to Germany from Africa
• November 1942 Commanded to the Heeresnachrichtenschule I in Halle/Saale, training to become the commander of a Panzergrenadier regiment
  • 1 to 20 March 1943 Commanded to the Panzer Troop School Wünsdorf
• 17 May 1943 Commanded to the 26. Panzer-Division
• 1 July 1943 Appointed commander of the Panzer-Grenadier-Regiment 2 Sardinien, soon to become the (Panzer-)Grenadier-Regiment 200
  • The 200th Panzer Grenadier Regiment was reorganized on 6 July 1943 in Sardinia, Italy. The regiment emerged from the 2nd Sardinia Panzer Grenadier Regiment. The regiment was initially set up with only two battalions. After its formation, the regiment was placed under the Sardinia Command. After its renaming on 16 September 1943, the regiment was subordinated to the new 90th Panzer Grenadier Division. On 23 October 1943, the 1st Battalion of the 155th Panzer Grenadier Regiment was reorganized as III. Battalion incorporated into the regiment. In 1944, the regiment under Colonel Baron von Behr was temporarily referred to as Grenadier Regiment (motorized) 200. From 1 December 1944, the regiment was again called the 200th Panzer Grenadier Regiment. At the end of the war the regiment was still in action in Italy.
• 27 December 1944 Delegated with the deputy leadership of the 90. Panzer-Grenadier-Division
• 3 February 1945 Delegated with the leadership of the 90. Panzer-Grenadier-Division
• 1 April 1945 Appointed commander of the 90. Panzer-Grenadier-Division
• 28 April 1945 POW of the western Allies
• 29 August 1947 Repatriated
• 3 September 1956 Joined the Bundeswehr, tasked with setting up the 5th Panzer Division
• 1 October 1956 Appointed commander of the 5th Panzer Division
• 1 December 1959 Deputy Commanding General and Commander of the Corps Troops of the I Corps
• 30 September 1962 Retired

Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves

Knight's Cross

On the 27 January 1944, the Panzergrenadier-Regiment 200 and the subordinated I. Battalion/Grenadier-Regiment 134 launched a counterattack in order to close the front line gap created by French forces north of Cassino. By the evening of this day both the Colle Abate and Hill 862 had been occupied, and the gap to the 44. Infanterie-Division had been closed. With this a potentially decisive Allied breakthrough had been prevented. The regimental commander, Oberst von Behr, would eventually receive the Knight’s Cross for this action.

Oak Leaves

Awarded for his actions during the defensive combat in northern Italy. In mid-May 1944, he and his regiment achieved a significant defensive victory. Later, at the end of September 1944, he and his men smashed all Allied attacks against the small city of Savignano am Rubikon. When the Allied forces later achieved a penetration during their renewed attack, he rushed to the threatened position with elements of his regimental staff and ejected the British from a commanding hill via a personally-led counterattack.

Family

Heinrich came from the German noble family von Behr from the Courland line, Lüneburg tribe. In 1920, Alexander Baron von Behr from Edwahlen calculated that the von Behr family, with its six main estates and several subsidiary estates and farms, owned a total of 125,179 hectares of land, making it number one on the list of private owners in the newly founded state of Latvia. This is also why the family was hit hardest by the expropriations in the same year.

Descent

Heinrich was the son of Imperial Russian Oberförster (senior forester) Cecil Albrecht Woldemar Louis Baron von Behr (b. 22 August 1858 at Estate Tetelmünde; murdered by the Bolsheviks on 13 January 1919 in Goldingen) and his wife Sylvia Marieluise, née von Drachenfels (b. 4 December 1879 in Daudsewas, southeast of Friedrichstadt; d. 9 November 1918 in Goldingen). When his father died, Heinrich and his younger siblings were not yet of legal age, and their guardian became Rittmeister (ret.) August Ludwig Friedrich Hugold Karl Graf von Behr-Negendank (1866–1942), Fideikommissherr of Semlow, member of the Prussian House of Lords, hereditary master chef of the Principality of Rügen and the Land of Barth, and royal Prussian chamberlain as well as Knight of Honour (Ehrenritter; 26 July 1897), later Knight of Honour (Rechtsritter) of the Johanniter-Orden.

Heinrich Baron von Behr had nine siblings, six brothers and three sisters (birth dates according to Old Style; O.S.):

• Erika Julie Sylvia (b. 6 July 1899 in Tetelmünde)
  • Born at the family estate Tetelmünde, which belonged to her uncle since the death of her grandfather Friedrich Ulrich Baron von Behr on 1 January 1867.
• Alfred Johann Albrecht Hubertus (b. 14 October 1900 in Rönnen)
• Ferdinand Alexander Robert (b. 30 July 1903 in Rönnen)
• Friedrich Wilhelm Lionel (b. 20 August 1904 in Rönnen)
• Albrecht Wilhelm Viktor (b. 17 December 1905 in Rönnen)
• Margarite Hortense (b. 10 November 1906 in Rönnen)
• Arthur Eduard Nikolaus (b. 4 January 1908 in Rönnen)
• Max Adolf Helmut (b. 11 September 1909 in Rönnen)
• Alice Alexandrine Viola (b. 20 January 1912 in Rönnen)

Marriage

On 20 July 1936, Rittmeister Baron von Behr married his fiancée Jutta Seydel, daughter of lawyer and notary Dr. jur. Max Seydel and his wife Hedwig, née Hacker.

Promotions

• 14 October 1925 Fähnrich (Officer Cadet)
• 28 August 1926 Oberfähnrich (Senior Officer Cadet)
• 1 December 1926 Leutnant (2nd Lieutenant) without Patent (ernannt)
  • later received Patent and Rank Seniority (RDA) from 1 December 1927
• 1 February 1931 Oberleutnant (1st Lieutenant)
• 1 June 1935 Rittmeister
• 1 October 1939 Major
• 1 March 1942 Oberstleutnant (Lieutenant Colonel)
• 1 February 1944 Oberst (Colonel)
• 1 April 1945 Generalmajor (Major General; two-star General)

Bundeswehr

• 3 September 1956 Brigadegeneral (Brigadier General; one-star General)
• 1 July 1957 Generalmajor (Major General; two-star general)

Awards and decorations

• Baltic Cross (Baltenkreuz)
• DLRG basic certificate (Grundschein) of the German Life Saving Association (Deutsche Lebens-Rettungs-Gesellschaft)
• German Reich Sport Badge (Deutsches Reichssportabzeichen) in Bronze
• Wehrmacht Long Service Award (Wehrmacht-Dienstauszeichnung), 4th to 3rd Class
• Iron Cross (1939), 2nd and 1st Class
  • 2nd Class on 20 April 1940
  • 1st Class on 24 June 1940
• General Assault Badge (Allgemeines Sturmabzeichen) in Silver on 20 July 1942
• Winter Battle in the East 1941–42 Medal on 15 August 1942
• Medal for the Italian-German campaign in Africa
• Africa Cuff Band (Ärmelband „Afrika“) on 29 August 1943
• Sardinia Field Cap Shield (Sardinienschild)
• Close Combat Clasp in Bronze
• Silver Rider's Pin (House Order of General Ernst-Günther Baade)
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves
  • Knight's Cross on 24 February 1944 as Colonel and Commander of Panzer-Grenadier-Regiment 200/90. Panzergrenadier-Division
  • 689th Oak Leaves on 9 January 1945 as Colonel and Commander of Panzer-Grenadier-Regiment 200/90. Panzergrenadier-Division
• Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit (Großes Verdienstkreuz) on 19 September 1962

Gallery

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