Heinrich von Vietinghoff genannt Scheel

Heinrich von Vietinghoff-Scheel
Birth date	6 December 1887(1887-12-06)
Place of birth	Mainz, Grand Duchy of Hesse, German Empire
Death date	23 February 1952 (aged 64)
Place of death	Pfronten, Bavaria, West Germany
Allegiance	German Empire Weimar Republic National Socialist Germany
Service/branch	Prussian Army Imperial German Army Reichswehr Heer
Years of service	1906–1945
Rank	Generaloberst
Commands held	XIII Corps XXXXVI Panzer Corps 15th Army 10th Army Army Group C Army Group Courland
Battles/wars	World War I World War II Poland Campaign Balkans Campaign Operation Barbarossa Italian Campaign
Awards	Iron Cross German Cross in Gold Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves
Relations	∞ 1920 Elfriede Wagner

Heinrich Gottfried Otto Richard von Vietinghoff genannt Scheel (sometimes also Heinrich-Gottfried; 6 December 1887 – 23 February 1952) was a German officer, finally Generaloberst of the Wehrmacht and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves in WWII.

Life

Heinrich von Vietinghoff and Generalfeldmarschall Günther von Kluge (right)

Gotthard Heinrici and Heinrich von Vietinghoff

Rudolf Eibenstein (Luftwaffe), Wilhelm Bittrich (Waffen-SS) and Heinrich von Vietinghoff (Heer)

Generaloberst Heinrich von Vietinghoff genannt Scheel in Italy, 1944

Generaloberst von Vietinghoff is questioned by U.S. Captain Ralph C. Opperman, interpreter for Lieutenant General Lucian King Truscott Jr., 1945.

Heinrich attended elementary school in Glogau and then Dr. Mittelhaus's Private Higher Boys' School in Breslau. He then attended the cadet academies in Wahlstatt and Plön, and finally the Royal Prussian Main Cadet's Institute in Lichterfelde. On 6 March 1906, he received a commendation from Emperor and King Wilhelm I by Imperial Cabinet Order (A.K.O.) "for the knowledge demonstrated in the Abitur examination". On the same day, he was transferred to the Prussian Army as an officer cadet (Fähnrich) and served with the Kaiser Franz Garde-Grenadier-Regiment Nr. 2 in Berlin.

• 22 March 1906 Sworn-in
• 10 April to 20 December 1906 Commanded to the War School in Metz
• 1 October 1910 to 31 March 1911 Commanded to the Schloßgarde-Kompanie
• 1 October 1911 Appointed adjutant of the II. Battalion/Kaiser Franz Garde-Grenadier-Regiment Nr. 2
• 1 December 1912 Appointed regimental adjutant of the Kaiser Franz Garde-Grenadier-Regiment Nr. 2
  • 6 May 1915 wounded in the right thigh by a rifle bullet during the pursuit battles after the Battle of Gorlice-Tarnow; military hospital
• 7 June 1916 Commanded to the Guard Corps (German: Garde-Korps) and appointed deputy orderly officer
• 1 July 1916 Appointed orderly officer
• 1 October 1916 Transferred to the 2nd Army and appointed 2nd General Staff Officer and Quartermaster (Ib) of the 183rd Infantry Division and then the 221st Infantry Division
• 16 December 1916 Transferred to the staff of the Chief of the General Staff of the Field Army (Paul von Hindenburg)
• 1 July 1919 Transferred to the Great General Staff (Großer Generalstab)
  • 29 September 1919 newly sworn-in
• 30 September with effect from 1 October 1919 Commanded to the Reichswehrministerium
• 24 November 1919 with effect from 1 October 1919 Transferred to the Reichswehrministerium
  • 26 November 1919 Granted permission to marry Elfriede Schwarzmann, née Wagner
• 15 September with effect from 1 October 1923 Transferred to the 8th (Prussian) Infantry Regiment
  • he was ordered to stay with the RWM until 30 November 1923
  • 20 November 1923 service in the RWM extended to 31 December 1923
• 18 December 1923 with effect from 1 January 1924 Transferred to the Group Command 1 and ordered to wear the uniform of the General Staff; the transfer to the 8th Regiment was revoked.
  • under Richard von Berendt
• 30 August with effect from 1 October 1924 Appointed commander of the 1st Company/9th (Prussian) Infantry Regiment in Potsdam
• 8 January with effect from 1 February 1927 Transferred to the General Staff of the Infantry Commander II
• 10 September with effect from 1 October 1928 Transferred to the Reichswehrministerium
• 19 March with effect from 1 April 1931 Appointed commander of the I. Battalion/14th (Baden) Infantry Regiment in Meiningen
• 27 February with effect from 1 March 1933 Appointed department head in the Reichswehrministerium
  • 2 August 1934 newly sworn-in

Wehrmacht

• 14 June with effect from 1 July 1935 Transferred to the 3rd Cavalry Division (soon to be the 1. Panzer-Division) and ordered to wear the uniform of the Motor Vehicle Battalion (Kraftfahr-Abteilung) Leipzig, code name for the still camouflaged Reconnaissance Battalion (motorized) 4
• 12 September 1935 Appointed commander of the 1st Rifle Brigade in Weimar with the uniform of the Reconnaissance Battalion (motorized) 4
  • The unit was established as the staff for the rifle units of the 1st Panzer Division. Initially, these were only Rifle Regiment 1 and Motorcycle Rifle Battalion 1.
• 29 May to 31 October 1936 Deputy commander of the 1. Panzer-Division while retaining his command of the 1st Rifle Brigade
  • 1 to 7 August 1937 deployed to Italy for the maneuvers of the rapid reaction forces (Schnelle Truppen)
• 1 October 1937 Inspector of the Inspectorate of Armored Troops and Army Motorization (In 6) with the Reichskriegsministerium
  • 16 to 26 August 1938 commanded to the XVII. Armee-Korps
• 24 November 1938 Appointed commander of the newly formed 5. Panzer-Division
  • succeeded by Generalleutnant Max von Hartlieb genannt Walsporn
• 26 October with effect from 23 October 1939 Appointed Commanding General of the XIII. Armee-Korps
• 20 October with effect from 25 October 1940 Appointed Commanding General of the XXXXVI. Armee-Korps (motorized)
  • 14 June 1942 renamed XXXXVI. Panzer-Korps
• 9 June 1942 Delegated with the deputy leadership of the 9th Army
  • he took over deputy command from Albrecht Schubert who had represented the wounded Commander-in-Chief Walter Model
• 1 September 1942 Führerreserve (OKH)/Army High Command Leader Reserve
• 9 December 1942 Delegated with the leadership of the 15th Army for Curt Haase who had fallen severely ill
• 13 February with effect from 9 February 1943 Officially appointed Commander-in-Chief of the 15th Army
  • 27 April to 2 May 1943 granted leave; represented by General der Panzertruppe Adolf Kuntzen
• 5 August 1943 Führerreserve (OKH)/Army High Command Leader Reserve
• 25 August 1943 Appointed Commander-in-Chief of the 10th Army
  • 15 to 30 September 1943 delegated with the deputy leadership of the Army Group B for Erwin Rommel who had fallen ill
  • 12 to 15 May 1944 granted leave; represented by General der Artillerie Otto Hartmann
• 24 October 1944 to 15 February 1945 Delegated with the deputy leadership of the Army Group C (Commander-in-Chief Southwest)
  • He stood in for Field Marshal Albert Kesselring after the latter's serious accident.
  • 18 January to 8 February 1945 granted leave
• 30 January 1945 Appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Army Group Courland (his Ia was Gustav-Adolf Kuntzen)
• 11 March 1945 Appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Army Group C
  • At the same time, he was appointed Commander-in-Chief Southwest. Kesselring was appointed Oberbefehlshaber West.

Heinrich von Vietinghoff genannt Scheel concentrated his strongest units in the Po Valley around Bologna, anticipating the main thrust of the Allied motorized forces there. Southeast of Bologna, a series of rivers flowing from the Apennines formed natural obstacles, which the German High Command fortified as defensive lines. From east to west, these were the Irmgard Line on the Senio River, the Laura Line on the Santero River, the Paula Line on the Sillaro River, the Anna Line on the Gaiana River, and the Genghis Khan Line on the Idice River. Further natural obstacles included the northern foothills of the Apennines between Faenza and Modena, as well as the Comacchio Lagoon. Additional defensive lines had been constructed along the Adriatic coast to intercept any Allied landing attempts. The area southeast of Argenta, located between the Po and Reno rivers, was largely flooded by the demolition of the dams.

Piercing Traugott Herr’s 10th Army front, British forces surged forward capturing Ferrara, Rovigo, Padova and Venice before swinging eastward to the Italo-Yugoslav frontier. With the Axis forces in Italy routed, representatives of Generaloberst Heinrich von Vietinghoff genannt Scheel, who had established contact with the Western Allies in order to achieve the surrender of German troops in the southwestern theater of war, and SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS Karl Wolff signed the instrument of local surrender at Caserta on 29 April 1945. This date was before Hitler's suicide on 30 April – therefore without the approval of the High Command of the Wehrmacht (OKW) and was therefore initially kept secret. When Kesselring, now Commander-in-Chief in the Southern Pocket, found out about this, he had von Vietinghoff and his Chief of Staff Hans Röttiger arrested and placed under arrest. Von Vietinghoff wasfinally released when the surrender came into force on 2 May 1945 (surrender activities, such as the handover of territories in northern Italy, continued into 3 and 4 May 1945, but the military ceasefire was effective from 2 May 1945 at 2:00 PM local time), but the events surrounding these surrender negotiations were to trigger a heated debate between the officers involved in the post-war period.

Generaloberst von Vietinghoff was taken prisoner of war by the Americans and handed over to the British on 23 May 1945. Among the hardships were the interrogations at London District Cage. On 2 March 1946, he was transferred to Island Farm Special Camp 11 from LDC. On 1 April 1947, he was again transferred to LDC from Island Farm Special Camp 11 to Allendorf on loan. On 30 September 1947, he was transferred to US custody for discharge. After his dismissal, von Vietinghoff focused on the question of German rearmament. He was a member of the expert group that, in October 1950, drafted the Himmerod Memorandum on a West German contribution to European defense, commissioned by the government of Adenauer (Adenauer I Cabinet).

Family

Descent

Heinrich came from the old Westphalian noble family von Vietinghoff. He was the eldest son of the Prussian Lieutenant General of Artillery Heinrich Otto Konrad von Vietinghoff genannt Scheel (1857–1917) and his wife Leona Valeska Angelika Pulcheria, née Gräfin von Schmettow (1861–1942). The father, a division commander, died on 13 May 1917 in Strasbourg (Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine) from an enlarged heart after contracting an illness in the field. Mother Leona died on 9 May 1942 and was buried with her husband. He had two younger brothers:

• Otto Richard (b. 17 July 1889 in Main), planting manager in Niussi and 2nd Lieutenant (Ret.) of the Schutztruppe in German East Africa, reactivated in WWI, ⚔ on 3 November 1914 near Tanga when 1,100 German soldiers (mainly Askari or Reichsneger) under Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck defeated 8,000 British soldiers under Brigadier General Arthur Edward Aitken during the Battle of Tanga. The British suffered 800 killed, 500 wounded, and 250 missing. German losses amounted to 69 fallen, including 54 Askari, and 89 wounded. The Germans captured 16 British machine guns, 600,000 rounds of ammunition, and a large amount of other equipment.
• Max Otto Richard (b. 16 July 1894 in Glogau), 1st Lieutenant in the 2. Thüringisches Feldartillerie-Regiment Nr. 55, during WWI commanded to the Fliegertruppe, ⚔ on 17 May 1918 near Templeuve-en-Pévèle (France) as commander of a bomber squadron after his plane crashed. He was buried with military honors on 24 May 1918 in the garrison cemetery in Strasbourg (now known as "Strasbourg-Cronenbourg National Necropolis") next to his father.

Marriage

On 6 January 1920 in Berlin, Captain von Vietinghoff married the young widow Elfriede Maria Schwarzmann, née Wagner (b. 7 March 1892 in Hanover; d. 4 February 1989 in Munich). She was the daughter of Colonel Ludwig Wagner. His wife's first marriage was to factory director Adolf Schwarzmann, who died in Stuttgart on 5 August 1912 just under 16 months after their wedding. Elfriede and Heinrich would have two children, Heinrich was also a loving stepfather to Elfriede's daughter Elfriede Marianne from her first marriage:

• Elfriede Marianne Schwarzmann (b. 22 February 1912 in Stuttgart; d. 1994 ibidem); ∞ Fritz Berthold Horst Freiherr von Wangenheim (b. 8 July 1909 in Eisenach), Oberstleutnant i. G. of the Wehrmacht in WWII
• Lonny Rosemarie (b. 17 February 1921 in Charlottenburg); ∞ Otto Hechler (b. 16 April 1912 in Küstrin), 1st Lieutenant (reserves) of the Wehrmacht, ⚔ on 10 July 1943 in Pachino (Sicily) during Operation Husky
• Heinz-Dieter Max Richard (b. 6 March 1926 in Potsdam), Fahnenjunker-Unteroffizier (Officer Candidate with Corporal/NCO/Junior Sergeant rank) of the Wehrmacht, MIA (presumably ⚔) since/on 27 April 1945 during the Battle of Halbe

Promotions

• 6 March 1906 Fähnrich (Officer Cadet)
• 27 January 1907 Leutnant (2nd Lieutenant) with Patent from 14 June 1905
• 19 June 1914 Oberleutnant (1st Lieutenant)
• 24 July 1915 Hauptmann (Captain)
  • 1 February 1922 received Reichswehr Rank Seniority (RDA) from 24 July 1915 (3)
• 1 March 1926 (1) Major
• 1 February 1931 (3) Oberstleutnant (Lieutenant Colonel)
• 1 April 1933 (19) Oberst (Colonel)

Wehrmacht

• 20 April 1936 Generalmajor (Major General) with effect and RDA from 1 April 1936 (10)
• 28 February 1938 Generalleutnant (Lieutenant General) with effect and RDA from 1 March 1938 (8)
• 17 May 1940 General der Panzertruppe with effect and RDA from 1 June 1940 (5)
• 8 October 1943 Generaloberst with effect and RDA from 1 September 1943 (1)

Awards and decorations

• Austrian Franz-Joseph-Orden, Knight's Cross (ÖFJ4) on 17 May 1910
• Austrian Order of the Iron Crown, Knight III. Class (ÖEK3) on 2 January 1914
• Iron Cross (1914), 2nd and 1st Class
  • 2nd Class on 13 September 1914
  • 1st Class on 23 April 1915
• Military Merit Cross (Austria-Hungary), 3rd Class with the War Decoration (ÖM3K) on 25 July 1915
• War Decoration to his Austrian Order of the Iron Crown Knight III. Class (ÖEK3K/ÖE3K)
• Saxe-Meiningen Cross for Merit in War (SMK) on 2 August 1915
• Saxon Albert Order (Albrechts-Orden), Knight 2nd Class with Swords (SA3b⚔) on 5 July 1917
  • one source states 1st Class with Swords, but this is not documented.
• Lübeck Hanseatic Cross (Lübeckisches Hanseatenkreuz; LübH/LüH) on 11 July 1917
• Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin Military Merit Cross (Großherzoglich Mecklenburg-Schwerinsches Militärverdienstkreuz), II. Class (MMV2/MK2) on 17 September 1917
• Order of Military Merit (Bulgaria), Officer (IV. Grade; BMO4/BO4) on 11 October 1917
• Gallipoli Star (TH) on 22 December 1917
• House Order of Hohenzollern, Knight's Cross with Swords (HOH3⚔) on 26 March 1918
• Wound Badge (1918) in Black on 3 June 1918
• Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918 with Swords
• Wehrmacht Long Service Award (Wehrmacht-Dienstauszeichnung), 4th to 1st Class on 2 October 1936

WWII

• Repetition Clasp 1939 to the Iron Cross 1914, 2nd and 1st Class
  • 2nd Class on 21 September 1939
  • 1st Class on 28 September 1939
• German Cross in Gold on 22 April 1942 as General der Panzertruppe and Commanding General of the XXXXVI. Panzer-Korps
• Winter Battle in the East 1941–42 Medal on 15 July 1942
• 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. Armee-Korps
  • 456th Oak Leaves on 16 April 1944 as Generaloberst and Commander-in-Chief of the 10. Armee

Gallery

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Sources

• German Federal Archives: BArch PERS 6/61 and PERS 6/301189