Heinz-Georg Lemm

Heinz-Georg Lemm
Birth date	1 June 1919(1919-06-01)
Place of birth	Schwerin, Free State of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, German Reich
Death date	17 November 1994 (aged 75)
Place of death	Ruppichteroth, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Allegiance	National Socialist Germany West Germany
Service/branch	Heer Bundeswehr
Years of service	1935–45 1957–79
Rank	Oberst (Wehrmacht) Generalleutnant (Bundeswehr)
Commands held	Chief of the Army Office
Battles/wars	World War II
Awards	Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross

Heinz-Georg "Hein" Lemm (1 June 1919 – 17 November 1994) was a German officer of the Wehrmacht and the Bundeswehr, at last Generalleunant and Amtschef des Heeresamtes as well as recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords during WWII.

Life

Lemm attended the humanistic Gymnasium in Schwerin and was also active there as a Hitler Youth leader. In 1934/35, his parents moved to Güstrow, where Heinz-Georg achieved his Abitur in 1936. After six months of labor service (Reichsarbeitsdienst; RAD), he joined the 27th Infantry Regiment of the Heer of the Wehrmacht in Rostock on 1 December 1936 as an officer candidate. This regiment, along with the 48th and 89th Regiments, belonged to the 12th Infantry Division (12. ID). After basic training, he began his service successively with the machine gun, anti-tank and infantry gun companies.

In 1937/38, he attended the war school (Kriegsschule) in Munich, where he also took the officer's exam. On 1 September 1938, he was promoted to 2nd lieutenant and then transferred to the Döberitz Infantry School, where he served as a platoon leader and recruit officer. At the beginning of 1939, he attended a course at the Dessau-Roßlau Pionier School. After this course, Lieutenant Lemm returned to the 27th Infantry Regiment (IR 27), where he was deployed as a cavalry platoon leader.

WWII

At the beginning of August 1939 the 12th ID moved to the Arys military training area in East Prussia, where the division took part in a maneuver. When the campaign against Poland began on 1 September 1939, the 12th ID crossed the border at Neufließ-Flammberg and advanced towards Przasnysz. Lieutenant Lemm had already proven himself outstandingly during the Polish campaign. During the three weeks of fighting, Lemm led 15 successful reconnaissance troop operations, for which he was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class on 6 October 1939. In mid-October 1939 the 12th ID marched to the Bonn-Siegburg area to join Army Group B. The men were to spend the following weeks and months here. Shortly before the start of the Western Campaign on 10 May 1940, Lieutenant Lemm gave up his cavalry platoon because he was now adjutant of the III. Battalion/IR 27. Heinz-Georg Lemm, who had meanwhile been promoted to first lieutenant, ended the western campaign as commander of the 2nd Company of the IR 27. In April/May 1941, the 12th ID moved to East Prussia, where the soldiers prepared for the campaign against the Soviet Union. First Lieutenant Lemm had meanwhile been appointed commander of the 2nd Company of the IR 27. The first battles in Wilkomir and in the Cholm bridgehead followed.

He fought in the 12th Infantry Division of the Wehrmacht during World War II. He served in the Poland campaign, the Western Campaign, during Operation Barbarossa, the Demyansk Pocket, during the Battle of the Bulge and in the Ruhr pocket, commanding the Füsilier-Regiment 27. During a reconnaissance patrol he was captured by US-Americans, his division capitulated only hours later.

POW

He became a POW and was surprisingly released only 10 months later. Making his way back home to his family in Schwerin, which was now occupied by the Red Army, he was abducted by the Russians and carried off to the east, where he once again was to become a POW until his release 1950.

Post-WWII

Bundeswehr

In 1957, Heinz-Georg Lemm joined the Bundeswehr and commanded the 7th Panzergrenadier-Brigade of the 3rd Panzer-Division in Hamburg until 1963, when he was promoted to Brigadegeneral. When Hyacinth Graf Strachwitz von Groß-Zauche und Camminetz died 1968, Lemm delivered the eulogy.

In 1970, he was promoted to Generalmajor and commanded the 5th Panzer-Division in Diez. Promoted further in 1974, he was named Chief of the Troop Office of the Bundeswehr, with the rank of Generalleutnant. He was awarded the Great Cross of Merit with Star and the Legion of Merit and retired on 30 September 1979.

Ordensgemeinschaft

In 1979, he succeeded Horst Niemack as honorary president of the Association of Knight's Cross Recipients (German: Ordensgemeinschaft der Ritterkreuzträger des Eisernen Kreuzes). Until 1985 he was also president of the Ring deutscher Soldatenverbände (Ring of German Soldier Associations), from 1985 until 1988 he was their honorary president.

Death

Generalleutnant a. D. Heinz-Georg "Hein" Lemm died on 17 November 1994.

Family

Marriage

Lemm married during the war his fiancée Gertrud "Gert" von Cardinal, who waited with great loyalty for him to come home from captivity. After over 40 years of marriage, Gert died in June 1984. Lemm, nun widower, married 1992 a second time with 72 years of age. His second wife was the widow of Knight's Cross holder Oberst a. D. Christian Lotze.

Promotions

Wehrmacht

• 1 December 1936 Fahnenjunker
• 1937 Fähnrich
• 1 September 1938 Leutnant
• 1940 Oberleutnant
• 1 April 1942 Hauptmann
• 1 April 1943 Major
• 1 November 1944 Oberstleutnant
• March 1945 Oberst

Bundeswehr

• 1957 Oberst (Colonel)
• 1963 Brigadegeneral (Brigadier General; one-star General)
• 1970 Generalmajor (Major General; two-star general)
• 1974 Generalleutnant (Lieutenant General; three-star general)

Awards and decorations

Wehrmacht

• Iron Cross (1939), 2nd and 1st class
  • 2nd class on 6 October 1939
  • 1st class on 31 December 1940
• Wound Badge (1939) in Silver
• Demyansk Shield (Demjanskschild)
• Infantry Assault Badge (Infanterie-Sturmabzeichen) in Silver
• Winter Battle in the East 1941–42 Medal
• Close Combat Clasp in Bronze and Silver
• Tank Destruction Badge (Panzervernichtungsabzeichen)
• German Cross in Gold on 19 December 1941 as 1st Lieutenant in the 2./Infanterie-Regiment 27
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords
  • Knight's Cross on 14 April 1943 as Captain and Commander of I. Battalion/Füsilier-Regiment 27
    • Awarded for his leadership of the I./Füsilier-Regiment 27 near Penna (south of Staraja Russa). Here Lemm’s Füsiliers, along with the Sturmgeschütze of Hauptmann Hegele, were able to destroy 46 Soviet tanks within the space of three days. After this, following a penetration by fresh Soviet forces, Lemm and his men (again supported by Hegele’s Sturmgeschütze) were able to eliminate the hostile penetration while destroying 5 tanks.
  • 525th Oak Leaves on 11 July 1944 as Major and Commander of I. Bataillon/Füsilier-Regiment 27/12. Infanterie-Division
    • On the 22 June 1944, Lemm and his Battalion stood in the Pronja bridgehead (near Tschaussy), in the Mogilev sector. Over the next 72 hours Lemm and his men formed the rearguard of the retreating 12. Infanterie-Division. As commander of a Kampfgruppe, he broke out of the Mogilev area towards the Beresina and soon established contact with his old Division. Lemm would be decorated with the Oakleaves for managing to escape the jaws of Operation Bagration where so many others had failed.
  • 137th Swords on 15 March 1945 as Lieutenant Colonel and Commander of Füsilier-Regiment 27/12. Volks-Grenadier-Division/I. SS-Panzerkorps/6. SS-Panzerarmee
    • Awarded for the leadership of his regiment in the battles around Aachen and in the Ardennes Offensive. In this time his unit’s most notable successes were the capture of Eschweiler and part of Stolberg, as well as breaking through the Losheim Gap during the Battle of the Bulge.

Bundeswehr

• Order of Orange-Nassau, Commander in 1972
• US Legion of Merit, 1979
• Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, Knight Commander's Cross (Great Cross of Merit with Star; Großes Verdienstkreuz mit Stern) in 1979

Writings

• Soldaten des Heeres in ihrer Geschichte – Vorträge von Generalleutnant Heinz-Georg Lemm, Amtschef des Heeresamtes, 1977

Further reading

• Walther-Peer Fellgiebel: Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939–1945 — Die Inhaber der höchsten Auszeichnung des Zweiten Weltkrieges aller Wehrmachtteile [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] (in German), Podzun-Pallas, Friedberg 1986, ISBN 978-3-7909-0284-6.
• 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 [The Knight's Cross Bearers 1939–1945 The Holders of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939 by Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and Allied Forces with Germany According to the Documents of the Federal Archives] (in German), Scherzers Miltaer-Verlag, Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2.