Hermann Hoth

Hermann Hoth
Birth name	Johann Hermann Karl Max Hoth
Nickname	"Papa"
Birth date	12 April 1885(1885-04-12)
Place of birth	Neuruppin, Province of Brandenburg, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire
Death date	25 January 1971 (aged 85)
Place of death	Goslar, Lower Saxony, West Germany
Allegiance	Kingdom of Prussia German Empire Weimar Republic National Socialist Germany
Service/branch	Prussian Army Imperial German Army Freikorps Reichswehr Heer
Years of service	1903–1945
Rank	Generaloberst
Commands held	18th Infantry Division XV Army Corps (motorized) 3rd Panzer Group 17th Army 4th Panzer Army
Battles/wars	World War I World War II Poland Campaign Battle of France Operation Barbarossa Case Blue Battle of Stalingrad Third Battle of Kharkov Battle of Kursk Battle of Voronezh (1942) Battle of Kiev (1943)
Awards	Iron Cross Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords
Relations	∞ 1918 Lola Schubering
Other work	Military author

Johann Hermann Karl Max Hoth (12 April 1885 – 25 January 1971) was a German officer, finally Generaloberst of the Wehrmacht, Commander-in-Chief of armies and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords in World War II.

Life

Hoth (right), Panzer Group 3, with Heinz Guderian, commander of Panzer Group 2, on 21 June 1941

Erich von Manstein and Hermann Hoth

Hoth attended the Gymnasium in Demmin from Easter 1894 to Easter 1896, followed by the Cadet Corps at Potsdam from 10 April 1896, and the Royal Prussian Main Cadet Institute (Hauptkadettenanstalt in Groß-Lichterfelde) near Berlin from 1 April 1900 to 15 February 1904 achieving his Abitur having learned French, English and Russian. After a week of leave, he was transferred to the 4. Thüringisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 72 as an officer cadet. After attending the Danzig War School from April to December 1904, he was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant in early 1905. From 1907, he served as battalion adjutant in his regiment and on 1 October 1910, was seconded to the Prussian War Academy in Berlin for three years (until 21 July 1913).

• 22 July to 17 September 1913 Commanded to the Fußartillerie-Regiment "von Hindersin" (1. Pommersches) Nr. 2
• 1 October 1913 Appointed regimental adjutant of the 4. Thüringisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 72 in Torgau
• 1 April 1914 Commanded to the Great General Staff (Großer Generalstab) in Berlin
• 1 August 1914 Transferred to the General Staff of the Army and commanded to the General Staff of the German 8th Army in East Prussia
  • In this role, he witnessed the 1914 Russian invasion of East Prussia. This campaign left a deep impact on Hoth, as he saw the Russians waging war with "bestial cruelty". He served under Generalfeldmarschall Paul von Hindenburg during this period, including during the Battle of Tannenberg (1914), and came to greatly admire his superior.
• 6 February 1915 Commanded to the 10th Army and appointed Ic (Third General Staff Officer and Chief Intelligence/Signals Officer)
• 6 September 1915 Commanded to the General Staff of the XVII. Reserve Corps (Zastrow Corps)
  • 20 March to 21 April 1916 assigned to the Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 342 as a battalion leader
• 26 October 1916 Transferred to the staff of the Kogenluft
  • 29 January 1918 granted permission to marry
• 9 August 1918 Transferred to the General Staff of the 30th Infantry Division
• December 1918 / January 1919 Joined the Freikorps Maercker (Freiwilliges Landesjägerkorps)
• 28 August 1918 Appointed leader of the 14 Company/IV. Battalion/Landesjäger-Korps
  • The Volunteer State Jäger Corps was incorporated into Brigade 16 of the Provisional Reichswehr in October 1919. Later it became Reichswehr Brigade 16 in Weimar.
• 14 October 1919 Newly sworn-in

Having been transferred to the Provisional Reichswehr, he initially served as a company commander in the Reichswehr Infantry Regiment 32 and, from 1 October 1920, in the Infantry Regiment 18. From 1 January 1921, he served in the Organization Department (T 2) of the Truppenamt. In 1923, he was appointed 1st General Staff Officer and Chief of Operations (Ia) on the staff of the Infantry Commander II in Stettin and was promoted to Major there in 1924. In 1925, he returned to the Reichswehr Ministry, where he served as a consultant in the Army Training Department (T 4). From January 1929, he served as commander of the 1st Battalion of the 4th (Prussian) Infantry Regiment in Stargard and was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel there in February 1929. In November 1930, he was transferred to the staff of Group Command 1 in Berlin and returned to active duty in 1932 as commander of the 17th Infantry Regiment (Braunschweig). In October 1933, he transferred to the Lübeck Military District Command and was appointed garrison commander there on 1 February 1934. On 1 October 1934, he was promoted to Major General and appointed Infantry Commander III in Liegnitz, where he formed the 18th Infantry Division until 1 October 1935.

Wehrmacht

• 1 October 1935 Appointed commander of the 18th Infantry Division in Liegnitz
  • on 1 April 1938, his successor became Erich von Manstein who had been leading the division since February 1938
• 4 February 1938 Transferred to the officers at the disposal of the Commander-in-Chief of the Army
  • 1 April 1938 administrative assigned to the 18th Infantry Division
  • 27 October 1938 return to the 18th Infantry Division in Liegnitz and official "transfer of command of the division to Lieutenant General von Manstein"
• 1 November to 9 November 1938 Commanded to the formation staff of the XV Army Corps in Jena
• 10 November 1938 Appointed Commanding General of the XV Army Corps (motorized)
  • 29 July to 5 August 1939 granted regeneration leave
  • Following the Polish campaign, the corps was stationed in the Aachen area at the turn of the year 1939/40. At the start of the Western campaign, the 62nd Infantry Division and the 5th Panzer Division were subordinated to the XV Army Corps (also known as Group Hoth). The 7th Panzer Division was added on 11 May 1940. The corps' task was to cover the right flank of Panzer Group Kleist. The corps advanced through the Ardennes from 10 May 1940, approximately 35 km north of Panzer Group Kleist. The corps was to attempt to reach and cross the Meuse River between Dinant and Houx ahead of the advancing French forces. The vanguard of the two Panzer divisions reached the Meuse as early as 12 May 1940.
• 16 November 1940 Appointed commander of the Panzer Group 4
• 9 October with effect from 5 October 1941 Appointed Commander-in-Chief of the 17th Army
  • 10 October 1941 reported taking over command of the army by telex
  • 15 January 1942 temporarily delegated with the leadership of the Army Group South for the Commander-in-Chief who had fallen ill
  • 24 April to 15 May 1942 granted leave to his home in Jena (Schillbachstraße 22) from the 17th Army
• 15 May 1942 Appointed Commander-in-Chief of the 4th Panzer Army
• 12 November 1943 Granted leave "for other uses" (de facto relieved of command)
• 10 December 1943 Führerreserve (OKH)/Army High Command Leader Reserve
• 10 January to 10 March 1944 Spa stay in Badgastein and Dresden-Weißer Hirsch for the purpose of restoring damaged health
• April 1944 Appointed Commander Ore Mountains (Befehlshaber Erzgebirge)
  • Hoth was only properly recalled to service in April 1945. He was appointed commander of the Saale, and ordered to defend the Halle-Leipzig area until the 12th Army was combat-ready again. He organized a defensive line at Mulde and Elbe and offered resistance to the advancing United States Armed Forces before his forces (mainly very old and very young), lacking experience, manpower and material, broke. Afterwards, he served as commander of the Ore Mountains again.
• 7 May 1945 Surrender to the Americans

Post-WWII

In the High Command of the Wehrmacht trial, the last of the Nuremberg show trials, Hoth was sentenced to 15 years in prison for alleged "war crimes" through "passing on the Commissar Order." He was fully acquitted of the charges of "crimes against peace by waging aggressive war against other nations and violating international treaties". He served his sentence in the American-controlled Landsberg Prison. In 1954, he was granted amnesty and released early.

After his release, he settled down in Goslar with his wife where he spent the rest of his life. He took up walking the Harz mountains as a hobby, and began writing on topics related to World War II In 1956, Hoth wrote a much-acclaimed book titled Panzer-Operationen. Hoth also penned several articles for the renowned military journal Wehrkunde. In one of these articles, Hoth made a strong appeal for the Bundeswehr, West Germany's new armed forces, to mobilize strong tank divisions. He maintained contacts with Wehrmacht officers who had been recruited into the Bundeswehr such as Friedrich Foertsch. From 1965, Hoth developed close contacts with Ulrich de Maizière, Inspector General of the Bundeswehr. The two men had already known each other since World War II, as they had first met while serving in the Wehrmacht. Their first post-war meeting was organized by their common acquaintance, Friedrich Foertsch, and de Maizière discovered that they shared the belief that Panzer units should form the core of the West German military. The two began to regularly discuss topics, and the Inspector General publicly voiced his high opinion of General Hoth.

Family

Born 1885 in Neuruppin, Hoth grew up in Demmin which like Neuruppin was located in Prussia. His parents were Oberstabsarzt 1. Klasse (equivalent to a Major 1st Class) Hermann Hoth (d. 31 December 1895 in Davos, Switzerland), a Prussian regimental surgeon with the 2. Pommersches Ulanen-Regiment Nr. 9, and his wife Margarethe, née Hübener (9 January 1916 in Steglitz).

Marriage

On 16 February 1918 in Hochkamp near Hamburg, Captain Hoth married his Protestant fiancée Lola Schubering, daughter of a wealthy merchant. They would have two sons:

• Hans-Joachim (b. 3 January 1921 in Torgau), infantry officer, ⚔ on 1 August 1943 near Orel as a 1st Lieutenant of the Wehrmacht
• Hermann (b. 1 April 1923 in Charlottenburg; d. 28 June 1923 ibidem)

Promotions

• 27 February 1904 Fähnrich (Officer Cadet)
• 27 January 1905 Leutnant (2nd Lieutenant) with Patent from 22 June 1903
• 19 June 1912 Oberleutnant (1st Lieutenant)
• 8 November 1914 Hauptmann (Captain)
  • 1 February 1922 received Reichswehr Rank Seniority (RDA) from 8 November 1914 (79)
• 11 January 1924 Major with effect from 1 January 1924 and RDA from 1 April 1923 (30)
• 1 February 1929 (26) Oberstleutnant (Lieutenant Colonel)
• 1 February 1932 (2) Oberst (Colonel)
• 1 October 1934 (5) Generalmajor (Major General)
• 2 October 1936 Generalleutnant (Lieutenant General) with effect and RDA from 1 October 1936 (1)
• 10 November 1938 General der Infanterie (General of the Infantry) with effect and RDA from 1 November 1938 (2)
• 19 July 1940 Generaloberst (9)

Awards and decorations

• Order of Military Merit (Bulgaria), Knight's Cross (V. Grade; BMO5/BO5) on 19 November 1912
• Iron Cross (1914), 2nd and 1st Class
  • 2nd Class on 20 September 1914
  • 1st Class on 2 August 1915
• Austrian Military Merit Cross, 3rd Class with the War Decoration (ÖM3K) in 1915
• Hamburg Hanseatic Cross (HH) on 12 July 1916
• Gallipoli Star on 12 August 1917
• War Decoration to his Bulgarian Order of Military Merit Knight's Cross (BMO5K/BO5K) in August 1918
• House Order of Hohenzollern, Knight's Cross with Swords (HOH3⚔) on 16 August 1918
• Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918 with Swords
• Wehrmacht Long Service Award (Wehrmacht-Dienstauszeichnung), 4th to 1st Class for 25 years on 2 October 1936
• Repetition Clasp 1939 to the Iron Cross 1914, 2nd and 1st Class
  • 2nd Class on 21 September 1939
  • 1st Class on 27 September 1939
• Panzer Badge in Silver
• Winter Battle in the East 1941–42 Medal
• Romanian Order of Michael the Brave (Militärorden „Michael der Tapfere“), 3rd Class on 6 November 1942
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords
  • Knight's Cross on 30 September or 27/29 October 1939 as General of the Infantry and Commanding General of the XV Army Corps
  • 25th Oak Leaves on 17 July 1941 as Generaloberst and Commander-in-Chief of Panzer Group 3
  • 35th Swords on 15 September 1943 as Generaloberst and Commander-in-Chief of the 4th Panzer Army

Writings

• Flugzeuge als Kampfmittel [Aircraft as Weapons], in: "Militärwissenschaftliche Mitteilungen" 2 (7). 1922
• Panzer-Operationen: Die Panzergruppe 3 und der operative Gedanke der deutschen Führung, Sommer 1941, Vowinckel, Heidelberg 1956 (translated to English, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, among others)
• Buchbesprechung zu Jacobsen, 'Fall Gelb' [Book Review of Jacobsen's "Fall Gelb"], in: "Wehrkunde" 7 (2), 1958, pp. 118–119
• Mansteins Operationsplan für den Westfeldzug 1940 und die Aufmarschanweisung des O.K.H. vom 27. Februar 1940, in: "Wehrkunde" 7 (3), 1958, pp. 127–130
• Das Schicksal der französischen Panzerwaffe im 1. Teil des Westfeldzugs 1940, in: "Wehrkunde" 7 (7), 1958, pp. 367–377
• Zu 'Mansteins Operationsplan für den Westfeldzug 1940 und die Aufmarschanweisung des O.K.H. vom 27. Februar 1940', in: "Wehrkunde" 7 (8), 1958, p. 459
• Der Kampf von Panzerdivisionen in Kampfgruppen in Beispielen der Kriegsgeschichte, in: "Wehrkunde" 8 (7), 1959, pp. 567–584
• Die Verwendung von Panzern in der Verteidigung und die Neugliederung der deutschen NATO-Divisionen 1959, in: "Wehrkunde" 8 (12), 1959

See also

• Reichel incident (1942)

Sources

• German Federal Archives: BArch PERS 6/38 and PERS 6/299909

External links

• Generaloberst Hermann Hoth, Axis History Forum (AHF)