Karl von Graffen

Karl von Graffen
Birth date	6 June 1893
Place of birth	Plön, Province of Schleswig-Holstein, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire
Death date	1 November 1964 (aged 71)
Place of death	Grödersby, Schleswig-Holstein, West Germany
Allegiance	German Empire Weimar Republic National Socialist Germany
Service/branch	Prussian Army Imperial German Army Reichswehr Heer
Years of service	1911–1945
Rank	Lieutenant General
Commands held	58th Infantry Division LXXVI Panzer Corps
Battles/wars	World War I World War II Operation Barbarossa Battle of Białystok–Minsk Battle of Smolensk (1941) Battle of Moscow Siege of Leningrad Italian Campaign Gothic Line Offensive Operation Grapeshot
Awards	Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
Relations	∞ 1928 Ilse Bornhöft

Karl von Graffen (6 June 1893 – 1 November 1964) was a German officer of the Prussian Army, the Imperial German Army, the Reichswehr and the Wehrmacht, finally Lieutenant General in World War II.

Military career (chronology)

Karl von Graffen as a ten-year-old cadet in Plön

World War I

Knight's Cross award ceremony for Major General von Graffen (with Stahlhelm), in front of him General der Kavallerie Philipp Kleffel, commanding general of the L. Armeekorps to which the 58. Infanterie-Division belonged at the time, behind him one of his regimental commanders, Colonel Alexander Ernst-Ludwig Clemens Anton von Pfuhlstein, later commander of the Brandenburgers.

• Cadet School in Plön
• Royal Prussian Main Cadet Institute (Hauptkadettenanstalt in Groß-Lichterfelde) near Berlin
• 3 April 1911 Joined the Großherzoglich Mecklenburgisches Feldartillerie-Regiment Nr. 60 in Schwerin
• 11 April 1911 Sworn-in
• Summer 1911 Detached to the War School in Neiße
• 1 May 1914 Commanded for sports training to the military gymnastics facility (Militär-Turnanstalt) in Berlin
• 1 August 1914 Transferred to the Lauenburgisches Feld-Artillerie-Regiment Nr. 45
• 29 December 1914 Transferred to the Reserve-Feld-Artillerie-Regiment Nr. 65 at the Eastern Front
• 18 May 1915 Appointed Deputy Battery Leader with the Reserve-Feld-Artillerie-Regiment Nr. 65
• 3 February 1916 Appointed Leader of the 2nd Battery/Reserve-Feld-Artillerie-Regiment Nr. 65
  • 3 December 1917 to 23 January 1918 Commanded to the Firing Course at the Artillery Mountain School in Sonthofen im Allgäu
  • 5 to 12 July 1918 Field Military Hospital in Jeropatoria due to malaria
• 6 February 1919 Transferred to the 3rd Battery/Großherzoglich Mecklenburgisches Feldartillerie-Regiment Nr. 60 for demobilization
• 1 May 1919 Transferred to the Infantry Gun Battery/9th Light Reichswehr-Artillery-Regiment
• 27 September 1919 Newly sworn-in
• 27 April 1920 Transferred to the 2nd Battery/2nd Reichswehr-Artillery-Regiment
  • 23 March 1923 Military district examination (Wehrkreisprüfung)
  • 1 October 1923 Commanded to Führergehilfenausbildung (secret general staff training) with Military District Command II
  • 1 July to 30 September 1924 Commanded to the 4. (Preußisches) Infanterie-Regiment, then return to the 2nd Artillery-Regiment
• 1 December 1926 Transferred to the staff of the 2nd (Prussian) Artillery-Regiment
• 28 December 1927 Regimental permission to marry
• 1 October 1929 Transferred to the 6th Battery/2nd (Prussian) Artillery-Regiment
• 1 November 1929 Appointed Commander of the 6th Battery/2nd (Prussian) Artillery-Regiment
• 1 October 1931 Appointed Commander of the 10th Battery/2nd (Prussian) Artillery-Regiment
• 2 to 29 October 1931 Detached to firing course for artillery officers in Jüterbog
• 1 April 1934 Transferred to the Artillery Training and Test Command in Schwerin
• 2 August 1934 Newly sworn-in
• 1 October 1934 Appointed Commander of the IV. Battalion/Infanterie-Regiment Schwerin
• 15 October 1935 Adjutant of the Artillery School Jüterbog
  • 6 October 1936 Also head of the Test Staff and the Regulations Office of the Artillery School
• 1 October 1939 Administrator for artillery and munition queries with the General of Artillery in the OKH
• 18 March with effect from 24 February 1941 Führerreserve (OKH)
• 31 March with effect from 8 March 1941 Appointed Commander of the Artillerie-Regiment 129
• 30 December with effect from 28 November 1941 Appointed Artillerie-Kommandeur 18 (Arko 18)
• 22 April with effect from 3 April 1942 Delegated with the leadership of the 58. Infanterie-Division
• 29 April with effect from 14 April 1942 Führerreserve (OKH) but still delegated with the leadership of the 58. Infanterie-Division
• 21 July with effect from 1 July 1942 Officially appointed commander of the 58. Infanterie-Division (Army Group North)
  • 20 March to 25 April 1943 Entrusted with representation of the Commanding General of the XXXVIII. Armee-Koprs for General Kurt Oskar Herzog during his leave
• 15 September 1943 Führerreserve (OKH)
• 26 September 1943 Appointed Higher Artillery Commander for special use North (Harko z. b. V. Nord)
• 3 October 1943 Appointment revoked before implementation
• 8 November 1943 Appointed Higher Artillery Commander with the 10th Army (Commander-in-Chief South)
• 11 November 1943 Renamed Higher Artillery Commander 316 (Harko 319) in Italy
• 26 April to 18 May 1945 Delegated with the leadership of the LXXVI. Panzer-Corps (14. Armee/Heeresgruppe C)
  • On 2 May 1945 (in fact, the capitulation was signed by Colonel General Heinrich von Vietinghoff, genannt von Scheel on 29 April 1945 – that is, before Hitler's suicide on 30 April – without the approval of the High Command of the Wehrmacht [OKW] and was therefore initially kept secret), Army Group C was the first major unit of the German Army to capitulate for an entire theater of war, thus ending the fighting in Italy. The units were duly disarmed and demobilized, and the men were taken prisoner of war.
• 18 May to 18 July 1945 POW camps by Rimini, Italy (coastal strip between Rimini and Cervia)
  • The initial improvisation, full of misery, dirt, heat and above all hunger, then became "well-organized tent cities" with around 150,000 men (infantrymen, armored infantrymen, pilots, Fallschirmjäger from Monte Cassino, but also very young Luftwaffe helpers), who were housed in 16 individual camps. On 20 May 1945, Lieutenant General von Graffen was commissioned in Rimini to organize self-government with the help of a staff (primarily the staff of the his LXXVI Panzer Corps). This was formed under the name "German Headquarters" or Deutsches Hauptquartier „Bellaria“.
  • The 21st Panzer Brigade (Brit.) was responsible on the British side. The British handed over the organization, supervision and general administration of these internment camps to the Germans. One of its tasks was also to organize and run university courses for soldiers with the appropriate level of education ("camp university"). The camp university opened on 26 July 1945 and had around 80 professors and lecturers, 700 enrolled students and 500 guest students. In August 1945, the use of prisoner labor units began, which were distributed throughout Italy. Around 350 forced labor units were created, with 10,000 prisoners being used in the Naples area alone at times. The first repatriations also took place in August 1945.

Family

Karl was the son of tax inspector and land register controller Karl von Graffen (1843–1910) and his second wife. His fathers first wife (∞ Lübeck 12 December 1873) Marie Bönkemeyer died on 11 May 1876 in Pinneberg. His second wife (∞ 5 April 1878) Dorothea Reher, Karl's mother, died on 24 December 1904 in Plön and his third wife (∞ 15 April 1906) was Elisabeth Frels (b. 9 November 1859 at Hof Ernsthausen).

Marriage

On 1 February 1928 in Kiel, Captain von Graffen married his fiancée Ilse Bornhöft (b. 1 October 1906 at Estate Kaltenhof, Holstein; d. 16 February 2003), daughter of estate tenant Eduard Bornhöft. They would have four children:

• Adolf Eduard (b. 16 December 1928 in Schwerin)
• Marlene (b. 26 November 1931 in Schwerin)
• Jutta (b. 25 May 1934 in Schwerin)
• Dorothee (b. 9 February 1938 in Jüterbog)

Promotions

• 3 April 1911 Charakter als Fähnrich (Brevet / Honorary Officer Cadet)
• 19 December 1911 Fähnrich (Officer Cadet)
• 18 August 1912 Leutnant (2nd Lieutenant)
• 15 December 1917 Oberleutnant (1st Lieutenant) with Patent from 28 December 1917
  • 1 July 1922 received new Rank Seniority (RDA) from 28 November 1917
• 1 February 1926 Hauptmann (Captain)
• 1 July 1934 Major
• 18 January 1937 Oberstleutnant (Lieutenant Colonel) with effect and RDA from 1 January 1937
• 1 October 1939 Oberst (Colonel)
• 13 June 1942 Generalmajor (Major General) with effect and RDA from 1 July 1942
• 21 January 1943 Generalleutnant (Lieutenant General) with effect and RDA from 1 January 1943

Awards and decorations

• Mecklenburg Greifen-Orden, Knight's Cross (MGrO3/MG3) on 29 September 1912
• Iron Cross (1914), 2nd and 1st Class
  • 2nd Class on 25 September 1914
  • 1st Class on 25 November 1916
• Mecklenburg-Schwerin Military Merit Cross, 2nd and 1st Class
  • 2nd Class (MMWK2/MMV2/MK2) on 8 December 1914
  • 1st Class (MMWK1/MMV1/MK1) on 6 October 1916
• Military Merit Cross (Austria-Hungary), 3rd Class with the War Decoration (ÖM3K) on 25 July 1917
• Hanseatic Cross of Hamburg (HH) on 8 September 1917
• Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918 with Swords on 9 January 1935
• Wehrmacht Long Service Award (Wehrmacht-Dienstauszeichnung), 4th to 1st Class for 25 years
  • 1st Class on 2 October 1936
• Order of St. Sava, Commander's Cross on 1 December 1938

WWII

• Repetition Clasp 1939 to the Iron Cross 1914, 2nd and 1st Class
  • 2nd Class on 17 June 1940
  • 1st Class on 29 June 1941
• German Cross in Gold on 24 December 1941
• Eastern Front Medal on 13 August 1942
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 13 August 1942 as Major General and Commander of 58. Infanterie-Division/L. Armeekorps/18. Armee/Heeresgruppe Nord

Gallery

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