Richard Baltzer

Richard Baltzer
Birth name	Richard Robert Karl Baltzer
Birth date	1 June 1886
Place of birth	Danzig, Province of West Prussia, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire
Death date	10 May 1945 (aged 58)
Place of death	Prague, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
Allegiance	German Empire Weimar Republic National Socialist Germany
Service/branch	Kaiserliche Marine Prussian Army Imperial German Army Preliminary Reichswehr Police Heer
Years of service	1904–1945
Rank	Lieutenant General
Commands held	217th Infantry Division 156th Reserve Division 182nd Infantry Division
Battles/wars	World War I World War II Poland Campaign Battle of France Operation Barbarossa
Awards	Iron Cross German Cross in Gold
Relations	∞ 1909 Magdalene Sack

Richard Robert Karl Baltzer (1 June 1886 – 10 May 1945) was a German officer, finally Lieutenant General of the Wehrmacht in World War II.

Life

Police Major Baltzer

From Autumn 1892 to Easter 1893, Richard attended elementary school in Danzig. From Easter 1893 to Christmas 1897, he attended the Gymnasium in Schwetz. From January 1898 to Easter 1904, he attended the Royal Gymnasium Marienwerder where he achieved his Abitur.

He joined the Imperial Navy on 6 April 1904 and received basic and onboard training (SMS Stosch) with the new crew. The German Navy was particularly tolerant of voluntary resignations by officer candidates. The naval leadership recognized early on that service on the high seas, with long months away from home, was not suitable for everyone. It is unknown whether Baltzer himself made the decision to join the army or whether his instructors encouraged it. It is clear, however, that he remained committed to his goal of becoming a career officer. A total of 8 Seekadetten of the Crew 1904 transferred from the navy to the army between January and April 1905. Baltzer was discharged on 31 March 1905, on the same day, he joined the Feldartillerie-Regiment "Prinz August von Preußen" (1. Litthauisches) Nr. 1 as an officer candidate. In June 1906, he was commissioned in the 1st mounted Battery/I. mounted Battalion in Gumbinnen. At the time, commander of the regiment was Lieutenant Colonel (as of 14 April 1907 Colonel) Wilhelm Sack, the father of his future bride. In 1908, Turkish artillerymen of the Ottoman Empire were trained at the regiment. Responsible for the foreign guests was Baltzer, who was awarded the Merit (Liakat) Medal for his service.

• 1 October 1913 to 30 June 1914 Commanded to the War Akademie
• 1 July 1914 Commanded to the Füsilier-Regiment "Königin" (Schleswig-Holsteinisches) Nr. 86
• 2 August 1914 Appointed regimental adjutant of the Reserve-Feldartillerie-Regiment Nr. 1 and deployed to the front
• 5 July 1915 Appointed commander of the 6th Battery/Reserve-Feldartillerie-Regiment Nr. 1
• 24 November 1916 Appointed General Staff Officer in the Namur Governorate
• 5 March 1917 Appointed 2nd General Staff Officer and Quartermaster (Ib) of the 45. Reserve-Division
  • he arrived at headquarters on 11 March 1917.
  • 2 June to 10 June 1917 Deputy Chief of Operations (Ia)
• 14 June 1917 General Staff Officer at the Field Railway Inspectorate at the Great Headquarters of His Majesty the Emperor and King
  • 18 June 1917 Officially transferred the the General Staff of the Army
  • 1918 Service in the Railway Transport Department of the East
• 16 March 1919 Transferred as consultant to the Railway Transport Department of the Great General Staff
• 1 October 1919 Newly sworn-in
• 1 December 1919 Appointed Head of Central Department 2 of the Southern Police Group
• 31 January 1920 Officially discharged from the Preliminary Reichswehr and permanently transferred to the Sicherheitspolizei (Security Police)
• 1 December 1920 Delegated with the leadership of the Hallesches Tor Police Department in Berlin
• 25 July 1921 Appointed commander of the Hallesches Tor Police Department in Berlin
  • 15 February to 28 March 1922 Commanded to the Higher Police Academy Potsdam-Eiche for advanced training for higher leadership tasks
• 5 March 1922 Appointed commander of the Linden Police Inspection in the government district of Berlin
• 21 March 1933 Entrusted with the duties of the Commander of the Berlin Protection Police (Schutzpolizei) by the newly appointed Prussian Minister of the Interior Hermann Göring
  • Alongside Police President Rear Admiral (Ret.) Magnus von Levetzow, the Chief of the Secret State Police Rudolf Diels and the head of the State Police Group z. b. V. Walther Wecke, he was one of the four most important police commanders in the Reich capital in the spring and summer of 1933.
• 15 August 1933 Appointed commander of the Brandenburg State Police Inspectorate (LPI)
  • As commander of the Brandenburg Police Inspectorate, Baltzer was one of five police commanders entrusted by Göring with police supervision over large areas of Prussia, and to whom the entire state police force in these areas was subordinate. Similar to the four other police inspectorates, the main function of his inspectorate officially consisted of "preparing and carrying out countermeasures against internal unrest," meaning the safeguarding and, if necessary, defense of the existing state against uprisings, attempted coups, and the like, for example, in the event of a communist uprising.
• 22 June 1934 Appointed commander of the State Police Inspectorate (LPI) West in Düsseldorf
• 16 March 1936 Transferred to the legal status of soldiers and assigned to the staff of the 26. Infanterie-Division in Köln
• 18 May with effect from 1 June 1936 Appointed commander of the Infanterie-Regiment 25
• 16 February with effect from 1 March 1938 Appointed Landwehr Commander Allenstein (until 26 August 1939)
• 17 August 1939 Appointed commander of the 217. Infanterie-Division
  • The division was initially established as a training division. On 26 August 1939, the division was then established as the 3rd Wave Division by the Landwehr Commander Allenstein.
• 15 April 1942 Führerreserve (OKH)/Army High Command Leader Reserve
• 27 August with effect from 15 August 1942 Appointed commander of the Division Nr. 156 stationed in Spa, Belgium
  • On 5 October 1942, Division No. 156 was renamed the 156th Reserve Division. From 23 November to 23 December 1942, parts of the division were relocated as the "Baltzer Division," while the rest of the division remained in its current positions. On 12 February 1943, the division was relocated to the Ardres area south of Calais (France) and deployed for coastal defense.
  • 11 June 1943 Fallen ill (severe rheumatic attacks); treatment and spa stay until 8 September 1943; it is uncertain, if he ever returned to the division.
• 1 December 1943 Führerreserve (OKH)/Army High Command Leader Reserve
• 25 March 1944 Appointed commander of the 182. Reserve-Division
  • It was a poorly equipped training division. In the fighting following the Allied invasion of Normandy in the summer of 1944, the unit was completely wiped out. On 17 August 1944, the remnants of the division were to be used to rebuild the 243rd Infantry Division, but this plan was not implemented. In mid-October 1944, a new 182nd Reserve Division was formed in Slovakia. On 1 March 1945, the unit was reorganized and renamed the 182nd Infantry Division. The division served in Slovakia for Army Group South and under the command of the 8th Army until the end of the war.

Death

Baltzer died under unclear circumstances near Prague on 10 May 1945—two days after his capture. However, countless German soldiers and officers were murdered by Czech partisans after 8 May 1945. It is assumed that Lieutenant General Baltzer also suffered this fate. Other sources, however, report that he was wounded or was so barbarically tortured after his capture that he succumbed to his wounds in Reserve Hospital VII in Prague. His body was presumably buried by the Czechs and his remains were never identified even after World War II. However, it is also possible that he was eventually transferred to the German war cemetery in Eger as an unknown soldier.

Family

Richard was the son of teacher Provincial School Councilor Dr. phil. Andreas Eduard Martin Baltzer (b. 7 September 1855 in Dresden; d. 6 November 1914 in Münster) and his wife Anna Johanna Pauline, née Apel (1862–1942). His father was an Oberlehrer (senior teacher) at the Royal Gymnasium in Danzig. In 1893, the family moved to Schwetz (West Prussia) where the father was appointed director of the Royal Parity Progymnasium. In January 1898, he was appointed director of the Royal Gymnasium in Marienwerder. From 1909 to 1913, he was director of the Friedrichsgymnasium in Kassel as well as a member of the Hessian Society for Art and Science and 2. Deputy Chairmann from 1912 to 1914. In 1877, as a student in Leipzig, he had written the book "On the History of German Warfare from the Last Carolingians to Emperor Friedrich II." He was also Captain of the Landwehr (Ret.) and Company Commander in the Replacement Battalion of the Landwehr Infantry Regiment No. 53. Martin and Anna Baltzer moved to Münster in 1914 where Martin died due to illness only months later. Richard had several siblings, two of his brothers were also officers:

• Robert (1892–1943), Lieutenant General of the Wehrmacht
• Georg (b. 7 April 1898 in Marienwerder; d. 12 May 1945 in the Ruhr area), veteran of WWI, Freikorps volunteer, businessman and Lieutenant Colonel of the Wehrmacht

A direct relationship to Major General Karl Martin Baltzer (1889–1955) or Vice Admiral Martin Siegfried Johann Wilhelm Baltzer (1898–1971) could not be traced, but cannot be ruled out.

Marriage

On 5 October 1909 in Brandenburg an der Havel, 2nd Lieutenant Baltzer married his fiancée Magdalene Sack (b. 15 January 1890 in Posen), daughter of then Colonel (later General of the Artillery) and commander of the 6. Feldartillerie-Brigade Louis Ernst Wilhelm Sack (b. 6 August 1854 in Braunschweig; d. 1930 in Berlin) and his wife Klara Katharina, née Wahnschaffe (b. 20 May 1857 in Warsleben). They would have two children:

• Hans-Martin (b. 20 June 1913 in Gumbinnen), drafted into military service in WWII, ⚔ 29 March 1943 as an Obergefreiter (Private First Class E-3/Senior Lance Corporal) of the Wehrmacht in Karbussel, Mga District, Leningrad Region during the Red Army Operation Polar Star
• Ursula (b. 15 December 1914 in Berlin-Schöneberg; d. 1988 or 1990); ∞ Potsdam 26 March 1937 Erhard "Egge" Heeren (b. 17 September 1911 in Northeim), Lieutenant Colonel of the Wehrmacht, ⚔ 31 July 1944 near Troisgots, north-western France (invasion front)

Promotions

Prussian Army

• 6 April 1904 Seekadett (Officer Candidate at Sea)
• 31 March 1905 Fahnenjunker (Officer Candidate)
• Fahnenjunker-Unteroffizier (Officer Candidate with Corporal/NCO/Junior Sergeant rank)
• 18 November 1905 Fähnrich (Officer Cadet)
• 18 June 1906 Leutnant (2nd Lieutenant) with Patent from 15 February 1905
• 17 February 1914 Oberleutnant (1st Lieutenant)
• 18 June 1915 Hauptmann (Captain)

Police

• 1 December 1919 Polizei-Hauptmann (Police Captain)
• 31 January 1920 Polizei-Major (Police Major)
• 1 April 1930 Polizei-Oberstleutnant (Police Lieutenant Colonel)
• 21 March 1933 Polizei-Oberst (Police Colonel)
  • 18 May 1936 received administrative Rank Seniority (RDA) as an army Colonel from 1 June 1934 (13)
• 15 August 1933 Polizei-General (Police General)
• 22 June 1934 Generalmajor der Landespolizei (Major General of the State Police)

Wehrmacht

• 16 March 1936 Generalmajor (Major General) without Patent and RDA (ernannt)
  • 30 September 1937 received Rank Seniority (RDA) from 1 October 1937 (9)
• 30 September 1939 Generalleutnant (Lieutenant General) with effect and RDA from 1 October 1939 (8)

Awards and decorations

• Liakat Medal (Ottoman Empire) in Silver (TVM2/TL2) on 21 December 1908
• Iron Cross (1914), 2nd and 1st Class
  • 2nd Class on 11 September 1914
  • 1st Class on 25 May 1916
• Hanseatenkreuz of Hamburg (HH) on 25 August 1917
• Austrian Military Merit Cross, 3rd Class with the War Decoration (ÖM3K)
• Wound Badge (1918) in Black on 10 June 1918
• Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918 with Swords on 14 November 1934
• Wehrmacht Long Service Award (Wehrmacht-Dienstauszeichnung), 4th to 1st Class on 2 October 1936
• Repetition Clasp 1939 to the Iron Cross 1914 (1939), 2nd and 1st Class
  • 2nd Class on 19 September 1939
  • 1st Class on 1 October 1939
• German Cross in Gold on 31 January 1942
• Winter Battle in the East 1941–42 Medal on 1 August 1942
• War Merit Cross (1939), 2nd Class with Swords on 1 September 1943

Sources

• German Federal Archives (Military Section): BArch PERS 6/428 and PERS 6/299363