Walter Groth

Walter Groth
Stabsarzt of the German Army and later Generalarzt Dr. med. et phil. Walter Groth
Birth name	Friedrich Paul Walter Groth
Birth date	12 September 1883(1883-09-12)
Place of birth	Berlin, Province of Brandenburg, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire
Death date	12 April 1947 (aged 63)
Place of death	Mittenwald, Bavaria, Allied-occupied Germany
Allegiance	German Empire Weimar Republic National Socialist Germany
Service/branch	Prussian Army Imperial German Army Freikorps Preliminary Reichswehr Police Luftwaffe
Rank	Generalarzt
Battles/wars	World War I World War II
Awards	Iron Cross
Relations	∞ Hanna Theodora Erika Zechlin

Friedrich Paul Walter Groth (12 September 1883 – 12 April 1947) was a German physician and military doctor (Sanitätsoffizier), finally Generalarzt of the Wehrmacht in World War II. He must not be confused with Weapons Officer (Waffenoffizier) of the Kriegsmarine Kapitän zur See Walter Groth (b. 7 April 1893 in Forsthaus Kottenbruch, Province of Posen).

Life

• Entered the Army as a One Year Volunteer in the 2nd Guards Regiment of Foot/Garde-Korps (01 Apr 1902-30 Sep 1902)
  • as a Einjährig-Freiwilliger in the 2. Garde-Regiment zu Fuß, Groth would have normally had to serve the complete 12 months, but because the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Academy was a military institution, he needed only serve six months (basic training) in the infantry.
• Discharged to the Reserves (30 Sep 1902)
• Studies at the Kaiser Wilhelm Academy for Military Medical Education (de), Berlin (01 Oct 1902-14 Feb 1907)
  • There he became a member of the Corps Franconia in 1902. The Corps Franconia was a student fraternity in the Berlin Military Medical SC, the senior convent at the Kaiser Wilhelm Academy for Military Medical Education. After the First World War, the Corps moved to the University of Hamburg.
• Reactivated as Medic in the Infanterie-Regiment "von Courbière" (2. Posensches) Nr. 19 (15 Feb 1907-09 Sep 1908)
• Military doctor in the Grenadier-Regiment "Graf Kleist von Nollendorf" (1. Westpreußisches) Nr. 6 and Practical Training at the Surgical Department of the Garrison-Hospital Posen (10 Sep 1908-31 May 1910)
• Detached to the Augusta-Hospital of the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Academy, Berlin (01 Jun 1910-18 Oct 1913)
  • 24 October 1910 Dissertation (Dr. med.): Beitrag zu den metastatischen Hirnabszessen pulmonalen Ursprungs
• Military doctor in the II. Battalion/Grenadier-Regiment "König Wilhelm I." (2. Westpreußisches) Nr. 7 (18 Oct 1913-01 Aug 1914)
• Stabsarzt in Field-Hospital 10 (V. Army-Corps) (02 Aug 1914-20 Mar 1916)
• Detached to Field-Hospital 12 (21 Mar 1916-10 Apr 1916)
• Detached to Field-Hospital 2 (11 Apr 1916-25 Jun 1916)
• Detached to Field-Hospital 7 (26 Jun 1916-11 Sep 1916)
• Detached to Field-Hospital 12 (12 Sep 1916-01 Nov 1916)
• Detached to Field-Hospital 4 (02 Nov 1916-15 Jan 1917)
• Chief Physician of Field-Hospital 45 (15 Jan 1917-02 Feb 1917)
• Chief Physician of Field-Hospital 192 (03 Feb 1917-09 Jul 1917)
• Chief Physician of Field-Hospital 191 (10 Jul 1917-07 Sep 1917)
• Detached to the 247th Medical-Company (08 Sep 1917-04 Oct 1917)
• Chief Physician of Field-Hospital 52 (03 Oct 1917-10 Jan 1919)
• Regimental doctor of the Grenadier-Regiment "König Wilhelm I." (2. Westpreußisches) Nr. 7 for the purpose of demobilization (11 Jan 1919)
  • The 7th Grenadier Regiment was subordinated to the 18. Infanterie-Brigade of the 9. Division.
• Freikorps doctor with the Freiwilligenkorps Schlesien (March 1919)
  • The Silesian Volunteer Corps was formed in March 1919 from the 9th Infantry Division and the 2nd Guards Division. The 9,569 men were subordinated to the Generalkommando V. Armeekorps Posen.
• Regimental doctor of the 57th Reichswehr-Rifle-Regiment/Reichswehr-Brigade 29 (Jun 1919-08 Jan 1920)
  • The Reichswehr-Brigade 29 Bernstadt of the Preliminary Reichswehr was formed in June 1919 from the Freiwilligenkorps Schlesien
• Detached to the Processing-Office of the 7th Grenadier-Regiment and to Reserve-Hospital (Reserve-Lazarett) Liegnitz (09 Jan 1920-29 Jan 1920)
• Again regimental doctor of the 57th Rifle-Regiment (30 Jan 1920-19 Feb 1920)
• Regimental doctor of the 12th Infantry-Regiment (20 Feb 1920-20 Jul 1920)
• Granted Leave (20 Jul 1920-30 Sep 1920)
  • Officially retired after a short probationary period with the police (30 Sep 1920)
• Entered Police Service as Department-Medic with the Police-Department Spandau (20 Jul 1920-05 Aug 1920)
• Battalion doctor with the Police-Battalion Wilmersdorf (06 Aug 1920-10 Feb 1930)
  • At the same time, Surgeon and Conducting Medic at the State Infirmary Wilmersdorf (01 Jan 1921-31 Dec 1922)
  • At the same time, Chief-Medic of the Police-Institute Biesenthal (01 Jan 1922-14 Jul 1922)
  • At the same time, Conducting Medic at the State Infirmary Wilmersdorf (15 Jul 1922-10 Feb 1930)
  • 24 October 1910 Dissertation (Dr. phil.)
• Senior police doctor of the Police-Administration Breslau (10 Feb 1930-31 Mar 1931)
• Police doctor of the Police-School Brug (01 Apr 1931-31 Dec 1933)
  • 1 April 1933 Dr. Dr. Groth joined the NSDAP (until becoming an active officer in 1940)
• Polizei-Oberstarzt with the State-Police-Inspection Center, Magdeburg (01 Jan 1934-31 Jul 1935)
• Transferred into the Heer (Wehrmacht) as a Supplemental-Officer (Ergänzungsoffizier) and Placed to the Disposal of the Army-Medical-Inspection (01 Aug 1935-30 Sep 1935)
• Transferred into the Luftwaffe as a Supplemental-Officer (Active-Officer as of 01 Oct 1940) and Advisor,
• Consultant, Group Leader and Department-Chief with the Luftwaffe-Medical-Chief, Ministry of Aviation or Reichsluftfahrtministerium; RLM (01 Oct 1935-31 May 1940)
  • At the same time, Detached for Briefing with the Wehrmacht Provision and Welfare Court of the Army-Medical-Inspection (01 Jun 1939-30 Sep 1939)
• Air District Doctor (Luftgau-Arzt) VII in Munich and Commander of the 7th Air-Region-Medical-Battalion (01 Jun 1940-31 Mar 1942)
• Officer with Special Duties of the RLM and C-in-C Luftwaffe and at the same time, Air-Fleet-Doctor 5 in Norway, Denmark, Finland (01 Apr 1942-31 May 1942)
• Air District Doctor (Luftgau-Arzt) XII/XIII in Nuremberg (01 Jun 1942-23 Mar 1943)
  • Groth, as the responsible air district doctor for the Nuremberg air district, took part in the conference “Medical questions in distress at sea and in winter” on 26/27 October 1942 in Nuremberg
  • From 5 to 6 December 1942, Dr. Groth attended the 22nd annual meeting of the Rhine-Main Ophthalmologists Association, where his professional interest focused on the presentations on adaptation disorders, which were an increasing problem for aviation medicine. In visual physiology, adaptation is the ability of the retina of the eye to adjust to various levels of light. Natural night vision, or scotopic vision, is the ability to see under low-light conditions.
• Führer-Reserve OKL (24 Mar 1943-31 Jan 1944)
• Retired (31 Jan 1944)

Family

Walter was the son of Dr. phil. Johann Andreas Hermann Groth (1849–1923) and his wife Susanne Agnes Auguste Olga, née Friese. He had two (known) siblings:

• Johann Eduard Wilhelm (1880–1965), engineer (Dipl.-Ing.); ∞ Salzwedel 7 August 1909 Conradine Zechlin (1889–1956), 6 children
• Karl (18 February 1886 – 8 February 1945); ∞ Salzwedel 1 August 1914 Ursula Zechlin (1894–1974)

Marriage

On 31 August 1913 in Salzwedel, Dr. Groth married his fiancée Hanna Theodora Erika Zechlin (1892–1977), daughter of pharmacist Konrad Zechlin and his wife Helene, née Runge. They had at least one child:

• Erika Olga Heidelore (1914–2008); ∞ Magdeburg 20 September 1935 Protestant Pastor Joachim Friedrich Karl Ferdinand Caesar (1908–1997) from Osterwohle, 4 children

Promotions

• 15 February 1907 Unterarzt (= NCO; equivalent to a Officer Cadet or Fähnrich)
• 10 September 1908 Assistenzarzt (= 2nd Lieutenant)
• 20 April 1910 Oberarzt (= 1st Lieutenant)
• 18 October 1913 Stabsarzt (= Captain)
• 20 July 1920 Polizei-Oberstabsarzt (= Police Major)
• 8 September 1922 Polizeiarzt (= Police Lieutenant Colonel)
• 1 January 1934 Polizei-Generalarzt (= Police Colonel)
• 6 June 1934 Polizei-Oberstarzt (rank was renamed)
  • Supplemental officer of the Wehrmacht on 1 August 1935
• 1 October 1935 Oberfeldarzt (= Wehrmacht Lieutenant Colonel)
• 1 October 1936 Oberstarzt (= Wehrmacht Colonel)
  • Active officer of the Luftwaffe as of 1 October 1940
• 1 September 1941 Generalarzt (= Wehrmacht Major General)

Awards and decorations (excerpt)

• Iron Cross (1914), 2nd and 1st Class
• Silesian Eagle Order (Schlesischer Adler-Orden), II. and I. Grade
• Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918 with Swords
• Wehrmacht Long Service Award (Wehrmacht-Dienstauszeichnung), 4th to 1st Class
• Grand Imperial Order of the Red Arrows, Commander (Encomienda Sencilla) on 20 March 1941 as Oberstarzt and Head of the Luftwaffe Medical Department (RLM)

Sources

• Generalarzt Dr. med. Walter Groth
• Die Generale der deutschen Luftwaffe 1935–1945, Volume I (of 3), Biblio-Verlag, Osnabrück 1990