Willi Moser

Willi Moser
Birth date	2 November 1887
Place of birth	Breslau, Province of Silesia, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire
Death date	18 October 1946 (aged 58)
Place of death	Prison No. 1/Sverdlovsk, USSR
Allegiance	German Empire Weimar Republic National Socialist Germany
Service/branch	Prussian Army Imperial German Army Freikorps Reichswehr Heer
Years of service	1906–1945
Rank	General of the Artillery
Commands held	299. Infanterie-Division LXXI. Armeekorps
Battles/wars	World War I World War II Poland Campaign Battle of France Operation Barbarossa Battle of Kiev (1941) Defence of the Reich (Reichsverteidigung)
Awards	Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
Relations	∞ 1924 Anne Marie Huch

Georg Heinrich Willi Moser (2 November 1887 – 18 October 1946) was a German officer, finally General of the Artillery and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross in World War II. Moser was taken prisoner by the Red Army in 1945 and died in Soviet captivity from hunger, deprivation and pulmonary tuberculosis.

Life

From 1894 to 1896, Willi Moser attended elementary school in Breslau. From 1896 to Easter 1898, he attended Gymnasium in Bromberg. From Easter 1898 to July 1900, he attended cadet school in Köslin and then until April 1904 the cadet school in Wahlstatt. He subsequently attended the Royal Prussian Main Cadet Institute (Hauptkadettenanstalt in Groß-Lichterfelde) near Berlin until 22 March 1906 when he was transferred to the Rheinisches Fußartillerie-Regiment Nr. 8. Fußartillerie (foot artillery) was the branch of the German army armed with heavier guns, howitzers and mortars, designed principally for siege warfare, which now was assuming a role in field operations. The Feldartillerie (field artillery) carries the lighter cannons to guarantee speed in the field, whereas the foot artillery takes care of the larger (heavier) calibers. From December 1908, the "companies" were given the designation "batteries".

On 9 April 1906, he was sworn-in. From October 1906 to June 1907, he was commanded to the war school in Kassel. In August 1907, he was commissioned. The next five years he served as a company, later battery officer refining his military, leadership, but also social skills, because an officer also had to be a gentleman. From 1 October 1912 to 15 July 1913, he was commanded to the Military Technical Academy (MTA) in Berlin-Charlottenburg. On 25 July 1913, he was appointed adjutant of the II. Battalion. In WWI, he served with different units: with his regiment as of 2 August 1914, in 1915 as adjutant of the Reserve Foot Artillery Regiment No. 14, 1916 as leader of the Artillery Signals Detachment of the 4th Army, as of 3 October 1916 as leader of the 8th Battery/Fußartillerie-Regiment "von Linger" (Ostpreussisches) Nr. 1 and as of 22 May 1917 as adjutant of the Artillery Commander (Arko) 238 (238th Infantry Division). From 3 August 1917, he was assigned to the IX Army Corps for general staff training, on 27 November 1917, he was transferred to the general staff of the 12th Prussian Reserve Division. He was commanded to various training courses, including the general staff course in Sedan. On 8 July 1918, he received permission to wear the general staff uniform, and on 27 September 1918, he was appointed to the General Staff of the Army. On 3 January 1919, Captain Moser was transferred back to the Rheinisches Fußartillerie-Regiment Nr. 8 for demobilization.

As of 19 January 1919, Moser was placed at disposal of the V. Army Corps with the Grenzschutz Ost. On 20 January 1919, he was given command of of an artillery company and was placed at disposal of the district office (Landratsamt) of Trebnitz, 20 km north of Breslau. On 13 April 1919, he was commanded to the Glatz Command Office as a general staff officer. On 6 July 1919, he was transferred as a general staff officer to the infantry commander of the Reichswehr Brigade 8 in Oppeln and on 30 August 1919 as a general staff officer Reichswehr Brigade 32 in Gleiwitz. The next years, he would serve as a regimental artillery and divisional general staff officer. On 5 September 1934, he was newly sworn-in. On 1 October 1934, he was commander of the III. Battalion of the new Artillerie-Regiment Ludwigsburg (Artillerie-Regiment 15).

Wehrmacht

• 15 October 1935 Appinted commander of the new Artillerie-Regiment 25 in Ludwigsburg
• 16 February with effect from 1 March 1938 Appointed Artillerie-Kommandeur 17 (Arko 17) in Nuremberg
  • At the start of the war, the staff was assigned to the XIII Army Corps and became an army troop on 30 September 1939.
• 5 February with effect from 6 February 1940 Appointed commander of the 299. Infanterie-Division
• 24 October with effect from 1 November 1942 Transferred to the Führerreserve (OKH)/Army High Command Leader Reserve and simultaneously delegated with the leadership of the Higher Special Purpose Command LXXI
• 1 December 1942 Officially appointed commander of the Higher Special Purpose Command LXXI
  • 26 January 1943 renamed to General Command LXXI Army Corps (Commander in the Arctic Circle)
• 15 December 1944 Führerreserve (OKH)/Army High Command Leader Reserve
• 5 February 1945 Appointed commander of the Military Police Command II (Befehlshaber des Feldjäger-Kommando II) as successor to Karl von Oven who had fallen ill
  • The command was located on the Eastern Front in Silesia (Schweidnitz); most recently with Army Group Center under Ferdinand Schörner. Trapped in a pocket northeast of Prague, the entire army group surrendered to the Soviets.

Korpsgruppe "Moser"

Although officially commanding the Military Police Command II until the end of the war, General Moser was given an additional, even more difficult task: He was to lead a corps group under his own name, the Korpsgruppe "Moser". The provisional ad-hoc corps was established in the Oder/Neiße region (specifically the Lusatian area around Spremberg, north of Görlitz and Cottbus, in Lower Silesia). This formation was created amid the collapsing German defenses on the Eastern Front as part of Heeresgruppe Mitte's desperate preparations for the impending Soviet Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation (which began on 16 April 1945), known as Cottbus-Potsdamer Operation. Willi Moser was assigned to lead this new Korpsgruppe as a temporary measure on 8 April 1945.

It was formally integrated into the order of battle of the 4. Panzerarmee on 12 April 1945. While preliminary planning and unit assembly (presumably at the Ohrdruf military training area) likely began in the final days of March or early April (as improvised "shadow divisions" like those under Moser were being hastily mobilized from training/replacement troops), the official activation and subordination occurred on 12 April.

The 4th Panzer Army under General Fritz-Hubert Gräser had, at least on paper, around 50,000 men, including the LVII Panzer Corps (sometimes wrongly identified as "XLVIII Panzer Corps") under Friedrich Kirchner, Panzer Corps Großdeutschland under Georg Jauer (Division Staff for Special Purposes 615, the bulk of the 21st Panzer Division, a battle group of the 1st Parachute Panzer Division "Hermann Göring", a battle group of the 20th Panzer Grenadier Division), the V Army Corps under Kurt Wäger and the battle group of the Panzer Grenadier Division Brandenburg under Hermann Schulte-Heuthaus, which bravely defended Niesky at great cost, as well as the corps group under Willi Moser as a reserve. In addition, there were two Waffen-SS units and some special units that were only listed as divisions on paper. In May 1945, remnants of the "Hermann Göring" Parachute Panzer Division under Max Lemke and the 20th Panzer Division under Hermann von Oppeln-Bronikowski were added; the latter, subordinate to the 17th Army, had defeated the entire 2nd Polish Army at the Battle of Bautzen, the last successful Panzer offensive of the Wehrmacht, at the end of April 1945.

The corps group consisted of:

• Division Nr. 193 under Generalmajor Eckhard Alfred Constantin von Geyso
• Division Nr. 404 under Generalmajor Gerhard Alfred Francis Ludwig Barnard Sturt, as of 20 April 1945 under Generalleutnant Dipl.-Ing. Joseph Hubert Maria Schroetter
• Division Nr. 463 under Generalleutnant Rudolf Habenicht, as of 25 March 1945 under Generalleutnant Hans Friedrich Oskar Schittnig
• Division Nr. 464 under Rudolf Georg Pilz, as of 19 April 1945 under Generalmajor Eugen Theilacker, as of 27 April 1945 under Generalleutnant Otto Fritz Hermann Heidkämper
  • Although military history consistently states that Division No. 464 (renamed Training Division 464 from 26 March to 19 April 1945) was directly subordinate to the LXXXX Army Corps (or from 16 April to the Panzer Corps "Großdeutschland") of the the 4th Panzer Army in the eastern Saxon region of Zittau/Bautz , it was General Moser who wrote the negative assessment of General Pilz on 15 April 1945, which was supplemented by superior General Gräser with only a single sentence. Thus, a (temporary) subordination to Moser's Corps Group can be assumed. During the main fighting (16–19 April), it was under Gruppe Kohlsdorfen (an ad-hoc group within the 4. Panzerarmy's reserves), alongside the 545. Volksgrenadier-Division and remnants of Divisionsstab z. b. V. 615. The division saw heavy action in the Bautzen battles (21–26 April), where it inflicted notable casualties on Soviet forces despite its inexperience (e.g., elements helped blunt the advance of the Soviet 8. Garde-Divsions-Korps).

The Moser Corps Group was quickly overwhelmed during the Soviet 1. Ukrainische Front's advance. After the Spree River crossings (19 April), its units were encircled in the Spremberg pocket (also called the Kausche pocket). A breakout attempt on 21 April through forested areas northwest toward General der Panzertruppe Walther Wenck's 12. Armee partially succeeded but scattered the remnants into small groups. There were costly retreat battles from the Oder River to Dresden. The Korpsgruppe effectively ceased to exist as a cohesive force by late April, with survivors captured by Soviet forces around 25 April or surrendering in early May. Moser himself was taken prisoner by the Red Army on 9 May 1945 along with many of his officers.

Family

Willi was the son of ordnance officer in the artillery depot in Breslau and Mainz Zeug-Hauptmann Carl Alwin Moser (d. 19 October 1921 in Trebnitz, Silesia), retired on 15 December 1906 with the Charakter als Zeug-Major, and his wife Meta, née Berlin (d. 25 March 1925).

Marriage

On 24 July 1924 in Itzehoe, Captain Moser married his Protestant fiancée Anne Marie Huch (b. 17 August 1898), daughter of pharmacy owner in Itzehoe Dr. phil. Fritz Huch (1864–1935), graduate of the Royal Bavarian Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. The would have two daughters:

• Irmingard (b. 11 November 1926 in Münster)
• Gesa-Marlen (b. 4 August 1928 in Münster)

Promotions

• 22 March 1906 Charakter als Fähnrich (honorary / brevet Officer Cadet)
• 17 November 1906 Fähnrich (Officer Cadet)
• 16 August 1907 Leutnant (2nd Lieutenant)
• 27 January 1915 Oberleutnant (1st Lieutenant)
• 25 November 1916 Hauptmann (Captain)
• 1 February 1930 Major (3)
• 1 February 1934 Oberstleutnant (Lieutenant Colonel) with effect and Rank Seniority (RDA) from 1 January 1934 (9)
• 1 October 1935 Oberst (Colonel) with RDA from 1 October 1935 (32)
• 31 July 1939 Generalmajor (Major General) with effect and RDA from 1 August 1939 (4)
• 12 July 1941 Generalleutnant (Lieutenant General) with effect and RDA from 1 August 1941 (3)
• 16 November 1942 General der Artillerie (General of the Artillery) with effect and RDA from 1 December 1942 (5)

Awards and decorations

• Iron Cross (1914), 2nd and 1st Class
  • 2nd Class on 26 November 1914
  • 1st Class on 16 May 1915
• Baden Order of the Zähringer Lion (Orden vom Zähringer Löwen), Knight's Cross 2nd Class with Swords (BZ3b⚔) on 4 August 1915
• Württemberg Friedrich Order, Knight's Cross 2nd Class with Swords (WF3b⚔) on 6 December 1915
• Silesian Eagle Order, II. Grade (a I. Grade award is possible, but not documented)
• Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918 with Swords
• Wehrmacht Long Service Award (Wehrmacht-Dienstauszeichnung), 4th to 1st Class on 2 October 1936

WWII

• Repetition Clasp 1939 to the Iron Cross 1914, 2nd and 1st Class
  • 2nd Class on 20 September 1939
  • 1st Class on 1 November 1939
• Wound Badge (1939) in Black on 23 December 1941
• German Cross in Gold on 1 June 1942 (alternative sources state 27 May 1942)
• Winter Battle in the East 1941–42 Medal on 12 August 1942
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 26 October 1941 as Lieutenant General and Commander of 299. Infanterie-Division

Gallery

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Sources

• German Federal Archives: BArch PERS 6/281 und PERS 6/300254