Captured German generals. Generals who died a soldier's death

ADDITIONAL “LIVING FORCE” IN THE PERSON OF PRISONERS WE CAPTURED In addition to this essay, we will provide an indication of the number of prisoners that Russia captured from its enemies during the war of 1914–1917. Due to the fact that the number of prisoners is measured in seven figures, they could

NUMBER OF PRISONERS We said above that our Headquarters, in its response of October 10/23, 1917 to the head of the French mission, General Janin, determines the number of our ranks captured at 2,043,548. Meanwhile, in the book “Russia in the World War 1914– 1918", published by the Department of Military Statistics

Capture of prisoners and documents Search. The search is carried out with the aim of capturing prisoners, documents, samples of weapons and equipment. In addition, search can also solve other tasks, such as: reconnaissance of terrain, fortifications, structures, obstacles and enemy barriers,

Interrogation of prisoners Prisoners are the most important source of obtaining information about the enemy (especially officers). Through them you can establish the number, composition of the enemy group and weapons, the numbering of its units, the nature of the fortifications, political and moral

The victory in Stalingrad and the fate of German prisoners Rokossovsky recalled: “Prisoners of war caused us a lot of trouble. Frosts, difficult conditions of the area, devoid of forests, lack of housing - most of the settlements were destroyed during the fighting, and in

During the Great Patriotic War, 78 Soviet generals were captured by the Germans. 26 of them died in captivity, six escaped from captivity, the rest were repatriated to the Soviet Union after the end of the war. 32 people were repressed.

Not all of them were traitors. Based on the Headquarters order of August 16, 1941, “On cases of cowardice and surrender and measures to suppress such actions,” 13 people were shot, another eight were sentenced to imprisonment for “improper behavior in captivity.”

But among the senior officers there were also those who, to one degree or another, voluntarily chose to cooperate with the Germans. Five major generals and 25 colonels were hanged in the Vlasov case. There were even Heroes of the Soviet Union in the Vlasov army - senior lieutenant Bronislav Antilevsky and captain Semyon Bychkov.

The case of General Vlasov

They are still arguing about who General Andrei Vlasov was, an ideological traitor or an ideological fighter against the Bolsheviks. He served in the Red Army since the Civil War, studied at the Higher Army Command Courses, and moved up the career ladder. In the late 30s he served as a military adviser in China. Vlasov survived the era of great terror without shocks - he was not subjected to repression, and even, according to some information, was a member of the district military tribunal.

Before the war, he received the Order of the Red Banner and the Order of Lenin. He was awarded these high awards for creating an exemplary division. Vlasov received under his command an infantry division that was not distinguished by any particular discipline or merit. Focusing on German achievements, Vlasov demanded strict compliance with the charter. His caring attitude towards his subordinates even became the subject of articles in the press. The division received a challenge Red Banner.

In January 1941, he received command of a mechanized corps, one of the most well-equipped at that time. The corps included new KV and T-34 tanks. They were created for offensive operations, but in defense after the start of the war they were not very effective. Soon Vlasov was appointed commander of the 37th Army defending Kyiv. The connections were broken, and Vlasov himself ended up in the hospital.

He managed to distinguish himself in the battle for Moscow and became one of the most famous commanders. It was his popularity that later played against him - in the summer of 1942, Vlasov, being the commander of the 2nd Army on the Volkhov Front, was surrounded. When he reached the village, the headman handed him over to the German police, and the arriving patrol identified him from a photo in the newspaper.

In the Vinnitsa military camp, Vlasov accepted the Germans’ offer of cooperation. Initially, he was an agitator and propagandist. Soon he became the leader of the Russian Liberation Army. He campaigned and recruited captured soldiers. Propagandist groups and a training center were created in Dobendorf, and there were also separate Russian battalions that were part of different parts of the German armed forces. The history of the Vlasov Army as a structure began only in October 1944 with the creation of the Central Headquarters. The army received the name “Armed Forces of the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia.” The committee itself was also headed by Vlasov.

Fyodor Trukhin - creator of the army

According to some historians, for example, Kirill Alexandrov, Vlasov was more of a propagandist and ideologist, and the organizer and true creator of the Vlasov army was Major General Fyodor Trukhin. He was the former head of the Operations Directorate of the North-Western Front and a professional general staff officer. Surrendered himself along with all the headquarters documents. In 1943, Trukhin was the head of the training center in Dobendorf, and from October 1944 he took the post of chief of staff of the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia. Under his leadership, two divisions were formed, and the formation of a third began. In the last months of the war, Trukhin commanded the Southern Group of the Committee's armed forces located in Austria.

Trukhin and Vlasov hoped that the Germans would transfer all Russian units under their command, but this did not happen. With almost half a million Russians who passed through the Vlasov organizations in April 1945, his army de jure amounted to approximately 124 thousand people.

Vasily Malyshkin – propagandist

Major General Malyshkin was also one of Vlasov’s associates. Finding himself captured from the Vyazemsky cauldron, he began to collaborate with the Germans. In 1942, he taught propaganda courses in Vulgaida, and soon became assistant to the head of training. In 1943, he met Vlasov while working in the propaganda department of the Wehrmacht High Command.

He also worked for Vlasov as a propagandist and was a member of the Presidium of the Committee. In 1945 he was a representative in negotiations with the Americans. After the war, he tried to establish cooperation with American intelligence, even wrote a note on the training of Red Army command personnel. But in 1946 it was still transferred to the Soviet side.

Major General Alexander Budykho: service in the ROA and escape

In many ways, Budykho’s biography was reminiscent of Vlasov’s: several decades of service in the Red Army, command courses, command of a division, encirclement, detention by a German patrol. In the camp, he accepted the offer of brigade commander Bessonov and joined the Political Center for the Fight against Bolshevism. Budykho began to identify pro-Soviet prisoners and hand them over to the Germans.

In 1943, Bessonov was arrested, the organization was disbanded, and Budykho expressed a desire to join the ROA and came under the control of General Helmikh. In September he was appointed to the post of staff officer for training and education of the eastern troops. But immediately after he arrived at his duty station in the Leningrad region, two Russian battalions fled to the partisans, killing the Germans. Having learned about this, Budykho himself fled.

General Richter – sentenced in absentia

This traitor general was not involved in the Vlasov case, but he helped the Germans no less. Having been captured in the first days of the war, he ended up in a prisoner of war camp in Poland. 19 German intelligence agents caught in the USSR testified against him. According to them, from 1942 Richter headed the Abwehr reconnaissance and sabotage school in Warsaw, and later in Weigelsdorf. While serving with the Germans, he wore the pseudonyms Rudaev and Musin.

The Soviet side sentenced him to capital punishment back in 1943, but many researchers believe that the sentence was never carried out, since Richter went missing in the last days of the war.

The Vlasov generals were executed by the verdict of the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court. Most - in 1946, Budykho - in 1950.

Generals who died in captivity during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, but did not repeat the “feat” of General Vlasov

Major General Alaverdov Christopher Nikolaevich.

Born on May 25, 1895 in the village of Ogbin in Armenia in a peasant family. Labored. Didn't finish school, self-taught. In 1914 he was mobilized into the tsarist army, until 1917 he participated in the 1st World War as a private, non-commissioned officer, and second lieutenant.
Since February 1918 - voluntarily in the Red Army. Participant in the Civil War: in 1918, as a private in the Kuban against Kaledin’s troops; in 1919 in Ukraine as a platoon commander of an Armenian regiment against the Germans and Skoropadsky’s troops. He was wounded in the head. In 1920-1921, on the Eastern Front, he was a squadron commander and commander of the 2nd Petrograd Regiment against Kolchak’s troops; in 1921-1924 in Ukraine, commander of a cavalry regiment of the 9th Cavalry Division against Makhno and other gangs. He studied at the Kyiv United Military School for two years, and then fought in Tajikistan for another year as the chief of staff of a cavalry regiment against the Basmachi. In this position, he served another four years in the Moscow Military District and two years as a regiment commander of the 2nd Armenian Cavalry Division in the Transcaucasian Military District. In 1935, Alaverdov graduated from the Military Academy named after M.V. Frunze, for a year he commanded a Cossack cavalry regiment in the Kuban, and then for two years he was a student at the Military Academy of the General Staff and for another three years he taught at the Military Academy named after M.V. Frunze. From February 1940 he became commander of the 113th Infantry Division of the Belarusian Special Military District. On June 5, 1940, Alaverdov was awarded the rank of major general. From March 21, 1940, he was a brigade commander, and from February 22, 1938, a colonel. From the end of 1939 until March 1940, the division took part in the war with Finland, then returned to its district.
From June 22, 1941, Alaverdov, at the head of his division, participated in the border battle on the South-Western Front, then in the Kyiv defensive operation. Together with other front troops, the division was surrounded by superior enemy tank forces. While trying to escape the encirclement, Alaverdov and a group of commanders and fighters came across an ambush by significant Nazi forces. A firefight ensued. Alaverdov fired back with a machine gun, then with a pistol, but was still captured. He was taken to Germany, to the Hammelburg camp. He immediately began conducting anti-fascist agitation among prisoners of war, calling for action against the cruel regime of the camp. For this he was transferred to Nuremberg prison. But even here Alaverdov continued his campaigning, repeatedly saying that he was convinced of the victory of the Red Army. At the end of 1942, the Nazis took him out of his cell and shot him. General Alaverdov was awarded the orders: 2 Red Banners (1938 and 1940), Red Banner of Labor (1938).

Major General of Technical Troops Baranov Sergei Vasilievich.

Born on April 2, 1897 in the village of Sistovo, Leningrad Region, into a working-class family. He graduated from the 6th grade vocational school in St. Petersburg and in -1917 - the school for warrant officers.
From July 23, 1918 - in the Red Army, he worked in the military registration and enlistment office. In 1919-1921 - on the fronts of the Civil War as a platoon commander and head of battery communications. In 1923 he graduated from the infantry command school. Until 1930, he commanded transport units, then completed advanced training courses for command personnel. He commanded a rifle battalion for two years. In 1933 he graduated from the school of tank technicians and for six years commanded a battalion of cadets there. Since 1939 - commander of the 48th motor transport brigade. In 1940 - assistant inspector general of the armored department of the Red Army. On June 4, 1940, Baranov was awarded the rank of major general. He was a brigade commander from September 11, 1939, a colonel from April 4, 1938. From March 11, 1941, he commanded the 212th motorized rifle division in the Belarusian Special Military District, and entered into battle with it on the very first day of the Great Patriotic War in the Western front. The division, under pressure from large tank forces, retreated to the old border. Here it was surrounded east of Minsk and suffered heavy losses. While trying to escape the encirclement, General Baranov was wounded and captured in mid-July.

He was in a German hospital in Grodno, and after recovery - in the Zamosc prisoner of war camp in Poland. In February 1942, he fell ill with typhus here and died from exhaustion. He was awarded the Order of the Red Banner (1919).

Major General Danilov Sergei Evlampievich.

Born on September 5, 1895 in the village of Nechaevka, Yaroslavl region, in a peasant family. In 1915 he graduated from the Moscow Real School, and in 1916 from the Alekseevsky Military School of the Tsarist Army. He took part in the battles of the 1st World War as a company commander and lieutenant.
In July 1918, he voluntarily joined the Red Army. Participant in the Civil War: in 1919 - on the Northern Front as a company commander against Yudenich’s troops; in 1920 on the Western Front as a battalion commander and assistant regiment commander against the White Poles. Was injured. Until 1930 he commanded a rifle battalion. Then he worked in the combat training department of the Belarusian Military District. In 1933 he graduated from the M.V. Frunze Military Academy and in 1934 became the head of the tactics department at the Military Academy of Communications. In 1938-1939 he was an assistant division commander, and then commander of the 280th Infantry Division of the 50th Army. On June 4, 1940, Danilov was awarded the rank of major general. He was a colonel since August 27, 1938.
From August 1941, he took part in battles on Bryansk, then on the Western Front, in the battle of Moscow. In March 1942, during the Rzhev-Vyazemsky operation, Danilov's division was surrounded by the enemy east of Rzhev. While escaping from encirclement in one of the battles, Danilov was wounded and, together with a group of commanders of his headquarters, captured. He lay in a German hospital, then was taken to Germany to the Flessenburg camp. For refusing to cooperate with the Nazis, he was transferred to Nuremberg prison.
From chronic malnutrition, illness and frequent beatings, he died on March 1, 1944 and was burned in a crematorium. General Danilov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner (1938).

Lieutenant General Ershakov Philip Afanasyevich.

Born in October 1893 in the village of Taganka, Smolensk region, into a peasant family. He graduated from a rural school and worked on his father's farm. In 1912 he was drafted into the tsarist army and took part in the 1st World War. In 1916 he graduated from the regimental training team and became a senior non-commissioned officer.
In 1918 he joined the Red Army. Participant of the Civil War in 1918-1920 on the South-Western and Southern Fronts as a platoon, company, and battalion commander. Until 1924 he was assistant regiment commander. He graduated from the higher command courses "Vystrel" and from 1924 to 1930 commanded a rifle regiment. For two years he was an assistant, and from 1932 - commander of a rifle division. In 1934, in a special group of senior commanders, he graduated from the Military Academy named after M.V. Frunze, then again commanded a division for two years, and then a corps for two years. In 1938, Ershakov became deputy commander of the troops of the Ural Military District, and at the end of the year, commander this district. On June 4, 1940, he was awarded the rank of lieutenant general.
Since September 1941, on the Western Front, General Ershakov commanded the 20th Army, participated in the Battle of Smolensk and in the Vyazemsk defensive operation. At the beginning of October, during this operation, his army, along with other armies of the front, was surrounded by the enemy. On October 10, 1941, while escaping from encirclement, Ershakov was captured after a firefight. He was taken to Germany, to the Hammelburg camp.

Ershakov refused all offers from the Nazis to cooperate with them. He was subjected to systematic beatings, from which he died in July 1942.
General Ershakov was awarded two Orders of the Red Banner (1919, 1920).

Major General Zusmanovich Grigory Moiseevich.

Born on June 29, 1889 in the village of Khortitsa, Dnepropetrovsk region, in the family of a craftsman. He graduated from the 4th grade of a rural school. For five years he worked at a steam mill. He served in the tsarist army from 1910 to 1917. Since 1914, he participated in the 1st World War as a senior non-commissioned officer.
In December 1917 he joined the Red Guard, in February 1918 - the Red Army. He took part in the Civil War: in 1918, as the head of a detachment in Ukraine against the Germans and white gangs, then on the Eastern Front as the head of food supplies for the army against the Czech formations and Kolchak’s troops. In 1919, on the Southern Front - the head of the 47th Infantry Division of the 12th Army, and later the head of the 2nd Tula Infantry Division, he fought against Denikin's troops. In 1920 he was military commissar of the Oryol Military District. In 1921-1922 - the Dagestan Republic, and until 1925 - the Stavropol Territory and the Don District.
In 1926, Zusmanovich completed advanced training courses for senior command personnel at the M.V. Frunze Military Academy and worked as a military commissar of the Karachay Republic for two years. From 1928 to 1935 he was commander and commissar of the 2nd Ukrainian Convoy Division of the Ukrainian Military District. Then for two years he commanded the 45th Infantry Division in the Kiev Military District, being at the same time the commandant of the Novograd-Volyn fortified region. In 1937-1940 he served in the Transcaucasian Military District as chief of logistics and chief of supply for the district. On June 4, 1940, Zusmanovich was awarded the rank of major general. Before that, from June 1937, he was a division commander.
He worked for a year as a senior teacher and assistant to the head of the quartermaster academy, and in September 1941 he became deputy commander for logistics of the 6th Army of the Southwestern Front. During the Kyiv defensive operation, the army was surrounded. The troops received orders to leave the encirclement in separate groups. Zusmanovich brought one out for them. Army control was restored, it received divisions from the Southern Front and Headquarters reserves. Zusmanovich remained the head of the army's logistics and participated in the Donbass and Barvenkovo-Lozovskaya offensive operations of the Southwestern Front. In the Battle of Kharkov in May 1942, the army, along with the rest of the front troops, was surrounded east of Krasnograd. This time, Zusmanovich failed to escape the encirclement. In a firefight with the group he led, he was wounded in the leg and could not move. While lying down he fired back with a pistol, but several German soldiers fell on him and took him prisoner.
He was in a hospital in the Polish city of Kholm, then in a prisoner of war camp there. In July 1942 he was taken to Germany, to the Hammelburg camp.

For refusing to cooperate with the Nazis, he was transferred to Nuremberg prison and then to Weißenburg fortress. He died from exhaustion and continuous beatings in July 1944. General Zusmanovich was awarded the orders of the Red Banner (1924) and the Red Banner of Labor of Ukraine (1932).

Lieutenant General Karbyshev Dmitry Mikhailovich.

Born on October 27, 1880 in Omsk in the family of a military official. He graduated from the Siberian Cadet Corps and in 1900 from the Military Engineering School in St. Petersburg. Served in the military. In 1911 he graduated from the Military Engineering Academy. Participated in the 1st World War as a lieutenant colonel.
In February 1918, he voluntarily joined the Red Army. Participant in the Civil War: in 1918-1920 on the Eastern Front as head of defensive construction and chief of army engineers; in 1921 on the Southern Front - deputy head of the front engineering service. Until 1924, he served in the military development department of the Red Army, then as a teacher at the M.V. Frunze Military Academy, and from 1936 at the Military Academy of the General Staff. Author of over 100 scientific works, professor (1938), Doctor of Military Sciences (1941). On June 4, 1940, Karbyshev was awarded the rank of lieutenant general. Before that, from February 22, 1938, he was a division commander.
In June 1941, Karbyshev conducted an inspection of defensive structures in the Belarusian Special Military District. With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, he retreated to the east along with the troops and in July was surrounded in Western Belarus. Coming out of it, on August 8, he was seriously wounded in battle and captured. He was treated in a German hospital. Then he was sent to the Zamosc camp in Poland. He repeatedly refused to go into the service of the Nazis and cooperate with them. Conducted anti-fascist underground work among prisoners of war.

He passed through the camps of Hammelburg, Nuremberg, and Lublin, where he was systematically beaten. On February 18, 1945, in the Mauthausen camp on the parade ground, he was tied to a post and, while being doused with water, was frozen to death.
General Karbyshev was posthumously awarded the Title of Hero of the Soviet Union (1946), he was awarded the orders of Lenin (1946), Red Banner (1940), Red Star (1938). Monuments to him were erected in Mauthausen and in Karbyshev’s homeland in Omsk.

Major General Kuleshov Andrey Danilovich.

Born on August 11, 1893 in the village of Semenkovo, Moscow Region, into a peasant family. He graduated from a 4-year zemstvo school and worked on his father’s farm. In 1914 - mobilized into the tsarist army, until 1917 he participated in the 1st World War as a private and non-commissioned officer.
Since February 1918 - in the Red Army. In 1918-1922 he fought on the fronts of the Civil War as a commissar of a regiment, brigade and division. Then he served as commander of a rifle regiment for two years, then studied at the higher command courses of the Red Army for a year. From 1925 to 1933 he was commander of a rifle division, then for three years he was a student at the M.V. Frunze Military Academy. After graduating from the academy, he commanded a division for another year, and from 1937, a special rifle corps. In 1938, he was arrested and spent a year in prison under investigation, after which he was dismissed from the Red Army. In 1940, he was rehabilitated, reinstated in the army and appointed senior lecturer at the Military Academy of the General Staff. On June 4, 1940, he was awarded the rank of major general.
At the beginning of 1941, Kuleshov was appointed commander of the 64th Rifle Corps of the North Caucasus Military District, and with the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, deputy commander of the 38th Army of the Southwestern Front. He took part in the defense on the Dnieper and in the Kyiv defensive operation. In December 1941, Kuleshov was appointed commander of the 175th Infantry Division of the 28th Army.
After the Battle of Kharkov in 1942, during the withdrawal of troops to the east, enemy tanks in the area of ​​the village of Ilyushevka near Olkhovatka on the Chernaya Kalitva River on July 13, 1942 broke through the division’s battle formations and attacked its command post. In a firefight, Kuleshov was captured.
From continuous beatings and hunger in the spring of 1944 he died in the Flessenburg concentration camp. General Kuleshov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner (1922).

Major General Kulikov Konstantin Efimovich.

Born on May 18, 1896 in the village of Vitomovo, Tver Region, into a peasant family. He graduated from a 4-grade rural school and worked on his father’s farm. From 1914 to 1917 he participated in the 1st World War as a soldier and non-commissioned officer.
In 1917 he joined the Red Guard detachment of the Moscow Railway. Since April 1918 - in the Red Army. Until 1920 - on the fronts of the Civil War as a platoon, company, and battalion commander. The next two years - assistant regiment commander. Then he graduated from the infantry school and until 1927 was an assistant regiment commander for economic affairs. In 1928 he graduated from the higher command courses “Vystrel”, after which he was an assistant division commander for two years. In 1931-1937 he commanded a rifle regiment. In 1938, as commander of the 39th Infantry Division, he took part in battles with the Japanese on Lake Khasan. He was arrested, but after a year-long investigation he was released for lack of evidence of a crime. In 1939 - appointed head of the Dnepropetrovsk advanced training courses for command personnel. On June 5, 1940, Kulikov was awarded the rank of major general. He was a brigade commander from February 17, 1938, and a colonel from February 17, 1936.
In March 1941, Kulikov was appointed commander of the 196th Infantry Division of the Odessa Military District. With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, as part of the 9th Army of the Southern Front, he participated in the border battle, in defensive battles on the Dniester, Southern Bug and Dnieper. On September 15, when the enemy broke through into the depths of our defense, the division was surrounded, and Kulikov was captured.

At first he was in a prisoner of war camp in Vladimir-Volynsky, from there he was taken to Germany to the Hammelburg camp, and at the end of 1942 to the Flessenburg camp, where he died of hunger and beatings.

General Kulikov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner (1938).

Major General Pyotr Grigorievich Makarov.

Born on June 29, 1898 in the village of Kudiyarovka, Tula region, into a peasant family. He graduated from a parish school and worked as a farm laborer and laborer. From February 1917 he served as a private in the tsarist army.
In October 1918, he joined the Red Army upon conscription. From 1919 to 1922 - on the fronts of the Civil War: in 1919, as a platoon commander of the 11th Cavalry Division of the 1st Cavalry Army in battles against Denikin's troops. In 1920, he was a squadron commander of the same division against Wrangel's troops. In 1921-1922 - in Ukraine, commander of the 13th cavalry regiment of the 1st cavalry brigade of the 1st Cavalry Army against Makhno and other gangs. Until 1931 he commanded various cavalry units, then until 1937 he was the chief of staff of a cavalry regiment, then for a year he was a regiment commander and another year he was an assistant commander of the 6th Cavalry Division of the Belarusian Special Military District. In 1939, Makarov became the commander of this division. On June 9, 1940, he was awarded the rank of major general. From October 31, 1938, he was a brigade commander, and from January 5, 1937, a colonel.
In March 1941, Makarov became deputy commander of the 11th Mechanized Corps. On the second day of the Great Patriotic War on the Western Front, the corps, together with two other corps, took part in a counterattack against the enemy in the Grodno direction. Despite stubborn fighting, the front troops failed to stop the enemy, and with the permission of Headquarters, they began to retreat to Minsk. But the Nazi tank forces moved faster - and the 11th Mechanized Corps, along with other formations of the 3rd and 10th Armies, found themselves surrounded east of Minsk. On July 8, while trying to fight his way out of encirclement, General Makarov was captured.

He was stationed in the Zamosc camp in Poland, then in Germany in the Hammelburg camps and, from December 1942, in the Flessenburg camps. From overwork, beatings and hunger he fell ill with tuberculosis. In the fall of 1943, he was stoned to death by the Nazis.

General Makarov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner (1930).

Major General Nikitin Ivan Semenovich.

Born in 1897 in the village of Dubrovka, Oryol region, in the family of an employee. He graduated from elementary school and worked as a clerk. From 1916 to 1917 he served in the tsarist army. Participated in the 1st World War.
In the Red Army - since June 1918. He graduated from cavalry courses and until 1922, as a platoon, squadron, and cavalry regiment commander on various fronts, he participated in the Civil War. Until 1924 he commanded a regiment and a brigade. In 1927 he graduated from the M.V. Frunze Military Academy, then was chief of staff for six years and commander of a cavalry division for three years. In 1937-1938 he was under investigation, but the case was dropped due to the lack of evidence of a crime. Since 1938, Nikitin was a senior teacher at the M.V. Frunze Military Academy, and in 1940 he was appointed commander of the 6th Cavalry Corps of the Belarusian Special Military District. On June 4, 1940, he was awarded the rank of major general.
With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the corps took part in the border battle on the Western Front, and in July 1941 it was surrounded by the enemy. When trying to break out of it to the east, after a stubborn battle, Nikitin was captured. He was taken to Germany to the Hammelburg camp.

He repeatedly rejected the Nazis’ offers to cooperate with them and convinced the prisoners of the victory of the Red Army. In April 1942, he was taken from the camp and shot.

General Nikitin was awarded two Orders of the Red Star (1937 and 1941).

Major General Novikov Petr Georgievich.

Born on December 18, 1907 in the village of Luch in Tatarstan in a peasant family. He graduated from a rural school and primary school.
In 1923, he voluntarily joined the Red Army, becoming a cadet at the Kazan Higher Infantry School. After graduation, he commanded various rifle units until 1937. In 1937-1938, he fought as a battalion commander in Spain on the side of the Republican Army. Upon his return, he commanded a rifle regiment, including in 1939-1940 during the war with Finland. In May 1940, he was appointed commander of the 2nd Cavalry Division. On June 4, 1940, he was awarded the rank of major general.
With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, he fought on the Southern Front. In October 1941, he became commander of the 109th Infantry Division of the Primorsky Army, which defended Sevastopol. The stubborn defense lasted until July 4, 1942. On this day, General Novikov, among the last defenders of the city, was captured at Cape Chersonese.

He was sent to Germany and remained in the Hammelburg camp until the end of the year. Then transferred to the Flessenburg camp. Due to the cruel regime, hunger, and beatings, he became very thin. Without any reason, he was killed by camp guards in August 1944.

General Novikov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner (1940).

Major General Novikov Timofey Yakovlevich.

Born on September 7, 1900 in the village of Zagorye, Tver Region, into a peasant family. He graduated from a rural school and a 4-grade teachers' seminary. In 1917-1918 he served as a private in the tsarist army.
Since July 1918 in the Red Army. Participant in the Civil War: in 1919-1920 on the Western Front as a detachment commander, against the troops of Denikin and the White Poles; in March 1921, as a cadet at an infantry school, he took part in the suppression of the Kronstadt rebellion. Until 1932 he commanded rifle units. Then for five years he was an assistant and chief of the operations department of the division headquarters. For two more years he worked as head of the intelligence department of the corps headquarters. For three years he commanded the 406th Infantry Regiment of the 124th Infantry Division.
On June 22, 1941, he entered into battle with the Nazis. Participated in a border battle. The division was surrounded, but Novikov managed to withdraw 2 thousand people from the encirclement on July 25, 1941 to the location of the 5th Army with a roundabout maneuver, first to the enemy rear, and then to the front line. At the same time, on July 5 he was wounded in the leg. From October 1941, he commanded the 1st Guards Motorized Rifle Division on the Western Front. On January 10, 1942, Novikov was awarded the rank of major general. He was a colonel since November 28, 1940.
In January 1942, he became commander of the 222nd Infantry Division. During the Rzhev-Sychevsk operation, the division, having taken the lead, was surrounded by the enemy. Novikov organized a breakthrough, but was blocked by the Nazis at the observation post and, after a short firefight, was captured on August 15, 1942.

He was in the Nuremberg camp, and from February 1945 in the Weißenburg fortress. In April 1945 he was transferred to the Floessenburg camp, where he died of exhaustion.

General Novikov was awarded the Order of Lenin (1942).

Major General Presnyakov Ivan Andreevich.

Born in 1893 in the village of Gridino, Nizhny Novgorod region. He graduated from a teacher's seminary and worked for hire. In 1914 he was drafted into the tsarist army and took part in the 1st World War. In 1915 he graduated from the school of warrant officers, in 1917 - from the military school.
In the Red Army from 1918 he was an employee of the military registration and enlistment office. In 1919-1921, he commanded a company, battalion and regiment on the fronts of the Civil War. For two years he was the chief of reconnaissance of a brigade, then for six years he commanded a rifle regiment. In 1929 he graduated from the higher command courses “Vystrel”. Then Presnyakov taught at the Omsk Infantry School for five years. In 1934-1938 he headed the military department of the Moscow Institute of Physical Education, and for the next two years he served as a senior assistant inspector of the Red Army infantry. In 1940, he was the head of the combat training department of the Moscow Military District. On June 4, 1940, Presnyakov was awarded the rank of major general.
In May 1941, he was appointed commander of the 5th Infantry Division of the Kyiv Special Military District. The beginning of the Great Patriotic War met with this division. During the border battle, the division was surrounded by large enemy forces and suffered heavy losses. When leaving the encirclement, Presnyakov was ambushed by the Nazis at the end of July and, after a short fire resistance, was captured.

He was stationed in the Zamosc camp in Poland. Then in Nuremberg prison in Germany. Here, on January 5, 1943, he was shot by the Nazis for pro-Soviet agitation.

War is always a cruel test; it spares no one, even generals and marshals. Every military leader has ups and downs during military operations, each has his own destiny. As one American president rightly noted, war is a dangerous place. The statistics of deaths of high-ranking officers during the fighting of the Second World War is clear proof of this.

While quite a lot has been written about the military fates and losses of the Red Army generals during the Great Patriotic War in recent years, much less is known about their German “counterparts” who died on the Eastern Front. At least, the authors do not know of a book or article published in Russian on the topic in the title. Therefore, we hope that our work will be useful for readers interested in the history of the Great Patriotic War.

Before going directly to the story, it is necessary to make a small note. The practice of posthumously assigning general ranks was widespread in the German army. We do not consider such cases and we will talk exclusively about persons who had the rank of general at the time of their death. So let's get started.

1941

The first German general killed on the Eastern Front was the commander of the 121st East Prussian Infantry Division, Major General Otto LANCELLE, who died on July 3, 1941 east of Kraslava.

Soviet military historical literature provided various information about the circumstances of the death of this general, including a version about the involvement of Soviet partisans in this episode. In fact, Lanzelle became the victim of a rather typical incident for an offensive operation. Here is an excerpt from the history of the 121st Infantry Division: “ When the main body of the 407th Infantry Regiment reached the forested area, General Lanzelle left his command post. Together with the division headquarters officer, Lieutenant Steller, he went to the command post of the 407th regiment. Having reached the advanced units of the battalion advancing to the left of the road, the general did not notice that the right battalion had fallen behind... the Red Army soldiers retreating in front of this battalion suddenly appeared from the rear. In the ensuing close battle, the general was killed...».

On July 20, 1941, the acting commander of the 17th Panzer Division, Major General Karl Ritter von WEBER, died in a field hospital in the city of Krasny. He had been wounded the day before during artillery shelling from Soviet shell fragments in the Smolensk area.

On August 10, 1941, the first SS general, SS Gruppenführer and Police Lieutenant General, commander of the SS Polizei division, Arthur MULVERSTEDT, died on the Soviet-German front.

The division commander was at the forefront when units of his division broke through the Luga defensive line. This is how the death of the general is described on the pages of the division chronicle: “ Enemy fire paralyzed the attack, it was losing strength, and was in danger of stopping completely. The general instantly assessed the situation. He rose to resume promotion by example. "Go ahead, guys!" In such a situation, it doesn’t matter who sets the example. The main thing is that one carries away the other, almost like a law of nature. A lieutenant can raise a rifleman to attack, or a general can raise a whole battalion. Attack, forward! The general looked around and gave the order to the nearest machine-gun crew: “Cover us from the side of that spruce forest over there!” The machine gunner fired a long burst in the indicated direction, and General Mülverstedt again moved forward into a small ravine overgrown with alder bushes. There he knelt down to get a better look around. His adjutant, Lieutenant Reimer, was lying on the ground, changing the magazine of his submachine gun. A mortar crew was changing positions nearby. The general jumped up, and his command “Forward!” was heard again. At that moment, a shell explosion threw the general to the ground, fragments pierced his chest...

A non-commissioned officer and three soldiers were taken toIljishe Proroge. A dressing station for the 2nd medical company was organized there under the leadership of senior physician Dr. Ott. When the soldiers delivered their cargo, the only thing the doctors could do was to confirm the death of the division commander».

According to some reports, the general’s presence directly in the infantry combat formations was caused by the dissatisfaction of the higher command with the not very successful actions of the division.

A few days after Mülverstedt, on August 13, the explosion of a Soviet anti-tank mine put an end to the career of the commander of the 31st Infantry Division, Major General Kurt KALMUKOFF. He, along with his adjutant, was blown up in a car during a trip to the front line.

Colonel General Eugen Ritter von SCHOBERT, commander of the 11th German Field Army, became the highest-ranking Wehrmacht officer to die on the Soviet-German front in 1941. He also had the fate of becoming the first German army commander to die in World War II.

On September 12, Schobert flew on a connected Fisiler-Storch Fi156 from the 7th courier detachment (Kurierst. 7), led by pilot Captain Suvelak, to one of the divisional command posts. For an unknown reason, the plane landed before reaching its destination. It is possible that the car received combat damage along the way. The landing site for the “physicaler” (with serial number 5287) turned out to be a Soviet minefield near Dmitrievka, in the area of ​​the Kakhovka-Antonovka road. The pilot and his high-ranking passenger were killed.

It is curious that in Soviet times, a heroic story was written by T.S. "based on" this event. According to its plot, a German general watched as his subordinates forced Soviet prisoners to clear a minefield. At the same time, it was announced to the prisoners that the general had lost his watch on this very field. One of the captured sailors who participated in demining, with a freshly removed mine in his hands, approached the surprised Germans with a message that the watch had allegedly been found. And, approaching, he blew himself up and his enemies. However, it may be that the source of inspiration for the author of this work was completely different.

On September 29, 1941, Lieutenant General Rudolf KRANTZ, commander of the 454th Security Division, was wounded. On October 22 of the same year, he died in a hospital in Dresden.

On October 28, 1941, on the Valki-Kovyagi road (Kharkov region), the car of Lieutenant General Erich BERNECKER, commander of the 124th Artillery Command, was blown up by an anti-tank mine. During the explosion, the artillery general was mortally wounded and died on the same day.

In the early morning of November 14, 1941, Lieutenant General Georg BRAUN, commander of the 68th Infantry Division, took off from a mansion on 17 Dzerzhinsky Street in Kharkov. This was triggered by a radio-controlled landmine planted by miners from the operational engineering group of Colonel I.G. Starinova in preparation for the evacuation of the city. Although by this time the enemy had already more or less successfully learned to fight Soviet special equipment, in this case the German sappers made a mistake. Together with the general, two headquarters officers of the 68th division and “almost all the clerks” (more precisely, 4 non-commissioned officers and 6 privates) died under the rubble, as the entry in German documents says. In total, 13 people were killed in the explosion, and, in addition, the head of the division's intelligence department, an interpreter and a sergeant major were seriously injured.

In retaliation, the Germans, without any investigation, hanged the first seven townspeople who came to hand in front of the explosion site, and by the evening of November 14, stunned by the explosions of radio-controlled land mines that thundered throughout Kharkov, they took hostages from among the local population. Of these, 50 people were shot on the same day, and another 1000 had to pay with their lives if sabotage was repeated.

The death of General of Infantry Kurt von BRIESEN, commander of the 52nd Army Corps, opened the account of the losses of senior Wehrmacht officers from the actions of Soviet aviation. On November 20, 1941, around noon, the general left for Malaya Kamyshevakha to assign the task to his subordinate units to capture the city of Izyum. At that moment, a pair of Soviet planes appeared over the road. The pilots attacked very competently, gliding with the engines running at low gas. Fire was opened on the target from a height of no more than 50 meters. The Germans sitting in the general's car discovered the danger only by the roar of the engines again operating at full power and the whistle of flying bullets. Two officers accompanying the general managed to jump out of the car, one of them was wounded. The driver remained completely unharmed. But von Briesen received as many as twelve bullet wounds in the chest, from which he died on the spot.

It is unknown who was the author of this queue mark. Let us note that, according to the operational report of the Air Force headquarters of the Southwestern Front, on November 20, our aviation operated limitedly due to bad weather. However, units of the 6th Army Air Force, operating just above the area where von Briesen was killed, reported the destruction of five vehicles during the attack on enemy troops moving along the roads.

Interestingly, the father of the deceased von Briesen, Alfred, was also a general and also met his death on the Eastern Front in 1914.

On December 8, 1941, near Artemovsk, the commander of the 295th Infantry Division, Lieutenant General Herbert GEITNER, was wounded. The general was evacuated from the front line, but the wound turned out to be fatal, and he died on January 22, 1942 in a hospital in Germany.

Very unusual for the Wehrmacht of the “1941 model” was the death of Lieutenant General Conrad von COCHENHAUSEN, commander of the 134th Infantry Division. The general's division, together with the 45th Infantry Division, was surrounded by units of the Southwestern Front in the Yelets area. In winter conditions, the Germans had to fight their way out of the resulting “cauldron” to join the rest of their army. Kochenhausen could not stand the nervous tension and on December 13, considering the situation hopeless, he shot himself.

Most likely, such a tragic outcome was predetermined by the general’s character traits. Here is what he wrote about this: “ Already when I met Lieutenant General von Kochenhausen on September 30, 1941, he spoke very pessimistically about the general military situation on the Eastern Front" Of course, being surrounded is not a pleasant thing and the German losses were great. We do not know exactly the losses of the 134th Division, but its “neighbor”, the 45th Infantry Division, lost over a thousand people from December 5 to 17, including 233 killed and 232 missing. The losses in material terms were also great. Only 22 light field howitzers were left by the 45th Division during the retreat. But, in the end, the Germans still managed to break through.

The remaining Wehrmacht divisions in the central sector of the Soviet-German front found themselves in similar situations more than once or twice. The losses were also quite significant. But their division commanders, nevertheless, did not lose their cool. How can one not remember the popular wisdom - “all diseases come from nerves.”

The penultimate Wehrmacht general to die on the Eastern Front in 1941 was the commander of the 137th Infantry Division, Lieutenant General Friedrich BERGMANN. The division lost its commander on December 21 during the Kaluga operation of the Western Front. Trying to prevent the mobile group of the 50th Soviet Army from reaching Kaluga, units of the 137th Division launched a series of counterattacks. General Bergman arrived at the command post of the 2nd battalion of the 449th Infantry Regiment, located in the forest north of the village of Syavki (25 kilometers southeast of Kaluga). Trying to personally assess the situation on the battlefield, Bergman moved with the battalion reserve to the edge of the forest. Soviet tanks, supporting their infantry, immediately opened fire on the Germans. One of the machine gun bursts mortally wounded the general.

The last to die in battle in 1941 (December 27) was the commander of the 1st SS Motorized Brigade, SS Brigadeführer and Major General of the SS troops Richard HERMANN. This is how this episode is reflected in the combat log of the 2nd Field Army: “ 12/27/1941. From the very early morning, the enemy, with a force of up to two reinforced rifle regiments, with artillery and 3-4 cavalry squadrons, began an attack south through Aleksandrovskoye and Trudy. By noon he managed to advance to Vysokoye and break into the village. SS Major General Hermann was killed there».

Two more episodes should be mentioned that are directly related to the topic raised in this article. A number of publications provide information about the death of the veterinarian general of the 38th Army Corps, Erich BARTSCH, on October 9, 1941, on the Soviet-German front. However, Dr. Bartsch, who died from a mine explosion, at the time of his death had the title of oberst veterinarian, i.e. has nothing to do with purely general losses.

In some sources, the commander of the 2nd SS Police Regiment, Hans Christian SCHULZE, is also considered an SS Brigadeführer and Police Major General. In fact, Schulze was a colonel both at the time of his injury near Gatchina on September 9, 1941, and at the time of his death on September 13.

So, let's summarize. In total, twelve Wehrmacht and SS generals were killed on the Soviet-German front in 1941 (including the commander of the 295th Infantry Division who died in 1942), and another general committed suicide.

German generals who died on the Soviet-German front in 1941

1942

In the new year of 1942, the bloody battles that eventually engulfed the entire Eastern Front could not help but result in a steady increase in irretrievable losses among senior Wehrmacht officers.

True, the Wehrmacht generals suffered their first loss in the second year of the war on the Soviet-German front for a non-combat reason. On January 18, 1942, Lieutenant General Georg HEWELKE, commander of the 339th Infantry Division, died of a heart attack in Bryansk.

Let us now fast forward to the southernmost section of the Soviet-German front, to Crimea. Stubborn fighting is taking place on the isthmus connecting the Kerch Peninsula with the rest of Crimea. Warships of the Black Sea Fleet provide all possible assistance to the ground forces of the Red Army.

On the night of March 21, 1942, the battleship Paris Commune and the leader Tashkent, maneuvering in the Gulf of Feodosia, fired at concentrations of enemy troops in the area of ​​​​Vladislavovka and Novo-Mikhailovka. The battleship fired 131 main-caliber shells, the leader - 120. According to the chronicle of the 46th Infantry Division, units located in Vladislavovka suffered serious losses. Among the seriously wounded was the division commander, Lieutenant General Kurt HIMER. In the hospital, his leg was amputated, but German doctors were unable to save the general’s life. On April 4, 1942, he died in the military hospital 2/610 in Simferopol.

On March 22, Soviet pilots achieved new success. During an air raid on a command post in the village of Mikhailovka, the commander of the 294th Infantry Division, Lieutenant General Otto GABCKE, was killed. This is what Stefan Heinzel, the author of a book about the 294th Division, said about this episode: “ The division command post was located in the school in the village of Mikhailovka. At 13.55 two so-called “rats”on a low-level flight they dropped four bombs on the school. Along with General Gabke, Major Jarosz von Schwedler, two sergeant majors, one senior corporal and one corporal were killed" Interestingly, Major Jarosz von Schwedler, who died in the bombing, was the chief of staff of the neighboring 79th Infantry Division, temporarily assigned to the headquarters of the 294th.

On March 23, 1942, the head of Einsatzgruppe A, the head of the order police and security service of the Reichskommissariat Ostland, Walter STAHLECKER, completed his bloody journey. While the biography of the SS Brigadeführer and Police Major General is known quite well, the circumstances of his death are quite contradictory. The most plausible version is that the brigadeführer was seriously wounded in a battle with Soviet partisans, leading a detachment of Latvian policemen, and died while being transported to a rear hospital. But at the same time, the area indicated in all sources without exception in which the military clash with the partisans took place - Krasnogvardeysk - looks very doubtful.

Krasnogvardeysk in March 1942 is the front-line zone of the 18th Army, which was besieging Leningrad, occasionally falling under Soviet railway artillery shells. It is unlikely that in those conditions the partisans could wage open battle with the Germans. The chances of them surviving in such a battle were close to zero. Most likely, Krasnogvardeysk is a more or less conditional point (like “Ryazan, which is near Moscow”), to which events are “attached”, but in reality everything happened much further from the front line. There is also no clarity on the date of the battle in which Stahlecker was wounded. There is an assumption that it happened a little earlier on March 23.

In the introductory part of the article, the principle was declared - not to include in the list of losses officers who received the rank of general posthumously. However, based on common sense, we decided to make several deviations from this principle. We will justify ourselves by the fact that the officers mentioned in these retreats were not only posthumously promoted to the rank of general, but, and this is most important, at the time of their death they held general positions as division commanders.

The first exception will be Colonel Bruno HIPPLER, commander of the 329th Infantry Division.

So, the 329th Infantry Division, transferred to the Eastern Front from Germany in late February 1942, took part in Operation Brückenschlag, the result of which was supposed to be the release of the six divisions of the 16th Wehrmacht Army encircled in the Demyansk area.

At dusk on March 23, 1942, the division commander, Colonel Hippler, accompanied by an adjutant, rode out in a tank to conduct reconnaissance. After some time, the crew of the car radioed: “ The tank hit a mine. The Russians are already nearby. Get help soon b". After this the connection was interrupted. Since the exact location was not indicated, the searches carried out the next day remained unsuccessful. Only on March 25, a reinforced reconnaissance group found a blown up tank, the bodies of the division commander and his companions on one of the forest roads. Colonel Hippler, his adjutant and the tank crew apparently died in close combat.

The Wehrmacht lost another “fake” general, but the division commander, on March 31, 1942. True, this time Colonel Karl Fischer, commander of the 267th Infantry Division, did not die from a Soviet bullet, but died from typhus.

On April 7, 1942, west of the village of Glushitsa, a well-aimed shot from a Soviet sniper put an end to the career of Colonel Franz SCHEIDIES, commander of the 61st Infantry Division. Shaidis took command of the division only on March 27, leading a “team” of various units and subunits that repelled the attacks of the Red Army north of Chudov.

On April 14, 1942, near the village of Korolevka, the commander of the 31st Infantry Division, Major General Gerhard Berthold, died. Apparently, the general personally led the attack of the 3rd Battalion of the 17th Infantry Regiment on Soviet positions at Zaitsevaya Mountain on the Yukhnov-Roslavl highway.

On April 28, 1942, the commander of the 127th Artillery Command, Major General Friedrich KAMMEL, shot himself in the village of Parkkina. This is the only German general who died in Northern Finland during the Great Patriotic War. The reason for his suicide is unknown to us.

The beginning of the summer campaign of 1942 was marked, as the Germans like to write, by the “spectacular” success of Soviet anti-aircraft gunners. As a result, the first Luftwaffe general died on the Soviet-German front.

So, in order. On May 12, 1942, Soviet anti-aircraft artillery shot down a German Junkers-52 transport plane from the 300th Transport Group in the Kharkov area. Sergeant Major Leopold Stefan, who survived and was captured, said during interrogation that there were four crew members, ten passengers and mail on board the plane. The car lost its orientation and was hit. However, the captured sergeant major during interrogation did not mention a very significant detail - there was a whole German general among the passengers. This was the commander of the 6th Luftwaffe construction brigade, Major General Walter HELING. It should be noted that since Sergeant Major Stefan was able to escape, Heling could well have become the first Wehrmacht general to be captured.

On July 12, 1942, the habit of using the advantages of flying on a communications plane ended tragically for another Wehrmacht general. On this day, the Chief of Staff of the 4th Panzer Army, Major General Julius von BERNUTH, flew to the headquarters of the 40th Panzer Corps in a Fisiler-Storch plane. It was assumed that the flight would pass over territory that was not controlled by Soviet troops. However, the “Stork” never arrived at its destination. Only on July 14, a search group of the 79th Infantry Division found a wrecked car, as well as the bodies of a general and a pilot, in the area of ​​the village of Sokhrannaya. Apparently, the plane was hit by fire from the ground and made an emergency landing. The passenger and pilot were killed in the shootout.

During the summer campaign of 1942, heavy fighting took place not only on the southern flank of the huge Soviet-German front. The troops of the Western and Kalinin fronts tried to knock out of the hands of the Wehrmacht “the pistol pointed to the heart of Russia” - the Rzhev-Vyazemsky ledge. The combat operations on it quickly took on the character of bloody battles within the line of defense, and therefore these operations were not distinguished by quick and deep breakthroughs, leading to disruption of the enemy’s control system and, as a consequence, to losses among the senior command personnel. Therefore, among the losses of German generals in 1942, there was only one who died in the central sector of the front. This is the commander of the 129th Infantry Division, Lieutenant General Stephan RITTAU.

This is how the death of the division commander on August 22, 1942 is described in the division chronicle: “ At 10.00, the commander of the 129th Infantry Regiment, accompanied by an adjutant on an all-terrain vehicle, went to the command post of the 427th Infantry Regiment, located in the forest between Tabakovo and Markovo. From there, the division commander intended to personally reconnoiter the battlefield. However, after 15 minutes, a liaison motorcyclist arrived at the division command post, who reported that the division commander, Lieutenant General Rittau, his adjutant, Dr. Marschner and the driver were killed. Their all-terrain vehicle received a direct hit from an artillery shell at the southern exit from Martynovo».

On August 26, 1942, another Wehrmacht general added to the list of losses, this time again on the southern flank of the Soviet-German front. On this day, the commander of the 23rd Armored Division, Major General Erwin MACK, with a small task force, went to the advanced units of the division, which were repelling fierce attacks by Soviet troops. Further events are reflected in the dry lines of the “Journal of Combat Operations” of the 23rd TD: “ At 08.30, the division commander arrived at the command post of the 2nd battalion of the 128th motorized infantry regiment, located on a collective farm south of Urvan. He wanted to personally find out the situation at the Urvan bridgehead. Shortly after the discussion began, a mortar shell exploded in the middle of the participants. The division commander, commander of the 2nd battalion, Major von Unger, the adjutant of the 128th regiment, Captain Count von Hagen, and Oberleutnant von Puttkamer, who accompanied the division commander, were mortally wounded. They died on the spot or on the way to the hospital. Miraculously, the commander of the 128th regiment, Colonel Bachmann, survived, receiving only a slight wound.» .

On August 27, 1942, General of the Medical Service Dr. Walter HANSPACH, corps doctor (chief of medical service) of the 14th Panzer Corps, was included in the list of irretrievable losses. True, we have not yet found information about how and under what circumstances this German general died.

The authors, who grew up on Soviet military-patriotic literature and cinema, have repeatedly read and watched how Soviet military intelligence officers penetrated behind enemy lines, set up an ambush, and then successfully destroyed a German general riding in a car. It would seem that such stories are just the fruit of the activity of a sophisticated writer’s mind, but in the reality of the war there really were such episodes, although of course there were not many of them. During the Battle of the Caucasus, it was in such an ambush that our soldiers managed to destroy the commander and chief of staff of the 198th Wehrmacht Infantry Division.

On September 6, 1942, around noon, an Opel passenger car with a commander’s flag on the hood was driving along the road leading northeast from the village of Klyuchevaya to Saratovskaya. In the car were the commander of the 198th Infantry Division, Lieutenant General Albert BUCK, the chief of staff of the division, Major Buhl, and the driver. As the car approached the bridge, it slowed down. At that moment, explosions of two anti-tank grenades were heard. The general was killed on the spot, the major was thrown out of the car, and the seriously wounded driver turned the Opel into a ditch. The soldiers of the construction company working on the bridge heard explosions and shots, were able to quickly organize the pursuit of Soviet intelligence officers and were able to capture several of them. It became known from the prisoners that the reconnaissance and sabotage group consisted of military personnel from the reconnaissance and mortar companies of the 723rd Infantry Regiment. The scouts set up an ambush, taking advantage of the fact that the thick bushes in this place approached the road itself.

On September 8, 1942, the list of Wehrmacht losses was supplemented by the general of the medical service from the 40th Panzer Corps, Dr. SCHOLL. On September 23, 1942, Major General Ulrich SCHUTZE, commander of the 144th Artillery Command, was on the same lists. As in the case of Medical General Hanspach, we have not yet been able to find information under what circumstances these two generals died.

On October 5, 1942, the Wehrmacht command issued an official message which stated: “ On October 3, 1942, on the front line on the Don River, the commander of the tank corps, General of the Tank Forces, Baron Langermann und Erlenkamp, ​​holder of the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves, died. Colonel Nagy, commander of one of the Hungarian divisions, died shoulder to shoulder with him. They fell in battles for the freedom of Europe" The message was about the commander of the 24th Panzer Corps, General Willibald Freiherr von LANGERMANN UND ERLENCAMP. The general came under Soviet artillery fire while traveling to the front line near the Storozhevsky bridgehead on the Don.

At the beginning of October 1942, the German command decided to withdraw the 96th Infantry Division to the reserve of Army Group North. The division commander, Lieutenant General Baron Joachim von SCHLEINITZ, went to the corps command post to receive the appropriate orders. On the night of October 5, 1942, on the way back to the division, an accident occurred. The division commander and Oberleutnant Koch, who accompanied him, died in a car accident.

On November 19, 1942, hurricane fire from Soviet artillery heralded the beginning of the winter offensive of the Red Army and the imminent turning point in the course of the war. In relation to the topic of our article, it should be said that it was then that the first German generals appeared and went missing. The first of them was Major General Rudolf MORAWETZ, head of the prisoner of war transit camp No. 151. He went missing on November 23, 1942 in the area of ​​Chir station and opened a list of losses of German generals during the winter campaign of 1942-1943.

On December 22, 1942, near the village of Bokovskaya, the commander of the 62nd Infantry Division, Major General Richard-Heinrich von REUSS, died. The general tried to rush through the columns of Soviet troops rushing behind enemy lines after breaking through German positions during Operation Little Saturn.

It is noteworthy that 1942, which began with a heart attack in General Gewelke, ended with a heart attack in another German division commander. On December 22, 1942, Major General Viktor KOCH, commander of the 323rd Infantry Division, occupying the defense in the Voronezh region, died. A number of sources claim that Koch was killed in action.

On December 29, 1942, General Medical Officer Dr. Josef EBBERT, corps physician of the 29th Army Corps, committed suicide.

Thus, in 1942, losses among German generals amounted to 23 people. Of these, 16 people died in battle (counting two colonels - division commanders, who were awarded the rank of general posthumously: Hippler and Schaidies). Interestingly, the number of German generals killed in battle in 1942 was only slightly higher than in 1941, although the duration of hostilities doubled.

The remaining irretrievable losses of the generals occurred for non-combat reasons: one person died in an accident, two committed suicide, three died as a result of illness, one went missing.

German generals who died on the Soviet-German front in 1942

As we see, in 1942, there were no prisoners among the German generals. But everything would change dramatically just a month later, at the end of January 1943, in Stalingrad.

1943

Of course, the most important event of the third year of the war was the surrender of the German 6th Field Army in Stalingrad and the surrender of its command led by Field Marshal Paulus. But, besides them, in 1943, quite a lot of other senior German officers who were little known to fans of military history fell under the “Russian steam roller”.

Although the Wehrmacht generals began to suffer losses in 1943 even before the end of the Battle of Stalingrad, we will start with it, or rather with the long list of captured senior officers of the 6th Army. For convenience, this list is presented in chronological order in table form.

German generals captured at Stalingrad in January-February 1943

One note needs to be made about this table. The German bureaucracy seemed intent on doing everything to make life as difficult as possible for future researchers and military historians. There are countless examples of this. Stalingrad was no exception in this regard. According to some reports, the commander of the 60th Motorized Division, Major General Hans-Adolf von Arenstorff, became a general in October 1943, i.e. after he spent six months in Soviet captivity. But that's not all. He was awarded the rank of general on January 1, 1943 (the practice of assigning ranks “retroactively” was not so rare among the Germans). So it turns out that in February 1943 we captured 22 German generals, and six months later there was one more!

The German group surrounded in Stalingrad lost its generals not only as prisoners. Several more senior officers died in the “cauldron” under various circumstances.

On January 26, the commander of the 71st Infantry Division, Lieutenant General Alexander von HARTMANN, died south of the Tsaritsa River. According to some reports, the general deliberately sought his death - he climbed onto the railway embankment and began firing a rifle towards the positions occupied by Soviet troops.

On the same day, Lieutenant General Richard STEMPEL, commander of the 371st Infantry Division, died. On February 2, the commander of the 16th Panzer Division, Lieutenant General Gunter ANGERN, added to the list of irretrievable losses. Both generals committed suicide, not wanting to surrender.

Now, from the grandiose battle on the Volga, let us return to a chronological presentation of the events of the winter campaign of the third war year.

A full-fledged pestilence attacked the commanders of the 24th Tank Corps in January 1943, when parts of the corps came under attack from advancing Soviet formations during the Ostrogozh-Rossoshansky operation of the Voronezh Front troops.

On January 14, corps commander Lieutenant General Martin WANDEL died at his command post in the Sotnitskaya area. The commander of the 387th Infantry Division, Lieutenant General Arno JAHR, took command of the corps. But on January 20, he too suffered the fate of Vandel. According to some reports, General Yaar committed suicide, not wanting to be captured by the Soviets.

For only one day, January 21, the 24th Panzer Corps was commanded by Lieutenant General Karl EIBL, commander of the 385th Infantry Division. In the confusion of the retreat, the column in which his car was located stumbled upon the Italians. They mistook the allies for Russians and opened fire. In the quick battle it came down to hand grenades. The general was seriously wounded by shrapnel from one of them and died a few hours later from heavy loss of blood. Thus, within one week, the 24th Tank Corps lost its regular commander and the commanders of both infantry divisions that were part of the formation.

The Voronezh-Kastornensk operation carried out by troops of the Voronezh and Bryansk fronts, which completed the defeat of the southern flank of the Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front, was a “harvest” in terms of general losses.

The German 82nd Infantry Division came under the first blow of the advancing Soviet troops. Its commander, Lieutenant General Alfred Bentsch (Alfred BAENTSCH), is listed as having died of wounds on January 27, 1943. The confusion that reigned in the German headquarters was such that on February 14 the general was still considered missing along with his chief of staff, Major Allmer. The division itself was categorized as defeated by the command of the 2nd Field Army of the Wehrmacht.

Due to the rapid advance of Soviet units to the Kastornoye railway junction, the headquarters of the 13th Army Corps was cut off from the rest of the troops of the German 2nd Army, and its two divisions, in turn, were cut off from the corps headquarters. The corps headquarters decided to fight their way to the west. The commander of the 377th Infantry Division, Lieutenant General Adolf LECHNER, chose a different solution. On January 29, while trying to break through in a south-eastern direction, to parts of his formation, he and most of the division headquarters went missing. Only the chief of staff of the division, Oberst-Lieutenant Schmidt, came out to his own by mid-February, but he soon died of pneumonia in a hospital in the city of Oboyan.

The German divisions that found themselves surrounded began to attempt a breakthrough. On February 1, the 88th Infantry Division broke through to the outskirts of Stary Oskol. Units of the 323rd Infantry Division moved behind it. The road was under constant fire from the Soviet troops, and on February 2, the division headquarters following the lead battalion was ambushed. The commander of the 323rd PD, General Andreas NEBAUER, and his chief of staff, Lieutenant Colonel Naude, were killed.

Despite the fact that in the North Caucasus, Soviet troops failed to inflict the same crushing defeat on the German Army Group A as on the Volga and Don, the battles there were no less fierce. On the so-called “Hubertus Line”, on February 11, 1943, the commander of the 46th Infantry Division, Major General Ernst HACCIUS, died. It was chalked up by Soviet pilots, most likely attack aircraft (the division chronicle says “low-level attack”). Posthumously, the general was awarded the following rank and given the Knight's Cross. Hazzius became the second commander of the 46th Infantry Division to be killed on the Eastern Front.

On February 18, 1943, the commander of the 12th Army Corps, Infantry General Walter GRAESSNER, was wounded in the central sector of the front. The general was sent to the rear, was treated for a long time, but finally died on July 16, 1943 in a hospital in the city of Troppau.

On February 26, 1943, not far from Novomoskovsk, a “Fisiler-Storch” disappeared, on board of which was the commander of the SS Panzer-Grenadier Division “Totenkopf”, SS-Obergruppenführer Theodor EICKE. One of the reconnaissance groups sent to search for Eicke discovered a downed plane and the corpse of the Obergruppenführer.

On April 2, plane SH104 (factory 0026) from Flugbereitschaft Luftflotte1 crashed in the Pillau area. The crash killed two crew members and two passengers on board. Among the latter was General Engineer Hans FISCHER from the headquarters of the 1st Air Fleet.

On May 14, 1943, the commander of the 39th Infantry Division, Lieutenant General Ludwig LOEWENECK, died north of Pecheneg. According to some sources, the general became the victim of an ordinary traffic accident, according to others, he ended up in a minefield.

On May 30, 1943, Soviet aviation dealt a powerful blow to the German defenses on the Kuban bridgehead. But according to our data, from 16.23 to 16.41, enemy positions were stormed and bombed by 18 groups of Il-2 attack aircraft and five groups of Petlyakovs. During the raid, one of the groups “caught” the command post of the 97th Jaeger Division. The division commander, Lieutenant General Ernst RUPP, was killed.

On June 26, 1943, the Germans suffered another loss at the Kuban bridgehead. In the first half of this day, the commander of the 50th Infantry Division, Lieutenant General Friedrich SCHMIDT, went to the position of one of the battalions of the 121st Infantry Regiment. On the way, his car near the village of Kurchanskaya hit a mine. The general and his driver were killed.

In the Battle of Kursk, which began on July 5, 1943, the German generals did not suffer major losses. Although there were cases of division commanders being wounded, only one division commander died. On July 14, 1943, during a trip to the front line north of Belgorod, the commander of the 6th Panzer Division, Major General Walter von HUEHNERSDORF, was mortally wounded. He was seriously wounded in the head by a well-aimed shot from a Soviet sniper. Despite the many-hour operation in Kharkov, where the general was taken, he died on July 17.

The offensive of the troops of the Soviet fronts in the Oryol direction, which began on July 12, 1943, was not replete with deep breakthroughs, in which enemy headquarters came under attack. But there were nevertheless losses in the generals. On July 16, the commander of the 211th Infantry Division, Lieutenant General Richard MUELLER, died.

On July 20, 1943, near Izyum, the commander of the 17th Panzer Division, Lieutenant General Walter SCHILLING, died. We were unable to establish the details of the death of both generals.

On August 2, the commander of the 46th Panzer Corps, Infantry General Hans ZORN, died. South-west of Krom, his car came under a bomb attack by Soviet planes.

On August 7, in the midst of our counteroffensive near Kharkov, the commander of the 19th Tank Division, Lieutenant General Gustav SCHMIDT, familiar to everyone who watched the film “Arc of Fire” from the famous Soviet film epic “Liberation,” died. True, in life everything was not as spectacular as in the movies. General Schmidt did not shoot himself in front of Army Group South commander Erich von Manstein and his staff officers. He died during the defeat of the 19th Division column by tankmen of the Soviet 1st Tank Army. The general was buried in the village of Berezovka by the crew members of the command tank who survived and were captured by the Soviets.

On August 11, 1943, at about six o'clock in the morning Berlin time, Soviet snipers again distinguished themselves. A well-aimed bullet overtook the commander of the 4th Mountain Infantry Division, Lieutenant General Hermann KRESS. The general at that moment was in the trenches of the Romanian units blockading Myskhako, the legendary “Little Land” near Novorossiysk.

On August 13, 1943, Major General Karl Schuchardt, commander of the 10th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Brigade, died. Details of the death of the anti-aircraft gunner general could not be found, but he definitely died in the zone of the 2nd field army of the Wehrmacht. According to the documents of this association, on August 12, Shuchard reported to army headquarters about the transfer of the brigade to operational subordination.

On August 15, 1943, Lieutenant General Heinrich RECKE, commander of the 161st Infantry Division, went missing. The general personally raised his soldiers in a counterattack in the area south of Krasnaya Polyana. The division's chronicle provides information from eyewitnesses who allegedly saw how Soviet infantrymen surrounded the general. At this point his traces were lost. However, in the Soviet sources available to us there is no mention of the capture of General Recke.

On August 26, near the Polish city of Ozarow, the commander of the 174th reserve division, Lieutenant General Kurt RENNER, was killed. Renner was ambushed by Polish partisans. Along with the general, two officers and five privates were killed.

The 161st Division mentioned above was received by Major General Karl-Albrecht von GRODDECK. But the division did not fight with the new commander for even two weeks. On August 28, von Groddeck was wounded by shrapnel from an aerial bomb. The wounded man was evacuated to Poltava, then to the Reich. Despite the efforts of doctors, the general died on January 10, 1944 in Breslau.

On October 15, 1943, the offensive of the 65th Army of the Central Front began in the Loyev direction. Powerful Soviet artillery fire disrupted the communication lines of the German troops defending in this area. Lieutenant General Hans KAMECKE, commander of the 137th Infantry Division, went to the command post of the 447th Infantry Regiment to personally navigate the situation that was emerging during the large-scale Russian offensive that had begun. On the way back south of the village of Kolpen, the general’s car was attacked by Soviet attack aircraft. Kameke and the liaison officer Oberleutnant Mayer accompanying him were seriously injured. The next morning the general died in a field hospital. Interestingly, Lieutenant General Kameke was the second and last full-time commander of the 137th Division in World War II. Let us recall that the first commander, Lieutenant General Friedrich Bergmann, was killed in December 1941 near Kaluga. And all the other officers who commanded the divisions wore the prefix “acting” until the formation was finally disbanded on December 9, 1943.

On October 29, 1943, German troops fought stubborn battles in the Krivoy Rog area. During one of the counterattacks, the commander of the 14th Panzer Division, Lieutenant General Friedrich SIEBERG, and his chief of staff, Oberst-Lieutenant von der Planitz, were wounded by shrapnel from an exploding shell. If Planitz's wound turned out to be minor, then the general was unlucky. Although he was urgently taken by Fisiler-Storch plane to hospital No. 3/610, despite all the efforts of the doctors, Siberg died on November 2.

On November 6, 1943, the commander of the 88th Infantry Division, Lieutenant General Heinrich ROTH, died from a wound received the day before. His division at that time was fighting heavy battles with Soviet troops storming the capital of Soviet Ukraine - Kyiv.

Major General Max ILGEN, commander of the 740th formation of the “eastern” troops, was listed as missing on November 15, 1943 in the Rivne region. As a result of a daring operation, the general was kidnapped from his own mansion in Rovno by the legendary Soviet intelligence officer Nikolai Ivanovich Kuznetsov, acting under the name of Lieutenant Paul Siebert. Due to the impossibility of transporting the captive Ilgen to Soviet territory, after interrogation he was killed in one of the surrounding farms.

On November 19, 1943, aviation from the Black Sea Fleet and the 4th Air Army launched the most powerful strike on an enemy naval base since the beginning of the war. This base was the port of Kamysh-Burun on the Crimean shore of the Kerch Strait. From 10.10 to 16.50, six “petlyakov” and 95 attack aircraft worked at the base, whose operations were supported by 105 fighters. Several fast landing barges were damaged as a result of the raid. But the enemy’s losses from our strike were not limited to this. It was on this day that the commander of the German Navy on the Black Sea (“Admiral of the Black Sea”), Vice Admiral Gustav KIESERITZKY, decided to visit Kamysh-Burun and reward the crews of the BDB who successfully blocked the Soviet bridgehead in the Eltigen area. At the entrance to the base, a car, in which, in addition to the admiral, his adjutant and the driver, there were two more naval officers, was attacked by four “silts”. Three, including Kieseritzki, died on the spot, two were seriously injured. According to A.Ya. Kuznetsov, author of the book “The Big Landing,” the enemy fleet on the Black Sea was beheaded by one of the four fours of the 7th Guards Assault Regiment of the 230th ShAD of the 4th Air Army. We also note that Kieseritzky became the first Kriegsmarine admiral to die on the Eastern Front.

On November 27, 1943, the acting commander of the 9th Panzer Division, Colonel Johannes SCHULZ, died north of Krivoy Rog. He was posthumously awarded the rank of major general.

On December 9, 1943, the combat career of Lieutenant General Arnold ZELINSKI, commander of the 376th Infantry Division, ended. We have not established the details of his death.

The third war year brought both quantitative and qualitative changes in the structure of losses of German generals on the Soviet-German front. In 1943, these losses amounted to 33 people killed and 22 people captured (all captured in Stalingrad).

Of the irretrievable losses, 24 people died in battle (including Colonel Schultz, the division commander, who was awarded the rank of general posthumously). It is noteworthy that if in 1941 and 1942 only one German general was killed by air strikes, then in 1943 there were already as many as six!

In the remaining nine cases, the causes were: accidents - two people, suicides - three people, "friendly fire" - one person, two were missing, and another was killed after being captured behind German lines by partisans.

Note that among the losses due to non-combat reasons there were no deaths due to illness, and the reason for all three suicides was the reluctance to be captured by the Soviets.

German generals who died on the Soviet-German front in 1943

– Geschichte der 121. ostpreussischen Infanterie-Division 1940-1945/Tradizionverband der Division – Muenster/Frankfurt/Berlin, 1970 – S. 24-25

We were unable to make an adequate reverse translation of the name of the mentioned settlement from German into Russian.

Husemann F. Die guten Glaubens waren – Osnabrueck – S. 53-54

US National Archives T-314 roll 1368 frame 1062

US National Archives T-314 roll 1368 frame 1096

Vokhmyanin V.K., Podoprigora A.I. Kharkov, 1941. Part 2: City on fire. – Kharkov, 2009 – P.115

TsAMO F. 229 Op. 161 storage units 160 “Air Force Headquarters of the Southwestern Front. Operational report by 04.00 11/21/1941.”

Hartmann Ch. Wehrmacht im Ostkrieg – Oldenburg, 2010 – S. 371

Ibid.

Meyer – Detring W. Die 137. Infanterie – Division im Mittelabschnitt der Ostfront – Eggolsheim, o.J. – S.105-106

US National Archives T-312 roll 1654 frame 00579

For some reason, the wrong hull number is indicated - 37th Ak.

US National Archives T-311 roll 106 “Name losses of officers Gr. And “North” from October 1, 1941 to March 15, 1942.”

This is exactly how Schulze’s rank is indicated in the document, in army style, and not as the rank of the SS troops.

US National Archives T-311 roll 108 “Losses of the 18th Army and 4th Tank Group from June 22 to October 31, 1941.”

Chronicle of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union at the Black Sea Theater - Vol. 2 – M., 1946 – P.125

Scherzer V. 46. Infanterie-Division – Jena 2009 – S.367

It should be noted that the Germans could call any Soviet aircraft a “army”, not just the I-16

Saenger H. Die 79. Infanterie– Division, 1939 – 1945 – o.O, o.J. – S. 58

Einsatzgruppen der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD - special purpose task force of the SD security service. On the territory of the USSR, the tasks of operational and special groups included: identifying and liquidating party and Komsomol activists, conducting search activities and arrests, exterminating Soviet party workers, NKVD employees, army political workers and officers, combating manifestations of anti-German activities, seizing institutions with file cabinets and archives, etc.

Colonel Hippler was promoted to the rank of major general on April 8, 1942

Pape K. 329. Infanterie-Division – Jena 2007 – S.28

Colonel Fischer was promoted to the rank of major general on April 8, 1942

Hinze R.: Bug – Moskwa – Beresina – Preußisch Oldendorf,1992 – S.306

Spektakular – sensational, attention-grabbing

Ju-52 (serial number 5752, tail number NJ+CU) from KGrzbV300, pilot non-commissioned officer Gerhard Otto.

Zablotsky A.N., Larintsev R.I. “Air Bridges” of the Third Reich – M., 2013 – P.71

In German documents on this day, Fi156 from the 62nd Signal Detachment (serial number 5196), pilot Oberfeldwebel Erhard Zemke - VA-MA RL 2 III/1182 S. 197, is listed as lost from enemy action. However, in some sources the surname The pilot is given differently - Linke.

Boucsein H. Halten oder Sterben. Die hessische 129. ID in Russland und Ostpreussen 1941-1945 – Potsdam, 1999 – S.259

US National Archives T-315 roll791 frame00720

Graser G. Zwischen Kattegat und Kaukasus. Weg und Kaempfe der 198. Infanterie-Divivsion – Tubingen, 1961 – S. 184-185

Pohlman H. Die Geschichte der 96. Infanterie-Division 1939-1945 – Bad Nacheim, 1959 – S.171

Durchgangslager (Dulag) 151

Schafer R.-A. Die Mondschein – Division – Morsbach, 2005 – S. 133

US National Archives T-314 Roll357 Frame0269

Die 71.Infanterie-Division 1939 – 1945 – Eggolsheim, o.J. – S.296

US National Archives NARA T-314 roll 518 fram 0448

Scherzer V. 46.Infanterie – Division – Jena, 2009 – S.453

Zablotsky A., Larintsev R. Losses of German generals on the Soviet-German front in 1942. “Arsenal-Collection”. 2014, No. 5 – P.2

Military archive of Germany BA-MA RL 2 III/1188 S. 421-422

Time indicated is Moscow

US National Archives NARA T-312 roll 723

US National Archives NARA T-314 roll 1219 fram 0532

Zamulin V.N. The forgotten battle on the Kursk Bulge - M., 2009 - P.584-585

Ibid – pp.585-586

Braun J. Enzian und Edelweiss – Bad Nauheim, 1955 – S.44

Kippar G. Die Kampfgescheen der 161. (ostpr.) Infanterie – Division von der Aufstellund 1939 bis zum Ende – o.O., 1994 – S. 521, 523

Kippar G. Op.cit., S. 578

Zablotsky A., Larintsev R. “The Devil’s Dozen” Losses of Wehrmacht generals on the Soviet-German front in 1941. “Arsenal-Collection”. 2014, No. 3 – P.18

Meyer– Detring W. Die 137. Infanterie – Division im Mittelabschnitt dr Ostfront – Eggolsheim, o.J. – S. 186-187

Grams R. Die 14. Panzer-Division 1940 – 1945 –Bad Nauheim, 1957 -S. 131

Time indicated is Moscow

Kuznetsov A.Ya. Big landing - M., 2011 - pp. 257-258