Bio of General der Panzertruppe Wilhelm Ritter von Thoma (1891-1948)

Wilhelm Ritter von Thoma was born in Dachau in 1891. He was the son of a Bavarian tax official and became a career officer with the Bavarian Army. Thoma took part in the first World War with 3rd Bavarian Infantry Regiment (part of 2nd, then, from 1915, 11th Bavarian Infantry Division) on the Western (1914/15/16/17/18) and Eastern Front (1915/16), the Serbian Campaign (1915) and the Romanian Front in 1916/17. During the Second Battle of the Marne in July 1918 he was captured by French-American forces and became a prisoner of war until September, 1919. He was decorated with the Knight's Cross of the Bavarian Military Max Joseph Order, the highest military decoration for bravery in the Bavarian Army and was awarded the noble title of Ritter.

After the war, Thoma remained in the new German army, the Reichswehr. During the Spanish Civil War, and now a colonel, he commanded the ground element of the Condor Legion, following the German intervention on the side of the Nationalists under by Francisco Franco.

During Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, Thoma led the 17th Panzer Division. He then commanded the 20th Panzer Division in the Battle of Moscow and after. In December 1941, Thoma received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.

In September 1942, he was transferred to North Africa to take over command of the Afrika Korps, replacing Walther Nehring, who had been wounded. When Panzer Army Africa commander Stumme died on 24 October during the Second Battle of El Alamein, Thoma took command until Rommel returned on 26 October. On 4 November, Thoma was captured as the Allies pursued the retreating Axis forces.

    "I saw it once with Feldmarschall Brauchitsch, there is a special ground near Kunersdorf [sic] ... they've got these huge things which they've brought up here. ... They've always said they would go 15 km into the stratosphere and then. ... You only aim at an area. ... If one was to ... every few days ... frightful. ... The major there was full of hope--he said 'Wait until next year and the fun will start!"

translation of Thoma speaking to Ludwig Crüwell while prisoners of war, 22 March 1943.
Under British surveillance as POW

On 4 November 1942, Thoma was captured by the British forces and for the remainder of the war he was a prisoner in several senior officer prisoner-of-war camps in Great Britain, including Trent Park, Wilton Park, Grizedale Hall and Island Farm.

Trent Park held high-ranking enemy officers prisoner in comfortable, but secretly monitored, conditions. While there Thoma was recorded speaking to another POW, General Ludwig Crüwell discussing rockets that were being tested at Kummersdorf West, which he had observed while on a visit that also included Field Marshal Walther von Brauchitsch, the Commander-in-Chief of the Army and other technical programme details.

Following his indiscretion, further British reconnaissance flights over Peenemünde in May and June 1943 brought back unmistakable images of rockets at the facility which was developing guided missiles and long-range ballistic missiles better known as the V-1 flying bomb and the V-2 ballistic missile. When reconnaissance and intelligence information regarding the V-2 became convincing, Churchill's War Cabinet directed the first planned raid (Operation Hydra), the attack of Peenemünde in August 1943, as part of Operation Crossbow, the Anglo-American campaign against the Vergeltungswaffe, the German long-range weapons programme.

In late 1945, Waffen-SS commander Kurt Meyer, captured in Belgium in September 1944 while commanding the 12th SS-Panzer Division "Hitlerjugend", arrived at Trent Park and noted that Thoma, the German camp leader, was "...highly thought of by the English. Relations between him and the guards is excellent".

In 1946 Thoma's leg was amputated while he was still in English captivity. He was repatriated later that year. Thoma lived in his hometown of Dachau until his death of a heart attack in 1948.

Churchill's high regard for Thoma is evident from his many later quotations of Thoma's opinions on strategic matters, especially in his book about the war. After Montgomery invited Thoma to dine with him in his private trailer, Churchill remarked: "I sympathize with General von Thoma: Defeated, in captivity and... (long pause for dramatic effect) dinner with Montgomery".

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General der Panzertruppe Wilhelm [Josef] Ritter von Thoma

Born: 1. Sep. 1891 in Dachau / Bayern.
Died: 30. Apr. 1948 in Dachau / Bayern.

Promotions:
23.09.1912 Fahnenjunker
25.01.1913 Fahnenjunker-Unteroffizier
20.05.1913 Fähnrich:
01.08.1914 Leutnant (ohne Patent; later granted Patent vom 30.10.1912)
14.12.1917 Oberleutnant (later granted Patent vom 18.04.1917)
01.02.1925 Hauptmann
01.04.1934 Major
01.08.1936 Oberstleutnant
01.04.1938 Oberst (later granted RDA vom 01.10.1936)
01.08.1940 Generalmajor
01.08.1942 Generalleutnant
01.11.1942 General der Panzertruppe (later granted RDA vom 01.11.1942)

Career:
Kommandierender General, Deutschen Afrika Korps: 1. Sep. 1942 - 4. Nov. 1942
General der schnellen Truppen in OKH: 23. May 1942 - 1. Jul. 1942
Kommandeur 20.Panzer-Division: 14. Oct. 1941 -
Kommandeur 6.Panzer-Division: Jun. 1941 - 15. Sep. 1941
Kommandeur 17.Panzer-Brigade: 16. Dec. 1940 -
General der schnellen Truppen in OKH:
Kommandeur Panzer-Regiment 3: 1. Jun. 1939 -
Kommandeur of Panzertruppen of the Legion Condor, Spain:
z.V. der OKH: 23. Sep. 1936 -
Adjutant of bayr.3.Infanterie-Regiment: (5. Jul. 1916)
Commissioned/assigned to bayr.3.Infanterie-Regiment: 2. Aug. 1914 -
Entered service as Fahnenjunker: 23. Sep. 1912

Enemy Captivity:
Taken prisoner by British troops, 4. Nov. 1942. In British POW camps until 19 .

Awards & Decorations:
31.12.1941 Ritterkreuz des Eisernes Kreuzes as Generalmajor and Kdr. 20.Panzer-Division
05.07.1916 Ritterkreuz des bayerische Militär-Max-Josephs-Orden as Leutnant and Adjutant 3.bayer. Infanterie-Regiment "Prinz Karl von Bayern"
00.00.1939 1939 Spange zum 1914 Eisernes Kreuz I. Klasse
00.00.1939 1939 Spange zum 1914 Eisernes Kreuz II. Klasse
03.06.1915 1914 Eisernes Kreuz I. Klasse
17.10.1914 1914 Eisernes Kreuz II. Klasse
16.11.1914 Kgl. Bayer. Militär-Verdienstorden IV. Klasse mit Schwertern
05.04.1916 k.u.k. Österr. Militär-Verdienstkreuz III. Klasse mit Schwertern.
00.00.1939 Deutsche Spanien-Kreuz in Gold mit Schwertern und Brillanten
19.05.1939 Panzertruppenabzeichen der Legion Condor, Sonderanfertigung in Gold
00.00.194_ Panzerkampfabzeichen in Silber
00.00.1918 Verwundetenabzeichen, 1918 in Silber
ca. 1943 Ärmelband “Afrika“
00.00.1935 Ehrenkreuz für Frontkämpfer
00.00.193_ Wehrmacht-Dienstauszeichnung IV. bis I. Klasse
ca. 1939 Medalla de la Campaña de España
ca. 1939 Medalla Militar Individual de España

Notes:
* Son of Eduard Thoma (died 21.11.1899 in Dachau) and his wife Sabine, née Klein (died 04.05.1921 in München).
* Never married.

Source :
"Deutsche Afrikakorps (1941-1943)" by Ricardo Recio Cardona
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Ritter_von_Thoma
https://www.oocities.org/~orion47/WEHRMACHT/HEER/General2/THOMA_WILHELM.html