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Saturday, August 10, 2024

Bio of General der Infanterie Wilhelm Burgdorf (1895-1945)

Wilhelm Emanuel Burgdorf

Date of Birth: 15.02.1895 - Fürstenwalde, Brandenburg (German Empire)
Date of Death: 01.05.1945 - Berlin, Brandenburg (Germany)

Promotions:
24.12.1914 Fahnenjunker-Unteroffizier
31.01.1915 Fähnrich
02.04.1915 Offiziers-Stellvertreter
18.04.1915 Leutnant
01.06.1925 Oberleutnant
01.02.1930 Hauptmann
01.11.1935 Major
01.08.1938 Oberstleutnant
14.09.1940 Oberst
01.10.1942 Generalmajor
08.10.1943 Generalleutnant
09.11.1944 General der Infanterie

Career:
03.08.1914 Entered Army Service
03.08.1914 - 25.09.1914 Fahnenjunker in the Grenadier-Regiment 12
25.09.1914 - 24.10.1915 Transferred to the Regiment in the Field
24.10.1915 - 23.06.1917 Adjutant of the Fusilier-Battalion of the Grenadier-Regiment 12
08.05.1916 - 11.05.1916 At the same time, Temporary Adjutant of the Grenadier-Regiment 12
23.06.1917 - 12.02.1919 Adjutant Grenadier-Regiment 12
12.02.1919 - 15.05.1919 Regiments-Adjutant of the 12th Volunteer-Grenadier-Regiment
15.05.1919 - 08.02.1920 Regiments-Adjutant of the 54th Reichswehr-Grenadier-Regiment
08.02.1920 - 01.06.1920 Regiments-Adjutant of the 10th Reichswehr-Grenadier-Regiment
01.06.1920 - 01.01.1921 Platoon-Leader in the 10th Reichswehr-Grenadier-Regiment
01.01.1921 - 01.01.1923 Platoon-Leader in the 8th Infantry-Regiment
28.02.1922 - 01.03.1922 Detached to the Coastal-Defence-Battalion IV
03.05.1922 - 22.06.1922 At the same time, Leader of the Instruction-MG-Platoon of the Commission of the RWM for the Formation of the Sub-Machine-Gun-Firing-Instructions in Jüterbog
25.08.1922 - 25.09.1922 At the same time, Leader of the Instruction-MG-Platoon with the MG-Training-Course of the RWM in Jüterbog
01.01.1923 - 01.10.1923 Adjutant of the I. Battalion of the 8th Infantry-Regiment
01.10.1923 - 01.10.1924 Transferred to the 13th Mortar-Company of the 8th Infantry-Regiment and Detached to Subsidiary-Leadership-Training
01.07.1924 - 30.09.1924 Detached to the 5th Artillery-Regiment
01.10.1924 - 01.10.1925 Transferred to the 9th Mounted-Regiment and Detached to Subsidiary-Leadership-Training with the Staff of Military-District-Command IV
01.10.1925 - 01.07.1926 Transferred back into the 8th Infantry-Regiment
01.07.1926 - 01.04.1927 Signals-Officer with the Staff of the 8th Infantry-Regiment
01.04.1927 - 01.09.1929 Regiments-Adjutant of the 8th Infantry-Regiment
22.10.1928 - 04.11.1928 Detached to Gas-Protection-Course B in Berlin
01.09.1929 - 06.03.1933 Company-Chief in the 8th Infantry-Regiment
20.09.1929 - 18.10.1929 Detached Firing-Course B for Heavy Infantry-Weapons in Döberitz
06.03.1933 - 01.05.1933 Transferred to the 12th Mounted-Regiment and Detached to the Staff of the 4th Division
01.05.1933 - 01.09.1934 Transferred to the Staff of the 4th Division
01.09.1934 - 01.01.1935 Instructor at the Infantry-School Dresden
01.01.1935 - 01.11.1936 Instructor at the War-School Dresden
01.11.1936 - 01.05.1940 Adjutant with the General-Command of IX. Army-Corps
01.05.1940 - 06.05.1940 Führerreserve OKH
06.05.1940 - 05.04.1942 Commander of the 529th Infantry-Regiment
05.04.1942 - 01.05.1942 Führerreserve OKH
01.05.1942 - 12.10.1944 Deputy Chief of the Army Personnel Office, OKH
12.10.1944 - 01.05.1945 Chief of the Army Personnel Office, OKH and Chief Adjutant of the Wehrmacht with the Führer
01.05.1945 Committed Suicide

Awards and Decorations:
24.01.1915 1914 Eisernes Kreuz II.Klasse
14.08.1916 1914 Eisernes Kreuz I.Klasse
27.08.1917 Ritterkreuz des Königlich Preußischen Hausordens von Hohenzollern mit Schwertern
27.02.1918 Österreichisches Militärverdienstkreuz III.Klasse mit der Kriegsdekoration
18.07.1918 Ritterkreuz II.Klasse des königlich Württembergische Friedrich-Ordens mit Schwertern
18.10.1918 Hamburgisches Hanseatenkreuz
00.00.19__ Schlesischer Adler-Orden
20.12.1934 Ehrenkreuz für Frontkämpfer 1914-1918
02.10.1936 Wehrmacht-Dienstauszeichnung II.Klasse
15.06.1940 1939 spange zum 1914 Eisernes Kreuz II.Klasse
17.06.1940 1939 spange zum 1914 Eisernes Kreuz I.Klasse
29.09.1941 Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes, as Oberst and Kommandeur Infanterie-Regiment 529 / 299. Infanterie-Division. The following excerpt from Burgdorf’s Ritterkreuz recommendation describes why he received the award: “The capture of the important Hill 234 on the 09.07.1941 is first and foremost thanks to Oberst Burgdorf. This hill constituted the lynchpin of the Soviet position on the eastern side of the Slucz river, and it thus provided a decisive foothold for the Division on the eastern bank of the Slucz. It was only after the capture of this important hill that the Division found it possible to construct a bridge, and this in turn laid the groundwork for the future breakthrough of the Stalin Line. If Oberst Burgdorf had instead waited for an order to cross the Slucz river then the enemy would have had plenty of time to bring up new forces to Hill 234. This would have made the hill into such a strong position that it would have only been possible to capture it via a deliberate assault and heavy casualties.”
00.00.1942 Medaille "Winterschlacht im Osten 1941/42" (Ostmedaille)

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Wilhelm Burgdorf was born on February 15, 1895, in Fuerstenwalde/Spree. On August 3, 1914, as World War I was breaking out, the 19-year old Burgdorf joined the Imperial Army as a Fahnenjunker in the 12th Grenadier Regiment of the Brandenburger 5th Infantry Division. Commissioned second lieutenant in 1915, he rejoined the main body of his regiment on the Eastern Front in the spring of 1915 and was named adjutant of its fusilier battalion. Burgdorf fought in Belgium and France, including the battles of Verdun and the Somme. He became regimental adjutant in 1916 and held the post until after the end of the war, fighting in Alsace, Champagne, the Russian Front, and Italy. Returning to the Western Front in early 1918, he fought in the Battle of Picardy, the Aisne, the Marne, and the Ardennes.

After the armistice, Second Lieutenant Burgdorf joined the Reichsheer as adjutant of the 54th and then 10th Grenadier Regiment, a platoon leader in the Prussian 10th Grenadiers (1920–1921) and its successor unit, the 8th Infantry Regiment at Frankfurt/Oder (1921–1923). He became adjutant of the I/8th Infantry at the start of 1923, and began his General Staff training in the fall of that year. Despite a solid record, he was not promoted to first lieutenant until 1925.

After a thorough training program, Burgdorf returned to the 8th Infantry at Frankfurt/Oder (1925–1933), where he worked as a signals officer, regimental adjutant, and company commander. He was on the staff of the 4th Infantry Division at Dresden (1934–1936) and, by the end of 1936, was serving as adjutant of Wehrkreis IX (IX Corps) at Kassel. He was promoted to captain in 1930, major in 1935, and lieutenant colonel in August 1938.

During the early days of the war Burgdorf served as adjutant of the IX Corps on the virtually inactive Western Front. Prior to the invasion of France, however, he was named commander of the 529th Infantry Regiment, which he led in Belgium and France (1940) and in the savage battles on the central sector of the Russian Front (1941–April 4, 1942). After the Soviet winter offensive of 1941–1942 had been checked, Burgdorf (who had been promoted to full colonel in September 1940) was made a department chief in the Army Personnel Office (Heerespersonelamt, or HPA), a part of OKW, in May 1942. On October 1, 1942, he was promoted to major general and named deputy chief of the Army Personnel Office; he was elevated to lieutenant general in October 1943. No doubt his overt allegiance to the Nazi Party played a major role in his rapid advancement.

The failed assassination attempt by Colonel von Stauffenberg on July 20, 1944, led to further advancement for Burgdorf, as well as his participating in the extraction of revenge on the anti-Hitler conspirators. General of Infantry Rudolf Schmundt, the Fuehrer’s Army adjutant and chief of the HPA, was mortally wounded by the explosion, which only slightly injured Hitler. Taken to the Rastenburg hospital, Schmundt succumbed to his injuries on October 1, 1944, and Hitler named Burgdorf his successor.

Adolf Hitler demanded quick and brutal revenge be meted out to the conspirators. One victim was Germany’s most popular commander, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, the legendary Desert Fox, who was implicated in the plot. Field Marshal Keitel called upon Burgdorf to carry out a secret mission—to confront Rommel with the testimony that accused him of complicity in the “treason.” If the statements were true, the popular Rommel was to be given a choice: suicide or a trial before the People’s Court.

Obediently, Burgdorf and his deputy, Lieutenant General Ernst Maisel, went to Rommel’s home at Herrlingen on October 14, armed with the letter and a box of poison ampules. Burgdorf had the residence surrounded by SS men; then he and Maisel went inside and confronted the gallant field marshal with Keitel’s letter. To Maisel’s surprise, Rommel admitted that he had plotted to help have Adolf Hitler deposed. Burgdorf then presented the field marshal with his choices. If he chose suicide, Hitler promised him a state funeral with full military honors and guaranteed safety for his family, including a pension for his wife and son. If the Desert Fox chose the People’s Court, he could expect his family to share his fate. Erwin Rommel chose the poison and was dead within an hour.

While one can only speculate about Burgdorf’s thoughts when he carried out his mission at Rommel’s house, his later remarks clearly demonstrate his unwavering loyalty to Hitler and the Nazi cause. As the new chief of the Army Personnel Office and now an accessory to the murder of one of the Fuehrer’s opponents, Burgdorf became part of Hitler’s inner circle and remained at his side until almost the moment of his death. Hitler appreciated Burgdorf’s absolute loyalty and rewarded him with a promotion to general of infantry, effective November 1, 1944. Also, it was on Burgdorf’s recommendation that Hitler appointed General of Infantry Hans Krebs to replace Colonel General Heinz Guderian as chief of the General Staff in March 1945.

Wilhelm Burgdorf was a stocky, brutal man. He was a heavy drinker and was hated by much of the officer corps because of his slavish devotion to Nazism. During the last two months of the war, Burgdorf did his best to maintain order and did not believe the situation in Berlin was utterly hopeless—as in fact it was. As Goebbels recorded in his diary on March 13, 1945, “The Army Personnel section is the first Wehrmacht organization where everything is totally in order and of which no criticism can be made. Obviously therefore General Burgdorf has done a good job here too.” Indeed, although Hitler raged about army officers, SS officers, and even long-time party faithfuls, there is no record of him ever berating Burgdorf. Meanwhile, the general allied himself with Goebbels and Martin Bormann, the inner sanctum of Hitler’s unreal world in the last days of the Reich. Burgdorf and Bormann got along particularly well. At a party at Rastenburg, for example, the two hard-drinking Nazis actually danced together and denounced the treacherous field marshals.

Burgdorf briefly recognized his flaunting of duty and integrity as a German officer; on April 8, 1945, he told Krebs, “Ever since I took on this job, nearly a year ago, I’ve put all my energy and idealism into it. I’ve tried every way I know to bring the army and party closer together. . . . In the end they accused me in the forces of being a traitor to the German officer class, and now I can see that those recriminations were justified, that my work was in vain, my idealism wrong—not only wrong but naive and stupid.”

The chief of HPA soon recovered from his moroseness, however, and remained loyal to the Fuehrer and the Nazi cause until the end. As the Soviets closed in, Burgdorf made it clear that he would remain in the bunker. He was among those who were present at Hitler’s final farewell, shortly before the Fuehrer committed suicide. General Burgdorf, General Krebs, and an SS bodyguard were the only ones who remained in the bunker following Hitler’s death. It is generally believed that Burgdorf and Krebs shot themselves in the cellar of the New Chancellery on May 1, 1945, shortly before the Russians arrived. Their bodies were lost in the confusion accompanying the fall of Berlin, and their final resting places are unknown.



General der Panzertruppe Otto von Knobelsdorff (Kommandierender General XXXX. Panzerkorps) and Generalleutnant Hasso von Manteuffel (Kommandeur Panzergrenadier-Division "Großdeutschland") have arrived for a briefing at the Führerhauptquartier Wolfsschanze in Rastenburg, East Prussia, 10 September 1944. Knobelsdorff is delegated with the leadership of 1. Armee while Manteuffel is promoted to General der Panzertruppe and delegated with the leadership of 5. Panzerarmee (as from 1 September 1944). The latter is wearing a Tank Assault Badge of the 2nd grade for 25 engagements (Panzerkampfabzeichen in Silber mit Einsatzzahl "25"). For the identification, from left to right: Major Bernd von Brauchitsch (Chefadjutant des Reichsmarschall und Oberbefehlshaber der Luftwaffe), Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring (Oberbefehlshaber der Luftwaffe), Oberstleutnant Erik von Amsberg (Chefadjutant des Heeres beim Führer und Oberster Befehlshaber der Wehrmacht), Generalleutnant Wilhelm Burgdorf (Stellvertretender Leiter vom Heeres-Personalamt), Adolf Hitler (Führer und Oberster Befehlshaber der Wehrmacht), SS-Sturmbannführer Richard Schulze (SS-Adjutant beim Führer und Oberster Befehlshaber der Wehrmacht), Knobelsdorff, Manteuffel, and unknown



Source :
"Hitler's Commanders: Officers of the Wehrmacht, the Luftwaffe, the Kriegsmarine, and the Waffen-SS" by Samuel W. Mitcham & Gene Mueller
"Photos from Führerhauptquartier" by Hermann Historica
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Burgdorf
http://www.geocities.ws/orion47.geo/WEHRMACHT/HEER/General/BURGDORF_WILHELM.html
https://www.tracesofwar.com/persons/28810/Burgdorf-Wilhelm.htm
https://www.walter-frentz-collection.de/fotoarchiv/personenarchiv-a-z/personen-a-b/#&gid=1&pid=102

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