Nickname: Gerd
Date of Birth: 23.06.1899 - Hannover, German Empire
Date of Death: 29.10.1980 - Rottach-Egern, Bavaria, West Germany
Battles and Operations: World War I (Eastern and Western Fronts), Western Campaign (France 1940), North African Campaign (Mechili oasis), Operation Barbarossa, fighting near Mga and Schlüsselburg (approaches to Leningrad), Caucasus Campaign, retreat from the Caucasus, Mius Front, Zaporozhye bridgehead, Normandy Campaign, Battle of Aachen, Italian Campaign 1945
Religion: No information
Parents: Father was a civil official in the Prussian State Government (name unknown)
Siblings: No information
Spouse: Married three times (first to Herta Kannengiesser, second to Julia Zulich, third to Esther Klippel)
Children: Gabrielle (born August 1932), Christian (born January 1939)
Promotions:
10.08.1914 Fähnrich
18.07.1915 Leutnant (Patent: 02.06.1916)
01.07.1923 Leutnant (RDA: 01.03.1918)
01.04.1925 Oberleutnant
01.06.1933 Hauptmann
01.03.1937 Major (RDA: 01.10.1936)
10.11.1938 Major (RDA: 01.04.1936)
01.04.1939 Oberstleutnant (RDA: 01.08.1938)
01.08.1941 Oberst
01.10.1942 Generalmajor (RDA: 01.10.1942)
01.06.1943 Generalleutnant
01.04.1945 General der Panzertruppe
Career:
00.00.1914 entered Prussian Army as Fähnrich in 2. Foot Guards Regiment, later transferred to 2. (1st Pomeranian) Grenadier Regiment
1918 company commander and battalion adjutant on Eastern and Western Fronts (wounded 26.09.1918)
1920 discharged from army
1920-1922 managerial apprenticeship in coffee import firm (Bremen) and petroleum company (Berlin)
01.07.1923 rejoined Reichswehr as Leutnant in Infanterie-Regiment 1
1931 Infanterie-Regiment 18 (Paderborn)
01.06.1933 Hauptmann
1933-1935 General Staff course at Prussian Military Academy Berlin
1935-1937 various General Staff and company command positions (including Chef 13. Kompanie, Infanterie-Regiment 17)
10.11.1938 3. Abteilung, Generalstab des Heeres
01.04.1939 Oberstleutnant
1938-1939 staff officer at Oberkommando des Heeres and attaché duties in London (clandestine contacts with British officials warning of impending war and suggesting anti-Hitler coup support)
09.09.1939 Kommandeur I. Bataillon, Infanterie-Regiment Grossdeutschland
15.12.1940 Kommandeur Infanterie-Regiment 254
17.01.1941 Kommandeur Infanterie-Regiment z.b.V. 200 (5. leichte Division, North Africa)
28.07.1941 Kommandeur Infanterie-Regiment (mot.) 76, 20. Infanterie-Division (mot.)
29.05.1942 Führerreserve OKH
02.07.1942 m.d.F.b. 8. Jäger-Division
27.09.1942 Stab Oberfeldkommandantur 365
05.11.1942 Stab 16. Infanterie-Division (mot.)
13.11.1942 Kommandeur 16. Infanterie-Division (mot.), later 16. Panzergrenadier-Division
01.05.1944 Kommandeur 116. Panzer-Division (Windhund-Division)
20.09.1944 Führerreserve OKH
19.10.1944 Reserve-Lazarett
10.12.1944 Kommandeur 90. Panzergrenadier-Division
03.02.1945 m.d.F.b. LXXVI. Panzerkorps
01.04.1945 Kommandeur LXXVI. Panzerkorps (Italian front)
26.04.1945 captured by British forces
late 1947 released from POW camp
1950 chief advisor on military and security policy to Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and head of Dienststelle Schwerin (Zentrale für Heimatdienst)
1950-1950s advisor on military policy for Free Democratic Party parliamentary group
post-war resident in Rottach-Egern
Awards and Decorations:
Eisernes Kreuz 2. Klasse 1914 (World War I)
Eisernes Kreuz 1. Klasse 1914 (World War I)
Verwundetenabzeichen in Silber 1918 (wounded 26.09.1918)
Ritter des Königlich Preußischen Hausordens von Hohenzollern mit Schwertern (World War I)
Ehrenkreuz für Frontkämpfer
DRL-Sportabzeichen in Bronze (14.03.1930)
DRL-Sportabzeichen in Silber (11.03.1932)
Dienstauszeichnung der Wehrmacht 4. Klasse (4 years)
Dienstauszeichnung der Wehrmacht 3. Klasse (12 years)
Dienstauszeichnung der Wehrmacht 2. Klasse (18 years)
Dienstauszeichnung der Wehrmacht 1. Klasse (25 years)
1939 Spange zum Eisernen Kreuz 2. Klasse (11.05.1940) as Oberstleutnant and Kommandeur I. Bataillon, Infanterie-Regiment Grossdeutschland
1939 Spange zum Eisernen Kreuz 1. Klasse (19.05.1940) as Oberstleutnant and Kommandeur I. Bataillon, Infanterie-Regiment Grossdeutschland
Panzerkampfabzeichen (ohne Zahl) (15.06.1941) as Oberstleutnant and Kommandeur Infanterie-Regiment z.b.V. 200
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes #803 (17.01.1942) as Oberst and Kommandeur Infanterie-Regiment (mot.) 76, 20. Infanterie-Division (mot.). During the fighting near Mga-Cory (on the approaches to Leningrad) from 30 August to 5 September 1941, Schwerin led a Kampfgruppe that became encircled and came under attack from all sides for three days. Despite a direct order from corps headquarters to break out toward Mga, he chose to hold the position with his troops until relief arrived. Through his outstanding leadership and decisive command, the Kampfgruppe held firm, was successfully relieved, and played a key role in the subsequent capture of Schlüsselburg just three days later. This action contributed significantly to German operations in the Leningrad sector during Operation Barbarossa. At the time, his regiment was advancing deep into Soviet territory as part of the broader drive eastward.
Medaille Winterschlacht im Osten 1941/42 (22.07.1942)
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub #240 (17.05.1943) as Generalmajor and Kommandeur 16. Infanterie-Division (mot.)/ Schwerin demonstrated exceptional leadership during the difficult winter retreat of the division from the Caucasus (1942–43). He successfully extricated the division while it was under constant pressure from pursuing Soviet forces, eventually repositioning it along the Mius front by March 1943. His greatest achievement in this period was the destruction of the Soviet 4th Guards Mechanized Corps during the intense fighting for the Fedorenko gorge (18–23 February 1943). These actions prevented the collapse of the sector and preserved combat effectiveness under extreme conditions. The 16. Infanterie-Division (mot.) had been heavily engaged in the fighting around Stalingrad and the subsequent Soviet counteroffensives before the retreat.
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub und Schwertern #41 (04.11.1943) as Generalleutnant and Kommandeur 16. Panzergrenadier-Division. The Schwerter recognized Schwerin’s continued outstanding leadership of the division during its retreat from the Mius position in late summer 1943, followed by its successful defensive and offensive achievements in the fighting for the Zaporozhye bridgehead. These operations occurred under relentless Soviet pressure, and his command prevented encirclement while maintaining the division’s fighting capability. Adolf Hitler personally presented the Swords to him at a ceremony in the Berghof upon his return to Germany.
Ärmelband Afrika (17.12.1943)
Medaglia commemorativa della campagna italo-tedesca in Africa
Ordine della Corona d'Italia - Commendatore
Verwundetenabzeichen 1939 in Silber
Mentioned in Wehrmachtbericht (27.10.1943)
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Gerhard Helmut Detleff Graf von Schwerin was born on 23 June 1899 in Hanover in the German Empire into a Prussian aristocratic family whose father served as a civil official in the Prussian State Government. At the age of fifteen he entered the cadet school at Koslin and soon joined the Prussian Army as a Fahnrich in the 2nd Foot Guards Regiment before transferring to the 2nd Pomeranian Grenadier Regiment. During the closing months of the First World War in 1918 he saw combat on both the Eastern and Western Fronts as a company commander and battalion adjutant until he was wounded on 26 September 1918 and hospitalized until the armistice. For his wartime service he received the Iron Cross Second Class and First Class along with the Wound Badge in Silver and the Honour Cross for Front Fighters.
After the war Schwerin was discharged from the army in 1920 and spent several years in civilian occupations including a managerial apprenticeship with a coffee import firm in Bremen and work for a petroleum company in Berlin. In 1923 he rejoined the Reichswehr as a lieutenant in Infantry Regiment 1 and progressed through a series of infantry postings including service in Infantry Regiment 3 and later Infantry Regiment 18 in Paderborn. He was promoted to captain in June 1933 and from 1933 to 1935 attended the General Staff course at the Prussian Military Academy in Berlin. By October 1938 he had reached the rank of major and served on the staff of the Oberkommando des Heeres. In January 1939 while attached to the UK and US intelligence section at the German Embassy in London he made clandestine contact with British officials urging them to abandon the policy of appeasement and instead support a potential military coup within Germany by deploying naval and air forces to pressure Adolf Hitler over the impending invasion of Poland. These overtures which carried the risk of high treason were conveyed to Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain but ultimately rejected.
With the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939 Schwerin took command of the 1st Battalion of the motorized Infantry Regiment Grossdeutschland and led it through the 1940 campaign in France and the Low Countries where elements of his unit were later investigated for the massacre of disarmed French Senegalese Tirailleurs prisoners. He subsequently commanded Rifle Regiment 86 and other formations before transferring in April 1941 to North Africa as commander of Special Purposes Regiment 200 within the Afrika Korps. There he led a joint German-Italian commando raid deep behind British lines capturing the Mechili oasis and taking nearly three thousand prisoners including three generals an action that helped open the way for Erwin Rommel’s early successes. Returning to Europe late in 1941 he assumed command of Infantry Regiment 76 during Operation Barbarossa on the Eastern Front and for his leadership in holding a cut-off Kampfgruppe near Mga and Schlüsselburg he was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross on 17 January 1942 as an Oberst.
Brief command of the 254th Infantry Brigade followed in spring 1942 before he took over the 8th Jäger Division on the Eastern Front and was promoted to Generalmajor in October 1942. In November 1942 he was given command of the 16th Infantry Division later redesignated the 16th Panzergrenadier Division which he led through the bitter fighting around Stalingrad and the subsequent retreats from the Caucasus and the Mius River line. For his skill in extricating the division and destroying Soviet mechanized forces during these operations he received the Oak Leaves to the Knight’s Cross on 17 May 1943 as Generalmajor and the Swords on 4 November 1943 as Generalleutnant the latter personally presented by Hitler at the Berghof. The division was transferred to France in March 1944 and upgraded to the 116th Panzer Division known as the Windhund or Greyhound Division with Schwerin assuming command on 1 May 1944.
During the Normandy campaign the 116th Panzer Division crossed the Seine on 20 July 1944 and engaged American forces between Beaucoudray and Percy retaking the former village but failing to secure Mont Robin amid difficult terrain that hampered the Panzer IV and Panther tanks. In Operation Lüttich in early August the division advanced toward Brécey but suffered from delayed commitment flank exposure and Allied bombing that severed supplies contributing to the failure of the counter-offensive and leading to Schwerin’s temporary relief from command. Reappointed he led the battered formation which by September 1944 had been reduced to roughly six hundred men twelve serviceable tanks and no artillery during the early fighting around Aachen. Facing the American advance and concerned for the several thousand unevacuated civilians and the historic status of the ancient Holy Roman Empire capital he made the unilateral decision to withdraw his forces declare the city an open city and leave a communiqué at the post office requesting that American commanders treat the civilian population humanely. When the note fell into SS hands he was relieved of command placed under close arrest and replaced by Gerhard Wilck but after intervention by Gerd von Rundstedt and Walter Model he received only a reprimand rather than harsher punishment.
In December 1944 Schwerin was transferred to the Italian front where he succeeded Traugott Herr as commander of the LXXVI Panzer Corps. He was promoted to General der Panzertruppe on 1 April 1945 and continued defensive operations until he was captured by British forces on 26 April 1945. Released from captivity in late 1947 he returned to civilian life and in May 1950 was appointed chief advisor on military and security policy to Chancellor Konrad Adenauer heading the covert Dienststelle Schwerin to lay the groundwork for West German rearmament under American occupation. He was replaced in October 1950 by Theodor Blank after public statements but later served as a military policy advisor to the parliamentary group of the Free Democratic Party. In the post-war decades he cultivated the image of the saviour of Aachen which earned him a street named Graf-Schwerin-Strasse and civic honours in the 1950s and 1970s though the name was changed in 2008 amid renewed scrutiny of incidents under his command including the execution of two fourteen-year-old looters in September 1944.
Schwerin married three times first to Herta Kannengiesser then to Julia Zulich with whom he had two children and finally to Esther Klippel. He died on 29 October 1980 in Rottach-Egern Bavaria at the age of eighty-one and was buried in the local cemetery. Throughout his long career he had also accumulated additional decorations including the 1939 Clasp to the Iron Cross Second and First Class the Panzer Combat Badge the Eastern Front Medal the Africa Cuff Title the Italian-German African Campaign Medal the Order of the Crown of Italy as Commander and various long-service awards reflecting more than three decades of military and advisory service across two world wars and the early years of the Federal Republic.
Source:
https://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/
https://en.wikipedia.org/
https://www.tracesofwar.com/
https://grokipedia.com/
https://rk.balsi.de/index.php?action=list&cat=300
https://www.unithistories.com/units_index/index.php?file=/officers/personsx.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20091027052912fw_/http://geocities.com/orion47.geo/index2.html
https://forum.axishistory.com/
https://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/
Additional sources: Walther-Peer Fellgiebel, Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939-1945 (2000); Veit Scherzer, Ritterkreuzträger 1939-1945 (2007); various unit histories and Wehrmacht documents referenced on the above websites.
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