Nickname: No information
Date of Birth: 06.07.1897 - Berlin (German Empire)
Date of Death: 26.04.1994 - Konstanz (Germany)
Battles and Operations: World War I, Invasion of Poland 1939, Operation Barbarossa 1941, Breakthrough to Voronezh and battles in the Don Bend 1942, Battles around Stalingrad 1942, Defensive battles on the Eastern Front 1943-1944 (Dnieper bend, Nikopol bridgehead, Cherkassy pocket, battles between San and Vistula rivers), Surrender negotiations of the 12th Army May 1945
NSDAP-Number: No information
SS-Number: No information
Religion: No information
Parents: No information
Siblings: No information
Spouse: No information
Children: No information
Promotions:
11.08.1914 Offiziersanwärter (Fahnenjunker)
04.12.1914 Fahnenjunker-Unteroffizier
30.03.1915 Fähnrich
15.12.1915 Leutnant (Patent 21.05.1916, RDA 01.09.1915)
31.07.1925 Oberleutnant (RDA 01.04.1925)
01.04.1931 Rittmeister
01.03.1936 Major
01.04.1939 Oberstleutnant
17.12.1941 Oberst (RDA 01.12.1940)
01.06.1943 Generalmajor
20.05.1944 Generalleutnant
01.12.1944 General der Panzertruppe
Career:
11.08.1914 Fahnenjunker in 2. Garde-Ulanen-Regiment, Berlin
20.02.1915-28.03.1916 In the field with Mobile 2. Garde-Ulanen-Regiment
24.02.1916-20.03.1916 Detached to MG-Course with 5. MG-Bataillon
28.03.1916-10.08.1916 Detached to MG-Zug of 2. Garde-Ulanen-Regiment
10.08.1916-14.01.1917 Detached to Field-War-School Libau
14.01.1917-31.01.1919 Infanterie-Ersatz-Regiment Nr. 59 / 59. Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment
20.06.1917-16.07.1917 Detached to MG-Course in Olita
10.06.1918-17.06.1918 Detached to Course for Indirect Firing with Machineguns, 46. MG-Bataillon
31.01.1919-09.03.1919 Back to 2. Garde-Ulanen-Regiment
09.03.1919-01.05.1919 Detached to Freikorps Hülsen
01.05.1919-01.04.1920 9. Reichswehr-Kavallerie-Regiment / 4. (Preußisches) Reiter-Regiment
01.04.1920-30.09.1920 Detached to Kavallerieschule Hannover
30.09.1920-01.04.1923 Training-Squadron, 4. Reiter-Regiment
01.04.1923-01.10.1926 MG-Zug, 4. Reiter-Regiment
01.10.1926-01.10.1928 Ausbildungsoffizier Kavallerieschule Hannover
01.10.1928-01.01.1929 Squadron-Officer, 4. Schwadron, 4. Reiter-Regiment
01.01.1929-01.04.1929 Detached to Kavallerieschule Hannover
01.04.1929-01.10.1931 Stab, 2. (Preußisches) Reiter-Regiment, Osterode
01.10.1931-01.10.1934 Chef 4. Schwadron, 4. Reiter-Regiment, Perleberg
01.10.1934-15.05.1935 Schwadronchef, Reiter-Regiment Potsdam
15.05.1935-15.10.1935 Stab Kavallerie-Kommando Potsdam
15.10.1935-01.04.1936 Adjutant, 4. Reiter-Brigade Potsdam
01.04.1936-12.10.1937 Höherer Kavallerie-Offizier 4
12.10.1937-29.07.1938 Höherer Kavallerie-Offizier 2
29.07.1938-10.11.1938 Führer II./Kavallerie-Regiment 6
10.11.1938-30.09.1941 Kommandeur Radfahr-Abteilung 1, Tilsit
30.09.1941-01.12.1941 Kommandeur Reiter-Regiment 22
01.12.1941-10.10.1942 Kommandeur Schützen-Regiment 26 / Panzergrenadier-Regiment 26
10.10.1942-08.11.1942 mit der Führung beauftragt 20. Panzergrenadier-Brigade
08.11.1942-01.03.1943 Führerreserve OKH
18.01.1943-12.02.1943 Divisions-Führerlehrgang Döberitz
01.03.1943-01.06.1943 Führer 24. Panzer-Division
01.06.1943-21.09.1944 Kommandeur 24. Panzer-Division
21.09.1944-01.12.1944 mit der Führung beauftragt XXXXVIII. Panzerkorps
01.12.1944-03.05.1945 Kommandierender General XXXXVIII. Panzerkorps
03.05.1945 Verhandlungsführer 12. Armee (surrender negotiations with Americans)
08.05.1945-31.03.1947 American POW
31.03.1947 Released
Awards and Decorations:
1914 Eisernes Kreuz 2. Klasse (27.11.1915)
1914 Eisernes Kreuz 1. Klasse (26.10.1918)
1939 Spange zum Eisernen Kreuz 2. Klasse (19.09.1939)
1939 Spange zum Eisernen Kreuz 1. Klasse (14.10.1939)
Ehrenkreuz für Frontkämpfer
Wehrmacht-Dienstauszeichnung IV. bis I. Klasse
Ritterkreuz II. Klasse des Großherzoglich Badischen Ordens vom Zähringer Löwen mit Schwertern
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes #398 (30.07.1941) as Oberstleutnant and Kommandeur Radfahr-Abteilung 1 / 1.Kavallerie-Division. He led the division’s Vorausabteilung (advance detachment) in the opening phase of Operation Barbarossa. His orders were clear and urgent: thrust forward through Hwoznice, Maloriyta, Mekrany and Dywin, seize every important bridge intact, and smash through any enemy resistance to open the road for the rest of the division. Racing on bicycles and light vehicles across the dusty roads of western Russia, Edelsheim’s men repeatedly found themselves outnumbered by Soviet infantry and artillery. Soviet defenders fought stubbornly from villages and woodlines, pouring machine-gun and mortar fire onto the narrow columns. Yet Edelsheim kept the momentum, personally directing assaults that captured bridge after bridge before the enemy could blow them. His detachment fought its way forward in a series of sharp, running battles, clearing obstacles and maintaining contact with the following main force. By reaching the area south of Slutsk, the unit secured the vital right flank of XXIV. Armee-Korps and enabled the rapid German advance deeper into Belarus. For this outstanding leadership under constant pressure in the chaotic first days of the invasion, he received the Ritterkreuz.
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub #162 (23.12.1942) as Oberst and Kommandeur Panzergrenadier-Regiment 26 / 24.Panzer-Division. He earned the award through a string of brilliant offensive actions during the 1942 summer campaign. In the breakthrough to Voronezh (28 June – 8 July 1942) his regiment spearheaded the division’s dash across the open steppe, overrunning Soviet positions in rapid combined-arms assaults. The fighting in the great Don Bend (9 July – 21 August 1942) saw weeks of mobile warfare: panzergrenadiers riding half-tracks and assault guns, duelling with Soviet tank brigades amid burning wheat fields and endless dust clouds while protecting the flanks of the advancing 6. Armee.
The climax came in September 1942 inside Stalingrad itself. Edelsheim formed the core of Kampfgruppe Edelsheim – the strongest battle group in the division – with tanks from Panzer-Abteilung Lancken, his own panzergrenadiers, self-propelled guns and artillery. On the morning of the main assault into the southern city, the Kampfgruppe surged forward under Luftwaffe Stuka support. Within hours they had carved two kilometres deep into the southern districts, then swung north, slicing another two kilometres toward the city centre. Soviet defenders fought desperately from ruined factories, apartment blocks and cellars in the infamous “Rattenkrieg” – brutal, room-by-room, hand-to-hand combat. Edelsheim’s grenadiers cleared streets under sniper fire, stormed the South Railway Station in savage close-quarters fighting, and pushed a narrow corridor to within two kilometres of the Volga. Despite heavy losses and constant counter-attacks, the regiment held key positions along the Tsaritsa River and the railway embankment. These successes in the blood-soaked ruins of Stalingrad, combined with the earlier breakthroughs, brought him the Eichenlaub.
Königlich Rumänischer Orden „Michael der Tapfere“ III. Klasse 30.05.1944
Nennung im Wehrmachtbericht 21.02.1944, 28.08.1944, 17.10.1944
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub und Schwertern #105 (23.10.1944) as Generalleutnant and Kommandeur 24. Panzer-Division. He received the Swords for his masterly direction of the division through nearly a year of bitter defensive fighting on the Eastern Front. From October to November 1943 the division anchored the German line in the Dnieper Bend, launching repeated counter-attacks to blunt massive Soviet assaults and buying time for the withdrawal of Army Group South. In the Nikopol bridgehead (November 1943 – January 1944) his panzers and grenadiers clung to the western bank of the Dnieper under ceaseless artillery barrages and infantry waves, evacuating only after inflicting punishing losses on the Red Army.
The Cherkassy Pocket (28 January – 9 February 1944) tested the division to the limit. Encircled with other German units, the 24. Panzer-Division fought a desperate breakout through waist-deep snow and mud. Under constant fire from three sides, Edelsheim coordinated the division’s fighting withdrawal, keeping the panzers and assault guns as a mobile shield while the infantry clawed their way westward through Soviet blocking positions. The battles between the Dnieper and Ingulez rivers, then the Ingulez and Bug (February – March 1944), were a series of savage delaying actions: rearguard stands, night marches and local counter-strokes to cover the long retreat. In Romania, between Targul Frumos and Jassy (March – June 1944), the division stopped Soviet armoured thrusts in open-country tank-versus-tank fighting.
Later that summer, between the San and Vistula rivers (July – August 1944), Edelsheim’s men again formed the backbone of the defence amid the chaos following the Soviet summer offensive. Finally, in the Dukla Pass through the Carpathians up to 28 September 1944, the division held the mountain strongpoints in bitter high-ground fighting against overwhelming odds. Throughout these campaigns Edelsheim’s calm, decisive leadership preserved the division’s combat power, prevented collapse of entire sectors and allowed the orderly withdrawal of larger German forces. For this sustained excellence in the face of relentless Soviet superiority he was awarded the Schwerter.
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Maximilian Reichsfreiherr von Edelsheim was a highly decorated German general of the Wehrmacht who rose to the rank of General der Panzertruppe and commanded both a panzer division and a panzer corps during the Second World War. Born into an old noble family on 6 July 1897 in Berlin, he served with distinction in two world conflicts, earning the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords for his leadership in cavalry reconnaissance, armored breakthroughs, and tenacious defensive operations on the Eastern Front. His career exemplified the transition from traditional mounted warfare in the Kaiser's army to the motorized and armored tactics of the Blitzkrieg era, and later to the grim attritional fighting of the war's final years. After the conflict he spent two years as a prisoner of war before living quietly in postwar West Germany until his death on 26 April 1994 in Konstanz at the age of ninety-six.
Edelsheim's military service began at the outbreak of the First World War when, as a seventeen-year-old Fahnenjunker, he joined the elite 2nd Guard Uhlan Regiment in Berlin. He saw action on the Western and Eastern Fronts, earning both classes of the Iron Cross for bravery under fire. After the armistice he was retained in the small Reichswehr, specializing in cavalry and machine-gun tactics. Through the 1920s and 1930s he progressed steadily through regimental and staff appointments, serving as a squadron commander, instructor at the cavalry school in Hannover, and eventually as a higher cavalry officer. These interwar years honed his skills in mobile reconnaissance and combined-arms operations, preparing him for the rapid campaigns that would define the opening phases of the next war.
When the Second World War erupted in 1939 Edelsheim participated in the invasion of Poland as a major and later lieutenant colonel. By the launch of Operation Barbarossa in June 1941 he commanded the bicycle-mounted Radfahr-Abteilung 1 of the 1st Cavalry Division. Leading the division's advance detachment, he drove his men forward through western Russia in a series of lightning thrusts, seizing bridges intact at Hwoznice, Maloriyta, Mekrany, and Dywin despite fierce Soviet resistance from villages and woodlines. Under constant machine-gun and mortar fire his troops cleared obstacles and maintained momentum, securing the right flank of the XXIV Army Corps and enabling the deeper German advance into Belarus. For this outstanding leadership in the chaotic first days of the invasion he was awarded the Knight's Cross on 30 July 1941.
Transferred to the 24th Panzer Division, Edelsheim took command of Panzergrenadier Regiment 26 and distinguished himself during the great summer offensive of 1942. His regiment spearheaded the breakthrough to Voronezh in late June and early July, racing across the open steppe in rapid combined-arms assaults amid clouds of dust and burning wheat fields. In the subsequent fighting in the great Don Bend his panzergrenadiers dueled Soviet tank brigades in mobile warfare that protected the flanks of the Sixth Army. The climax came in September inside Stalingrad itself when Edelsheim formed Kampfgruppe Edelsheim, the division's strongest battle group. Supported by Stuka dive-bombers, the Kampfgruppe carved deep into the southern districts on the first day of the assault, then swung north through ruined factories and apartment blocks in brutal hand-to-hand combat known as the Rattenkrieg. His grenadiers stormed the South Railway Station under sniper fire and pushed a corridor to within two kilometers of the Volga, holding key positions along the Tsaritsa River despite relentless counterattacks. These actions earned him the Oak Leaves on 23 December 1942.
As commander of the 24th Panzer Division from mid-1943 onward, Edelsheim directed nearly a year of bitter defensive fighting across Ukraine and Poland. In the Dnieper Bend his division launched repeated counterattacks to blunt massive Soviet assaults, buying precious time for the withdrawal of Army Group South. During the encirclement in the Cherkassy Pocket in January and February 1944 the division fought a desperate breakout through waist-deep snow and mud, with Edelsheim coordinating the panzers as a mobile shield while infantry clawed westward through Soviet blocking positions. Subsequent delaying actions between the Ingulez and Bug rivers, tank-versus-tank clashes near Targul Frumos and Jassy in Romania, and rearguard stands along the San and Vistula rivers in the summer of 1944 demonstrated his skill in preserving combat power amid overwhelming odds. In the Carpathian mountains at the Dukla Pass his men held high-ground strongpoints until late September. For this sustained excellence he received the Swords on 23 October 1944.
In the final weeks of the war Edelsheim was appointed commander of the XLVIII Panzer Corps and later served as the chief negotiator for the Twelfth Army's surrender to American forces at the Elbe River in May 1945. Captured by U.S. troops, he spent nearly two years in prisoner-of-war camps before his release in March 1947. Little is known of his postwar private life; he lived quietly in southern Germany without seeking public prominence or writing memoirs. Edelsheim's decorations also included both classes of the 1939 Iron Cross Spange, the Honor Cross for Frontline Combatants, long-service awards, and several foreign orders. His career remains a study in the evolution of German mobile warfare from the cavalry traditions of 1914 to the armored rearguard actions that prolonged the defense of the Reich in 1944 and 1945.
Oberstleutnant
Maximilian von Edelsheim (Kommandeur Radfahr-Abteilung 1 /
1.Kavallerie-Division) with his officers in the Eastern Front, 1941. At
the start of Operation Barbarossa Oberstleutnant Edelsheim commanded the
Vorausabteilung of the 1. Kavallerie-Division. Its initial orders were
to march through Hwoznice, Maloriyta, Mekrany and Dywin. Along the way
it was to capture any important bridges and break through any enemy
forces encountered. Despite the tough enemy resistance that often
outnumbered the Vorausabteilung itself, Edelsheim and his men were able
to fight their way through the Soviet forces and clear the way for the
rest of the Division. The Division was ultimately able to reach the area
south of Sluck as ordered and fulfill its mission of providing flank
protection for the XXIV. Armee-Korps. Oberstleutnant Edelsheim would
subsequently be awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes for the
invaluable service he rendered in this capacity.
General
der Panzertruppe Maximilian Reichsfreiherr von Edelsheim and other
officers leave in their command VW Schwimmwagen for the far side of the
River Elbe to convey the terms of surrender to their subordinate
commanders. They have just left the city hall of Stendal, Germany, where
Major Frank Keating from the U.S. 102nd Infantry Division and Major
General James Moore, Chief of Staff of the U.S. 9th Army, gave them the
terms for the German XXXXVIII. Panzerkorps of which Edelsheim commanded
at the time. 4 May 1945. The bulk of the retreating German forces, along
with several thousand civilians fleeing the final Soviet advance,
reached and crossed the Elbe using the partially destroyed bridge at
Tangermünde between 4 May and 7 May 1945, surrendering to elements of
the 102nd Infantry Division / 9th Army. The vehicle isn't a standard
Type 166 VW Schwimmwagen, but the very rare limited production Type 128.
Notice the high the body sides and the exhaust venting under the rear
mudguard. The small badge on the side of the vehicle is the 48th
Panzerkorps badge). Photo courtesy of US Army Signal Corps. Colourised by Richard James Molloy. Other pictures from this occasion can be seen HERE.
Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilian_von_Edelsheim
https://www.tracesofwar.com/persons/29895/Edelsheim-Reichsfreiherr-von-Maximilian.htm
https://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Personenregister/E/EdelsheimMRv.htm
http://www.geocities.ws/orion47.geo/WEHRMACHT/HEER/General/EDELSHEIM_MAXIMILIAN.html
https://grokipedia.com/page/maximilian_von_edelsheim
https://forum.axishistory.com/
https://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/
Scherzer, Veit. Die Ritterkreuzträger 1939-1945. Jena 2007.
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