Bio of General der Panzertruppe Traugott Herr (1890-1976)

Full name: Traugott Johannes Gustav Otto Herr  
Nickname: None known  

Date of Birth: 16 September 1890 - Weferlingen, Kreis Gardelegen, Sachsen (German Empire)  
Date of Death: 13 April 1976 - Achterwehr, Schleswig-Holstein (West Germany)

Battles and Operations: Polish Campaign, Western Campaign, Operation Barbarossa, Caucasus Campaign, Kuban Bridgehead, Italian Campaign, Defensive Battles on the Narew and in Italy  

NSDAP-Number: None  
SS-Number: None  
Religion: Evangelical (Protestant)  
Parents: No detailed information available  
Siblings: No detailed information available  
Spouse: Grete (Erna Else) Paris (married 1916)  
Children: Four children (names unknown)

Promotions:  
18 April 1911 Fahnenjunker  
09 August 1911 Fahnenjunker-Unteroffizier  
19 December 1911 Fähnrich  
18 August 1912 Leutnant  
28 November 1917 Oberleutnant  
01 January 1926 Hauptmann  
01 June 1934 Major  
01 October 1936 Oberstleutnant  
01 August 1939 Oberst  
01 April 1942 Generalmajor  
01 December 1942 Generalleutnant  
01 September 1943 General der Panzertruppe

Career:  
18 April 1911-1912 Fahnenjunker in the 1st Brandenburg Fusilier Regiment "Prince Heinrich of Prussia" No. 35  
1912-1914 Service in the regiment after attending the War School in Glogau  
1914-1916 Participation in World War I as battalion and regimental adjutant and company commander  
1916-1917 Seriously wounded and hospitalized  
1917 Return to the front as company commander in Infantry Regiment No. 451  
Post-war period Transfer to the Reichswehr, service in the 9th (Prussian) Infantry Regiment as company officer and machine gun company commander  
1923-1924 Commanded to the training squadron of the 9th (Prussian) Cavalry Regiment and staff of the 3rd Division  
1926-1933 Staff officer and company commander in the 9th Infantry Regiment  
1933-1935 Tactics instructor at the Infantry School and War School Dresden  
01 January 1937-26 August 1939 Commander of III Battalion, Infantry Regiment 33 in Zerbst  
Mobilization 1939 Commander of Infantry Replacement Regiment 13 in Magdeburg  
20 September 1939-17 October 1940 Commander of Infantry Regiment (mot.) 66  
14 October 1940-29 November 1941 Commander of the 13th Rifle Brigade  
01 December 1941 Commander of the 13th Panzer Division (initially acting)  
01 April 1942-31 October 1942 Commander of the 13th Panzer Division  
June 1943 Commander of LXXVI Army Corps (later renamed LXXVI Panzer Corps) in France and Italy  
24 November 1944 Briefly commander of the 14th Army  
15 February 1945-02 May 1945 Commander-in-Chief of the 10th Army  
02 May 1945-17 May 1948 British captivity  
17 May 1948 Released

Awards and Decorations:  
Eisernes Kreuz 1914 2. Klasse (14.09.1914)
Eisernes Kreuz 1914 1. Klasse (21.10.1915)
Ritterkreuz des Königlich Preußischen Hausordens von Hohenzollern mit Schwertern (autumn 1917)
Hanseatisches Kreuz Hamburg (15.08.1918)
Verwundetenabzeichen 1918 in Schwarz (20.11.1918)
Ehrenkreuz des Weltkrieges 1914/18 mit Schwertern
Wehrmacht-Dienstauszeichnung IV. bis I. Klasse (02.10.1936)
Österreichische Kriegs-Erinnerungs-Medaille mit Schwertern
Sudetenland-Medaille
Spange zum Eisernen Kreuz 2. Klasse (24.09.1939)
Spange zum Eisernen Kreuz 1. Klasse (12.05.1940)
Infanterie-Sturmabzeichen in Silber
Panzerkampfabzeichen in Silber
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes (02.10.1941) as Oberst and Kommandeur 13. Schützen-Brigade. Herr earned the award for his decisive actions in expanding the German bridgehead across the Dnieper River at Dnepropetrovsk during Operation Barbarossa in late summer 1941. Under scorching heat and relentless Soviet counterattacks, with supply lines stretched to the breaking point and enemy forces hammering the fragile crossing, Herr led his rifle regiments in fierce house-to-house fighting and desperate assaults. Despite grave misgivings about the risks, he pressed the advance, repelling wave after wave of Red Army infantry and armor while rescuing isolated German units cut off and facing annihilation, thereby securing a vital foothold that enabled the continued drive into the Donbass region.
Medaille Winterschlacht im Osten 1941/42 (03.08.1942)
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub #110 (09.08.1942) as Generalmajor and Kommandeur 13. Panzer-Division. The medal was awarded for the division's spectacular recapture of Rostov-on-Don in July 1942. In a lightning thrust across the dusty Ukrainian steppes amid swirling clouds of sand and intense Soviet resistance, Herr's panzers and grenadiers punched through fortified lines along the Don River, overrunning enemy positions in rapid combined-arms attacks that seized the strategic city and opened the gateway to the Caucasus oil fields. This bold operation stabilized the southern sector of the Eastern Front, allowing the deeper push toward the Terek River and demonstrating Herr's skill in coordinating fast-moving armored spearheads under extreme logistical strain.
Verwundetenabzeichen 1939 in Silber (21.10.1942)
Mentioned in the Wehrmacht Report (24 June 1944 and 22 September 1944)
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub und Schwertern #117 (18.12.1944) as General der Panzertruppe and Kommandierender General LXXVI. Panzerkorps. The medal was awarded for his masterful defense during three major Allied offensives against the German lines near Rimini in Italy from late August to mid-November 1944. In the pouring autumn rains and rugged Apennine foothills, with olive groves turned into muddy quagmires, Herr orchestrated a stubborn elastic defense using depleted panzer and panzergrenadier units in close coordination with dug-in infantry. Facing overwhelming British Eighth Army assaults supported by massive air and artillery barrages, his corps inflicted devastating losses on the attackers—claiming 651 Allied tanks destroyed in the first four weeks alone—slowly yielding ground yard by yard but never allowing a decisive breakthrough, thus holding the Adriatic sector firm and preventing the collapse of the Italian front.

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Traugott Johannes Gustav Otto Herr was a German general of the Wehrmacht during World War II who rose to the rank of General der Panzertruppe and commanded major formations on the Eastern Front and in Italy. Born on 16 September 1890 in Weferlingen in the Province of Saxony, he served with distinction in both world wars, earning the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords for his leadership in critical operations. Herr commanded the 13th Panzer Division during the Caucasus campaign and later the LXXVI Panzer Corps and briefly the 10th Army in the Italian theater, where his defensive actions helped prolong German resistance against overwhelming Allied forces. He was mentioned twice by name in the Wehrmachtbericht and survived the war to live quietly in West Germany until his death on 13 April 1976 at the age of eighty-five.

Herr began his military career on 18 April 1911 when he joined the Fusilier Regiment Prince Heinrich of Prussia (Brandenburg) No. 35 as a Fahnenjunker. During World War I he served as a battalion and regimental adjutant and later as a company commander, seeing action on the Western Front. He was seriously wounded on 31 August 1916 but returned to duty in January 1917, continuing to lead troops until the armistice. For his service he received the Iron Cross second class in September 1914 and first class in October 1915, along with the Knight's Cross of the House Order of Hohenzollern with Swords, the Hanseatic Cross of Hamburg, and the Wound Badge in black. After the war he transferred to the Reichswehr, serving in various staff and command roles including as a company commander in the 9th Infantry Regiment and as a tactics instructor at the Infantry School and War School in Dresden.

In the 1930s Herr advanced steadily in the expanding Wehrmacht. He commanded the third battalion of Infantry Regiment 33 from January 1937 until the outbreak of war and then led Infantry Replacement Regiment 13 during mobilization. By September 1939 he took command of Infantry Regiment 66 (motorized), participating in the invasion of Poland and the subsequent campaign in France. In October 1940 he assumed command of the 13th Rifle Brigade within the newly formed 13th Panzer Division. His early World War II decorations included the clasps to the Iron Cross and the Infantry Assault Badge in silver. These assignments prepared him for the mobile warfare that would define his reputation on the Eastern Front.

During Operation Barbarossa in 1941 Herr's brigade played a pivotal role in the southern sector with Army Group South. In late summer, under intense heat and with supply lines strained, he led aggressive assaults to expand the German bridgehead across the Dnieper River at Dnepropetrovsk. Facing repeated Soviet counterattacks that threatened to isolate forward units, Herr pressed the advance despite grave personal misgivings about the risks, coordinating house-to-house fighting and rapid maneuvers that rescued cut-off German elements from annihilation and secured a vital crossing. His determined leadership earned him the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 2 October 1941 as an Oberst. By December he took acting command of the full 13th Panzer Division, which he formally assumed in April 1942 with promotion to Generalmajor.

The division's finest hour under Herr came in the summer of 1942 during the drive toward the Caucasus. In a lightning operation across the Ukrainian steppes, his panzers and grenadiers executed rapid combined-arms attacks that recaptured Rostov-on-Don in July after heavy fighting along the Don River. The swift seizure of the city opened the gateway to the oil fields further south, stabilizing the southern front amid swirling dust and Soviet resistance. For this achievement Herr received the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross on 9 August 1942 as the 110th recipient. The division pushed on toward the Terek River, but in October Herr suffered a severe head wound from shell splinters and was evacuated to Germany for recovery, ending his direct command of the division.

In June 1943 Herr returned to active duty as commander of the LXXVI Panzer Corps, initially in France before transfer to Italy in August. There he faced the British Eighth Army in Calabria and the U.S. Fifth Army at Salerno, conducting a stubborn defense during the grueling Italian Campaign. From late August to mid-November 1944 his depleted corps fought three major Allied offensives near Rimini in the muddy Apennine foothills, using elastic tactics and close coordination between panzergrenadiers and dug-in infantry to blunt massive artillery and air-supported assaults. German claims credited the corps with destroying 651 Allied tanks in the first four weeks alone while yielding ground only gradually without allowing a decisive breakthrough. For this masterful holding action Herr was awarded the Swords to the Knight's Cross on 18 December 1944 as the 117th recipient and promoted to General der Panzertruppe. He briefly commanded the 14th Army in November 1944 before taking over the 10th Army in February 1945, defending the Adriatic sector until the final surrender of Army Group C on 2 May 1945.

Herr spent the next three years in British captivity before his release in May 1948. He settled in Schleswig-Holstein and lived a retired life free of any charges related to wartime conduct. Married to Grete Paris since 1916 and father to four children, he remained a private figure in the postwar decades, remembered primarily for his professional soldiering and high decorations earned through frontline leadership in some of the war's most demanding campaigns.

Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traugott_Herr  
https://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/  
https://www.tracesofwar.com/persons/34578/Herr-Traugott.htm  
https://www.specialcamp11.co.uk/General%20der%20Panzertruppe%20Traugott%20Herr.htm  
https://rk.balsi.de/  
https://www.unithistories.com/  
https://forum.axishistory.com/  
https://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/  
https://www.geni.com/  
https://grokipedia.com/  
Die Ritterkreuzträger der Deutschen Panzerdivisionen 1939-1945 (various editions)