Bio of Generaloberst Johannes Blaskowitz (1883-1948)

Full name: Johannes Albrecht Blaskowitz.  
Nickname: No information

Date of birth: 10 July 1883 - Peterswalde, East Prussia (German Empire)
Date of death: 5 February 1948 - Nuremberg, Bavaria (Germany)

Religion: Protestant (evangelisch‑lutherisch)
Parents: Hermann Adam Franz Blaskowitz (1848–1919), a Protestant pastor, and Marie Blaskowitz, née Kuhn (1852–1886)
Siblings: Blaskowitz had three sisters, with whom he grew up in East Prussia after his mother’s early death in 1886 and his father’s second marriage
Spouse: Anna Blaskowitz, née Riege (married 1906)
Children: One son and one daughter. Exact first names are not consistently recorded in major biographical sources but are listed as “1 Sohn, 1 Tochter” in regional biographical registers. [ostpreussen]

Promotions:
00.00.1899: Kadett
02.03.1901: Fähnrich
27.01.1902: Leutnant - Patent 10.07.1900
27.01.1910: Oberleutnant
17.02.1914: Hauptmann
01.06.1921: Major
06.04.1926: Oberstleutnant
01.10.1929: Oberst
01.10.1932: Generalmajor
01.12.1933: Generalleutnant
01.08.1936: General der Infanterie
01.10.1939: Generaloberst

Career:
00.00.1894: Kadett in Köslin
00.00.1897: Hauptkadettenanstalt, Groß-Lichterfelde, Berlin
02.03.1901: Fähnrich, Infanterie-Regiment „von Grolmann" (1. Posensches) Nr. 18, Osterode
00.00.1901: Kriegsschule Engers
27.01.1902: promoted to Leutnant
00.00.1908-00.00.1911: Kriegsakademie in Berlin
00.00.1911: promoted to Oberleutnant, 3. Kompanie, 9. Badischen Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 170, Offenburg
01.04.1914: Olt., Stab, Infanterie-Regiment „Markgraf Ludwig Wilhelm" (3. Badisches) Nr. 111
00.00.1914-00.00.1918: Hauptmann und Kompaniechef - Eastern front, Lothringen, Flandern, Tirol, Serbia
00.04.1916: Generalstabsoffizier - Kovel, Riga
00.00.1919: Hauptquartier, X. Armee-Korps, Hannover
00.00.1919: Generalstabsoffizier, Hauptquartier, Wehrkreis V, Stuttgart
01.10.1924: Kommandeur, III. Bataillon, 13. (Württembergischen) Infanterie-Regiment, Ulm
00.00.1926: promoted to Oberstleutnant
00.00.1928: Chef des Stabes, 5. Division, Stuttgart
01.10.1929: promoted to Oberst und Landeskommandant Baden
00.10.1930: Oberst, Kommandeur, 14. (Badisches) Infanterie-Regiment „Seehasen", Konstanz
01.10.1932: promoted to Generalmajor
01.02.1933: Generalmajor, Inspekteur der Waffenschulen, Reichswehrministerium Berlin
01.12.1933: promoted to Generalleutnant
00.00.1935: Generalleutnant, Kommandierender General, Wehrkreis II, Stettin
00.00.1936: promoted to General der Infanterie
00.00.1938: Oberbefehlshaber (OB), Heeresgruppe 3, Dresden
00.10.1938: occupation of the Sudetenland
00.04.1939: occupation of the remain of Czecho-Slowakia
00.09.1939: Befehlshaber, 8. Armee - invasion of Poland, Bzura, Leczyca, Lodz
28.09.1939: received the surrender of Warsaw
01.10.1939: promoted to Generaloberst
26.10.1939: Oberbefehlshaber Ost
00.11.1939: Chef des deutschen Besatzungsheeres in Polen, replaced by Hans Frank after protest against the brutality shown by SS troops
00.05.1940: Befehlshaber, 9. Armee - campaign in the West
09.06.1940-00.05.1944: Militärbefehlshaber Nordfrankreich, fighting the resistance
00.05.1944: Kdr, Armeegruppe G
15.08.1944: moved to Elsass
00.09.1944: Kdr, Heeresgruppe G - to prevent the Allies from staging an invasion in the south of France
00.01.1945: ordered to launch an offensive, comparable to the Ardennes offensive that failed
00.01.1945: Kdr, Heeresgruppe H - participated in the negotiations concerning the dropping of food, Operation Manna, to relieve the starving population in those parts of the Netherlands that had not yet been liberated by the Allies
06.04.1945: Oberbefehlhaber, 25. Armee und Oberbefehlshaber, „Festung Holland"
06.05.1945: capitulated to Canadian general Foulkes in hotel 'De Wereld', Wageningen
07.05.1945: POW camp Dachau, then POW camp Allendorf bei Marburg and finally in POW camp Nürnberg
00.00.1946: indicted for war crimes
00.02.1948: committed suicide by jumping off a balcony in prison, Nürnberg

Awards and Decorations:
1914 Eisernes Kreuz II.Klasse (27 September 1914)
1914 Eisernes Kreuz I.Klasse (2 March 1915)
Ritterkreuz II.Klasse des Grossherzoglich Badischen Ordens vom Zähringer Löwen mit Schwertern (1915)
Kaiserlich und königlich Österreichische Militär-Verdienstkreuz III.Klasse mit der Kriegsdekoration (10 February 1916)
Königlich Bayerische Militär-Verdienstorden IV.Klasse mit Schwertern (15 May 1916)
Grossherzoglich Oldenburgisches Friedrich August-Kreuz II.Klasse (26 May 1916)
Grossherzoglich Oldenburgisches Friedrich August-Kreuz I.Klasse (26 May 1916)
Braunschweigisches Kriegsverdienstkreuz II.Klasse (4 June 1916)
Turkish Harp Madalyası / Gallipoli Star (11 July 1917)
Ritterkreuz des Königlicher Preußischer Hausorden von Hohenzollern mit Schwertern (1 September 1917)
Verwundetenabzeichen 1918 in Schwarz (1918)
Ehrenkreuz für Frontkämpfer (10 November 1934)
Dienstauszeichnung der Wehrmacht IV.Klasse, 4 Jahre (2 October 1936)
Dienstauszeichnung der Wehrmacht III.Klasse, 12 Jahre (2 October 1936)
Dienstauszeichnung der Wehrmacht II. Klasse, 18 Jahre (2 October 1936)
Dienstauszeichnung der Wehrmacht I.Klasse, 25 Jahre (2 October 1936)
Hungarian Haborus Emlékérem kardokkal és sisakkal (11 December 1936)
Österreichische Kriegs-Erinnerungs-Medaille mit Schwertern (12 January 1937)
Bulgarian Royal WW1 Veteran Medal (19 January 1937)
Medaille zur Erinnerung an den 13. März 1938 (1938)
Medaille zur Erinnerung an den 1 Oktober 1938 (1939)
Medaille zur Erinnerung an den 1 Oktober 1938 mit Spange “Prager Burg” (1939)
1939 spange zum 1914 Eisernes Kreuz II.Klasse (11 September 1939)
1939 spange zum 1914 Eisernes Kreuz I.Klasse (21 September 1939)
Mentioned in Wehrmachtbericht (27 September 1939)
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes (30 September 1939) as General der Infanterie and Oberbefehlshaber 8. Armee. His forces handled the northern sector, advancing toward Warsaw and Łódź while facing heavy fighting. The pivotal action was the Battle of the Bzura (9–19 September 1939), the largest engagement of the Polish campaign and a major Polish counteroffensive. Polish forces from Army Poznań and Army Pomorze (under Tadeusz Kutrzeba) launched a surprise attack against the exposed northern flank of the German 8th Army, initially overrunning parts of the thinly stretched 30th Infantry Division and elements of the 24th Infantry Division. Polish infantry and cavalry brigades (supported by light tankettes) inflicted thousands of casualties, took prisoners, and threatened to disrupt the German advance on Warsaw.
Blaskowitz responded decisively: he halted the 8th Army's push toward Warsaw, redirected units to form a cohesive front, and coordinated with reinforcements (including panzer divisions from the 10th Army and elements of the 4th Army). German forces, backed by intense Luftwaffe bombing and dive-bomber strikes that pounded Polish concentrations along the Bzura River, gradually encircled the Poles. Fierce close-quarters fighting occurred in areas like Łęczyca, Kutno, and the forests, with Polish cavalry charges clashing against German infantry and armor in one of the last major uses of horse-mounted troops against mechanized forces.
By mid-September, the Germans sealed the pocket. The Poles suffered catastrophic losses (tens of thousands killed/wounded, ~170,000 captured), while the 8th Army absorbed heavy initial blows but held and counterattacked effectively. Blaskowitz later accepted the surrender of Warsaw on 28 September. His leadership in stabilizing the front, preventing a breakthrough, and contributing to the destruction of major Polish armies earned him the Ritterkreuz (one of the earliest awards!), promotion to Generaloberst, and appointment as Commander-in-Chief East.
Ordine della Corona d'Italia - Cavaliere della Croce Grande (28 January 1941)
Kriegsverdienstkreuz II.Klasse mit Schwertern
Kriegsverdienstkreuz I.Klasse mit Schwertern
Deutsches Kreuz in Silber (30 October 1943)
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub #640 (29 October 1944) as Generaloberst and Oberbefehlshaber Heeresgruppe G. His forces were understrength, with many second-rate units (including Ostlegionen) and limited air support after transfers to Normandy. On 15 August 1944, the Allies launched Operation Dragoon, landing overwhelming forces on the French Riviera. Blaskowitz faced massive numerical and material superiority (U.S. Seventh Army and French forces). He organized a stubborn defense, stabilized lines where possible, and executed a skillful fighting withdrawal northward up the Rhône Valley and through the Vosges Mountains to avoid encirclement. His troops conducted delaying actions, rearguard fights, and coordinated retreats, preserving much of the force in battle-worthy condition despite heavy pressure.
A contemporary Führer Headquarters press notice highlighted: "his determination and superior leadership proved sufficient to ensure that his subordinated formations were able to escape all enemy encirclement attempts. All while fighting heavy battles against a much-larger enemy, he led his Armeegruppe back in a completely battle-worthy state."
He was briefly relieved after a failed counterattack near Arracourt (ordered by Hitler against his and Manteuffel's advice) but later regained command. The Oak Leaves recognized this orderly retreat that prevented total collapse in the south.
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub und Schwertern #146 (25 April 1945) as Generaloberst and Oberbefehlshaber Niederlande. He conducted a prolonged fighting withdrawal against the British 2nd Army (and Canadian forces) over several months in harsh winter conditions, across flooded terrain and defensive lines in the Netherlands. His forces delayed the Allied advance effectively, holding key positions and managing retreats that preserved combat capability amid fuel/ammo shortages and overwhelming pressure. This defensive stand in the north, including operations around the Rhine and into "Fortress Holland," earned the Swords shortly before the final surrender in May 1945 (he capitulated to Canadian Lt. Gen. Charles Foulkes on 5 May).
Vivid description: In the waterlogged Dutch polders, German troops manned dike defenses and flooded fields under gray skies, launching local counterattacks with dwindling panzers and infantry while British artillery and air power pounded positions. Blaskowitz's leadership maintained discipline during the grim, attritional retreat, buying time as the Reich crumbled.

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Johannes Albrecht Blaskowitz was a German generaloberst during World War II who commanded major formations on both the Eastern and Western fronts. Born on 10 July 1883 in Paterswalde, East Prussia, he pursued a military career from an early age, entering cadet school and joining the Prussian army as a fahnenjunker in 1901. He served with distinction throughout World War I on both the Eastern and Western fronts, rising to command an infantry company and earning the Iron Cross First and Second Classes along with other decorations for bravery in actions that included raids and staff duties. After the war, Blaskowitz continued in the small Reichswehr of the Weimar Republic, advancing steadily through staff and command positions due to his professional competence and apolitical stance as a traditional soldier.

In the years leading up to World War II, Blaskowitz held increasingly senior posts, including command of forces involved in the Anschluss of Austria and the occupation of the Sudetenland and the remainder of Czechoslovakia in 1938 and 1939. Promoted to general der infanterie, he was given command of the 8th Army just before the invasion of Poland in September 1939. His forces formed part of Army Group South and played a critical role in the northern sector of the advance. During the intense Battle of the Bzura, Blaskowitz's troops absorbed a major Polish counteroffensive by armies Poznan and Pomorze, which initially overran thinly held German lines along the river. Through rapid redeployment, coordination with reinforcements, and effective use of Luftwaffe support, he helped stabilize the front and contribute to the encirclement and destruction of the Polish forces, resulting in tens of thousands of prisoners. On 28 September 1939, he personally accepted the surrender of Warsaw. For these achievements, he received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, promotion to generaloberst, and appointment as commander in chief in the east and military governor of occupied Poland.

As occupation commander, Blaskowitz clashed with Nazi authorities over the conduct of SS and Einsatzgruppen units. Appalled by reports of mass executions, looting, and other atrocities against Polish civilians and Jews, he issued memoranda protesting these actions, court-martialed SS members for crimes, and warned that such behavior undermined military discipline and Germany's reputation. His complaints, forwarded to higher command, provoked Hitler's fury, who dismissed them as naive and relieved Blaskowitz of key posts in 1940. Despite this setback, he held lesser commands during the Battle of France and the occupation of Vichy France in Operation Anton in 1942, where his 1st Army participated in the unopposed advance but failed to prevent the scuttling of the French fleet at Toulon. In May 1944, he was appointed commander of Army Group G in southern France, overseeing understrength forces tasked with defending against an expected Allied invasion.

When Operation Dragoon commenced on 15 August 1944, Blaskowitz faced overwhelming Allied superiority in numbers, equipment, and air power. Demonstrating skillful leadership, he organized delaying actions, stabilized threatened sectors where possible, and orchestrated a fighting withdrawal northward through the Rhone Valley and Vosges Mountains. His troops evaded major encirclements despite heavy pressure, preserving much of Army Group G as a battle-worthy formation amid continuous rearguard engagements and difficult terrain. This performance earned him the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross in October 1944. Briefly relieved after a failed counterattack ordered by Hitler near Arracourt, he regained command in late 1944 and led forces during Operation Nordwind in Alsace in January 1945, where his armies attacked the U.S. Seventh Army and forced temporary withdrawals before being halted.

In the final months of the war, Blaskowitz commanded Army Group H in the Netherlands, later overseeing Fortress Holland as the 25th Army. He conducted a determined fighting withdrawal against advancing British and Canadian forces across flooded landscapes and defensive lines, delaying the Allied push under severe shortages of supplies and manpower. For this defensive effort in early 1945, he was awarded the Swords to his Knight's Cross on 25 April. On 5 May 1945, he formally surrendered German forces in the Netherlands to Canadian Lieutenant General Charles Foulkes at the Hotel de Wereld in Wageningen. Postwar, Blaskowitz was arrested and charged with war crimes in the Nuremberg High Command Trial, though he had a record of opposing certain Nazi excesses. He died on 5 February 1948 in Nuremberg prison by suicide, jumping from a balcony on the day his trial proceedings were to intensify. His career exemplified the tensions faced by professional Wehrmacht officers caught between military duty and the regime's ideological demands.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Blaskowitz
https://www.leo-bw.de/web/guest/detail/-/Detail/details/PERSON/kgl_biographien/119093480/Blaskowitz+Johannes+Albrecht
https://www.lexikon‑der‑wehrmacht.de/
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Blaskowitz
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Blaskowitz
https://ww2db.com/person_bio.php?person_id=583
https://www.ritterkreuztraeger.info/rksc/b/SC146Blaskowitz.pdf
https://www.tracesofwar.com/persons/7599/Blaskowitz-Johannes.htm
https://web.archive.org/web/20091028003722fw_/http://geocities.com/orion47.geo/WEHRMACHT/HEER/Generaloberst/BLASKOWITZ_JOHANNES.html

Wöhler, Lieb and Choltitz

From left to right: General der Infanterie Otto Wöhler (Oberbefehlshaber 8. Armee), Generalleutnant Theo-Helmut Lieb (Kommandeur 112. Infanterie-Division), and Generalleutnant Dietrich von Choltitz (Führer XXXXVIII. Panzerkorps). The picture was taken in Dniepr/Kanev, in the end of September 1943..

Source :
https://www.ebay.de/itm/355379177852?hash=item52be3fe97c:g:bdIAAOSwU~5lpEvb

Philipp Müller-Gebhard and Otto Wöhler

From left to right: Generalleutnant Philipp Müller-Gebhard (Kommandeur 72. Infanterie-Division), unknown, and General der Infanterie Otto Wöhler (Oberbefehlshaber 8. Armee). The picture was probably taken in October 1943, the only time 72nd Infantry Division (Müller-Gebhard) were under the 8th Army (Wöhler). On 1 November 1943 Divisionskommandeur Müller-Gebhard was put in the Führerreserve.

Source :
https://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=14230&p=2511618#p2511618

Bio of Generalleutnant Dr.phil. Hans Speidel (1897-1984)

Hans Emil Speidel

Date of Birth: 28.10.1897 - Metzingen, Baden-Württemberg (German Empire)
Date of Death: 28.11.1984 - Bad Honnef, Nordrhein-Westfalen (West Germany)

Promotions:
00.08.1914 Fahnenjunker
00.09.1914 Fahnenjunker-Gefreiter
00.04.1915 Fahnenjunker-Unteroffizier
00.11.1915 Leutnant
01.04.1925 Oberleutnant
01.02.1932 Hauptmann
00.00.1936 Major im Generalstab
01.01.1939 Oberstleutnant im Generalstab
01.02.1941 Oberst im Generalstab
01.01.1943 Generalmajor
01.01.1944 Generalleutnant
09.11.1955 Generalleutnant (Bundeswehr)
14.06.1957 General (Bundeswehr)

Career:
30.11.1914 After completing high school diploma, he joined as a Fahnenjunker in Grenadier-Regiment “König Karl“ (5. Württembergische) Nr. 123 in Ulm, later Zug- and Kompanieführer
09.08.1916 Adjutant II.Bataillon / Grenadier-Regiment 123
18.12.1918 Adjutant Grenadier-Regiment 123 in Ulm
Late summer 1919 Ordonnanzoffizier Reichswehr-Infanterieführer 13 in Stuttgart
01.10.1920 Beginning of Führergehilfenausbildung at Wehrkreis V in Stuttgart, assigned to the Reichswehr-Infanterie-Regiment 26
01.10.1921 Transferred to Reiter-Regiment 18 and commanded to study economics and history at the universities in Stuttgart and Tübingen
01.10.1922 Truppendienst in Infanterie-Regiment 14
10.01.1923 Stabsoffizier in Infanterie-Regiment 13 at Ludwigsburg
01.10.1924 Stabsoffizier in II.Bataillon / Infanterie-Regiment 13, later in 7.Kompanie / Infanterie-Regiment 13 and Commander of the four-horse escort platoon of the 8. (MG-) Kompanie / Infanterie-Regiment 13
14.02.1925 Doctorate in Tübingen with summa cum laude to Dr. phil (1813-1924. A military-political investigation"; from the Peace of Tilsit to Germany after the Treaty of Versailles)
01.03.1929 - 30.09.1929 Assigned to Gruppenkommando 2 in Kassel
01.10.1929 3rd year of Generalststabsausbildung, assigned to RWM (Reichswehrministerium) and later to Reiter-Regiment 18
00.00.19__ longer trip to France for language studies
00.00.19__ Assigned to Kraftfahrabteilung 2, then to Nachrichtenabteilung 2 and Reiter-Regiment 18
01.10.1930 - 30.09.1933 Referatsleiter Westeuropa / Abteilung “Fremde Heere“ (T 3) im Truppenamt / RWM (Reichswehrministerium), became French expert at the Generalstab
00.09.1932 Assigned to the Soviet Marshal Tukhachevsky during the autumn maneuvers on the Oder
00.00.1933 Flugzeugbeobachter-Ausbildung at Verkehrsfliegerschule Braunschweig
01.10.1933 - 00.09.1935 Assistant for the Militärattachés Kühlenthal in Paris
15.10.1935 - 00.00.1936 Chef 8. Kompanie and briefly Führer II.Bataillon / Infanterie-Regiment 56
01.10.1936 - 00.00.1937 Leiter Abteilung 3 “Fremde Heere West“ im Generalstab des Heeres
16.06.1937 - 20.06.1937 Companion to the Chef des Generalstabes des Heeres, General der Artillerie Ludwig Beck, to Paris for talks with Pétain, Daladier and Gamelin
10.10.1937 Ia 33. Infanterie-Division in Mannheim
00.07.1939 Informative trip to Spain, planned  to be a Militärattaché in Madrid
13.10.1939 - 01.06.1940 Ia IX. Armeekorps
01.06.1940 Führereserve OKH, assigned to the Generalstab der Heeresgruppe B (von Bock)
05.06.1940 - 14.06.1940 Ia Heeresgruppe B; Leads the handover negotiations for Paris as a parliamentarian
15.06.1940 - 01.08.1940 Chef des Stabes Militärbefehlshaber Paris (von Vollard-Bockelberg)
01.08.1940 Chef des Kommandostabes des Chefs der Militärverwaltung in Frankreich (von Streccius)
16.10.1940 - 25.03.1942 Chef des Kommandostabes des Militärbefehlshabers in Frankreich (Otto von Stülpnagel)
01.04.1942 Führereserve OKH
24.04.1942 - 01.06.1942 Chef des Generalstabes V. Armeekorps (then longer home leave, the planned appointment as Chief of Staff of the 17. Armee is cancelled)
20.10.1942 - 01.01.1943 Deutscher Chef des Generalstabs bei der 8. Italienischen Armee (Generaloberst Italo Gariboldi)
05.01.1943 Chef des Stabes Deutscher General bei der italienischen 8. Armee (GdI von Tippelskirch);
01.02.1943 Chef des Generalstabes Armee-Abteilung Lanz;
21.02.1943 Chef des Generalstabes Armee-Abteilung Kempf;
16.08.1943 Chef des Generalstabes 8. Armee
15.04.1944 - 05.09.1944 Chef des Generalstabs Heeresgruppe B (Rommel)
01.09.1944 in die Führerreserve versetzt
06.09.1944 Last meeting with Rommel in his home in Herrlingen
07.09.1944 Arrested early in the morning in Freudenstadt
08.09.1944 In Berlin from the military detention center on Lehrter Strasse to the Gestapo basement at Prinz-Albrecht Strasse 8, where he was interrogated by RSHA chief Kaltenbrunner and Gestapo chief Heinrich Müller until October 11, 1944
04.10.1944 Meeting of the “Ehrenhofs des Heeres“ (Court of Honor of the Army), no expulsion from the army [Prosecutor Kaltenbrunner. Generals Guderian, Kriebel and Kirchheim defended him so skilfully that he was neither expelled from the army nor brought before the People's Court. SS-Oberstgruppenführer Sepp Dietrich also successfully campaigned for the seriously endangered man. Keitel and General Specht opposed it. Hofacker had testified under torture that he had spoken to Rommel and Speidel. Guderian had pointed out that Speidel had acted in accordance with his duty when he informed Rommel about it]
19.12.1944 Released from prison
00.01.1945 Arrested again by the Gestapo and imprisoned in various other places until the end of the war [in the Küstrin Fortress, Wittenberg, again on the Prinz-Albrechtstrasse in Berlin (experienced the heavy bombing there on February 3rd, 1945), police prisons in Potsdam, Oberstenfeld, Gönningen / Württ. and Hersberg Castle near Immenstadt. Urnauer Bürger and Father Kruck prevented his execution at the last minute before the French (General Béthouard) freed him with 25 senior officers and the Dutch GLt van Roell]
29.04.1945 Liberation by the 1st French Army
00.07.1945 release to the family in Freudenstadt
00.00.1949 Lectureship at the University of Tübingen
[In 1949 his book "Invasion 1944. A contribution to Rommel's fate and the fate of the Reich" was published as a research commission from the state government, which determined the image of Rommel for a long time. He created a myth here (also of resistance), perhaps in order to participate a little in the splendor of this national hero in a career-promoting way, but perhaps also to calm his guilty conscience, since it does not seem entirely impossible that he dragged the field marshal into it to save his own head, although he has always denied it. Precise statements are not possible. In any case, Speidel did not belong to the active circle of the conspirators, he was not initiated into the assassination plans either, on the other hand, he was overrated in this complex for a long time, not without his own doing, if not even hyped up!]
works for the "Historical Division"
00.10.1950 Chairman of the military-political committee at the Himmerod conference (in the Eifel monastery of Himmerod on the question of a future German military contribution; memorandum)
09.01.1951 entry into the "Amt Blank"
in the negotiations on the European Defense Community ( EVG ) with the Allied High Commissioners on the Petersberg together with Heusinger advisor to the future Defense Minister Theodor Blank
00.00.1951 as a prerequisite for further cooperation, he and Heusinger wrested a declaration of honor for the German soldiers from the US General and NATO Commander-in-Chief Dwight D. Eisenhower and used his influence to successfully lobby for the release of many generals from Western Allied custody ( in which they were mostly right, including his brother Wilhelm).
01.10.1951 Chief German military delegate at the EVG negotiations in Paris (Although the EVG fails because of French resistance, he continues to negotiate)
23.10.1954 according to the "Paris Agreements" the Federal Republic becomes a full member of NATO with its own armed forces
05.05.1955 The Paris Agreements come into force
12.11.1955 on Scharnhorst's 200th birthday, Defense Minister Blank presented him and Heusinger with the certificates of appointment to the three-star general of the Bundeswehr (Generalleutnant)
22.11.1955 - 27.02.1957 Chef der Abteilung IV (Streitkräfte) im Bundesministerium der Verteidigung
01.10.1956 z. b. V. des Bundesministers der Verteidigung
0!.04.1957 - 30.09.1963 Oberbefehlshaber der Verbündeten Landstreitkräfte in Europa-Mitte, COMLANDCENT, Fontainebleau
01.10.1963 - 31.03.1964 “Sonderbeauftragter für Fragen der atlantischen Verteidigung“ der Bundesregierung
Präsident der “Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik“
31.03.1964 Retired
00.00.1971 Professor h. c. at the Spanish National Defense College in Madrid

Awards and Decorations:
00.00.1915 Königreich Württembergische Silberne Militärverdienstmedaille 1892
00.00.1915 1914 Eisernes Kreuz II.Klasse
00.00.1917 1914 Eisernes Kreuz I.Klasse
10.04.1917 Königreich Württembergische Militärverdienstorden Ritterkreuz
20.02.1917 Königreich Württembergische Goldene Militärverdienstmedaille 1892
00.00.19__ Ehrenritterkreuz zum Johanniterorden
00.00.1934 Ehrenkreuz für Frontkämpfer 1914-1918
00.00.19__ Magyar Háborús Emlékérem 1914-1918 (Hungary)
02.10.1936 Dienstauszeichnung der Wehrmacht IV. bis II.Klasse
07.12.1939 1939 Spange zum 1914 Eisernes Kreuz II.Klasse
12.05.1940 1939 Spange zum 1914 Eisernes Kreuz I.Klasse
00.00.1940 Deutsches Schutzwall-Ehrenzeichen
00.00.194_ Ordinul Steaua Romaniei Commander, with Swords (Romania)
00.00.194_ Ordinul Corona Romaniei Commander, with Swords (Romania)
00.00.194_ Ordinul Steaua Romaniei Commander, with War Ribbon (Romania)
00.00.194_ Magyar Érdemrend Lovagkeresztje (Hungary)
00.00.194_ Za Voenna Zasluga, 3rd Class (Bulgaria)
08.10.1942 Deutsches Kreuz in Gold
01.04.1944 Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes, as Generalleutnant and Chef des Generalstabes 8. Armee
00.00.19__ Basilikon Tagma toy Phoinikos, Grand Cross (Greece)
00.00.19__ Grande Ufficiale della Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana (Italy)
00.00.1957 Commandeur de l' Ordre National de la Legion d'Honneur (France)
10.08.1961 Legion of Merit, Commander (U.S.A.)
00.00.1963 Großes Verdienstkreuz mit Stern und Schulterband des Verdienstordens der BRD
00.00.1974 Bayerischer Verdienstorden

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Hans Speidel (28 October 1897 – 28 November 1984) was a German general, who was one of the major military leaders of West Germany during the early Cold War. The first full General in West Germany, he was a principal founder of the Bundeswehr and a major figure in German rearmament, integration into NATO and international negotiations on European and Western defence cooperation in the 1950s. He served as Commander of the Allied Land Forces Central Europe (COMLANDCENT) from 1957 to 1963 and then as President of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs from 1964.

Speidel joined the German Army in 1914, fought in the First World War, and stayed with the Army as a career soldier after the war. He served as chief of staff to Field Marshal Erwin Rommel during the Second World War and was promoted to lieutenant general in 1944. Speidel participated in the 20 July Plot to assassinate Hitler, and he was tasked with recruiting Rommel for the resistance. After the plot failed he was arrested by the Gestapo. With the help of Pallottine religious, he was able to escape together with other prisoners and were able to go into hiding in Urnau in today's Lake Constance district and were taken there by French troops in the last days of the war. He was the only major player in the 20 July Plot to survive the war.

During the early Cold War, Speidel emerged as one of the major military leaders of West Germany, and played a key role in German rearmament, Western international negotiations on defence cooperation and West German integration into NATO. He is thus regarded as one of the founders of the Bundeswehr. He was appointed as the military advisor of Chancellor Konrad Adenauer in 1950 and joined the predecessor of the Federal Ministry of Defence in 1951, was the West German chief delegate to the conference on the Treaty establishing the European Defence Community from 1951 to 1954 and was a lead negotiator when West Germany joined NATO. In 1955 he became a director-general in the Federal Ministry of Defence with the military rank of lieutenant-general in the Bundeswehr, and in 1957 he became the first officer to be promoted to full General in West Germany. He served as COMLANDCENT from 1957 to 1963, with headquarters at the Palace of Fontainebleau in Paris. Speidel was also a historian by training, taught at the University of Tübingen and wrote several books. He received the Grand Cross with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1963. In 1964 he became President of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, the German government's main think tank in international relations.

He was the father of Brigadier General Hans Helmut Speidel and the father-in-law of European Commissioner and liberal politician Guido Brunner. A German Army military base, the General Dr Speidel Barracks, was named in his honour in 1997.

Speidel was born in Metzingen. He joined the German Army in 1914 at the outbreak of the First World War and was quickly promoted to second lieutenant. During the war he was a company commander at the Battle of the Somme and an adjutant. He stayed in the German Army during the interwar period and also studied history and economics at different universities. In 1926 he received his Ph.D. degree in history magna cum laude.

Speidel took part in the invasion of France of 1940 and in August became Chief of Staff of the military commander in France. In 1942 Speidel was sent to the Eastern Front where he served as Chief of Staff of the 5th Army Corps, and as Chief of Staff of 8th Army in 1943, where he was promoted to general.

In April 1944, Speidel was appointed Chief of Staff to Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, the Commander-in-Chief of Army Group B, stationed on the French Atlantic coast. When Rommel was wounded, Speidel continued as Chief of Staff for the new commander of Army Group B, Field Marshal Günther von Kluge.

On 26 August 1944, Speidel answered the phone when Alfred Jodl, the OKW chief of staff, called Field Marshal Walter Model, commander in chief of the western front, with Hitler's order to start targeting Paris immediately with V1 and V2 rockets. Model was not in. Speidel never did pass on the order to his superior.

Speidel, a professional soldier and nationalist conservative, agreed with those aspects of Hitler's policy that returned Germany to its place as a world power, but disagreed with the Nazis' racial policies. He was involved in the 20 July Plot to kill Hitler and had been delegated by anti-Hitler forces to recruit Rommel for the conspiracy, which he had cautiously begun to do prior to Rommel's injury in a British strafing attack on 17 July 1944. Speidel managed to become Rommel's confidant, purely by chance: Lucie Rommel, after having an argument with the wife of Alfred Gause (Rommel's then Chief-of-Staff) about who had the more honourable place at a wedding, decided to not only evict the Gause couple out of her house but to order her husband to dismiss Alfred Gause as well. Rommel chose Speidel, a fellow Swabian, as his new Chief-of-Staff.

Following the assassination attempt, the Gestapo rounded up, tortured and executed some five thousand Germans, including many high-ranking officers. Speidel's involvement was suspected by the Gestapo, and he was arrested on 7 September 1944. Rommel, in his final letter to Hitler of 1 October 1944, appealed for Speidel's release, but received no answer. Speidel appeared before an Army court of honour. According to an affidavit left by Heinz Guderian and Heinrich Kirchheim, during interrogation he blurted out Rommel's name. Maurice Remy comments that Speidel's testimony did not truly betray Rommel, although Speidel probably blamed himself until his death for his revered Field Marshal's fate afterwards. Unknown to Speidel though, his statement offered nothing new or startling to the interrogators, who had already obtained from other co-conspirators the information that Rommel not only knew about but agreed with the assassination. Gerd von Rundstedt, Heinz Guderian and Wilhelm Keitel refused to expel him from the German Army. Thus he was not compelled to appear before Roland Freisler's People's Court, which would have been a death sentence. He was jailed for seven months by the Gestapo. As Allied forces approached the location where he was held, he slipped from his captors and went into hiding for not longer than 3 weeks until 29 April 1945, when French troops entered the area.

In 1950, Speidel was one of the authors of the Himmerod memorandum which addressed the issue of rearmament (Wiederbewaffnung) of the Federal Republic of Germany after World War II. As an important military adviser to the government of Konrad Adenauer, he was instrumental in the creation of the Bundeswehr, and later as a four-star general (the first to be awarded this rank by the Bundeswehr, together with Adolf Heusinger), he oversaw the smooth integration of the Bundeswehr into NATO.

According to an article in Der Spiegel, which cited documents released by the Bundesnachrichtendienst in 2014, Speidel may have been part of the Schnez-Truppe, a secret illegal army that veterans of the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS established up from 1949 in Germany in order to repel an attack either by the Soviet Union or by Soviet-controlled East German police units.

After the war Speidel served for some time as professor of modern history at Tübingen and in 1950 published his book Invasion 1944: Rommel and the Normandy Campaign before being involved in both the development and creation of the new German Army (Bundeswehr) which he joined, reaching the NATO rank of full general. He was subsequently appointed Supreme Commander of the Allied NATO ground forces in Central Europe in April 1957, a command that he held until retirement in September 1963. His headquarters were at the Palace of Fontainebleau in Paris.

In 1960, Speidel took legal action against an East German film studio which portrayed him as having been privy to the assassinations of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia and French Foreign Minister Louis Barthou in 1934, as well as having betrayed Field Marshal Erwin Rommel to the Nazis after the 20 July Plot in 1944. He successfully claimed damages for libel.

Hans Speidel died in 1984 at Bad Honnef, North Rhine-Westphalia, aged 87.

Source :
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_146-2004-0024,_Hans_Speidel.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Speidel
https://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=52392&hilit=hans+speidel
https://www.tracesofwar.com/persons/18866/Speidel-Drphil-Hans.htm

Johannes Blaskowitz and Maximilian von Weichs at Warsaw

German staff officers discussed at the situation map in Warsaw, Poland, 1 October 1939. From left to right: Oberst Ernst-Georg von Eisenhart-Rothe (Adjutant Oberbefehlshaber 8. Armee), Oberstleutnant Rudolf Hofmann (Ia Erster Generalstabsoffizier XIII. Armeekorps), General der Kavallerie Maximilian Reichsfreiherr von Weichs (Kommandierender General XIII. Armeekorps), General der Infanterie Johannes Blaskowitz (Oberbefehlshaber 8. Armee), and Generalmajor Hans-Gustav Felber (Chef des Generalstabes 8. Armee). The picture was taken by Kriegsberichter Alfons Rieger from Propaganda-Kompanie 501 (PK 501).



This photograph was taken in Warsaw, Poland, on October 1, 1939 by Kriegsberichter Alfons Rieger of Propaganda-Kompanie 501 (PK 501), and shows Wehrmacht officers from the 8. Armee gathering in the city center during a small victory parade for celebrating the fall of the Polish capital to the Germans (which took place a few days earlier on 28 September 1939). The officer facing the camera on the left is General der Infanterie Johannes Blaskowitz (Oberbefehlshaber 8. Armee). He wore the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes around his neck, which he had only gotten the day before straight from Hitler's hands. Another officer with his back to the camera is Generalmajor Hans-Gustav Felber (Chef des Generalstabes 8. Armee), while blocked by him (only visible his cap) is General der Kavallerie Maximilian Reichsfreiherr von Weichs (Kommandierender General XIII. Armekorps). Another officer who is watching on the right is Generalmajor Paul von Hase (Kommandeur 46. Infanterie-Division). BTW, the car parked on the left is a Kfz.15 Horch 901, which is a standard staff car for middle and high ranking officers of the Wehrmacht



This photograph was taken in Warsaw, Poland, on October 1, 1939 by Kriegsberichter Alfons Rieger of Propaganda-Kompanie 501 (PK 501), and shows Wehrmacht officers from the 8. Armee gathering in the city center during a small victory parade for celebrating the fall of the Polish capital to the Germans (which took place a few days earlier on 28 September 1939). From left to right: Generalmajor Hans-Gustav Felber (Chef des Generalstabes 8. Armee), General der Infanterie Johannes Blaskowitz (Oberbefehlshaber 8. Armee), General der Kavallerie Maximilian Reichsfreiherr von Weichs (Kommandierender General XIII. Armeekorps), and Generalmajor Paul von Hase (facing the camera in the background, Kommandeur 46. Infanterie-Division). BTW, the car parked on the left is a Kfz.15 Horch 901, which is a standard staff car for middle and high ranking officers of the Wehrmacht



This photograph was taken in Warsaw, Poland, on October 1, 1939 by Kriegsberichter Alfons Rieger of Propaganda-Kompanie 501 (PK 501), and shows Wehrmacht officers from the 8. Armee gathering in the city center during a small victory parade for celebrating the fall of the Polish capital to the Germans (which took place a few days earlier on 28 September 1939). From left to right: Generalmajor Paul von Hase (Kommandeur 46. Infanterie-Division), Oberstleutnant Rudolf Hofmann (Ia Erster Generalstabsoffizier XIII. Armeekorps), General der Kavallerie Maximilian Reichsfreiherr von Weichs (membelakangi kamera, Kommandierender General XIII. Armeekorps), General der Infanterie Johannes Blaskowitz (terhalang oleh Weichs, Oberbefehlshaber 8. Armee), Generalmajor Hans-Gustav Felber (Chef des Generalstabes 8. Armee), and Oberst Ernst-Georg von Eisenhart-Rothe (Adjutant Oberbefehlshaber 8. Armee). BTW, the car parked on the left is a Kfz.15 Horch 901, which is a standard staff car for middle and high ranking officers of the Wehrmacht

This photograph was taken in Warsaw, Poland, on October 1, 1939 by Kriegsberichter Alfons Rieger of Propaganda-Kompanie 501 (PK 501), and shows Wehrmacht officers from the 8. Armee gathering in the city center during a small victory parade for celebrating the fall of the Polish capital to the Germans (which took place a few days earlier on 28 September 1939). From left to right: Generalmajor Paul von Hase (Kommandeur 46. Infanterie-Division), Oberst Ernst-Georg von Eisenhart-Rothe (Adjutant Oberbefehlshaber 8. Armee), General der Infanterie Johannes Blaskowitz (membelakangi kamera, Oberbefehlshaber 8. Armee), Oberstleutnant Rudolf Hofmann (Ia Erster Generalstabsoffizier XIII. Armeekorps), General der Kavallerie Maximilian Reichsfreiherr von Weichs (Kommandierender General XIII. Armeekorps), and Generalmajor Hans-Gustav Felber (Chef des Generalstabes 8. Armee).

Source :
BPK Bildarchiv Image-No.:30024361
Bundesarchiv photo collection
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?search=johannes+blaskowitz&title=Special:MediaSearch&go=Go&type=image
https://forum.axishistory.com/viewforum.php?f=5