Nickname: No information
Date of Birth: 15 November 1897 - Affalterbach near Backnang, Württemberg (German Empire)
Date of Death: 14/15 January 1973 - Öhringen, Baden-Württemberg (West Germany)
Battles and Operations: World War I service with Grenadier-Regiment 123 on the Western Front, Operation Barbarossa 1941 with 125. Infanterie-Division, Battle of Kiev and capture of Tarassowka, advance to the Caucasus and Kuban bridgehead 1942-1943, defensive battles on the Adriatic coast in Italy 1944-1945 with 98. Infanterie-Division
NSDAP-Number: No information
SS-Number: No information
Religion: No information
Parents: Teacher Ferdinand Reinhardt and Amalie Reinhardt, née Mayer
Siblings: No information
Spouse: Frida Reinhardt, née Hartlieb (married)
Children: No children
Promotions:
31 October 1920 Leutnant (charakterisiert)
1 April 1921 Leutnant (Polizei)
Oberleutnant (Polizei)
Hauptmann (Polizei)
1 November 1935 Hauptmann (Heer)
1 October 1936 Major
1 March 1940 Oberstleutnant
1 November 1941 Oberst
1 February 1944 Generalmajor
1 September 1944 Generalleutnant
Career:
7 January 1916 Enlisted as Kriegsfreiwilliger in 5. Württembergisches Grenadier-Regiment "König Karl" Nr. 123
1920-1 November 1935 Service in the Württembergische Polizei
1 November 1935 Transfer to the Heer
1 December 1938 Commander of Ersatz-Bataillon / Infanterie-Regiment 55, Würzburg
1 September 1939 Commander of III. Bataillon / Infanterie-Regiment 480 (later with 260. Infanterie-Division)
1 November 1940 Commander of II. Bataillon / Infanterie-Regiment 421
24 July 1941 Commander of Infanterie-Regiment 421 (later Grenadier-Regiment 421), 125. Infanterie-Division
5 September 1943-1 October 1943 Participation in the Divisionsführer-Lehrgang
20 November 1943-31 January 1944 Deputy leader of 370. and 73. Infanterie-Division
1 February 1944-11 April 1945 Commander of 98. Infanterie-Division
May 1945-1948 Prisoner of war
Awards and Decorations:
Eisernes Kreuz II. Klasse 1914 (31 August 1917)
Eisernes Kreuz I. Klasse 1914 (31 July 1919)
Spange zum Eisernen Kreuz II. Klasse 1939 (25 June 1940)
Spange zum Eisernen Kreuz I. Klasse 1939 (27 July 1940)
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes (4 December 1941) as Oberstleutnant and Kommandeur Infanterie-Regiment 421 / 125.Infanterie-Division. Awarded for his regiment’s achievements during the encirclement battle of Kiev. The capture of the village of Tarassowka on 20 September 1941 by his regiment prevented a large portion of Soviet forces from escaping the Kiev pocket. Reinhardt played a presumed key role in this major tactical success with far-reaching operational significance.
By mid-September 1941, as part of Operation Barbarossa, German forces had executed one of the largest encirclements in military history around Kiev, trapping hundreds of thousands of Soviet troops of the Southwestern Front. Infanterie-Regiment 421, under Reinhardt’s command, was thrust into the southern sector of the pocket’s outer ring. On 20 September, amid the chaos of collapsing Soviet command and desperate breakout attempts, Reinhardt led his regiment in a determined assault on Tarassowka, a key village on the outskirts of Kiev. Soviet troops—exhausted, low on ammunition, but fighting with fanatical resolve—launched wave after wave of infantry and armored counterattacks to punch through the German lines and escape eastward. Reinhardt’s men advanced under heavy small-arms fire and artillery, storming the village in close-quarters combat through ruined buildings and muddy fields. By securing Tarassowka, the regiment sealed a critical escape corridor, contributing directly to the capture of over 600,000 Soviet soldiers and massive amounts of equipment. Division commander Generalmajor Wilhelm Schneckenburger praised Reinhardt’s leadership. This action helped collapse organized Soviet resistance in the pocket and was a cornerstone of the German victory at Kiev.
Deutsches Kreuz in Gold (4 September 1942)
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub #306 (28 September 1943) as Oberst and Kommandeur Infanterie-Regiment 421 / 125.Infanterie-Division. On 24 July 1943, during the battles for the Kuban bridgehead, Soviet forces broke through the left wing of the neighboring 73rd Infantry Division between Dolgaja-Berg and Neberdshajewskaja. Grenadier-Regiment 421, under Reinhardt, was pulled from the line and launched a counterattack on 25–26 July. After a very hard battle, the old German line along the Kamm river between Neberdshaj and Bogago-Tal was retaken. This prevented the destabilization of the entire Kuban bridgehead.
In the sweltering summer of 1943, the Kuban bridgehead on the Taman Peninsula represented the last major German foothold in the Caucasus after the retreat from Stalingrad and the broader southern front. Soviet forces, seeking to liquidate the bridgehead and open the path to the Crimea, launched ferocious assaults. On 24 July, they achieved a dangerous penetration against the 73rd Infantry Division’s left flank in the rugged terrain between Dolgaja-Berg and Neberdshajewskaja—threatening to roll up the German line and collapse the entire defensive system. Reinhardt’s Grenadier-Regiment 421 (formerly Infanterie-Regiment 421, re-designated after reorganization) was urgently redeployed from its own sector. Over two days of intense fighting (25–26 July), his grenadiers launched a determined counterattack across shell-torn ground, enduring Soviet artillery barrages, machine-gun fire from entrenched positions, and close assaults by infantry supported by tanks. The combat was brutal and attritional: hand-to-hand fighting in ravines and along the Kamm river, with grenades and bayonets deciding many positions. Reinhardt’s personal leadership and tactical skill enabled his regiment to retake the critical line, restoring the bridgehead’s integrity and buying vital time for the orderly German evacuation from the Kuban later that year. Generals Helmut Friebe and Maximilian de Angelis recommended him for the award.
Rumänischer Orden Mihai Viteazul III. Klasse (7 August 1943)
Ehrenkreuz für Frontkämpfer
Infanterie-Sturmabzeichen in Silber
Medaille Winterschlacht im Osten 1941/42
Mentioned in Wehrmachtbericht (10 September 1944)
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub und Schwertern #118 (24 December 1944) as Generalleutnant and Kommandeur 98. Infanterie-Division. Awarded for the defensive successes of the 98th Infantry Division on the Adriatic coast during late summer and fall 1944. The division distinguished itself through exceptional firmness (besondere Standhaftigkeit) in heavy defensive battles, earning a mention in the Wehrmachtbericht on 10 September 1944.
By August 1944, the 98th Infantry Division—reformed under Reinhardt after earlier heavy losses on the Eastern Front (including the Kerch Peninsula)—had been rushed to the Italian theater to bolster the Gothic Line defenses along the Adriatic coast. As part of the German 10th Army’s efforts to halt the Allied Operation Olive (the main Gothic Line offensive), Reinhardt’s division faced relentless pressure from British, Canadian, Polish, and other Allied forces advancing northward toward Rimini and the Po Valley. The fighting centered on key ridges and river lines in the Rimini sector and nearby areas like Coriano Ridge, where the 98th ID held positions with “great tenacity.”
In September 1944, during the Battle of Rimini and associated actions, Allied troops—supported by massive artillery barrages, air strikes, and armored thrusts—assaulted the German lines in pouring rain and mud that bogged down tanks and turned fields into quagmires. Reinhardt’s men, often outnumbered and short on supplies, conducted dogged defenses: dug-in infantry repelled repeated infantry-tank assaults, counterattacked lost positions in close-quarters combat through olive groves and ruined villages, and held strongpoints in house-to-house fighting. One notable stand involved fierce resistance around Croce and the Coriano area, where the division (alongside other units) stalled the Canadian and British advance for days despite constant pressure. The Wehrmachtbericht specifically highlighted the division’s “exceptional firmness in the heavy defensive battles at the Adriatic coast,” crediting Reinhardt’s leadership. These actions delayed the Allied breakthrough toward Bologna and the northern Italian plains, inflicting significant casualties in some of the war’s hardest attritional fighting—comparable, in the words of Eighth Army commander Lt-Gen Sir Oliver Leese, to El Alamein or Monte Cassino.
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Alfred-Hermann Reinhardt was born on 15 November 1897 in Affalterbach, Württemberg, as the son of a schoolteacher named Ferdinand Reinhardt and his wife Amalie, née Mayer. He volunteered for military service on 7 January 1916 during the First World War and was assigned to Grenadier-Regiment 123. Reinhardt saw combat on the Western Front and rose through the ranks amid the brutal trench warfare that defined the conflict. After the armistice in 1918, he transitioned into the police force of the Weimar Republic, where he continued his military-related career and attained the rank of Hauptmann. In 1935 he transferred back to the newly expanding German Army, or Heer, as a Hauptmann, beginning a steady climb through the officer corps that would culminate in high command during the Second World War.
With the outbreak of war in 1939, Reinhardt served initially in staff and regimental roles before taking command of Infanterie-Regiment 421 within the 125th Infantry Division. His early wartime experiences included the campaign in Yugoslavia in April 1941 and subsequent operations on the Eastern Front following the launch of Operation Barbarossa. By the late summer of 1941, his regiment became heavily engaged in the massive encirclement battles around Kiev. On 20 September 1941, amid desperate Soviet breakout attempts, Reinhardt led his men in a determined assault that secured the village of Tarassowka, sealing a critical escape route and contributing significantly to the capture of hundreds of thousands of Soviet troops. For this tactical success and his regiment's overall performance in the Kiev pocket, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 4 December 1941 as an Oberstleutnant. The fighting around Tarassowka involved intense close-quarters combat through muddy fields and ruined buildings, where German infantry repelled wave after wave of Soviet assaults under heavy artillery and small-arms fire, ultimately collapsing organized resistance in one of the largest encirclements in military history.
Reinhardt continued to distinguish himself as the war shifted into grueling defensive phases. Promoted to Oberst, he commanded Grenadier-Regiment 421 during the intense battles for the Kuban bridgehead in the Caucasus region in 1943. On 24 July 1943, Soviet forces achieved a dangerous penetration against the neighboring 73rd Infantry Division near Dolgaja-Berg and Neberdshajewskaja, threatening to unravel the entire German defensive line. Reinhardt's regiment was rapidly redeployed and launched a fierce counterattack over the following two days. In brutal attritional fighting across ravines and along the Kamm river, his grenadiers engaged in hand-to-hand combat with bayonets and grenades, enduring relentless Soviet artillery barrages and infantry assaults supported by tanks. By 26 July they had restored the original line between Neberdshajewskaja and Bogago-Tal, preventing the collapse of the Kuban bridgehead and allowing for an orderly later evacuation. This action earned him the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross on 28 September 1943 as the 306th recipient, recognizing his regiment's decisive role in stabilizing a critical sector under extreme pressure.
In early 1944 Reinhardt advanced to divisional command. He attended a divisional leaders' course and briefly served as deputy commander of the 73rd Infantry Division before being promoted to Generalmajor on 1 February 1944 and given command of the 98th Infantry Division. The division had suffered heavy losses earlier in the war, including on the Kerch Peninsula, and was reformed for operations in the Mediterranean theater. Under Reinhardt's leadership, it was transferred to the Italian front to help hold the Gothic Line defenses along the Adriatic coast. There the unit faced relentless Allied pressure during Operation Olive in the summer and autumn of 1944, battling British, Canadian, Polish, and other Commonwealth forces amid pouring rain and mud that turned the terrain into a quagmire. Reinhardt's men conducted tenacious defenses on ridges and river lines near Rimini and Coriano, repelling repeated infantry-tank assaults through olive groves and ruined villages in house-to-house fighting that inflicted significant casualties on the attackers.
The defensive battles on the Adriatic coast showcased the 98th Infantry Division's exceptional firmness, as noted in the Wehrmachtbericht on 10 September 1944. Reinhardt's command emphasized resolute holding actions and timely counterattacks that delayed the Allied advance toward the Po Valley for crucial days, despite being outnumbered and short on supplies. The combat around Croce and Coriano Ridge was particularly savage, with soldiers fighting in knee-deep mud under constant artillery and air strikes. For the division's overall performance and his personal leadership in these attritional engagements, Reinhardt received the Swords to the Knight's Cross on 24 December 1944 as the 118th recipient, and he was promoted to Generalleutnant on 1 September 1944. He continued leading the division through further defensive actions along the Senio and Po rivers into 1945 before being succeeded in command on 11 April 1945.
After the end of the war, Reinhardt was held in British captivity until his release in 1948. He returned to civilian life in West Germany, settling in Öhringen, Baden-Württemberg. Married to Frida Hartlieb and with no children, he lived quietly until his death on 15 January 1973 at the age of 75. Reinhardt's military career exemplified the qualities valued by the German Army: adaptability from private soldier in the First World War to divisional commander in the Second, combined with tactical skill and steadfast leadership in some of the conflict's most demanding campaigns on the Eastern Front and in Italy. His decorations reflected not only personal courage but the operational impact of the units he led during pivotal moments of the war.
Ritterkreuz award ceremony for Oberstleutnant Alfred-Hermann Reinhardt (Kommandeur Infanterie-Regiment 421 / 125.Infanterie-Division). Awarding the medal is Generalmajor Wilhelm "Willi" Schneckenburger (Kommandeur 125. Infanterie-Division). Reinhardt received the medal on 4 December 1941. It was awarded for his achievements during the operations of his Regiment during the encirclement battle of Kiev. Through the capture of Tarassowka by his Regiment on 20 September 1941 the Germans were able to prevent a large portion of Soviet soldiers escaping the Kiev pocket. Reinhardt presumably had a key part in this major tactical success with far-reaching operational significance. Other pictures from this award ceremony can be seen HERE.
From left to right: Generaloberst Heinrich von Vietinghoff (Oberbefehlshaber 10. Armee), Generalmajor Alfred-Hermann Reinhardt (Kommandeur 98. Infanterie-Division), and unknown officer. This picture was taken in the Italian Front, September 1944. In August and September 1944 the 98th Infantry Division was used in the fighting for Rímini. She then withdrew fighting through the Apennines to the Senio.
Site inspection on the Ligurian coast. Generalleutnant Alfred-Hermann Reinhardt (Kommandeur 98. Infanterie-Division) and General der Infanterie Joachim Witthöft (left, Führerreserve) guide Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring (Oberbefehlshaber Heeresgruppe C) through the fortifications and coastal defenses on the Ligurian coast. Liguria, 19 October 1944. Photo by Kriegsberichter Wittke.
Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred-Hermann_Reinhardt
https://www.tracesofwar.com/persons/16456/Reinhardt-Alfred-Hermann.htm
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred-Hermann_Reinhardt
https://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Personenregister/R/ReinhardtAH.htm
https://forum.axishistory.com/
https://web.archive.org/web/20091027052912fw_/http://geocities.com/orion47.geo/index2.html
https://rk.balsi.de/index.php?action=list&cat=300
https://www.geni.com/
https://grokipedia.com/
https://www.unithistories.com/units_index/index.php?file=/officers/personsx.html
https://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/
