Nickname: No information
Date of Birth: 03.01.1888 - Frankfurt an der Oder, Brandenburg (German Empire)
Date of Death: 04.11.1960 - Göttingen, Niedersachsen (West Germany)
Battles and Operations: World War I (Western Front), Polish Campaign 1939, Western Campaign 1940, Eastern Front (including actions with 3. Infanterie-Division / 3. Panzergrenadier-Division), Italian Campaign (Anzio front), Vistula-Oder Offensive, Defense of Silesia and Saxony 1945
NSDAP-Number: No information
Religion: No information (Protestant background likely, common for Prussian officer families of the era)
Parents: Father - Ernst Friedrich Hermann Graeser (Prussian Hauptmann, later Generalleutnant in World War I and commander of the 41. Infanterie-Division); Mother - unknown
Siblings: Had at least one brother (Fritz-Dietrich Graeser, who fell in 1914)
Spouse: Edelgard Graeser (nee Brussatis)
Children: Son - Fritz-Dietrich Graeser (Leutnant, born 22.06.1920 in Reppen, killed in action on the Eastern Front 11.10.1941)
Promotions:
28.02.1907 Fahnrich
27.01.1908 Leutnant
08.11.1914 Oberleutnant
18.12.1915 Hauptmann
01.05.1934 Major
01.03.1936 Oberstleutnant
01.10.1938 Oberst
01.10.1941 Generalmajor
15.05.1943 Generalleutnant
01.09.1944 General der Panzertruppe
Career:
28.02.1907 Joined the Army as Fahnrich in Grenadier-Regiment Prinz Carl von Preußen Nr. 12 in Frankfurt an der Oder.
Served in World War I as adjutant and later as 1st Officer in the General Staff of the 1. Ersatz-Division. Participated in frontline actions and staff duties on the Western Front.
02.07.1919 Retired from active service.
01.11.1932 Reactivated as commander of the Wehrkreis Region Frankfurt.
26.08.1939-27.10.1940 Commander of Infanterie-Regiment 29 (motorized), 3. Infanterie-Division. Led the regiment in the Polish Campaign and distinguished himself during the Western Campaign, particularly in the crossing of the Aisne river.
Commanded the regiment through early Eastern Front operations.
01.10.1941 Promoted to Generalmajor and placed in Fuhrer Reserve during recovery.
Command of 3. Panzergrenadier-Division (shared formation aspects with Maximilian Reichsfreiherr von Edelsheim). Promoted to Generalleutnant on 15.05.1943. Led the division in Italy, notably in the recapture and defense of Aprilia on the Anzio front.
Temporarily in Fuhrer Reserve after losing command in May 1944; underwent training for higher command.
Commanded Xxiv. Panzerkorps, then succeeded Walther Nehring as commander of Xxxviii. Panzerkorps (August-September 1944).
21.09.1944-08.05.1945 Commander of 4. Panzer-Armee, succeeding Hermann Balck. Led the army during the defensive battles in Poland, Silesia, and the final weeks of the war.
Taken into US captivity after the surrender; released in June 1947. Lived postwar in Göttingen.
Awards and Decorations:
Eisernes Kreuz 2. Klasse 1914 (16.09.1914)
Eisernes Kreuz 1. Klasse 1914 (09.10.1916)
Militar-Verdienstkreuz Iii. Klasse mit Kriegsdekoration (December 1915)
Order of Military Merit 4th Class (28.01.1915)
Harp Madalyasi (27.01.1916)
IV. Klasse des Militarverdienstordens mit Schwertern
Ritter Iii. Klasse zum Kaiserlicher Orden der Eisernen Krone mit Kriegsdekoration (July 1917)
Verwundetenabzeichen in Schwarz (1918)
Ehrenkreuz fur Frontkampfer (1934)
Dienstauszeichnung der Wehrmacht 4. Klasse, 3. Klasse, 2. Klasse (02.10.1936)
1939 Spange zum Eisernen Kreuz 2. Klasse (24.09.1939)
1939 Spange zum Eisernen Kreuz 1. Klasse (23.10.1939)
Deutsches Kreuz in Gold (08.02.1942 as Oberst in Infanterie-Regiment 29)
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes #140 (19.07.1940 as Oberst and Kommandeur Infanterie-Regiment 29 / 3.Infanterie-Division. The following wartime excerpt (dated 30.08.1940) describes why Gräser received the Ritterkreuz:
“Oberst Fritz-Hubert Gräser inspired his Regiment to advance forwards into the teeth of a numerically superior and dug-in enemy force along the Aisne river. He did this while leading from the foremost line and amidst the fierce hostile artillery fire. He overcame two battlefield crises and even managed to master a third such situation where the enemy launched a counterattack with 20 tanks.”
This action took place on the 09.06.1940, when the Infanterie-Regiment 29 had orders to cross over the Aisne river and canal on both sides of Asfelda-Ville. Gräser faced very strong resistance from a French force (including elements of the 5th and 46th Regiments from the French 10th Division) that apparently did indeed outnumber him. This defense was made even stronger by French artillery fire from Reims and the left flank, which were out of range of German artillery. Despite these obstacles Gräser was able to achieve the crossing with his Regiment and reach a point 5 km south of the canal by nightfall. It is unknown if all three of the aforementioned crises also took place on this day.
Infanterie-Sturmabzeichen in Bronze (11.07.1941)
Verwundetenabzeichen 1939 in Silber (28.07.1941)
Anerkennungsurkunde des Oberbefehlshabers des Heeres (30.07.1941)
Infanterie-Sturmabzeichen in Silber
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub #517 (26.06.1944) as Generalleutnant and Kommandeur 3. Panzergrenadier-Division. Gräser orchestrated the recapture of Aprilia (known as “The Factory,” a cluster of multi-story brick buildings on elevated ground dominating the surrounding countryside) on 9 February 1944. In fierce close-quarters fighting amid ruined industrial structures and exposed fields, his grenadiers stormed the position against determined Allied defenders, including elements of the British 1st Division and American units. Following the recapture, the division repelled repeated Allied counterattacks involving massed armor and infantry assaults. German claims credited Graeser’s sector with destroying 99 Allied tanks during these defensive actions. His calm coordination of combined arms defenses, rapid reinforcement of threatened sectors, and maintenance of morale under relentless Allied pressure in the muddy, shell-torn terrain of the beachhead secured the Eichenlaub.
Verwundetenabzeichen 1939 in Gold (30.04.1945)
Mentioned in Wehrmachtbericht (09.09.1944)
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub und Schwertern #154 (08.05.1945) as General der Panzertruppe and Oberbefehlshaber 4. Panzerarmee. Nomination 29 April 1945, presented per Dönitz decree: As general commanding the 4. Panzer-Armee in the final weeks of the war on the Eastern Front, Graeser conducted masterful delaying operations and local counterattacks against overwhelming Soviet forces during the Vistula-Oder Offensive and subsequent battles in Silesia and Saxony. His army, often reduced to Kampfgruppen, executed skillful withdrawals while launching sharp armored thrusts that prevented larger Soviet breakthroughs, narrowed enemy bridgeheads (as noted in the Wehrmachtbericht of September 1944 for earlier actions under related command), and bought critical time for retreating German columns. In the chaotic final defense, with fuel and ammunition critically short and Soviet armor advancing relentlessly, Graeser’s personal oversight of rear-guard actions and improvised defenses exemplified leadership amid collapse. The troop nomination highlighted these achievements in preventing total disintegration of the front in his sector.
(Note on higher award: Nomination for Schwerter received by Hpa on 29 April 1945; approved by General Ernst Maisel. Contemporary photos show the award being worn. OdR accepts presentation per Donitz-decree, but formal confirmation remains debated due to end-of-war conditions.)
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Fritz-Hubert Gräser was a German general in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II. Born on 3 January 1888 in Frankfurt an der Oder in the German Empire, he came from a military family as the son of a Prussian captain who later became a general lieutenant. Gräser entered the army in February 1907 as a cadet and was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Grenadier Regiment Prinz Carl von Preußen No. 12 in his hometown the following year. He served as an adjutant before the outbreak of World War I and saw action on the Western Front, where he was promoted to first lieutenant in 1914 and captain in 1915. During the conflict, he held various staff positions, including roles with Austro-Hungarian army groups on the Eastern Front and as first general staff officer in a reserve division, earning multiple decorations for his service including Iron Crosses of both classes.
After the armistice, Gräser was briefly involved in border protection duties before being discharged from the army in 1920. He then worked as a landowner near Reppen and managed a motor vehicle company in Frankfurt an der Oder during the Weimar years. Recalled to service in 1932 as a land protection officer, he was reactivated in the expanding army and progressed through command roles, leading a machine gun battalion and eventually an infantry regiment. By 1939, as colonel, he commanded Infantry Regiment 29, which he led during the invasion of Poland and the campaign in the West. His regiment distinguished itself in the Battle of France, particularly during the crossing of the Aisne River in June 1940, where Gräser personally inspired his troops amid heavy resistance and artillery fire, overcoming multiple crises including a French counterattack with tanks. For these actions he received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross in July 1940.
Gräser's unit participated in Operation Barbarossa in 1941, where he was severely wounded in July, resulting in the amputation of his left leg and damage to his right knee. Despite these injuries, he recovered and was promoted to major general while in the Führer Reserve. In March 1943 he assumed command of the 3rd Panzergrenadier Division as lieutenant general and led it effectively on the Italian front, notably in the recapture and defense of Aprilia against Allied forces near Anzio in early 1944, actions for which he was awarded the Oak Leaves to his Knight's Cross in June 1944. His leadership involved mobile defense and counterattacks that inflicted significant losses on opposing armored units. Later in 1944, he successively took temporary command of the XXIV Panzer Corps and then the XLVIII Panzer Corps before being promoted to general of panzer troops and given command of the 4th Panzer Army in September 1944.
As commander of the 4th Panzer Army, Gräser oversaw operations on the Eastern Front, including efforts to contain Soviet bridgeheads along the Vistula River and defensive actions in Silesia and the Upper Lusatia region. In the spring of 1945, his forces engaged in the Battle of Bautzen, where German units under his overall direction achieved a tactical success against Soviet and Polish forces, though at high cost. His army, incorporating elite formations such as the Hermann Göring Parachute Panzer Division and the Brandenburg Panzergrenadier Division, conducted counterattacks amid the collapsing German position. Gräser issued motivational orders emphasizing retaliation against advancing Soviet troops, and postwar accounts have examined incidents of violence against prisoners and medical personnel during these final battles. He remained in command until the unconditional surrender in May 1945.
Following the end of the war, Gräser was taken into American captivity along with remnants of his army and was released in June 1947. He settled in Göttingen in West Germany, where he lived quietly after his military career. He passed away on 4 November 1960 at the age of 72 and was buried in the Stadtfriedhof in Göttingen alongside his wife Edelgard. His son, a lieutenant, had been killed in action on the Eastern Front in 1941. Gräser's military record included additional honors such as the German Cross in Gold and multiple wound badges, reflecting a career that spanned both world wars and culminated in high-level armored command during the defense of the Reich.
Throughout his service, Gräser was noted for leading from the front in earlier campaigns and for his organizational skills in managing depleted formations during the later stages of World War II. His progression from infantry regimental command to army-level leadership illustrated the Wehrmacht's reliance on experienced officers amid mounting losses. While recognized with the Swords to the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves in the final days of the war, the award's formal presentation remains a subject of historical discussion regarding its authorization. Gräser's life exemplified the trajectory of many professional German officers who transitioned from the imperial army through the interwar period into the expansive conflicts of the mid-20th century.
Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz-Hubert_Gräser
https://www.tracesofwar.com/persons/5357/Gr%C3%A4ser-Fritz-Hubert-General-der-Panzertruppe.htm
https://ww2gravestone.com/people/graser-fritz-hubert/
https://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/ (general Wehrmacht officer references)
https://rk.balsi.de/index.php?action=list&cat=300
https://www.unithistories.com/units_index/index.php?file=/officers/personsx.html
https://forum.axishistory.com/ (discussions on spelling and career details)
https://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/
https://www.geni.com/ (family connections)
Scherzer, Veit. Die Ritterkreuzträger 1939–1945. Jena 2007.
Patzwall, Klaus D. / Scherzer, Veit. Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941-1945. Norderstedt 2001.
Thomas, Franz. Die Eichenlaubträger 1939-1945. Osnabrück 1997.
