Erhard Milch in the Nuremberg Trials (1945)

The Nuremberg trial of German Luftwaffe Generalfeldmarschall Erhard Milch in 1945. Milch (30 March 1892 – 25 January 1972) served as State Secretary in the Reichsluftfahrtministerium from 1933 to 1944 and Inspector General of the Luftwaffe from 1939 to 1945, playing a central role in the rearmament and wartime expansion of German air power through mass production of aircraft such as the Messerschmitt Bf 109 and oversight of the Jägerstab (Fighter Staff) initiative launched in March 1944 alongside Albert Speer to dramatically increase fighter output amid mounting Allied bombing. Captured by British forces on 4 May 1945 near the Baltic coast, Milch was indicted on 14 November 1946 and tried before United States Military Tribunal II in the Milch Trial (officially United States of America v. Erhard Milch), the second of the twelve Subsequent Nuremberg Trials held at the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg from 2 January to 17 April 1947. The three-count indictment charged him with war crimes for participating in the planning and execution of the ill-treatment, enslavement, and use of forced labor involving prisoners of war and deported foreign civilians to support Luftwaffe production (often sourced from concentration camps via SS cooperation under inhumane conditions); with crimes against humanity encompassing similar acts against civilians and German nationals; and specifically with involvement in fatal high-altitude and freezing medical experiments on unwilling subjects (Count II). Defended by his brother Werner Milch and other counsel, with the prosecution presenting 34 witnesses and 212 exhibits over 39 trial days, Milch was acquitted on the medical experiments charge but found guilty on the war crimes and crimes against humanity counts related to slave labor exploitation; he was sentenced to life imprisonment on 17 April 1947 and initially held at Rebdorf Prison near Munich (later transferred to Landsberg). In 1951 U.S. High Commissioner John J. McCloy commuted the sentence to fifteen years, leading to Milch’s parole in June 1954; he lived out his remaining years quietly in Düsseldorf as the last surviving Generalfeldmarschall of the Luftwaffe, having been central to the Nazi regime’s aircraft production efforts that relied heavily on the systematic exploitation of forced labor.

Source :
https://pixpast.wordpress.com/?query-10-page=3&cst&str=428&id_parent=7898&items=12&vd=downloaded&category=7902&flow=1

Alfred Jodl in the Nuremberg Trials (1946)

Generaloberst Alfred Jodl, former Chief of the Operations Staff of the Armed Forces High Command, at the Nuremberg Trials in 1946. Jodl was arrested by British forces on 23 May 1945 along with the remnants of the Flensburg Government, he was transferred to Nuremberg and became one of the 24 major defendants tried before the International Military Tribunal (IMT) starting in November 1945, facing charges of conspiracy to commit crimes against peace, planning, initiating, and waging wars of aggression, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. The prosecution's case against him centered heavily on his personal responsibility for issuing or transmitting directives such as the Commando Order, which mandated the summary execution of captured Allied commandos, and the Commissar Order, which called for the shooting of Soviet political commissars, alongside his central role in planning aggressive campaigns including the invasions of Poland, France, the Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia, as well as reprisals and scorched-earth policies in occupied territories. During the trial, Jodl mounted a vigorous defense, testifying at length about his duties, claiming he had often acted as a professional soldier merely following superior orders while sometimes attempting to moderate Hitler's more extreme demands, and asserting his personal opposition to certain violations of international law, yet the tribunal rejected these arguments, emphasizing his high-level involvement and knowledge in the criminal enterprise. On 1 October 1946, Jodl was convicted on all four counts and sentenced to death by hanging; he was executed on the morning of 16 October 1946 at Nuremberg Prison, where, showing visible nervousness as he ascended the gallows in his Wehrmacht uniform, he uttered his final words, "My greetings to you, my Germany," before his body was cremated and ashes scattered. His conviction and execution remain subjects of historical debate, particularly regarding the application of superior orders as a defense and the tribunal's judgment of military leaders for state-directed policies.

Source :
https://pixpast.wordpress.com/?query-10-page=3&cst&str=428&id_parent=7898&items=12&vd=downloaded&category=7902&flow=1

Jochen Peiper Interview at Malmedy War Crimes Trials

MALMEDY WAR CRIMES TRIALS, DACHAU, GERMANY(MUNICH 250), 20 June 1946.

Malmedy War Crimes Trials, Dachau, Germany, June 20, 1946. Former German Colonel Joachim Peiper (#42) reading notes on witness stand about his treatment while being held as a prisoner by the Poles. CU, Peiper reading notes. MS, two German attorneys for the defense whispering to each other during trial. (Part of film showing Peiper testifying is out of focus.) MS, Lt. Col. Dwinell, counselor for the defense, as he conducts a cross-examination of Peiper (latter not in scene). MS, Peiper, back to camera, pointing to area on map which he covered during his encounter with US troops in Buelliagen, Belgium.

Source :
https://www.oorlogsbronnen.nl/bron/https%3A%2F%2Fportal.ehri-project.eu%2Funits%2Fus-005578-irn1001445
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-fphwzQ4AE

Hasso von Manteuffel and His Dislike to the SS

Hasso von Manteuffel appears to have been distinguished by an emphatic dislike of the SS, Gestapo, Security Police, and the Nazi murder machine in general. In a postwar interview, SS-Obergruppenfuhrer Karl Wolff was asked about instances of resistance to "special operations" in the East on the part of Heer commanders. He cited Manteuffel who, according to Wolff, on assuming a command in the East (presumably of Grossdeutschland), cordially informed the local SS and Police command that "special" security details would not be permitted to operate in his rear area without his personal permission (seldom if ever granted); and that police personnel entering his rear area without the required position would be shot. This was justified by the assertion that Manteuffel, as a senior Army commander, was competent and entitled to assume responsibility for security in his own rear area. According to Wolff, Himmler was most upset by this message, and reported it to Hitler. The Führer, however, was less exercised. He told Himmler that as far as he was concerned, "the Count" (Manteuffel) had his situation well under control - and that was the end of it. A very talented commander, realistic and practical, in any event.

Source :
https://www.ww2incolor.com/gallery/german-armored-forces-vehicles/36596/hitler-shaking-von-manteuffel's-hand

Hasso von Manteuffel Investigated for War Crime

This picture was taken on 6 February 1968 and it shows Hasso von Manteuffel before the HS-30 investigative committee in the Bonn Federal Palace. He was one of the most decorated generals of World War II. From 1953 to 1957 he was a member of the FDP in the German Bundestag. A Düsseldorf court sentenced him to 18 months in prison in August 1959 because he had a soldier shot on March 1, 1944. He was pardoned after four months in prison and then retired to private life. Hasso von Manteuffel was born on January 14, 1897 in Potsdam and died on September 24, 1978 in Reith (Austria). Photographer: Egon Steiner.

Source :
https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/hasso-von-manteuffel-am-vor-dem-hs-30-news-photo/1213288798

The Trial of Ferdinand Schörner

On 1 October 1957 the trial against ex German field marshal Ferdinand Schörner began in a Münich court. The 65 year old was defended by three attorneys and was accused of one account of manslaughter and two more accounts of attempted manslaughter. This picture shows the first day of the trial on homicide, 1 October, with lawyer Dr.jur. Gustav Brugger (right).

With the war over, Generalfeldmarschall Ferdinand Schörner handed himself in to the Americans on 18 May 1945, who a few weeks later passed him over to the Soviet authorities as a prisoner of war. In August 1951 he was charged with war crimes, and in February 1952 the Military Board of the Soviet Supreme Court sentenced him to 25 years imprisonment. A decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet in April 1952 reduced this sentence to 12 and a half years. A decree[by whom?] of December 1954 allowed him to be handed over to authorities of East Germany, and he was released in 1955. Returning to West Germany, he was arrested and charged with executions of German Army soldiers accused of desertion. Schörner was found guilty of manslaughter and attempted manslaughter and sentenced to four and a half years in prison. He was released on 4 August 1960 and lived in obscurity in Munich until his death in 1973. At the time of his death, he was the last surviving field marshal of the Third Reich. In the late 1960s, he gave a lengthy interview to Italian historian Mario Silvestri on his role and actions during the Austro-German victory at the Battle of Caporetto in World War I, but rarely spoke about his World War II service.

Ex-Generalfeldmarschall Ferdinand Schörner (center) with his children Anneliese (left) and Peter (far right) during beginning of the trial on homicide in Münich, West Germany, 1 October 1957.



On 1 October 1957 the trial against ex-Generalfeldmarschall Ferdinand Schörner began in a Münich court. The 65 year old was defended by three attorneys and was accused of one account of manslaughter and two more accounts of attempted manslaughter.



On 1 October 1957 the trial against ex-Generalfeldmarschall Ferdinand Schörner began in a Münich court. The 65 year old was defended by three attorneys and was accused of one account of manslaughter and two more accounts of attempted manslaughter.



On 1 October 1957 the trial against the former Generalfeldmarschall Ferdinand Schörner began at Münich's court. The 65 year old was defended by three attorneys and is accused of manslaughter in one account and attempted manslaughter in two others. Pictured is district court council Dr. Bartsch (right) in conversation with the defendant.



On 1 October 1957 the trial against Schörner began in a Münich court. The 65 year old was defended by three attorneys and was accused of one account of manslaughter and two more accounts of attempted manslaughter. Pictured: The ex-field marshal shows the last few places he was in the war.

On 1 October 1957 the trial against ex German field marshal Ferdinand Schörner began in a Münich court. The 65 year old was defended by three attorneys and was accused of one account of manslaughter and two more accounts of attempted manslaughter. This picture was taken on 4 October 1957 when Schörner enters the courtroom during his trial. He is charged with ordering the execution without court-martial of two Wehrmacht officers and an NCO during World War II.



10 October 1957 - 2nd day of the Schörner-process in Münich: These two former generals Sigfrid Henrici (right) and Friedrich Schulz (left) attended as witness during the trial, when they claimed to have tried to prevent the execution of two officers - Oberst Georg Sparre and Major Dr. Helmut Jüngling - on the order of Generalfeldmarschall Schörner.



Original caption: "Former Field Marshal Ferdinand Schoerner in the courtroom, 1957. After his return from Soviet captivity, the former Field Marshal (from 1945 briefly even Generalfeldmarschall) Ferdinand Schoerner had to answer in court for his actions against the end of the war. In the last days of the war Schoerner continued to shoot scattered soldiers and (alleged) deserters. He was later sentenced to four and a half years imprisonment and lost his pension entitlement, which at that time should have been financed by the Bundeswehr."



10 October 1957. Original caption: "Judgment in Schörner - Trial 4½ years prison was the sentence in the trial of former Field Marshall Ferdinand Schörner, which was passed today in Münich. Photo Shows Schörner after the judgment leaving the dock."

Ex-Generalfeldmarschall Ferdinand Schörner (right) after the homicide trial in a Münich court, 11 October 1957. An admirer sent him new glasses.



Ex-Generalfeldmarschall Ferdinand Schörner wearing his new glasses given by an admirer after the homicide trial in a Münich court, 11 October 1957. Original caption: "Former Field Marshal Ferdinand Schoerner in the courtroom, 1957. After his return from Soviet captivity, the former Field Marshal (from 1945 briefly even Generalfeldmarschall) Ferdinand Schoerner had to answer in court for his actions against the end of the war. In the last days of the war Schoerner continued to shoot scattered soldiers and (alleged) deserters. He was later sentenced to four and a half years imprisonment and lost his pension entitlement, which at that time should have been financed by the Bundeswehr."



Ex-Generalfeldmarschall Ferdinand Schörner wearing his new glasses given by an admirer after the homicide trial in a Münich court, 11 October 1957. Original caption: "Former Field Marshal Ferdinand Schoerner in the courtroom, 1957. After his return from Soviet captivity, the former Field Marshal (from 1945 briefly even Generalfeldmarschall) Ferdinand Schoerner had to answer in court for his actions against the end of the war. In the last days of the war Schoerner continued to shoot scattered soldiers and (alleged) deserters. He was later sentenced to four and a half years imprisonment and lost his pension entitlement, which at that time should have been financed by the Bundeswehr. The picture shows him leaving the courtroom, behind him is his son."

Ex-Generalfeldmarschall Ferdinand Schörner wearing his new glasses given by an admirer after the homicide trial in a Münich court, 11 October 1957. Original caption: "Former Field Marshal Ferdinand Schoerner in the courtroom, 1957. After his return from Soviet captivity, the former Field Marshal (from 1945 briefly even Generalfeldmarschall) Ferdinand Schoerner had to answer in court for his actions against the end of the war. In the last days of the war Schoerner continued to shoot scattered soldiers and (alleged) deserters. He was later sentenced to four and a half years imprisonment and lost his pension entitlement, which at that time should have been financed by the Bundeswehr. The picture shows him leaving the courtroom after his conviction. Right next to him walks his defender Moser, left behind him his son."

Source :
https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/sch%C3%B6rner.html?sortBy=relevant
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Sch%C3%B6rner

Ferdinand Schörner during Trial in Münich

On 1 October 1957 the trial against ex German field marshal Ferdinand Schörner began in a Münich court. The 65 year old was defended by three attorneys and was accused of one account of manslaughter and two more accounts of attempted manslaughter. This picture was taken on 4 October 1957 when Schörner enters the courtroom during his trial. He is charged with ordering the execution without court-martial of two Wehrmacht officers and an NCO during World War II.

Source :
https://www.alamy.com/oct-01-1957-on-october-1-1957-the-trial-against-ex-field-marshal-ferdinand-image69347852.html
https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/german-field-marshal-ferdinand-sch%C3%B6rner-enters-the-news-photo/954971034
https://id.rbth.com/sejarah/86224-tawanan-soviet-marsekal-lapangan-nazi-selamat-ryx
https://www.imago-images.com/st/0061847507

Testimony of Ferdinand Schörner to the Soviets

Mugshot of Generalfeldmarschall Ferdinand Schörner (12 June 1892 – 2 July 1973) while a Russian prisoner. He was captured by American troops in Austria on May 18, 1945, but then extradited to the Soviet Union in 1951. His initial sentence was 12 years in prison for alleged war crimes, but then it was suspended continuously until he was finally released in 1954. When he returned to his country, Schörner was thrown back behind bars on charges of "illegal execution of deserted German soldiers". It wasn't until 1963 that he finally breathed free air, and then spent the reminder of his life away from public view in Munich, Germany. When he died in 1973, Schörner was recorded as the last German Field Marshal to die, 23 days after Erich von Manstein!

The FSB of the Russian Federation published the testimony given to the Soviet investigation in 1945 by one of the military leaders closest to Hitler - the last commander-in-chief of the Ground Forces of the Third Reich, Field Marshal Ferdinand Schörner. According to his confessions, the mass robbery of the occupied territories of the Soviet Union was a deliberate policy pursued by the Reich authorities and the military command. According to experts, these documents serve as proof of the criminal actions of the German military and the close connection between the Wehrmacht and the Nazi Party.

Ferdinand Schörner was a participant in the First World War, after which he did not want to be demobilized and remained to serve in the army. In the 1920s, Schörner joined the Nazis. After Hitler came to power in Germany, he received a position in the General Staff, and then headed a mountain rifle regiment. Schörner participated in the Anschluss of Austria, and then in the seizure of Poland, Belgium, France and Greece.

Since 1941, Schörner operated on the Soviet-German front - in the northern regions of the USSR, in Ukraine, in the Crimea, the Baltic States, Poland and Czechoslovakia. During the years of the Great Patriotic War, he went from division commander to commander of Army Group Center. Schörner was extremely cruel, including in relation to his own soldiers, whom he ordered to be shot for abandoning their positions. In 1945, Schörner was promoted to the rank of Field Marshal.

From April 30, 1945, Schörner was considered Commander-in-Chief of the German Ground Forces. In May 1945, he surrendered to American troops, but was handed over to the Soviet command. By decision of the Military Tribunal of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Moscow Military District, Ferdinand Schörner was sentenced to 25 years in labor camps for war crimes. Subsequently, the sentence was reduced to 12.5 years. In 1955, Schörner was handed over to the German authorities. In Germany, he was sentenced to 4.5 years in prison for shooting German soldiers.

In 1945, while under investigation in the USSR, Schörner gave valuable testimony to the Soviet special services about Germany's preparations for war, about the crimes of the Wehrmacht and the links between the Nazi Party and the military organization of the Third Reich.

"From the moment of its inception, National Socialism, thanks to its program and its prominent leaders, who were entirely soldiers of the First World War, became a movement for war, a "party of war" ... If you analyze my point of view at that time, then I was less interested in the general National Socialist program than in purely soldier and combat ideas, "Schörner argued in his testimony.

He explained his position by the "impossible" economic situation in which Germany found itself under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles.

"But we told ourselves that our hour would also come. And the growing National Socialism was the standard-bearer of this hope. And all the conversations with comrades who had heard Hitler's speeches or had in any way taken part in pre-conscription military training, in particular meetings with Röhm, Schobert, Dietl, etc., left no doubt that the aspiration of National Socialism was war. When the party created its organizations, there was also little doubt that the National Socialist leadership was pursuing the ultimate goal of preparing for war," Schörner said in his testimony.

Among such organizations, he named, in particular, the Hitler Youth, whose task "was least of all the upbringing and education of German youth, its main task was the militarization of youth."

In addition, Schörner included the Union of German Girls, the National Socialist Military Union, and the National Socialist Automobile Corps among the organizations intended to prepare Germany for war. According to him, the party congress of the NSDAP in 1937, in which he personally participated, "was nothing more than a dress rehearsal for the mobilization of all means of communication and transport for accommodation and supply."

"It is also known about the simultaneous preparation for war in the industrial and economic fields. The influence of propaganda on the people served as a psychological preparation for war. Propaganda against Jews was aimed at the same thing, "Schörner emphasized.

The situation that developed in the 1930s in the international arena, Schörner considered favorable for the aggressive policy pursued by the Nazis.

"I can characterize the moments of foreign policy in one sentence: the foreign policy situation was extremely favorable for the development and implementation of the goals of National Socialism, because the great powers acted separately at that time ... The motto "fascism is not a product of export" is also suitable for National Socialism, but it does not limit the concept of "fascism is war," the former commander-in-chief of the German Ground Forces said in his testimony.

According to Schörner, the leaders of the Reich pursued exclusively imperialist goals and did not create the prerequisites for the restoration of real statehood in the countries they conquered - even led by Nazi sympathizers. The Nazis initially used pro-German organizations in order to create internal tension in these states before the attack.

Schörner argued that the Nazi leadership compensated for the lack of funds necessary for the war with an absolute internal dictatorship and predatory methods of warfare - the robbery of already occupied countries.

"OKH (Supreme Command of the Ground Forces. - RT) therefore pursued purely practical goals in order to ensure our military-economic situation (Ukraine, the Caucasus), and thereby increasingly came into conflict with the policy of prestige of the Fuhrer (Moscow, Stalingrad), "Schörner admitted.

He explained Germany's alliance with Japan and Italy not by ideological kinship or political goals, but by a common desire to declare war on the whole world.

The 1939 treaty with the Soviet Union, according to Schörner, was only a temporary "tactical event." He heard the relevant statements personally from the Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler, who, in turn, referred to Hitler's position.

"The ideological struggle against Bolshevism in its action and in connection with the economic goals pursued could be considered as propaganda for war. This propaganda was directed by the government and justified by ideological, political reasons. There were no other thoughts in this regard officially," Schörner admitted.

After the attack on the Soviet Union, the Nazis began a merciless robbery of the territories they occupied, in particular the Ukrainian SSR.

"An order was given for the merciless robbery of the country, and no attention was to be paid to the civilian population, and all the country's reserves were to be taken into account and exported to Germany. At the same time, they meant both agricultural products and minerals and industrial products, "Schörner noted in his testimony.
"Was personally loyal to Hitler"

According to historians, Schörner's testimony is a valuable source of information about the causes and course of World War II.

"Schörner is one of the few generals in whom Hitler believed to the end. Schörner, in turn, was personally loyal to Hitler. His testimony is of great interest to science, "said Maxim Sinitsyn, a graduate student at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, in an interview with RT.

According to him, Schörner's testimony makes it possible to refute the myth of the "pure Wehrmacht", created in the post-war period in order to justify the cooperation of the United States and Great Britain with the former Nazi military.

"The Wehrmacht initially absorbed the National Socialist ideology. There were no different aspirations and moods in his ranks initially," Sinitsyn stressed.

As Dmitry Surzhik, a senior researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said in an interview with RT, Schörner's testimony allows us to better understand the internal motives of the German military, who became an instrument for unleashing a global war by the Nazis.

"We see in the example of Schörner the psychology of German officers, for whom the First World War ended in humiliation. From the humiliation that London and Paris inflicted on the Germans deliberately, the revanchism that Hitler later saddled grew, "Surzhik said.

According to him, Schörner was one of the officers who supported the war and pushed Germany towards it. He was imbued with the spirit of Nazism and did not see anything shameful in committing war crimes.

"Schörner was the engine of the war. He put a lot of effort into the development of the Wehrmacht, which served as the main instrument of Nazi foreign policy. He followed Hitler's instructions on the use of scorched earth tactics and never opposed the use of the Wehrmacht in punitive operations, "Surzhik summed up.

Source :
http://alifrafikkhan.blogspot.com/2011/07/album-foto-mugshot-tokoh-tokoh-nazi.html
https://www.tellerreport.com/tech/2023-06-21-%22there-was-an-indication-of-a-merciless-robbery-of-the-country%22--the-fsb-published-the-testimony-of-nazi-field-marshal-sch%C3%B6rner.Byxx0ZEieuh.html

Bio of SS-Gruppenführer Bruno Streckenbach (1902-1977)

Bruno Streckenbach

Date of Birth: 07.02.1902 - Hamburg (German Empire)
Date of Death: 28.10.1977 - Hamburg (West Germany)

NSDAP Number: unknown (joined 01.10.1930)
SS Number: unknown (joined 01.09.1931)
Parents: Hans Heinrich Hugo Streckenbach (30 August 1869) and Minna Johanna Elisabeth Spenner (4 May 1877)
Wife: Klara Luise Wulff (divorced 11.07.1926); Helene Karolina Amanda Steinhard (married 20.10.1927 and divorced 11.06.1934; Franziska Konradone Dore Hartjen (married 15.07.1937)
Children: A son and a daughter (from third marriage)

Promotions:
24.12.1932 SS-Sturmführer
12.06.1933 SS-Hauptsturmführer
02.09.1933 SS-Sturmbannführer
09.11.1933 SS-Obersturmbannführer
20.04.1934 SS-Standartenführer
00.00.1935 Feldwebel der Reserve
12.09.1936 SS-Oberführer
20.04.1939 SS-Brigadeführer
01.01.1941 SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Polizei
09.11.1941 SS-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Polizei
18.01.1943 SS-Untersturmführer der Reserve der Waffen-SS
01.03.1943 SS-Obersturmführer der Reserve der Waffen-SS
10.03.1943 SS-Hauptsturmführer der Reserve der Waffen-SS
11.03.1943 SS-Sturmbannführer der Reserve der Waffen-SS
01.07.1943 SS-Obersturmbannführer der Reserve der Waffen-SS
28.08.1943 SS-Standartenführer der Reserve der Waffen-SS
30.01.1944 SS-Oberführer der Reserve der Waffen-SS
01.07.1944 SS-Brigadeführer der Reserve und Generalmajor der Reserve der Waffen-SS
09.11.1944 SS-Gruppenführer der Reserve und Generalleutnant der Reserve der Waffen-SS

Career:
00.00.190_ Volksschule
00.00.1908 Realgymnasium des Hamburger Johanneums
00.10.1918 Unterprimaner Jungmann-Etappen-Kommando
00.02.1919 Oberprimaner Freikorps Hermann
00.00.19__ Freiwilligen Wachtabteilung Bahrenfeld
00.00.19__ Norddeutschen Heimatbund
00.00.19__ Wehrwolf
00.00.19__ Fremdsprachenkorrespondent
00.00.1925 Gaugeschäftsführer ADAC in Hamburg
00.00.1928 Verkäufer Stöver-Werken
01.10.1930 Member of NSDAP
00.12.1930 Member of SA
01.09.1931 Member of SS
00.00.193_ - 00.00.1932 Autovermietung "Selbstfahrer-Union"
00.00.1932 Werbevertreter Automobilbranche
00.12.1932 Führer Sturmbann I / 28. SS-Standarte
00.00.1933 Werbeabteilung Norddeutschen Rundfunk
20.10.1933 Leiter der politischen Polizei Hamburg
00.00.193_ Leiter Zeitfunkabteilung Norddeutschen Rundfunk
00.00.193_ Polizeidirektion München
05.10.1933 Regierungsrat
01.02.1938 Regierungsdirektor / Inspekteur der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD (IdS), Wehrkreis X
00.09.1939 Führer Einsatzgruppe 1 / 14.Armee
01.11.1939 Befehlshaber der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD (BdS), Krakau
12.06.1940 Chef Amt I (Organisation, Verwaltung und Recht) in Reichssicherheitshauptamtes (RSHA)
11.07.1942 Stellvertretender Gerichtsherr des RSHA
00.12.1942 Entered Waffen-SS
15.01.1943 Panzerjäger-Ersatz-Abteilung, Hilversum
15.03.1943 Führer Panzerjäger-Abteilung 8 / SS-Kavallerie-Division "Florian Geyer"
00.00.194_ Panzertruppschule Wunsdorf
10.01.1944 Kommandeur 8. SS-Kavallerie-Division "Florian Geyer"
01.04.1944 Führer 19. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS "Latvia" (lettische Nr. 2)
10.05.1945 POW Soviet forces
18.02.1954 Convicted to 25 years forced labour, Mosow Military Tribune
00.00.195_ Wladimir Prison
10.10.1955 Released
00.00.19__ - 30.06.1969 kaufmännischer Angestellter und Prokurist, Ottenser Eisenwerk GmbH

Awards and Decorations:
00.00.1924 Meisterschaftsabzeichen des Deutschen Ruderverbandes
00.00.193_ SS-Totenkopfring
00.00.193_ Ehrendegen des Reichsführers-SS
16.12.1935 Julleuchter der SS
00.00.193_ SA-Sportabzeichen in Bronze
24.08.1938 Magyar Érdemkereszt (Hungarian Order of Merit)
30.01.1939 Goldenes Parteiabzeichen der NSDAP
00.00.19__ Dienstauszeichnungen der NSDAP in Bronze und Silber
00.00.19__ SS-Dienstauszeichnungen, 3. und 2. Stufe (12 Jahre)
00.09.1939 Eisernes Kreuz II.Klasse
30.01.1942 Kriegsverdienstkreuz II.Klasse mit Schwertern
30.01.1942 Kriegsverdienstkreuz I.Klasse mit Schwertern
15.07.1943 Eisernes Kreuz I.Klasse
06.09.1943 Tapferkeitsauszeichnung für Angehörige der Ostvölker I.Klasse in Silber
25.09.1943 Allgemeines-Sturmabzeichen
30.10.1943 Nahkampfspange in Bronze
15.12.1943 Deutsches Kreuz in Gold
09.08.1944 Mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht: "Im Nordabschnitt der Ostfront haben sich die norddeutsche 83. Infanteriedivision unter Oberst Götz mit unterstellten Teilen der ostpreußischen 61. Infanteriedivision und die 19. lettische SS-Division unter Führung von SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Waffen-SS Streckenbach in Angriff und Abwehr besonders bewährt." (In the northern section of the Eastern Front, the North German 83rd Infantry Division under Colonel Götz with subordinate parts of the East Prussian 61st Infantry Division and the 19th Latvian SS Division under the leadership of SS Brigadefuhrer and Major General of the Waffen-SS Streckenbach have proven themselves in attack and defense).
27.08.1944 Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes, as SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Waffen-SS and Kommandeur 19. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (lettische Nr. 2). Streckenbach’s Ritterkreuz recommendation reads as follows: “On the 06.08.1944 the Kampfgruppe 19. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (Lett. Nr. 2) was engaged in combat behind the Aiviekste river (west of Lake Lubana), however it did not have friendly contact to either the left or right as a result of deep hostile penetrations. During the afternoon an attack by a Soviet Division from the north threatened to sever the single retirement road of the Division at a point northwest of Lubana. High command ordered that this penetration be sealed off. In this precarious situation SS-Brigadeführer Streckenbach made the decision to go over to the attack. He assembled all available reserves (including every last supply driver and clerk he could find) and then personally led a pincer maneuver against the broken-in hostile elements. Success: Total destruction of 2 Soviet rifle regiments, Division was able to pull back as ordered along the sole available route. SS-Brigadeführer had been the soul of resistance for his Division since the beginning of its prolonged withdrawal on the 10.07.1944. Throughout this time he rushed from Kompanie to Kompanie in the foremost line, all while rallying wavering units and upholding the combat morale of his Latvian formations. The countermeasures that he executed during this period repeatedly led to notable successes. His proven personal bravery and leadership qualities make him a particularly worthy candidate for being awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes.”
30.09.1944 Mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht: "In der Abwehrschlacht in Lettland hat sich die 19. Waffengenadierdivision der SS (lettische Nr. 2) unter Führung von SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Waffen-SS Streckenbach bei der Verteidigung ihres Heimatbodens hervorragend geschlagen." (In the defensive battle in Latvia, the 19th Waffen Genadier Division of the SS (Latvian No. 2) under the leadership of SS Brigadefuehrer and Major General of the Waffen-SS Streckenbach did an excellent job in defending their homeland).
27.12.1944 Mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht: "Bei den schweren Abwehrkämpfen in Kurland haben sich die 205. Infanteriedivision unter Führung des Generalleutnants von Mellenthin und die 19. Freiwilligendivision unter SS-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Waffen-SS Streckenbach hervorragend geschlagen." (During the heavy defensive fighting in Kurland, the 205th Infantry Division under the command of Lieutenant General von Mellenthin and the 19th Volunteer Division under SS Group Leader and Lieutenant General of the Waffen-SS Streckenbach did extremely well).
16.01.1945 Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub #701, as SS-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Waffen-SS and Kommandeur 19. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (lettische Nr. 2). “During the morning hours of the 23.12.1944 the Russians conducted a short yet ferocious artillery barrage before launching a surprise multi-division assault against the left neighbouring Division (Gruppe Henze) as well as the left wing of the 19. Waffen-Grenadier-Division. Although the Division was able to repulse all attacks against it, the enemy was able to achieve a deep penetration in the sector of the left neighbouring Division. Within a short time the foe had overrun the second position, and then they pressed on to the Artillerie’s defensive screen. Enemy forces pivoted to the northwest, and by pushing on in this direction they threatened to cut off the left wing of the Division. This could easily have led to the disintegration of the frontline: the enemy would have achieved their deep penetration and thereby enabled their planned breakthrough to proceed. In this particularly critical moment SS-Gruppenführer Streckenbach decided to first order his Waffen-Gren.Rgt. 42 to form a blocking front. At the same time he planned to commit all available forces against the enemy’s main thrust in the left flank of his Division. These included the II./W.-Gren.Rgt. 43, the existing alarm units from the supply troops and the Kampfschule of the Feld-Ers.Btl. Although his right flank was also being attacked at several points he nonetheless pull additional elements from it in order to reinforce his left wing. This risky decision paid off however, as it held up the deep flank of his Division and ensured that the hostile thrust towards the northwest would be temporarily contained. However the enemy pressure against the deep flank of the 19. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS continued to increase throughout the 24.12.1944, and so during the afternoon the divisional commander was assigned the II./Gren.Rgt. 273 of the 93. Infanterie-Division (which had been brought up via motor transport). On the morning of the next day he did not use it to seal off the new hostile penetrations, but rather he used it to deliberately counterattack the flank of this enemy thrust. This countermeasure again halted the enemy’s thrust to the northwest for the time being, and it also helped buttress the ever-lengthening deep flank of the Division. This initiative by the divisional commander was the deciding factor that enabled the extended frontline of the 19. Waffen-Gren.Div. der SS to be held for 4 days long despite strong enemy attacks in the front and flank. Such an action furthermore presented the enemy with a dangerous flank threat for their own thrust to the northwest. It was only on the night of the 26./27.12.1944 that the frontline of the 19. Waffen-Gren. Division der SS was pulled back to the Artillerie defensive position due to the situation in the sector of Gruppe Henze. The Korps’ ability to delay this breakthrough attempt by 6 divisions and 1 Soviet Tank Corps with its own weak forces bought enough time for armoured reinforcements to arrive from other sectors of the Courland front, and once they had arrived it was possible to transition to a more active form of combat. This outstanding achievement by the 19. Waffen-Gren.Div. der SS (which was notable enough to merit a mention in the Wehrmachtbericht) is largely attributable to the clear and energetic leadership of its commander. He personally directed the heavy forest combat of his Latvians from the vicinity of the regimental command posts, and everywhere he was the soul of the bitter resistance. Captured Russian officers stated that these combat days were some of the worst they had seen in the entire war. Up until now this Latvian Division has held its ground in an exemplary fashion whilst engaged in defensive combat. It shows clear evidence of having been influenced by the personality of its commander. The high combat value of his unit can be credited to the decisiveness, energetic leadership and personal devotion to duty displayed by the divisional commander, SS-Gruppenführer Streckenbach. In these 9 major days of combat the Russians suffered heavy losses in men at the hands of the 19. Waffen-Gren.Div. der SS. They also sustained the following materiel losses to the Division in this time: 1 aircraft (to infantry weapons), 18 tanks (including 8 to close combat weapons), 1 assault gun, 18 anti-tank guns, 12 trucks, 26 medium and heavy mortars, 44 heavy machine-guns, 156 light machine-guns, and numerous additional war materiel. 104 prisoners were also captured (including 4 deserters). In these days of bitter forest combat along a wide front, the Division inflicted such heavy losses on 3 attacking Russian divisions that the enemy was forced to call off their assault on the 01.01.1945. The defensive resolve of this Division laid the groundwork for the crushing defeat sustained by the Russian 22nd Army during the first days of January.”
00.00.1945 Ärmelband "Kurland"

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Bruno Streckenbach (7 February 1902 – 28 October 1977) was born in Hamburg, Germany on 7 February 1902. His highest education was Gymnasium, which he left in April 1918 to voluntarily report to the German Army during World War I. Just like his close colleagues Erwin Schulz and Heinrich Himmler, he never served on the front lines of the battlefield due to the ceasefire that took place in November 1918.

After the end of the First World War, he was an active member of the Freikorps Bahrenfeld, which took part in the 1920 Kapp-Putsch. He was employed as a wholesale merchant, tried his hand at advertising, being a radio editor and also trying to establish himself as the director of a local office.

1933 was a huge year for many soon-to-be SS and police officers. As some historians have mentioned, for people like Streckenbach, 1933 was the year in which they assumed positions of the Gestapo (Political Police), but also the year which they were put into “leadership positions, posts they would hardly have occupied without the National Socialist seizure of power.” Following the Reichstag Fire on 27 February 1933 which the Nazis falsely propagated to be “communist-led,” there was a suspension of constitutional rights in the Weimar Republic, which increased the power of the government. Protests occurred and subsequently severe persecution towards left-wing politicians followed the Presidential Decree for the Protection of Volk and State on 28 February. In the March 5 Reichstag Elections, the National Socialists won power, although only upon merging with the Deutschnationale Volkspartei. After having the majority vote, the Nazi's seized full power. Persecution against political opponents and Jews increased, as did incidence of brutal assault, sporadic murder, and arson. It was during this seizure of power that many of the future leaders of the RSHA were given their first positions in the party.

More than a quarter of the future RSHA leaders had already been police officers in their respective home towns before 1933. In 1933, almost two-thirds of these men were given political police positions in their towns or cities, or sent to Berlin as a part of the Gestapo Office. Streckenbach himself only entered the police force on 31 August 1931 as the leader of the SS-Sturmbanner in Hamburg, Streckenbach's placement as chief of the Gestapo in Hamburg illustrates the “superficiality of professional continuity” – referring to the lack of qualifications many candidates possessed – as some historians characterize the Nazi Party's seizure of power. For years, these young radical right-wing militants had been marginalized, but with the rise of the Nazis, they were now given the chance to pursue a career which preserved their radical and violent worldviews, and indeed encouraged such behaviour. Historian Bradley Smith argues that the Nazi seizure of power offered these young men, including Bruno Streckenbach, a career which abided by and even enhanced their radicalism, and provided professional advancements which they had failed to receive in their careers up to this point.

Reinhard Heydrich and Himmler were always trying to expand their power and authority beyond the confines of the German Reich. In accordance with Hitler's notion of Lebensraum, active persecution against Polish people, and long-term goals of “conquering extensive territories in the Soviet Union”, Hitler and other top Nazi leadership started preparing for a war, marked by the invasion of Poland. In preparation for the invasion of Poland, Heydrich expressed his ambition of having mobilized killing squads, a “fighting administration” as he put it.

The Einsatzgruppen were in charge of securing German power and occupational authority in Poland through terror, furthering the ideology of ethnic cleansing and Lebensraum via deportations out of the occupied territory and mass executions within. The number of Einsatzgruppen corresponded to the Wehrmacht army units deployed. The leaders of the Sicherheitspolizei (SiPo; Security Police) in Berlin selected the office heads of the Einsatzgruppen very carefully, most of them being prior SD members or leaders. The members of the Einsatzgruppen— 500 men per Einsatzgruppe— were taken from local SS and police stations near the five units’ locations.

After the war, Bruno Streckenbach testified that Werner Best had directed deployment orders directly to him at the end of July or beginning of August. Streckenbach immediately left Hamburg to drive to Vienna, where he was deployed as head of Einsatzgruppe I. The German Wehrmacht invaded Poland on the morning of 1 September 1939. The Einsatzgruppen followed after them sending reports back to Berlin detailing the actions of Operation Tannenberg, the code name given to the anti-Polish extermination action carried out by the SD and SiPo in Poland during the opening weeks of the war. It was Streckenbach's task to oversee four districts as Befehlshaber der Sicherheitspolizei im General Gouvernement: Warsaw, Krakow, Radom and Lublin. In each of these districts, thousands of Polish intellectuals—many former officers, professors, teachers, or politicians—were arrested and soon after, murdered. Streckenbach detailed the mission of the Einsatzgruppen: they were to seize and destroy all political and racial enemy groups, such as leftists, Roma, Polish resistance and Jews. In addition, they were to report on and evaluate material seized during the campaign and to gather information from agents among the Soviet population. Streckenbach ordered all enemies of the Third Reich to be deported to concentration camps and there to be executed. Jews were especially singled out for Sonderbehandlung ("special treatment"), a process that entailed particularly brutal beatings. On 9 November 1941 he was promoted to SS-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Polizei.

By the end of 1939, the Einsatzgruppen were permanent units of the RSHA. Many members of the RSHA worked alongside the Einsatzgruppen in implementing brutal violence and mass murder throughout Poland. In May 1940, thousands of Poles were reported as liquidated. At the end of this month, Streckenbach had reported that “sentencing by martial law” was completed, with over 8,500 persons–whether accused as being “career criminals” or summoned to “summary sentencing”–were either already executed or would be shortly.

During his time in Poland, he had earned a reputation as the ruthless chief, who fought with such determination and mercilessness to eradicate any, and all, Nazi opponents.

Historian Michael Wildt suggests a stark increase in the activation of Streckenbach's radicalness from his time as a Gestapo chief in Hamburg to his first few months as the head of Einsatzgruppe I in Poland. Wildt notes the difference in responsibilities, going from arrests, abuses, assaults and killings of prisoners to the mindset of extermination of large groups of people. More than just a racial justification, Wildt suggests that Streckenbach's first few months as head of Einsatzgruppe I escalated into a murderous ideology that was unconceivable before this position.

Most of the previous SD men who were now employed in the Einsatzgruppen hadn't inflicted such murderous activity on so many people up until this point. As Wildt suggests, the deployment in Poland for the Einsatzgruppen was a defining moment for how policing matters were to be handled. It was these men's “first experience as racist mass murderers”. The deportations to the General-Gouvernement came from the Reich as well as newly “Germanized” territories which Germany had taken from Poland, removed the local “opponents”–Jews, Poles, Roma, and “asocial persons”–and replaced with ethnic Germans. During the late months of 1939, a span of eight weeks consisted of the execution of over 60,000 people by the Nazi forces, including by the Einsatzgruppen. Hitler insisted that this “harsh ethnic battle” could only be defeated without any internal resistance or legal restrictions upon implementation. Furthermore, the RSHA was the appropriate department for this “ethnic battle."

At the beginning of 1941, the attack on Soviet Union was first discussed among leaders of the RSHA. In March 1941, Heydrich informed a small circle of leaders, including Streckenbach, about the offensive that was to take place. The Wehrmacht army would lead and the Einsatzgruppen would secure the area after Soviets had been defeated. Streckenbach volunteered his unit's but Heydrich decided differently.

Streckenbach had commissioned the Personnel and Administration Office Leaders, advising them to prepare for deployment. In May 1941, Streckenbach called on his long-time colleague Erwin Schulz to prepare his men in the Leadership School of the Security Police in Berlin-Charlottenberg for deployment after just having completed their training as Criminal Police inspectors. Streckenbach sent them to Pretzsch, where they were to assume leadership status of the Einsatzkommando. These young soldiers, many of them recent college graduates, came motivated to fight and impress authority. The Einsatzgruppen were divided and formed in Pretzsch in May 1941. Streckenbach, Müller and Heydrich had the most authority in dispersing directions of the Einsatzkommandos in Pretzsch leading up to the offensive on the Soviet Union. Furthermore, in Otto Ohlendorf's Nuremberg Trial, he testified that Bruno Streckenbach had communicated the “order for the Final Solution” to the Einsatzgruppen.

Himmler and Hitler's actions following the assassination attempt and death of Heydrich were particularly vengeful. Hitler stated in reference to the Czechs who killed Heydrich, whenever you “kill someone, what results is always worse.” Streckenbach was called to Prague following the 4 June death of Heydrich. Himmler deemed the situation dire, the head of the RSHA having been killed with such abruptness.

Despite considering many leaders to assume Heydrich's position, Himmler decided to lead the RSHA himself. While Himmler was the head of the RSHA, Streckenbach — along with each of the other RSHA office heads — had near-full autonomy in deciding the internal structure of their respective divisions. Himmler focused his efforts on ensuring that Western European Jews be sent to extermination camps as efficiently and completely as possible, allowing the office heads like Streckenbach to control how it was done.

At the end of July 1942, Himmler named Streckenbach his representative as the legal authority of the RSHA. This essentially gave the latter absolute authority in deciding disciplinary cases regarding members of the RSHA. After Streckenbach had served as RSHA chief for about six months, Himmler concluded that a successor had to be publicly named. Bruno Streckenbach's responsibilities and qualifications were highly regarded and far exceeded expectations, and for this reason he was largely considered the best candidate for the position. Historian Tuviah Friedmann speculated that Himmler saw Streckenbach in some regards as having far too much power in his hands, possibly even seeing him as professional competition. To this day however, it is still unknown why Streckenbach was not appointed for the position of head of the RSHA, and Ernst Kaltenbrunner was chosen instead.

Hitler and Himmler wanted to name Streckenbach as the Senior SS and Police Leader of the Alpenland in Salzburg, Austria. Extremely disappointed, nonetheless, Streckenbach declined and in a personal letter to Himmler, requested to be placed in a military position.

Streckenbach trained in Hilversum, Holland with an antitank unit (as an Untersturmführer) in the beginning of 1943, and quickly advanced through the ranks of the Waffen-SS, even for being a senior SS leader. He was a regiment and division leader of the 8th SS Cavalry Division Florian Geyer and went on to lead the 19th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (2nd Latvian) in the offensive against the Soviet Union in 1944 as a general. On 10 May 1945, Streckenbach and his division were taken prisoner in the Courland Pocket by the Soviet army. He remained a Soviet prisoner of war until 9 October 1955, when he was sent back to Hamburg.

When Streckenbach returned to Hamburg, he was informed that he faced charges for actions he had taken as the city's Gestapo chief. He was accused of beating someone in the kidneys; however after further investigation, the state prosecutor could not obtain the appropriate documents which provided evidence of the charges.

During the Nuremberg Trials, Streckenbach's name was continuously mentioned in court papers, among which was a testimony from Otto Ohlendorf who, as mentioned before, identified Streckenbach as one who had directed the Einsatzgruppen towards implementation of the Final Solution. However, the Hamburg State Prosecutor's Office concluded that there was not sufficient evidence to prove that his actions conflicted with the extant governing laws of the National Socialist rule. It was the case that many inhumane acts taken by the former Nazi members; as Wildt says, the assumption that National Socialism was synonymous with the “German Dictatorship rendered indivisible” the murderous acts that the party had taken in eastern and southern Europe and the Soviet Union.

In 1957, state prosecutors in Germany began discovering the unfathomable atrocities and millions of deaths of Soviet Jews culminating in the Ulm Einsatzkommando trial. His case prompted the 1959 establishment of the Central Office of State Justice Administration for the Investigation of National Socialist Crimes (Zentrale Stelle der Landesjustizverwaltungen zur Aufklärung der nationalsozialistischen Gewaltverbrechen) in Ludwigsburg. In the early 1960s, the office discovered a document providing evidence of deployment orders to Criminal Police and Gestapo officers that incited murderous activity. The court ordered the resumption of the investigation of crimes committed by Bruno Streckenbach.

On 30 June 1973, a bill of indictment for the murder of at least a million people was brought. Streckenbach, who was suffering from serious heart disease at the time, claimed ineligibility notwithstanding the strains a trial might place on his health. On 20 September 1974, the Hanseatic Appellate Court confirmed a diagnosis postponing trial commencement indefinitely. Bruno Streckenbach never had to answer for his part in the Nazi regime. He died on 28 October 1977 in Hamburg, Germany.

Chief of the Reich Security Main Office and Deputy Protector in Bohemia and Moravia SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich (centre) in conversation with SS-Gruppenführer Bruno Streckenbach (right) at the inauguration of the Reich School of the Security Police and Security Service (RSSPSD) in Prague on April 16, 1942; far left is SS-Oberführer Erwin Schulz (1900–1981).

Source :
Bundesarchiv photo collection
https://de.metapedia.org/wiki/Streckenbach,_Bruno
https://www.holocausthistoricalsociety.org.uk/contents/germanbiographies/brunostreckenbach.html
https://www.tracesofwar.com/persons/14001/Streckenbach-Bruno.htm

Johann Pflugbeil with His Officers

Generalleutnant Johann Pflugbeil (left, Kommandeur 221. Sicherungs-Division) with his officers. He received the Deutsches Kreuz in Gold on 11 April 1942 in this capacity, and Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 12 August 1944 as Kampfkommandant Mitau. Under Pflugbeil's command, the 221st Security Division took part in Nazi security warfare and was responsible for numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Heeresgruppe Mitte rear area, central sector of the Eastern Front.

Source :
https://www.ebay.de/b/General-in-Militaria-Fotos-1900-1918-1945/15504/bn_7004515776
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Pflugbeil

Wilhelm List and Maximilian von Weichs Before Hostages Trial

Wilhelm List received an indictment from Colonel Charles Mays (Marshall of Military Tribunals), while watching beside him is Maximilian von Weichs. This photo was taken on May 12, 1947, before the start of the so-called "Hostage Trials" in Nuremberg (held from July 8, 1947 to February 19, 1948), which is the trial for the ex high-ranking German officers on the Balkan and Scandinavian Fronts accused of committed war crimes. Former Generalfeldmarschall List and Weichs were two of 12 officers scheduled to be tried in front of the judge, but his deteriorating health led to Weichs being released before the trial even begun.

Source :
https://www.bpk-bildagentur.de/shop
https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1040881

Bio of Generalleutnant Hartwig von Ludwiger (1895-1947)

Gottlob Hartwig Alfred Michael von Ludwiger
Born: 29 Jun 1895 in Beuthen, Upper Silesia (Oberschlesien)
Died: 03 May 1947 in Belgrade, Yugoslavia (Executed)

Promotions:
Fahnenjunker-Gefreiter (26 Sep 1914); Fahnenjunker-Unteroffizier (10 Dec 1914); Fähnrich (08 May 1915); Leutnant (30 Jul 1915); Oberleutnant (31 Jul 1925); Hauptmann (01 Feb 1930); Major (01 Nov 1935); Oberstleutnant (01 Oct 1938); Oberst (01 Sep 1941); Generalmajor (01 May 1943); Generalleutnant (01 Jan 1944)

Career:
Entered Army Service (17 Aug 1914)
Fahnenjunker in the 11th Grenadier-Regiment (17 Aug 1914-02 Feb 1915)
Detached to Fahnenjunker-Course at Döberitz (17 Oct 1914-10 Dec 1914)
In the Field with the 11th Grenadier-Regiment (02 Feb 1915-11 Oct 1915)
Platoon Leader in the MG-Company of the 11th Grenadier-Regiment (11 Oct 1915-13 Dec 1916)
Company Leader in the 11th Grenadier-Regiment (13 Dec 1916-24 Oct 1917)
Platoon Leader in the 11th Grenadier-Regiment (24 Oct 1917-10 Dec 1917)
Director of the MG-Training-Courses with the 11th Grenadier-Regiment (10 Dec 1917-12 Dec 1917)
Adjutant & Training-Officer with the Assault School Gopes with Special Purpose General Command 62 (12 Dec 1917-20 Apr 1918)
Transferred back to the 11th Grenadier-Regiment (20 Apr 1918-02 Apr 1918)
Battalion Adjutant & Battalion Signals Officer in the 11th Grenadier-Regiment (02 May 1918-19 Oct 1918)
Regimental Signals Officer of the 11th Grenadier-Regiment (19 Oct 1918-12 Dec 1918)
Company Leader in the 11th Grenadier-Regiment (12 Dec 1918-10 May 1919)
Company Leader in the 63rd Reichswehr-Infantry-Regiment (10 May 1919-21 Jun 1919)
Platoon Leader in the MG-Company of the 63rd Infantry-Regiment (21 Jun 1919-28 Sep 1919)
Signals-Officer with Infantry-Leader 32 (28 Sep 1919-20 Feb 1920)
Leader of MG-Company Landgericht Breslau (20 Feb 1920-15 May 1920)
Company Officer in the 16th Infantry-Regiment (15 May 1920-01 Jul 1920)
Company Officer in the 7th Infantry-Regiment (01 Jul 1920-01 Feb 1930)
At the same time, detached to Weapons School Course at Dresden (01 Apr 1925-15 Aug 1925)
Company Chief in the 1st Infantry-Regiment (01 Feb 1930-01 Oct 1934)
Company Chief in Infantry-Regiment Gumbinnen (01 Oct 1934-15 Oct 1935)
Company Chief in the 43rd Infantry-Regiment (15 Oct 1935-06 Oct 1936)
Commander of the III. Battalion of the 28th Infantry-Regiment (06 Oct 1936-01 Mar 1940)
Commander of the 83rd Jäger-Regiment (01 Mar 1940-04 Jan 1943)
Delegated with the Leadership of the 704th Infantry-Division (20 Feb 1943-01 Apr 1943)
Commander of the 104th Jäger-Division (01 Apr 1943-29 Apr 1945)
Delegated with the Leadership of XXI. Mountain-Corps (29 Apr 1945-13 May 1945)
In Yugoslav captivity & because of alleged war crimes against the civilian population of the Balkans, he was executed (13 May 1945-03 May 1947)

Awards & Decorations:
- Ritterkreuz (359): am 15.07.1941 als Oberstleutnant und Kommandeur des Infanterie-Regiment 83
- Eichenlaub (163): am 23.12.1942 als Oberst und Kommandeur des Jäger-Regiment 83
- Ritterkreuz des Kgl. Preuss. Hausordens von Hohenzollern mit Schwertern
- 1914 EK I: 14.05.1917
- 1914 EK II: 02.07.1915
- Herzogl. Sachsen-Meiningisches Ehrenkreuz für Verdienst im Kriege
- Verwundetenabzeichen, 1918 in Silber
- Schlesischer Adler-Orden II. Stufe
- Schlesischer Adler-Orden I. Stufe
- Ehrenkreuz für Frontkämpfer
- Wehrmacht-Dienstauszeichnung IV. bis I. Klasse
- Spange zum EK I: 18.10.1939
- Spange zum EK II: 17.09.1939
- Infanterie-Sturmabzeichen in Silber
- Krimschild
- Medaille “Winterschlacht im Osten 1941/1942”

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Hartwig von Ludwiger was born in Beuthen, Silesia, in 1895. He had two brothers, both of whom were killed during World War II. Ludwiger was called to the Prussian Army on 17 (or 19) August 1914, shortly after the outbreak of World War I, as an officer candidate. He fought in World War I with the 11th Grenadier Regiment, after being commissioned a Leutnant on 30 July 1915. Ludwiger served in various platoons and companies as commander and participated in several well-known battles of the Great War in the Western Front – the battle of Champagne, the battle of Arras, the battle of Somme, the battle of Flandres and the battle of Maas – earning the Iron Cross 1st Class for his bravery. He was also wounded in action several times and was awarded the Wound Badge in Silver.

After the capitulation of the German Empire in 1918, he was retained in the Reichswehr. During the early 1920s, he took part in the suppression of the Silesian Uprisings. He was promoted to Oberleutnant in July 1925 and Hauptmann in 1930. He served in various infantry regiments, and as part of the military mobilization following Adolf Hitler's rise to power, he was named commander of the 3rd Battalion of the 28th Infantry Regiment in 1936, with the rank of Major.

On 1 March 1940, Ludwiger was appointed commander of the 83rd Infantry Regiment of the 28th Infantry Division, with which he took part in the Invasion of France. Following Operation Barbarossa, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 15 July 1941, and was promoted to Oberst on 1 September 1941. Due to the heavy casualties his regiment (and the division as a whole) suffered while fighting in the Battle of Moscow, the 28th Infantry Division was moved to occupied France to refit as a Jäger division on 1 December. The 28th Jäger Division was sent back to the front in southern Ukraine, where it participated in the Battle of the Kerch Peninsula in the Crimea and in the Strait of Kerch. During his award ceremony, he met his future superior, Hubert Lanz, and his future subordinate Harald von Hirschfeld.

Ludwiger was posted as commander of the 704th Infantry Division in Yugoslavia on 20 February 1943. The division was later (1 April 1943) renamed to 104th Jäger Division and Ludwiger assumed his post on 3 March 1943, while within the next month, he was promoted to Generalmajor.

Ludwiger was quite active in the anti-Partisan operations. In particular, he was placed in command of a unit consisting mainly of the 724th Jäger Regiment and a Bulgarian regiment, designated Kampfgruppe von Ludwiger (Battle Group von Ludwiger). Aided by the Italian Taurinense Division, Kampfgruppe Ludwiger was tasked with the obliteration of armed guerrillas in the area of Montenegro, mainly Chetniks and Tito's communist partisans. This campaign was launched on 20 May under the codename Fall Schwarz (Case Black). But, as partisans deliberately avoided open battles with the well-equipped German forces (at least in Ludwiger's sector), the overall action of the Kampfgruppe returned rather poor results. Subsequently, the unit was dissolved on 9 June and Ludwiger with his staff returned to Požarevac.

Of course, Ludwiger didn't quit his activities concerning the suppression of partisans. But with chances of extermination of the partisan forces themselves being slim, in the meanwhile Ludwiger launched a terror campaign against the civilian population. Specifically, he implemented the typical 50:1 reprisals ratio, which ordered the execution of 50 civilian hostages for every German killed by partisan activity. As a result, in two months' time, from 1 April to 1 June, Ludwiger's superior, supreme commander of Military District Serbia, General Paul Bader, was virtually flooded with Ludwiger's requests for reprisals, but he nevertheless authorized them. In total, 500 civilians were killed in reprisals for the murder of 8 German soldiers and 2 Serbian mayors from partisans, while numerous villages were looted and torched.

Upon completion of Operation Black, 104th Jäger Division was ordered to move to Western Greece. While on march to Agrinio, on 10 July, the 2nd Company of the division's Pioneer Battalion was ambushed near the Trichonida Lake by Greek guerrillas, who were reported to be dressed like British soldiers. Two officers and 16 soldiers were killed, while another 20 were wounded and several vehicles were destroyed. The next day, an officer was killed from a hand grenade tossed on his vehicle. Ludwiger, installing his headquarters in Agrinio, applied to carry out his usual reprisal tactics against civilians, but this time his request was rejected from the staff of Army Group "E", as the Germans initially tried to maintain good relations with the Greek population. Despite this, German forces razed a village near Nafpaktos and executed 12 "suspicious gangsters".

After the Allied invasion of Sicily, Italian forces signed an armistice with the Allied troops. The Germans were prepared for this possibility and launched Operation Achse to forcibly disarm Italian troops in southern France and the Balkans. The 1st Company of the 724th Battalion of Ludwiger's division was ordered to disarm the Italian garrison in Kefalonia along with the 1st Mountain Division, something that resulted in one of the largest executions of POWs to be committed during World War II: the massacre of the Acqui Division in September 1943.

Ludwiger was promoted to Generalleutnant on 1 January 1944. As of by August 1944, Ludwiger's forces continued the reprisals against the Greek population, now aided by SS divisions. Ludwiger wrote in his report that:

"With the permanent destruction of the villages in all the areas they passed from, but mainly with the decisive burning of the communistic centre of Karpenisi, the partisans were deprived from numerous possible shelters."

Ludwiger and the surviving elements of his division, which had suffered heavy casualties in the Balkans, were captured towards the end of the war. His successor in command of 104th Jäger Division, Generalleutnant Friedrich Stephan was captured as well and was shot in Ljubljana along with three other generals without trial from Yugoslav partisans in early June.

After being held in a POW camp, Ludwiger was put on trial before a Yugoslavian court-martial in Belgrade (during the 6th Process of the Yugoslav war crimes trials of German officials) between 27 March and 4 April 1947, along with several German officers, such as Generalmajor Hans Gravenstein and SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Waffen-SS Karl von Oberkamp, all of whom received the death penalty. Ludwiger was specifically indicted for:
[...] Harassment, torture and murder of POWs and prisoners of the People's Liberation Army, for torching, looting, kidnapping of non-combatants to concentration camps and violent crimes against women and children.

Found guilty of the charges, he was sentenced to death on 1 April 1947. He was executed in a prison at Belgrade; The exact date varies according to the source - possibly on 3 or 5 May, and less plausibly on 25 April.


Source :
https://alchetron.com/Hartwig-von-Ludwiger
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartwig_von_Ludwiger
http://www.oocities.org/~orion47/WEHRMACHT/HEER/Generalleutnant2/LUDWIGER_HARTWIG.html

Bio of SS-Obersturmbannführer Fritz Knöchlein

Fritz Knoechlein was born in Munich on 27th May, 1911. He joined the SS in 1934 at the age of 23 and became a member of the 3rd SS Division (Totenkopf) at the SS training area close to Dachau. He was promoted to the rank of Haupsturmfuhrer (Captain)  and fought during the Battle of France in May and June 1940.

Knoechlein was held responsible for the massacre of the 2nd Battalion Royal Norfolk Regiment and others at Le Paradis on May 27th, 1940. Knoechlein ordered two machines guns to be turned on the troops and followed this up by ordering German soldiers to shoot and bayonet any apparent survivors. He also ordered the immediate burial of the dead along the barn wall.

After the French campaign, Knoechlein was appointed company commander of an anti aircraft artillery battery in the Totenkopf Division and he served in this capacity on the Russian Front until summer 1942, when he was appointed Sturmbannfuhrer (Major) in command of the 3rd Regiment Totenkopf Division. In October 1943, he became commander of No 36 Regiment of the newly formed 16th SS Panzer Grenadier Division and was promoted to Obersturmbannfuhrer (Lieutenant Colonel) and appointed commander of a Norwegian SS volunteer unit from March 1944 to January 1945.

Knoechlein was awarded the Iron Cross First and Second Class, the German Cross on Gold and the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, but will always be remembered as "The Butcher of Le Paradis."

After the war Bert Pooley, one of the two survivors of the massacre, continued to hunt for Knoechlein who was eventually found in a prisoner of war camp in Sheffield, England. Knoechlein had been picked up by the Americans and was transferred and interned in their camp in Yorkshire. He was subsequently found guilty of war crimes and sentenced to death following a trial in Hamburg, Germany. Knoechlein was hanged on January 28th, 1949, in Hamelin at the age of  37.

In 1957, Lt Colonel A. P. Scotland OBE had his book "The London Cage " published. It was in essence an autobiography of Lt Col. Scotland with some information about the London Cage - an interrogation unit situated in Kensington. Knoechlein was one of the prisoners who was "interviewed" in the Cage and who later made accusations that he was tortured whilst there. Scotland's book was subjected to heavy censorship and included the following notice:

"The War Office wishes to make it clear that the views and facts stated in this book are the Author's own responsibility. Further, the War Office does not in any way vouch for the accuracy of the facts and does not necessarily accept any opinion expressed in this book."

The book includes a complete chapter entitled "Mass Murder at Paradis" which starts with the following description of Knoechlein:

"When Fritz Knoechlein was first ushered into my room at the London Cage, our Kensington Palace Gardens interrogation HQ near Hyde Park, I studied his face for a full minute before speaking. Here was a Nazi of the first order, the worst order, a German who had dedicated himself to brutality; irresponsible in possession of power, ruthless in execution; a man who represented everything that Adolf Hitler desired in an officer serving the Third Reich."
Picture

The chapter continues:

"Nearly nine years elapsed before the guilty Knoechlein went to the gallows, but throughout those nine years his face was never expunged from the mind's eye of a certain wrinkled French peasant, Madame Romanie Castel, whose recognition of the SS criminal was to become an important factor in his conviction.

"On October 12, 1948, this old Frenchwoman stepped from the witness box and hobbled towards the centre of a Hamburg military courtroom. She turned slowly, peering at the faces around her, at the lawyers, interpreters, clerks, court officials and witnesses alike ... Then suddenly, she pointed the forefinger of a thin bony hand at Fritz Knoechlein crying, "That is him, that is the man!"

"It was the most telling moment, certainly the most tense, of a trial for which I and my officers of the War Crimes Investigation Unit had conducted a two years' probe, searching, questioning, finally moulding into legal shape the events of 1940, and the guilt of Fritz Knoechlein."

In the same chapter Scotland describes the German further with the following words:

"In his mid thirties, toughly-built, having a distinctly unpleasant face, his eyes and mouth full of inhumanity, he was like many of his Totenkopf officer comrades - a professional product of the concentration camps; in his case the training in brutality was gained at Dachau, where he had held the rank of company commander."

The hangman at Knoechlein's execution was Englishman Ted Roper, a colossus of a man weighing over 20 stone and standing well over 6ft tall. He had the following to say about Knoechlein:

"He was very pompous and unrepentant to the end and when asked his religion, snarled 'atheist'. Accordingly he was not given the usual attendance of a minister. As I led him to the scaffold after securing his arms, he stared hard at me and made a noise in his throat as if to spit. I was too quick however and bundled him unceremoniously on the trap door. He disappeared shouting "Gott Strafe" but was too late to get out the last word which was presumably 'England'."

​It is our understanding that responsibility for the investigation of war crimes was handed back to Germany in the 1960s. It was following this that Knoechlein's wife made an unsuccessful attempt to have his conviction overturned.

NOTE - "Gott Strafe England" was a slogan initially used by the German Army during the First World War and literally means "May God punish England." It was created by the German poet Ernst Lissauer who also wrote a poem engagingly titled "Hate Song Against England" which was also known as "Hymn of Hate."

It is interesting to note that Knoechlein's last words were to call on God to punish England despite the fact that when interrogated he gave his religion as "atheist" - in other words a non belief in God!

Source :
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjVq-fAxsjwAhXK73MBHSLgALkQFjAmegQIBRAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia.offenes-archiv.de%2FRathausausstellung_2017_Curio_39.pdf&usg=AOvVaw1U7mtnHN72IkcvIJLvViZB
http://www.leparadismassacre.com/fritz-knoechlein1.html