Jeremy Dixon

Life comes at you in waves, sometimes they carry you to new shores, sometimes you risk drowning in the flood. Life is a pulse, a heart pumping the blood of now and the blood memories of the past and of your ancestors. Life is a beat, a dance, a festival where you watch Portishead in a field as the sun sets. Life is the rhythm of all three together, it is the beat, the pulse, the wave that brings you to this moment. Jeremy Dixon pauses to consider and celebrate that which was, that which is and that which could be.

The fourth in a series of books that examine German officers who were promoted to the rank of general and who were also awarded the Knight’s Cross, this volume covers the last months of the Second World War. During the period from 13 February 1944 to Germany’s surrender on 9 May 1945, there were 115 generals who received the award. This total comprised eighteen full Generals; fifty-eight Generalleutnants and thirty-nine Generalmajors.One of these men was Generalleutnant Gustav Heistermann von Ziehlberg, who was awarded the Knight’s Cross, on 27 July 1944, whilst Commander of the 28th Jäger Division for actions in the Soviet Union. However he was arrested by the Gestapo in November 1944 in connection with the July bomb plot against Hitler. He was later stripped of all awards and executed by firing squad on 2 February 1945.On 26 March 1944, General der Infanterie Hans Krebs was awarded the Knight’s Cross and in February 1945 he received the Knight’s Cross with Oakleaves. During the last weeks of the war he served as Acting Chief of Operations Staff of the Army General Staff, succeeding Generaloberst Heinz Guderian who had been sacked by Hitler. Krebs moved his headquarters to Hitler’s bunker during the last days of the Reich and after Hitler’s suicide he met up with Soviet generals to try and negotiate Germany’s surrender, but this failed. Together with General Wilhelm Burgdorff, he shot himself later that same day.With each individual’s entry there is a detailed description of how and where the Knight’s Cross was won.

This, the second book by Jeremy Dixon on the subject, is a study of those German officers who were promoted to the rank of general and who were also awarded the Knight’s Cross during the period of the fighting in Russia between Hitler’s assault upon the Soviet Union, Operation Barbarossa, and the complete destruction of the German 6th Army at Stalingrad. The Germans lost 500,000 soldiers during the Stalingrad campaign, some 91,000 of whom were taken prisoner – a number which included 2,000 officers, twenty-three generals and one Generalfeldmarschall, Friedrich Paulus.There were 149 officers who later held the rank of general who were awarded the Knight’s Cross for their actions on the Eastern Front between 6 December 1941 and 2 February 1943. One such recipient was Maximilian Fretter-Pico, who, as Generalmajor and Commander of the 97th Infantry Division, was awarded the Knight’s Cross on 26 December 1941. He was later promoted to Generalleutnant and in June 1942 was Commander of the Army Detachment Fretter-Pico, with the rank of General der Artillerie. He was awarded the Knight’s Cross with Oakleaves as Commanding General of the XXX Army Corps, for actions in the Don and Donez area, on 16 January 1944. He was personally presented personally with the award at the Obersalzburg by Hitler.Dietrich von Saucken was awarded the Knight’s Cross with Oakleaves and Swords for his bravery and leadership whilst commanding the 4th Panzer Division on the Russian Front. On 8 May 1945 he was awarded the Knight’s Cross with Oakleaves, Swords and Diamonds as General der Panzertruppe and Commander-in-Chief of Army Headquarters East Prussia and presented by Hitler’s successor Grossadmiral Karl Dönitz. Saucken was later captured by the Soviets who flew him to Moscow for interrogation and he was later sentenced to twenty-five years imprisonment.The youngest general in the German Army to be awarded the Knight’s Cross with Oakleaves and Swords on 23 January 1944 was Erich Bärenfänger, who was only 29 years old at the time. His award was presented personally by Hitler at his headquarters, the Wolf’s Lair, in Rastenburg. At the time he held the rank of Major and was promoted to Oberstleutnant in February 1944 and was promoted to Generalmajor on 28 April 1945, and named as Battle Commandant of Sector A and Sector B of the Berlin Defensive District. He committed suicide together with his wife in Berlin with Soviet forces fast approaching just four days later.With each individual’s entry there is a detailed description of how and where the Knight’s Cross was won and in the case of the higher awards, such as the Oakleaves, Swords and Diamonds, who presented the award, where and when. This study provides details of their rank and command at the time of the award as well as also detailing their career during the war and after, with investigations into their fate and post-war life. The book is completed with a considerable number of photographs of many of these officers.