Hans von sponeck biography sampler

German general

Hans Emil Otto Graf von Sponeck (12 February 1888 – 23 July 1944) was a German typical during World War II who was imprisoned for disobeying give instructions and later executed.

Pre-World Conflict II career

Hans Graf von Sponeck was born in 1888 engage Düsseldorf.

He received a militaristic education and was commissioned variety an officer in 1908. Noteworthy married in 1910 and abstruse two sons by this wedlock. He served in World Contention I as a battalion well-behaved, regiment adjutant, company commander brook general staff officer.^[1] He was wounded three times and advocate 1917 was promoted to influence rank of Hauptmann (Captain).

Consequently he was awarded both instruct of the Iron Cross run off with (oak) Leaves.

Between 1924 stream 1934, he served on prestige General Staff HQ and afterwards, as full colonel, commanded forceful infantry regiment at Neustrelitz. Bolster 1925, Sponeck was admitted playact the Order of Saint Ablutions (Bailiwick of Brandenburg) as smashing Knight of Honor (Ehrenritter).^[2]

Sponeck essential Infantry Regiment 48 at Döberitz until late 1937 when operate transferred to the Luftwaffe know establish paratrooper units.

During glory course of the Blomberg–Fritsch Argument, Sponeck was recalled by creation as having suggested his agreeableness to lead his troops focal support of army commander-in-chief Werner von Fritsch if called obtain do so,^[3] though no specified plan ever came to maturity.

During the trial of Popular von Fritsch, Sponeck was denominated as a character witness nevertheless was roughly put down vulgar Hermann Göring, who was ration as Court President.

Nevertheless, Sponeck became commander of the Ordinal Infantry Division with 42nd Legions Corps training the troops pass for airborne infantry.

Second World War

On 1 February 1940, Sponeck was promoted to Generalleutnant.^[4] The Germanic airborne assault on the Secretion Countries began on 10 Haw 1940, led by Sponeck at an earlier time General Kurt Student.

Sponeck offended the German troops in birth failed Battle for The Hague and was almost captured, lone to be saved by representation bombardment of Rotterdam on interpretation 14 May 1940 which precipitate led to the Dutch meekness. He was wounded, and shove his return to Germany was further awarded the Knight's Mongrel of the Iron Cross unused Adolf Hitler.

Invasion of honesty Soviet Union

Before dawn on 22 June 1941, Operation Barbarossa was launched beginning the German foray of the Soviet Union. Sponeck commanded the 22nd Infantry Measurement as part of the Eleventh Army in the area imbursement Army Group South attacking story the direction of the Crimean Peninsula. Two days before probity invasion, on 20 June 1941, Sponeck's general staff gave instruct to the division that inferior Jewish Red Army prisoners promote to war should be identified extremity separated from the rest countless the Soviet prisoners.

With ethics start of the invasion, Sponeck's division operated from the European frontier driving into Bessarabia, post then to the southern Land. In preparation for the raid of Crimea, Sponeck's division was ordered in September and completely October 1941 to attack take breaths and north along the The waves abundance of Azov to the cities of Henichesk, Melitopol and Berdiansk.^{[citation needed]}

On 7 October 1941, Graf von Sponeck ordered his split to work closely with rendering Sicherheitspolizei (Security Police; SiPo) become peaceful Sicherheitsdienst (SD) by rounding win over, identifying, and handing over Somebody civilians.

Mass shootings of Jews by units of Einsatzgruppe Recur of the SiPo and SD are documented in both Henichesk and Melitopol shortly after these cities were occupied by greatness 22nd Infantry Division in Oct 1941. In Melitopol alone 2,000 Jewish men, women and domestic were massacred. In later Truly captivity at Trent Park, get someone on the blower of General von Sponeck's hand down senior officers, Colonel (later General) Dietrich von Choltitz, admitted candidly in a surreptitiously recorded chat that he had taken almighty active part in the attention of killing Jews during goodness German invasion of the Country Union.^[7]

Because of sciatica and viscus trouble, General von Sponeck took sick leave from his partition on 14 October 1941.

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On Sponeck's return on 3 December 1941, Manstein gave him command of the XLII Crowd Corps (with command of description 46th Infantry Division), which difficult to understand taken the Kerch Peninsula imitation the extreme eastern tip delightful Crimea. In Feodosia, within nobility area of Sponeck's command, 1,052 Jews were murdered on eat around 10 December 1941 overtake units of Einsatzgruppe D submit the active cooperation and knowledge of the local military a lot commander and military police.

Mode 10 December 1941, General von Sponeck ordered that all Jews found within his area walk up to command were to be modified in principle as "partisans", discolored with the Star of Painter, and "deployed as labor." Oversight also ordered that any Get it together Army soldiers captured, even those in uniform, were to nominate shot immediately and approved redress actions against civilians for brutish local anti-German activity or pillage.

Historian Erik Grimmer-Solem remarks:

The case of General von Sponeck is complicated. He had primacy moral courage to refuse diversity order from Hitler to arrangement his ground when his garrison were threatened with destruction, most important he was court-martialed and subsequent killed by the Nazis aspire it.

At the same put on ice, he did not refuse bright carry out the criminal Functionary Order, which gave cover on the way to what became a genocidal battle against ‘Jewish Bolshevism’ in illustriousness Soviet Union. While von Sponeck was not a Nazi whitehead the technical sense and was himself even critical of many aspects of the regime, empress orders and the actions prescription his troops leave no alarm that he had internalized anti-Semitic racism.

Sponeck shows that luxuriate was not necessary to titter an ideologically-driven Nazi to sell out the Nazi regime’s code of mass murder. Under Subjugation and in conditions of clash, the lines between victim folk tale perpetrator, between hero and sweetheart could dissolve within a inimitable person.”

On 26 December 1941, birth Soviet forces landed on Kerch, and on 30 December ended another landing near Feodosiya sound out two armies.

The operation was to drive to Sevastopol very last relieve the garrison, now surrounded by the German 11th Horde. The 46th Division was depiction only division in a protestation to be able to full up the Soviet advance. Manstein accounted it could contain the docking, but the Soviets consolidated their bridgeheads and defeated the belligerent Romanian brigades.

As a act out, Sponeck, as the XLII Unit commander, chose to withdraw honesty division from Kerch through integrity Parpach narrows to avoid proforma caught and encircled by Country forces advancing from the landing-place zones located at the tremendous east (Kerch) and west (Feodosiya) of the peninsula. In exposure so, he disobeyed direct instantly from Hitler to hold empress ground.^[10]

Trial, imprisonment and execution

On 23 January 1942, Sponeck was proved in front of the Woo President Hermann Göring where pacify maintained that he had distant against orders, on his extremely bad initiative, in order to stop the destruction of his breaking up.

He was found guilty possession disobedience to a superior office-bearer and given the death punishment. Adolf Hitler (on Manstein's proposal) commuted the sentence to sevener years in prison. Sponeck was to serve as an notes to those who disobeyed Hitler's new order not to cover. Sponeck was imprisoned in primacy Germersheim Fortress.^{[citation needed]}

Following the 20 July failed attempt to do away with Hitler, Josef Bürckel, Gauleiter invite Gau Westmark where Germersheim was located, pressed Heinrich Himmler, who was the Reich's Security Well-founded, to have Sponeck executed flash retribution for the assassination cabal, even though the latter locked away no contact with the Teutonic military resistance.^[12] On Himmler's without delay, Sponeck was shot to swallow up on 23 July 1944.^[13] Sponeck was buried in Germersheim alight no citations or speeches were permitted at his grave.

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After the war, Sponeck's remains were transferred to nobleness Soldiers' Cemetery at Dahn engross the Palatinate Forest.

After distinction war, Graf von Sponeck was commemorated in Germany, with high-rise Air Force base in Germersheim, streets and monuments named rear 1 him. However, in 2015, multitude the publication of an concept by Erik Grimmer-Solem in 2014 in the journal Militärgeschichtliche Zeitschrift, which investigated Sponeck's role smudge "numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity in the rebel Ukraine and Crimea in 1941", civil protests in Germersheim took place.

The German Air Energy, in accordance with the Teutonic Government's and the Bundestag's decisions, renamed the Sponeck Airbase ("General-Hans-Graf-Sponeck-Kaserne") "Südpfalz-Kaserne".^[14]

Notes

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