Heinrich von Vietinghoff

Heinrich von Vietinghoff
Vietinghoff in Italy, April 1944
Born	(1887-12-06)6 December 1887 Mainz, Grand Duchy of Hesse, German Empire
Died	23 February 1952(1952-02-23) (aged 64) Pfronten, Bavaria, West Germany
Allegiance	German Empire  Kingdom of Prussia  Weimar Republic  Nazi Germany  West Germany
Years of service	1903–45
Rank	Generaloberst
Commands	XIII Corps XXXXVI Panzer Corps 15th Army 10th Army Army Group C Army Group Courland
Battles / wars	World War I World War II
Awards	Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves

Heinrich Gottfried Otto Richard von[1] Vietinghoff genannt Scheel (6 December 1887[2] – 23 February 1952[3]) was a German general (Generaloberst) of the Wehrmacht during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves. Vietinghoff commanded the German troops in German-occupied Italy in 1945.[4]

Career

On 24 November 1938, Vietinghoff was appointed commander of the 5th Panzer Division[5] and took part in the invasion of Poland under Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb. He was promoted to General in June 1940 after which he led the German XLVI Panzer Corps in the invasion of Yugoslavia.[6]

During Operation Barbarossa, his Corps was part of Army Group Centre under Field Marshal Fedor von Bock. As did all commanders of the German corps on the Eastern Front during the invasion, Vietinghoff implemented the criminal Commissar Order.[7] Vietinghoff also later served with General Heinz Guderian in the 2nd Panzer Army.[8]

From December 1941 to August 1943, he was Commander-in-Chief of the German Fifteenth Army in France.[9] In Italy from August 1943 he commanded German Tenth Army,[10] which was responsible for the delaying actions through the successive defensive lines built across Italy. Notable in this context were the defences on the Winter Line from November 1943 to May 1944 and the fighting in the autumn of 1944 on the Gothic Line.

In October 1944, he was temporarily raised to overall command in Italy (Army Group C) when Field Marshal Albert Kesselring was seriously injured in a car crash.[11] In January 1945, on Kesselring's return, he left Italy to command Army Group Courland in East Prussia. When Kesselring was moved in March 1945 to command German Army Command West (OB West) in France, Vietinghoff returned as the supreme German commander in Italy.[12]

At the end of April 1945, he made contact with the Allied forces and on 29 April, his representative General Karl Wolff signed on his behalf at the Royal Palace in Caserta the instrument of surrender on 2 May 1945 at noon. Afterwards he spent two and a half years in British captivity at Bridgend Island Farm (Special Camp XI) among high-ranking German prisoners.

After the war Vietinghoff was a member of the expert group dealing with the question of German rearmament. In October 1950 he wrote the Himmerod memorandum, named after the Himmerod Abbey where it was written, on behalf of the Adenauer government, on West German contributions to European defence. He died on 23 February 1952 in Pfronten.

Awards

• Kingdom of Prussia: Royal House Order of Hohenzollern, Knight’s Cross with Swords - 26 March 1918[13]
• Kingdom of Prussia: Iron Cross (1914) 1st Class (23 April 1915) & 2nd Class (13 September 1914)[14]
• Kingdom of Saxony: Albert Order, Knight 1st Class with Swords (5 July 1917)[13]
• Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin: Military Merit Cross, 2nd Class (17 September 1917)[13]
• Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen: Cross for Merit in War (2 August 1915)[13]
• Lübeck: Hanseatic Cross (11 July 1917)[13]
• German Empire: Wound Badge in Black (3 June 1918)[13]
• Germany: Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918[13]
• Germany: Wehrmacht Long Service Award, 4th class to 1st Class (for 25 years' service)[13]
• Germany: 1939 Clasp to the Iron Cross 1st Class (28 September 1939) & 2nd Class (21 September 1939)[14]
• Germany: Medal for the Winter Campaign in Russia 1941-1942 (15 July 1942)[15]
• Germany: Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves
  • Knight's Cross on 24 June 1940 as General der Panzertruppe and commanding general of XIII. Armeekorps[16]
  • 456th Oak Leaves on 16 April 1944 as Generaloberst and commander-in-chief of the 10. Armee[16]
• Germany: German Cross in Gold - 22 April 1942 as General der Panzertruppe and commanding general of the XXXXVI Panzerkorps[17]
• Austria-Hungary: Order of the Iron Crown, 3rd Class (2 January 1914)[13]
• Austria-Hungary: Order of Franz Joseph, Knight's Cross (17 May 1910)[13]
• Austria-Hungary: Military Merit Cross, 3rd Class with War Decoration (25 July 1915)[13]
• Kingdom of Bulgaria: Military Merit Order, Officer's Cross (11 October 1917)[13]
• Ottoman Empire: Ottoman War Medal (also known as the "Gallipoli Star" or "Iron Crescent") (22 December 1917)[13]

References

Citations

1. In German personal names, von is a preposition which approximately means 'of' or 'from' and usually denotes some sort of nobility. While von (always lower case) is part of the family name or territorial designation, not a first or middle name, if the noble is referred to by their last name, use Schiller, Clausewitz or Goethe, not von Schiller, etc.
2. "Vietinghoff genannt Scheel, Heinrich Gottfried von". WW2 Gravestone. Retrieved 2019-04-15.
3. "Heinrich Vietinghoff". Spartacus Educational. Retrieved 2019-04-15.
4. "BBC - WW2 People's War - Timeline". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2019-04-15.
5. "Hobby". www.flamesofwar.com. Retrieved 2019-04-15.
6. "Vietinghoff gen. Scheel, von, Heinrich-Gottfried - TracesOfWar.com". www.tracesofwar.com. Retrieved 2019-04-15.
7. Stahel 2009, p. 28.
8. Williamson, Mitch (2015-06-10). "The War in Italy 1943-45 and Environs…: Heinrich Gottfried von Vietinghoff genannt Scheel, (1887–1952)". The War in Italy 1943-45 and Environs…. Retrieved 2019-04-15.
9. "In the Shadow of Sunrise: The Secret Surrender of Italy". warfarehistorynetwork.com. Archived from the original on 2019-10-27. Retrieved 2019-04-15.
10. "German Forces - Heinrich von Vietinghoff". www.ww2incolor.com. Retrieved 2019-04-15.
11. Blaxland 1979, p. 226.
12. Blaxland 1979, p. 246.
13. Bundesarchiv, Personalakte von Heinrich von Vietinghoff, BArch PERS 6/61
14. Thomas 1998, p. 400.
15. Bundesarchiv, Generalskartei von Heinrich von Vietinghoff, BArch PERS 6/301189
16. Scherzer 2007, p. 759.
17. Patzwall & Scherzer 2001, p. 486.

Bibliography

• Blaxland, Gregory (1979). Alexander's Generals (the Italian Campaign 1944-1945). London: William Kimber & Co. ISBN 0-7183-0386-5.
• Patzwall, Klaus D.; Scherzer, Veit (2001). Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941 – 1945 Geschichte und Inhaber Band II [The German Cross 1941 – 1945 History and Recipients Volume 2] (in German). Norderstedt, Germany: Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall. ISBN 978-3-931533-45-8.
• Scherzer, Veit (2007). Die Ritterkreuzträger 1939–1945 Die Inhaber des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939 von Heer, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm sowie mit Deutschland verbündeter Streitkräfte nach den Unterlagen des Bundesarchives [The Knight's Cross Bearers 1939–1945 The Holders of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939 by Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and Allied Forces with Germany According to the Documents of the Federal Archives] (in German). Jena, Germany: Scherzers Militaer-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2.
• Stahel, David (2009). Operation Barbarossa and Germany's Defeat in the East. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-76847-4.
• Thomas, Franz (1998). Die Eichenlaubträger 1939–1945 Band 2: L–Z [The Oak Leaves Bearers 1939–1945 Volume 2: L–Z] (in German). Osnabrück, Germany: Biblio-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7648-2300-9.

Military offices
Preceded by none	Commander of 5th Panzer Division 2 September 1939 – 8 October 1939	Succeeded by Generalleutnant Max von Hartlieb-Walsporn
Preceded by General of the Cavalry Maximilian von Weichs	Commander of XIII. Armeekorps 26 October 1939 - 25 October 1940	Succeeded by General of the Infantry Hans Felber
Preceded by none	Commander of XXXXVI. Armeekorps 20 June 1940 - 11 June 1942	Succeeded by General of the Infantry Hans Zorn
Preceded by Generaloberst Curt Haase	Commander of 15. Armee 1 December 1942 – 7 August 1943	Succeeded by Generaloberst Hans von Salmuth
Preceded by Generalfeldmarschall Walter von Reichenau	Commander of 10. Armee 15 August 1943 – 14 February 1945	Succeeded by General der Panzertruppe Traugott Herr
Preceded by Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring	Commander of Army Group C 26 October 1944 - 15 January 1945(temporary)	Succeeded by Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring
Preceded by Generaloberst Lothar Rendulic	Commander of Army Group Courland 27 January 1945 – 10 March 1945	Succeeded by Generaloberst Lothar Rendulic
Preceded by Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring	Commander of Army Group C 10 March 1945 – 30 April 1945	Succeeded by General of the InfantryFriedrich Schulz