Hubert Lanz
Hubert Lanz | |
|---|---|
War crimes | |
| Trial | Hostages Trial |
| Criminal penalty | 12 years imprisonment; commuted to time served |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance |  Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves |
| Relations | Albrecht Lanz (brother) |
Karl Hubert Lanz (22 May 1896 – 15 August 1982) was a German general during the
Southeast Case, specifically for several atrocities committed by units under his command in the Balkans. Released in 1951, he joined the liberal Free Democratic Party
and served as its adviser on military and security issues.
Early career
Lanz entered the Army on 20 June 1914, shortly before the outbreak of
Gumbinnen
, and was subsequently employed in staff duties, being promoted to lieutenant-colonel and Chief of Staff of IX Army Corps on 1 March 1937. After a period of command of the 100th Gebirgsjäger Regiment from November 1937 to August 1938, he assumed the position of Chief of Staff of the Military District V.
World War II
France and Yugoslavia
On 15 February 1940, he was posted as Chief of Staff for the
XVIII Corps. On 1 October, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross for his performance in this position during the Battle of France. On 26 October, he assumed command of the 1st Mountain Division, which was earmarked for Operation Felix, the assault on Gibraltar. With Felix cancelled, the division was transferred East, where it took part in the Invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941 as part of the 2nd Army
.
Eastern Front
In June 1941, Lanz led his division in the
Lanz continued to command the division during its advance in the Soviet Union, participating in the breakthrough of the
Goebbels, Hitler was furious at this.[3]
Relieved of command on 17 December 1942, he was awarded the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross on the 23rd. Following the collapse of the German front after the
XXXXIX Mountain Corps in the Crimea
, a post he retained for a month.
Plan to arrest Hitler
While Lanz was in command of the defence of Kharkov, he, along with his Chief of Staff
Zaporozhye instead of Poltava.[5]
Greece
Security warfare in Epirus
On 9 September 1943, Lanz assumed command of the newly formed (on 20 August)
XXII Mountain Corps in Epirus, Greece.[6] The Germans feared an Allied landing in Greece (a belief reinforced by British disinformation measures like Operation Mincemeat), and were engaged in continuous anti-partisan sweeps,[7] during which several hundred villages were depopulated and often torched.[6] Collective punishment of entire localities for guerrilla attacks was common, with directives to execute 50 to 100 hostages for each German casualty;[8] only four days before Lanz assumed command, men of the 98th Regiment of 1st Mountain Division under Lieutenant-Colonel Josef Salminger, an ardent Nazi, had executed 317 civilians in the village of Kommeno.[6][9]
Lanz himself was often at odds with his new subordinates. A conservative officer of the old school, and a devout
Catholic, he had little in common with the energetic and fanatical young officers of the division like Salminger.[10] Lanz was certainly no Nazi, and his involvement with the circles of the 20 July plot was known; after its failure, he was said to sleep with a revolver under his pillow.[11] Despite Lanz's personal misgivings and his clashes with his subordinate, General Walter von Stettner, over the treatment of civilians,[12] reprisals remained a standard tactic: following the death of Salminger in a guerrilla ambush in late September, Lanz issued an order demanding "ruthless retaliatory action" in a 20 km area around the place of the ambush. As a result, at least 200 civilians were executed, including 92 in the village of Lingiades alone.[13]
Although these large-scale operations proved to have little permanent effect on the guerrilla groups themselves,ELAS guerrillas, General Napoleon Zervas, the leader of EDES, the dominant guerrilla group in Epirus, reached a tacit agreement with Lanz and restricted his forces' operations against the Germans.[15]
Cephalonia and Corfu massacres
On 8 September,
Italy surrendered to the Allies. This began a race to disarm and intern the Italian garrisons of the Balkans before the Allies could take advantage of it. Lanz was tasked with overcoming the Italian forces in Epirus and the Ionian Islands. In two cases, in Cephalonia and Corfu, the Italians offered resistance. Lanz himself was initially in favour of negotiating the Italian surrender, but in the end followed his orders and stormed these islands.[16] In Cephalonia, the battle raged for a week before the Italians surrendered. After their surrender, and according to a directive from Hitler, more than 5,000 Italians were executed
by the Germans. Lanz was present in Cephalonia both during the battle and the subsequent massacre. In Corfu, resistance lasted only for a day, but all 280 Italian officers on the island were shot and their bodies were disposed of in the sea, on Lanz's orders.
End of the war
After the German retreat from Greece in October 1944, Lanz and his troops moved through the Balkans towards
US Army
on 8 May 1945.
Trial and subsequent life
Lanz was brought to trial in 1947 in the so-called "
franc-tireurs who had no right to be treated as POWs under the Geneva conventions.[18]
Ultimately, Lanz was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment, a comparatively light sentence compared with other commanders involved with operations in the Balkans, like
Peck Panel
". On 1 February 1951, Lanz was released after his sentence was commuted to time served. To date, he is the only person to have served a prison sentence for the atrocities committed in Epirus or the Ionian islands.
After his release, Lanz became active in the ranks of the
FDP
party and served as its adviser on military and security issues. In 1954, he published a book on the history of the 1st Mountain Division. He died in Munich in 1982.
Awards and decorations
- Iron Cross (1914) 1st and 2nd class[19]
- Golden Württemberg Military Merit Medal[19] on 30 August 1915[20]
- Knight's Cross of the Friedrich Order with Swords[19]
- Knight's Cross of the Military Merit Order (Württemberg)[19]
- Military Merit Cross, 3rd class with Swords (Austria-Hungary)[19]
- Wound Badge (1918) in Black[19]
- Order of Vytautas the Great, 5th class (Lithuania) on 8 September 1933[21]
- Clasp to the Iron Cross (1939)
- Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves
See also
- Assassination attempts on Adolf Hitler
References
- ^ a b Hannes Heer, Einübung in den Holocaust: Lemberg Juni/Juli 1941; in: ZfG 5/2001
- ^ a b Hannes Heer: Blutige Ouvertüre. Lemberg, 30. Juni 1941: Mit dem Einmarsch der Wehrmachttruppen beginnt der Judenmord DIE ZEIT Nr. 26/2001; S. 90
- ^ Heer et al. (2000), p. 163
- ^ a b c Hoffmann (1996), p. 279
- ^ a b c Hoffmann (1996), p. 280
- ^ a b c Meyer, Hermann Frank: Die 1. Gebirgs-Division in Epirus im Sommer 1943
- ^ Mazower (1995), p. 170
- ^ Mazower (1995), p. 177
- ^ Mörder unterm Edelweiß – noch immer unter uns
- ^ Heer et al. (2000), pp. 158–159
- ^ Mazower (1995), p. 207
- ^ Mazower (1995), p. 177; Heer et als (2000), p. 158
- ^ Meyer (1999), pp. 103–107
- ^ Mazower (1995), pp. 171–172
- ^ Mazower (1995), p. 148 & p. 178
- ^ Steinberg (2002), p. 161
- ^ Steinberg (2002), p. 214
- ^ a b c d Lamb (1996), pp. 134–135
- ^ a b c d e f Rangliste des Deutschen Reichsheeres (in German). Berlin: Mittler & Sohn. p. 147.
- ^ von Moser, Otto (1928). Die Württemberger im Weltkrieg. 2. Auflage (in German). Stuttgart: Belser. p. 133.
- ^ Thomas & Wegmann 1994, p. 21.
- ^ a b Thomas 1998, p. 11.
- ^ a b Scherzer 2007, p. 494.
- ^ Fellgiebel 2000, p. 285.
- ^ Fellgiebel 2000, p. 64.
Sources and bibliography
- (in German) Charles B. Burdick: Hubert Lanz. General der Gebirgstruppe 1896–1982, (= Soldatenschicksale des zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts als Geschichtsquelle, Bd. 9), Osnabrück, 1988, ISBN 3-7648-1736-4
- ISBN 978-3-7909-0284-6.
- Heer, Hannes; Naumann, Klaus; Shelton, Roy (2000). War of Extermination: The German Military in World War II, 1941–1944. Berghahn Books. ISBN 978-1-57181-493-7.
- Hoffmann, Peter (1996). The History of the German Resistance, 1933–1945. McGill-Queen's Press. ISBN 978-0-7735-1531-4.
- Lamb, Richard (1996). War in Italy, 1943–1945: A Brutal Story. Da Capo Press. ]
- Lanz, Hubert (1954). Gebirgsjäger. Die 1. Gebirgs-Division 1935 – 1945 (in German). Bad Nauheim.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Mazower, Mark (1995). Inside Hitler's Greece: The Experience of Occupation, 1941–44. United States: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-08923-6.
- Meyer, Hermann Frank (1999). Kommeno. Erzählende Rekonstruktion eines Wehrmachtsverbrechens in Griechenland (in German). Köln: Romiosini Verlag. ISBN 3-929889-34-X.
- Meyer, Hermann Frank (2008). Blutiges Edelweiß. Die 1. Gebirgs-Division im Zweiten Weltkrieg (in German). Berlin: Verlag Ch. Links. ISBN 978-3-86153-447-1.
- 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.
- Schreiber, Gerhard (1990). Die italienischen Militärinternierten im deutschen Machtbereich 1943 bis 1945. Verraten – Verachtet – Vergessen, (= Beiträge zur Militärgeschichte, Bd. 28) (in German). München. ISBN 3-486-55391-7.)
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - Steinberg, Jonathan (2002). All Or Nothing: The Axis and the Holocaust, 1941–1943. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-29069-2.
- Thomas, Franz; Wegmann, Günter (1994). Die Ritterkreuzträger der Deutschen Wehrmacht 1939–1945 Teil VI: Die Gebirgstruppe Band 2: L–Z [The Knight's Cross Bearers of the German Wehrmacht 1939–1945 Part VI: The Mountain Troops Volume 2: L–Z] (in German). Osnabrück, Germany: Biblio-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7648-2430-3.
- 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.
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