Johannes Erxleben
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Johannes Erxleben | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1 April 1893 Vierraden, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire |
| Died | 1 November 1972 (aged 79) Bielefeld, Federal Republic of Germany |
| Allegiance |  German Empire (1913–1918) Weimar Republic (1918–1933) Nazi Germany (1933–1945) |
| Service/ | Imperial German Army Reichsheer German Army |
| Years of service | 1913–1945 |
| Rank |  Generalmajor |
| Battles/wars | World War I World War II |
Johannes Erxleben (born April 1, 1893 in Vierraden, Angermünde district; died November 2, 1972 in Bielefeld) was a German professional soldier and Wehrmacht general.
Life and Career[edit]
Johannes Erxleben was the son of a pastor. At the age of ten he was accepted into the Potsdam cadet corps and became a lieutenant in 1913. Erxleben was deployed in communications units during World War I and was promoted to first lieutenant in 1918. On October 1, 1919, he was transferred into the German Army, where he commanded various intelligence departments. In 1927 he became a captain and in 1934 a major. In 1937 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel in the Wehrmacht. At the beginning of World War II, after the invasion of Poland, Erxleben was appointed chief of intelligence in the conquered district of Posen. By the beginning of the invasion of France and the Benelux he had been promoted to colonel and made commander of an intelligence regiment. In the runup to the invasion of the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa) he was appointed chief of intelligence of the 11th Army, which became deployed in the Ukraine and the Baltic States. In early 1943 he was promoted to major general and appointed chief of intelligence in occupied France.
The Battle of Kassel[edit]
In the summer of 1944, due to poor health, Erxleben was returned to Germany, and assigned to Kassel, a city of strategic importance due to its armaments industry. On September 15, 1944, he was appointed the commandant of Kassel, with the primary duty of strengthening its defenses against Allied air raids. But, despite his efforts, by the time American ground forces arrived in the area, bombing raids had largely destroyed the city and most of its factories.
In March 1945, as troops of the American 80th Division approached, Erxleben was appointed the combat commander of Kassel, which had been declared a Festung (fortress). As commander of a declared fortress, this made Erxleben effectively supreme commander of all Wehrmacht units in the vicinity, as well as the local police and judicial organizations. His instructions were to fight to the last; surrender was not permitted. The soldiers under his command consisted of a mixture of veteran and second-line troops, such as reservists and training cadre, with insufficient equipment for the task. A notable exception to the lack of materiel was the Henschel tank factory at Kassel, which had managed to remain in operation. Before Allied forces began their attack, it had been able to produce thirteen Tiger II tanks, which were used in the defense of the district. The Battle of Kassel was fought from 1 April to 4 April.
Early on 4 April, out of concern for the civilian population and his troops remaining in the city, Erxleben attempted to negotiate a ceasefire to allow the civil population to evacuate before the resumption of the battle, and if possible to evacuate the badly wounded. The American commander, Major General Horace L. McBride, politely but firmly rejected the idea of a ceasefire, and said that the only terms he would accept were unconditional surrender. Realizing the futility of further combat, and contrary to his orders, General Erxleben then surrendered the city.
Postwar[edit]
Erxleben was held as a prisoner of war until his release on June 6, 1947. Subsequently, he was charged with negligent homicide for the shooting of a civilian he mistook for a looter on the morning of April 3, 1945, a day before the surrender of Kassel. He was first sentenced to four months in prison on March 19, 1949 by the Kassel superior court. But after an appeal by the public prosecutor's office, apparently because the sentence was judged too lenient or the charge invalid, the Hesse Higher Regional Court overturned the earlier judgment on July 7, 1949. On February 14, 1950, the Kassel Regional Court found him guilty of manslaughter and sentenced him to ten months in prison. He was also required to pay the costs of his prosecution.
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