Otto Elfeldt
Otto Elfeldt | |
|---|---|
 Elfeldt as a POW, August 1944 | |
| Born | 10 October 1895 |
| Died | 23 October 1982 (aged 87) |
| Allegiance |  German Empire Weimar Republic  Nazi Germany |
Branch | Army (Wehrmacht) |
Service years | 1914–1944 |
Rank | Generalleutnant |
Conflicts | |
| Awards | German Cross in Gold |
Otto Elfeldt (10 October 1895 – 23 October 1982) was a German career military officer who took part in both world wars. He became a Generalleutnant during World War II and commanded division and corps level infantry units. After the D-Day invasion, he was taken as a prisoner of war, and was held at Trent Park and Island Farm until 1948. He was a recipient of the German Cross in Gold of Nazi Germany.
Early career
[edit]Elfeldt was born at Bad Sülze in the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin in 1895, and he joined the Imperial German Army at the start of World War I. By the end of the war, he was a Leutnant and the adjutant of the 20th Foot Artillery Regiment. He remained in the post-war Reichswehr and was a battalion commander in artillery regiments from October 1934 to May 1939, when he was posted as a staff officer in the Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH – army high command) during the summer of 1939.[1]
World War II
[edit]At the beginning of World War II, Elfeldt was the commander of Artillery Regiment Staff 619, and then an artillery officer on the general staff of Army Group A until September 1940. He next served until October 1942 on the staff of the general of artillery in the office of the commander-in-chief of the army.[1] From November 1942 to November 1943, he was the commander of the 302nd Infantry Division, with which he fought on the eastern front at Voroshilovgrad, the Mius River and Zaporizhia. In December 1943, he became commander of the 165th Reserve Division in Belgium and, in February 1944, of the 47th Infantry Division in France. On 30 July 1944, he took over command of the LXXXIV Army Corps from Dietrich von Choltitz, but his corps was surrounded and destroyed in the Falaise Pocket.
Eltfeldt was taken prisoner by General Maczek's Polish 10th Armoured Cavalry Brigade[2] near Saint-Lambert in Normandy in August 1944, and he was later held in Trent Park and Island Farm Special Camp until his release in January 1948.
Awards and decorations
[edit]- Iron Cross (1914) 2nd and 1st class[3]
- Hanseatic Cross of Hamburg[3]
- Military Merit Cross of Mecklenburg-Schwerin 1st class[3]
- Wound Badge (1914) in black[3]
- Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918[1]
- German Cross in gold[1]
- Clasp to the Iron Cross 2nd and 1st class[1]
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 5 Webb 2024, p. 200.
- ↑ Beevor, Antony (2019). D-Day, The Battle for Normandy. Penguin Books. p. 472. ISBN 978-0-241-96897-0.
- 1 2 3 4 Reichswehrministerium (Ed.): Rangliste des Deutschen Reichsheeres. E.S. Mittler & Sohn, Berlin: 1929, p. 155.
Sources
[edit]- Traces of War
- Trent Park
- Webb, James Jack (2024). Generals and Admirals of the Third Reich: For Country or Fuehrer. Vol. 1: A–G. Havertown, PA: Casemate Publishers. ISBN 978-1-952-71512-9.
- 1895 births
- 1982 deaths
- German Army generals of World War II
- German Army personnel of World War I
- German prisoners of war in World War II held by the United Kingdom
- Lieutenant generals of the German Army (1935–1945)
- Military personnel from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
- People from the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
- People from Vorpommern-Rügen
- Prussian Army personnel
- Recipients of the clasp to the Iron Cross, 1st class
- Recipients of the Gold German Cross
- Recipients of the Hanseatic Cross (Hamburg)
- Reichswehr personnel