Oberst von Platen showing his best side

[Tim DC]

In an album of +600 photos from the staff of the Headquarters of Brussels I encountered some photos of Oberst Von Platen, head of the Infanterieregiment 16.

These private pictures are taken in Brussels, March 1942. He is getting drunk and flirting with quite a popular girl who had at least 10 different guys throughout the album
I also noticed that he is wearing 2 different uniforms.

I'm looking for more info on Von Platen and I also have a question; why is he wearing a Gebirgsjäger patch, as he was part of an Infanterieregiment?

Any comments are appreciated

[bhholst]

Hello Tim.

Nice photos. I was unable to locate an Oberst v.Platen in the division history of the 22.Inf.Div. nor in the Biblio series on the different formation commanding officers from battalion on up for this division of which Inf.Rgt.16 was a component throughout WW II. I have found a Oberst v.Platen in the "Rangliste des Deutschen Heeres 1944/45 which shows his ranking date of Apr. 1939 with his peacetime unit listed as Kdr.Geb.Kraftf.Abt.18 With date of Dec.1944 he was transferred from the officers in command of troops to those officers in rear echelon positions (Dienstalters Liste S) This officer seems to be more likely to be the one pictured because his arm of service was indeed Gebirgstruppen.
Bernhard H.Holst

[Tim DC]

Thank you very much for your help Bernhard
I assumed it was the colonel of the I.R.16 as they were very active in the campaign in the West, and these photos are taken in Brussels.
You did a very nice researching job

[Historic]

Hi Tim,

von Platen was the commander of IR 16 till 1936, then Oberst Kreysing till 1942...

The IR 16 fought in the West only in Holland, then they secured Antwerpen Area...

Greetings
Historic

[mediashun]

Oberst Platen

According to newly released FBI files, wittingly or unwittingly, Platen conveyed information to an espionage network for the German Resistance.

I'm researching the life and activities of a German woman, a friend of my family, who said she participated in the conspiracy to kill Hitler--before WWII. It's worth saying because it's not well-known that almost all of the German General Staff were so thoroughly alarmed by Hitler's march to war that they conspired to launch a putsch, especially by 1938-9.

In the FBI report on their interview with the family friend, known in the 1930s as Edith Duckwitz, she told the FBI that a woman who worked in the Foreign Office in Berlin "sent information through a Colonel PLATEN to the PFEIFER group. In connection with this she [Duckwitz] stated that PFEIFER knew of the Hitler-Stalin pact in May, 1939 previous to its publication in the newspapers."

PFEIFER was the chief of Duckwitz' espionage net and former member of the Sicherheitsdienst under Reinhard Heydrich. Duckwitz worked with Pfeifer on the manuscript of a book which later came out in serial form in the Manchester Guardian and as the book "Inside the Gestapo", with a different author.

The Pfeifer group was set up to assist the resistance efforts of General Reichenau. It would be interesting to see whether there were some ties between Platen and Reichenau.