8th Army commander Aug 44.....?

[Mike Pinkus]

anybody know who the commander of the 8th army in august 1944?
got a doc signed by a field marshall but i cant figure it out...i believe it may be Wohler..when did he become a field marshall???
thanks for any help
mike

[I Marotto]

It is Otto Wohler he was Commander from August 22 1943 - December 27 1944,he was General der Infanterie and received his oaks on November 28 1944. Interesting note he was tried at the "High Command" trial at Nuremberg and was sentenced to 8 years...

Ian

[Mike Pinkus]

Ian
thanks....was he ever a field marshall...i need to get a pic of the doc...it doesnt appear to be Wohlers sig but it states the rank as a field marshall...strange...ill post a pic later...
mike
missed you at the SOS...were you there?

[I Marotto]

Mike

From what I can tell he became Generalfeldmarschal Dec. 28th 44 and commanded Heeresgruppe Süd from Dec 28 1944 - Mar 25 1945.The 8th Armee was under Heeresgruppe Süd from Oct.44 - April 45. So it makes sense it would be him...

Didnt make the Show had the room and the ticket but new job and new home within two weeks of the show put a stop to that...

Ian

[I Marotto]

Here he is

[Mike Pinkus]

here is a photo of the signature and the army stamp...8th army...
this was an award of a kuban shield for a member of the 13th panzer division.....
is it Wholer?...it does not look that way to me...
anybody?

[Simon O.]

here is a photo of the signature and the army stamp...8th army...
this was an award of a kuban shield for a member of the 13th panzer division.....
is it Wholer?...it does not look that way to me...
anybody?

Mike

That's the standard stamped signature of Ewald von Kleist that you see on all Kuban docs. The stamp is not that of the 8 Armee but of Wehrkeiskommando VIII or Military area headquarters VIII. The reason for that is i believe that Kleist's estate was within that Wehrkreis when he went into retirement after being relieved of his command by Hitler at the end of March '44.

Otto W******246;hler was never generalfeldmarschall. The higest rank he attained was General der Infanterie

[I Marotto]

Simon

Is this a mistake?

Ian

http://www.axishistory.com/index.php?id=2049

[Simon O.]

Yup, a typo looks like.

http://www.das-ritterkreuz.de/index_...rchword=wohler

Look up W******246;hler at the ABR under heer, then general.
http://www.geocities.com/orion47.geo/

In the '44 Heer rangliste his promotion date to General is listed as 1 June '43.


and here's more detailed info on his career history
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtop...=otto+w%F6hler

[Mike Pinkus]

Simon...
thanks for clearing that up for me...it all makes sense now....
mike

[I Marotto]

Thanks Simon..

Ian