Generalleutnant of the 167th VGD?

[sonderverband]

Greetings -

I just bought a pair of Generarleutnant boards from a gentleman who claims his grandfather took them off their original owner in January 1945 near Luterbois, Luxembourg. He THINKS that the General may have been with the 167th VGD.

How can I research this?

Thanks!

Earl

[hucks216]

According to The Wehrmacht At War by Andris J Kursietis the commanding officer from the formation of the 167 VGD in Oct 1944 to March 1945 when it was caught in the Ruhr Pocket was Generalleutnant Hanskurt Hoecker who was awarded the RK & DKiG. Prior to the 167 VGD he was the commanding officer of 17 Lw-Feld Div.
As for the boards being his, unless there is some cast iron provenance there isn't really any way of knowing if they are his or not.

[sonderverband]

I'm leaning against Hoecker because of when he was captured.

Is there a bio anywhere for Generalleutnant Erich Diestel? He was there in that area at the same time the vet says he got the boards - the command post of Diestel's unit was overrun and 4 officers and 50 or so men were captured. The General these belonged to carried a Browning Hi-power, and that was also "liberated" by the GI.

This makes Diestel a very possible candidate. I just can't find his bio!

[hucks216]

The only info I have on Erich Diestel is from Lexikon that places him as CO of 346 Infantry Division from October 1942 to October 1944.
In the book Die Generales Des Heeres by Wolf Keilig after his posting with the 346 ID he has no further information except that he was awarded the RK & DKiG (I believe he won the RK on 8th October 1944).

[sonderverband]

That's all I can find too. Thank you for digging for me!

It's entirely possible that there is no record of him after the award of the RK because he was captured a few months later. I don't know how many Command Posts have Generals in them, but the fact that he was armed makes me think he was near the fighting. Everything else checks out in the GI's story too... the time, place, everything.

If I can find a photo of Generalleutnant Diestel then I can look at his boards and see if they match up.

Earl

[Simon O.]

If the boards were taken in January '45 then that puts paid to both Höcker and Diestel.

Höcker went into the bag 26th April '45 and Diestel at the end of the war.

If the location and date are secure, this shouldn't be too difficult to figure out.

[sonderverband]

Thank you Simon!

I have read the AA from the unit that this GI belonged to, and no mention was made of capturing a General in January. Maybe the date is wrong. Vet's memories are unfortunately hazy at times.

[hucks216]

Here he is...

http://www.das-ritterkreuz.de/index_...chword=diestel

...but at the end of the day a set of Generalleutnants boards look like any set of Generalleutnants boards, and there is no way of knowing if he is wearing the same ones in the picture as he wore when he was captured.
Is he listed on the Axis Biographical Research site? For some reason I can't get that site to work on this laptop/net connection so I can't check for you I'm afraid.

[Eric JB]

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=7333
<O</O
<O</O
On 10. April 1945, Gen.Lt. Erich Diestel was named as deputy commander for XXX AK zbV until the end of the war. Kleffel retained this command until 25. April 1945. To further confuse everybody, this headquarters was also known as Armeeabteilung Kleffel.<O</O

[sonderverband]

So now we know who it WASN'T!

How many more Generalleutnants were in the area of operations of the US 35th Infantry Division in early spring 1945?

Better get my reading glasses and notebook...

[Simon O.]

Thank you Simon!

I have read the AA from the unit that this GI belonged to, and no mention was made of capturing a General in January. Maybe the date is wrong. Vet's memories are unfortunately hazy at times.

Right, early January is right for the retaking of Lutrebois but i don't think they took any generals there.

If you know the guy's unit you should be able to track it's movements and thus hopefully get a handle on who it might be. If we're talking Ruhr pocket then Höcker is a candidate.

worth keeping in mind all the various rear area type generals, not just the combat command ones.

[sonderverband]

From the US 134th unit history:

January 5th 1944

"Meanwhile, Company B, attacking on the left, had shared the early successes. It had overrun the rear area of the German defense position and captured a battalion C.P., including the commander of the 331st Infantry (167th VG Division)."

I guess a MAJOR is a Regimental CO rank, not Generalleutnant.

[hucks216]

Well. Gren Rgt 331 was part of the 167 VGD and according to Lexikon they were fighting in the Eifel region in February 1945, and possibly January but the above refers to a Regimental Commander rather then a Divisional Cdr. Off the top of my head I think a Regimental Cdr would of been around the Lt Colonel / Colonel rank - if I am wrong then hopefully another member can correct me.

[sonderverband]

The grandchild of the vet says he's 100% certain the boards came from a General in the 167th VGD. He's a reenactor so he has some degree of interest in the history - not enough to KEEP it in the family though. ????

[Simon O.]

At this time in the war you are likely looking at Major or oberstleutnant as regimental commander.
Divisional commanders could be oberst to generalleutnant.