Gottfried von Erdmannsdorff

Gottfried von Erdmannsdorff (25 April 1893 – 30 January 1946) was a German general during World War II. He was convicted by a Soviet military tribunal for war crimes at the Minsk Trial and executed in 1946.

Gottfried von Erdmannsdorff
Born25 April 1893
Kamenz, German Empire
Died30 January 1946(1946-01-30) (aged 52)
Minsk, Byelorussian SSR, Soviet Union
Cause of deathExecution by hanging
Allegiance German Empire (to 1918)
 Weimar Republic (to 1933)
 Nazi Germany
Service/branchArmy (Wehrmacht)
Years of service1913–33
1934–45
RankGeneralmajor
Commands held465th Division
"Fortress Mogilev"
Battles/warsWorld War I

World War II

AwardsKnight's Cross of the Iron Cross
RelationsWerner von Erdmannsdorff (brother)

Fortress Mogilev

On 27 June 1944 Soviet troops managed to push forward and make a deep breakthrough north of Mogilev by crossing the Dnieper River over a bridge at Trebuchi. The 4th Army dispatched a message to General Erdmannsdorff that Mogilev be held as a "fortified position" and ordered him to hold the town until the very last man. The 4th Army retreated the XXXIX Panzer Corps and the XII Army Corps a full 21km west of Mogilev, leaving the town to its fate against the overwhelming Soviet attacks. Later in the evening General Erdmannsdorff reported that German forces had been weakened and the Soviets had started to reach the edge of the city. Only 2 hours and 40 minutes later General Erdmannsdorff stated that the only part of the city still under his control was the city center and hand to hand combat was starting to take place. The last radio message that was received from Mogilev was at 11 o'clock in the evening and it was Lieutenant General Rudolf Bamler the commanding officer of the 12th Infantry Division requesting that Captain Opke of Artillery Regiment 12 should receive the Oak leaves of the Knight's Cross for "outstanding military exploits".[1]

Minsk Trial
Main article: Minsk Trial

After the Soviet troops defeated "Fortress Mogilev", Erdmannsdorff was captured by Soviet troops. He was tried by a Soviet tribunal (the Minsk Trial) for crimes committed in Belarus along with 18 other defendants, 14 of whom, including Erdmannsdorff, were sentenced to death on 29 January 1946.[2]

Erdmannsdorff was condemned on charges including the deportation of 10,000 people, the destruction of villages, schools and churches, and the shootings of disabled people during the construction of fortifications, the use of people as human shields, and the organization of reprisals operations against civilians under the guise of fighting partisans, and the establishment of camps in which many people died.[3]

The officers were hanged in public (with over 100,000 civilian spectators) in the horse racing venue of Minsk, on 30 January 1946.[4] He was the younger brother of General der Infanterie Werner von Erdmannsdorff.[5]

Awards and decorations

References

Citations
  1. Veal, Stephen Ariel (1991). The collapse of the German army in the East in the summer of 1944 (Volume 1) (MA History thesis). Portland State University. pp. 334–335. doi:10.15760/etd.6183.
  2. Ziedler, Manfred. "Der Minsker Kriegsverbrecherprozeß vom Januar 1946" (PDF).
  3. Manfred Messerschmidt: Der Minsker Prozeß 1946. In: Verbrechen der Wehrmacht. Hrsg.: Heer und Naumann, Zweitausendeins 1997, ISBN 3-86150-198-8, S. 653.
  4. Heer 1995.
  5. Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Adelige Häuser A Band XXVII, Band 132 der Gesamtreihe, C. A. Starke Verlag, Limburg (Lahn) 2003, p. 318–319
  6. Fellgiebel 2000, p. 147.

Bibliography
  • Fellgiebel, Walther-Peer (2000) [1986]. Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939–1945 [The Bearers of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939–1945] (in German). Friedberg, Germany: Podzun-Pallas. ISBN 978-3-7909-0284-6.
  • Heer, Hannes (1995). "Der Minsker Prozess". Hannesheer.de.
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