Eberhard von Mackensen

Eberhard von Mackensen
Born	24 September 1889 Bromberg, Province of Posen, Kingdom of Prussia German Empire now Bydgoszcz, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland
Died	19 May 1969 (aged 79) Neumünster, Schleswig-Holstein, West Germany[1]
Allegiance	German Empire (to 1918)  Weimar Republic (to 1933)  Nazi Germany
Service/branch	Heer
Years of service	1908–44
Rank	Generaloberst
Commands held	III. Armeekorps (mot.) III. Panzerkorps 1st Panzer Army 14th Army
Battles/wars	World War I World War II
Awards	Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves
Relations	August von Mackensen (father)

Friedrich August Eberhard von Mackensen (24 September 1889 – 19 May 1969) was a German general who served in World War II, and one of 882 German recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves. The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and its higher grade Oak Leaves was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. He was a convicted war criminal.

Early years

Eberhard was born in Bromberg in the Province of Posen, the son of August von Mackensen. Mackensen entered the German Army in 1908. Mackensen entered World War I as a lieutenant. After being wounded in 1915, Mackensen was given a staff job. In 1919 he joined the Freikorps and fought in Balticum.^[2] After the armistice, Mackensen remained in the German Army and by 1934 had risen to the rank of colonel. In 1935, Mackensen was appointed chief of staff to the X Army Corps and in 1937 he was given command of a cavalry brigade. He was promoted to major general in 1938. In May 1939 Mackensen, was made chief of staff of Wilhelm List.

World War II

Mackensen (2nd from right)

At the beginning of World War II, Mackensen served as the chief of staff of the German 14th Army in the invasion of Poland in September 1939. Later, he was made chief of staff of the 12th Army and fought in France. On 1 January 1940 he was promoted to lieutenant general and eight months later to General der Kavallerie. On 15 January 1941 he was made commanding general of III Army Corps under 1st Panzer Army in Army Group South, and Mackensen's forces were the first to reach Kiev during the Battle of Kiev (1941).^[3] When in November 1942 General Paul Ewald von Kleist was given the command of Army Group A, Mackensen took up command of the First Panzer Army, which he led in the Third Battle of Kharkov in March 1943.

Promoted to colonel general in 1943, Mackensen was sent to Italy as commander of the 14th Army, which he led until June 1944. In March of that year, Mackensen was the first senior officer to be informed by Kurt Mälzer of a partisan attack in Rome against the SS Police Regiment Bozen. Mälzer had requested the immediate round-up and summary execution of Italian residents of the Via Rasella, where the attack had occurred, which Mackensen deemed "excessive". The matter was then referred to Albert Kesselring, who discussed the issue with Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel. The resulting orders called for the execution of ten Italians for every German soldier killed, eventually leading to the Ardeatine massacre. Army units under Mackensen's command, along with members of the Bozen Police Regiment themselves, reportedly refused to participate in the execution; in the end, the job fell to the SS Security services in Rome, under the command of Herbert Kappler.

Mackensen retired from active service in the summer of 1944. He was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross to which the Oak Leaf device was later added.

Post war

After the German capitulation in 1945, Mackensen became a prisoner of war. On 30 November 1946 he was convicted of war crimes by a British military court in Rome and sentenced to death. In 1947 the sentence was commuted to 21 years imprisonment, but he was released in 1952. Mackensen lived in Alt-Mühlendorf near Nortorf, a town in the district of Rendsburg-Eckernförde in Schleswig-Holstein. He died in Neumünster on 19 May 1969.

Awards

• Iron Cross (1914)
  • 2nd Class
  • 1st Class
• Wound Badge (1918)
• Cross of Honor
• Medaille zur Erinnerung an den 13. März 1938
• Wehrmacht-Dienstauszeichnung 4th to 1st Class
• Clasp to the Iron Cross
  • 2nd Class (17 September 1939)^[4]
  • 1st Class (2 October 1939)^[4]
• Order of Michael the Brave
  • 3rd Class (15 January 1943)
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves
  • Knight's Cross on 27 July 1941 as General der Kavallerie and commander of III. Armeekorps^[5]
  • 95th Oak Leaves on 26 May 1942 as General der Kavallerie and commander of III. Armeekorps^[5]

References

Citations

1. Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Adelige Häuser B Vol. XXI, Vol. 108 in the series, Limburg (Lahn): C. A. Starke 1995, ISBN 3-7980-0700-4, p. 320.
2. Theo Schwarzmüller: Zwischen Kaiser und „Führer“ Generalfeldmarschall August von Mackensen. Eine politische Biographie. dtv, München 2001, (181.page) ISBN 3-423-30823-0.
3. Glantz & House 2009, p. 26.
4. Thomas 1998, p. 50.
5. Scherzer 2007, p. 522.

Bibliography

• Fellgiebel, Walther-Peer (2000) [1986]. Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939–1945 — Die Inhaber der höchsten Auszeichnung des Zweiten Weltkrieges aller Wehrmachtteile [The Bearers of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939–1945 — The Owners of the Highest Award of the Second World War of all Wehrmacht Branches] (in German). Friedberg, Germany: Podzun-Pallas. ISBN 978-3-7909-0284-6.
• Glantz, David M.; House, Jonathan (2009). To the Gates of Stalingrad: Soviet-German Combat Operations, April-August 1942. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas. ISBN 978-0-7006-1630-5.
• Dr. Gerd F. Heuer – Die Generalobersten des Heeres, Inhaber höchster Kommandostellen 1933-45, ISBN 3-8118-1408-7
• Scherzer, Veit (2007). Die Ritterkreuzträger 1939–1945 Die Inhaber des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939 von Heer, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm sowie mit Deutschland verbündeter Streitkräfte nach den Unterlagen des Bundesarchives [The Knight's Cross Bearers 1939–1945 The Holders of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939 by Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and Allied Forces with Germany According to the Documents of the Federal Archives] (in German). Jena, Germany: Scherzers Militaer-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2.
• Thomas, Franz (1998). Die Eichenlaubträger 1939–1945 Band 2: L–Z [The Oak Leaves Bearers 1939–1945 Volume 2: L–Z] (in German). Osnabrück, Germany: Biblio-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7648-2300-9.
• Glantz, David M.; House, Jonathan (2009). To the Gates of Stalingrad: Soviet-German Combat Operations, April-August 1942. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas. ISBN 9780700616305.