Hans-Karl Freiherr von Esebeck

Hans-Karl Freiherr von Esebeck
Born	10 July 1892 Potsdam, Province of Brandenburg, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire
Died	5 January 1955 (aged 62) Iserlohn, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany
Allegiance	German Empire (to 1918)  Weimar Republic (to 1933)  Nazi Germany
Service/branch	Heer
Rank	General der Panzertruppe
Commands held	11. Panzer Division 15th Panzer Division
Battles/wars	World War I World War II
Awards	Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross

Hans-Karl Asmus Werner Freiherr von Esebeck^{[Notes 1]} (10 July 1892 – 5 January 1955) was a German General who commanded the 15th Panzer Division in the Afrika Korps. He was also a conspirator against Adolf Hitler.

Von Esebeck had knowledge of and was sympathetic to the anti-Hitler conspiracy. He was arrested on 21 July 1944 and spent the rest of the war in concentration camps. Liberated at the end of the war he lived the rest of his life in poverty and died on 5 January 1955.^[1]

Awards

• Iron Cross (1914)
  • 2nd Class (20 September 1914)
  • 1st Class (27 January 1917)
• Knight's Cross Second Class of the Friedrich Order with Swords
• Order of Merit 4th Class with Swords (Waldeck, 24 July 1915)
• Military Merit Cross, 3rd class with War Decoration (Austria-Hungary, 2 October 1916)
• Order of the Cross of Liberty, 2nd class with Swords (Finland, 7 May 1918)
• Commemorative Medal of the Finnish War of Independence (1918) (15 August 1918)
• Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918
• Iron Cross (1939)
  • 2nd Class (26 September 1939)
  • 1st Class (15 May 1940)
• Wound Badge (1939)
  • in Silver (15 August 1942)
• German Cross in Gold (20 December 1942)
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 4 July 1940 as Oberst and commander of the 6. Schützen-Brigade^[2][3]
• Silesian Eagle, 2nd class

Notes

1. Regarding personal names: Freiherr was a title before 1919, but now is regarded as part of the surname. It is translated as Baron. Before the August 1919 abolition of nobility as a legal class, titles preceded the full name when given (Graf Helmuth James von Moltke). Since 1919, these titles, along with any nobiliary prefix (von, zu, etc.), can be used, but are regarded as a dependent part of the surname, and thus come after any given names (Helmuth James Graf von Moltke). Titles and all dependent parts of surnames are ignored in alphabetical sorting. The feminine forms are Freifrau and Freiin.

References

Citations

1. Mitcham 2007, p. 34.
2. Fellgiebel 2000, p. 175.
3. Scherzer 2007, p. 299.

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.
• Mitcham, Samuel W. (2007). Rommel's Desert Commanders — The Men Who Served the Desert Fox, North Africa, 1941–42. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books. ISBN 0-8117-3510-9.
• 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 Miltaer-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2.