Walther-Peer Fellgiebel

Walther-Peer Fellgiebel
Born	7 May 1918 Berlin-Charlottenburg, Prussia, German Empire
Died	14 October 2001 (aged 83) Frankfurt am Main, Hessen, Germany
Allegiance	Nazi Germany
Service/branch	Heer
Years of service	1937–45
Rank	Major
Battles/wars	World War II
Awards	Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
Relations	Erich Fellgiebel (father)

Walther-Peer Fellgiebel (7 May 1918 – 14 October 2001) was a German officer in the Wehrmacht, serving during World War II and a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (German: Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes). The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. His father was the General der Nachrichtentruppe Erich Fellgiebel, who as a conspirator of the 20 July plot was sentenced to death and executed on 4 September 1944.

He joined the Association of Knight's Cross Recipients (AKCR) in 1954 and as of 1961 served on the board of directors. He became head of the order commission of the AKCR in 1970, a position he held until 1985. From this work evolved the book 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 Branches of the Armed Forces. For many years this book was considered a reference work on this topic. Fellgiebel himself indicated that the book is not official. The deteriorating situation of the Third Reich during the final days of World War II left a number of nominations incomplete and pending in various stages of the approval process; loss of evidence of the presentation was also an issue in the verification process. In some of these instances the AKCR later accepted and listed holders of the Knight's Cross with questionable evidence. Author Veit Scherzer analyzed the German Federal Archives and found discrepancies in 193 instances of the original 7,322 listings by Fellgiebel (false acceptance rate of 2.6%).^[1]

For 13 years he worked as a manager at the Deutsche Zündwaren-Monopol-Gesellschaft.

Awards

• Iron Cross (1939)
  • 2nd Class (13 July 1940)
  • 1st Class (30 July 1941)
• Wound Badge (1939)
  • in Black (30 July 1941)
  • in Silver (3 August 1943)
• General Assault Badge (17 September 1943)
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 7 September 1943 as Oberleutnant as chief of the 2./leichte Heeres Artillerie-Abteilung 935 (mot.)^[2]
• Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Verdienstkreuz 1. Klasse (4 July 1975)

References

Citations

1. Scherzer 2007, pp. 117–186.
2. Scherzer 2007, p. 305.

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.
• 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.

External links

• Walther-Peer Fellgiebel in the German National Library catalogue
• Walther-Peer Fellgiebel @ Ritterkreuzträger 1939–45