Oskar

Oskar Cantzler, born on 14-06-1890 in Zell, Pfalz, entered the Kaiserliche Army Service as a Fahnenjunker in the 2^nd Bavarian Pioneer Battalion, on 01-10-1910, 20 years old. He was with the 1^st  Bavarian Field Pioneer Battalion at the beginning of World War I and ended the war in the Staff of the 6^th Bavarian Infantry Brigade. With the outbreak of World War II he was the leader of the 9^th Army. Not Hitler’s favourite he was for the fourth time in the infamous Führer Reserve (see Adolf Hitler) (did you know), from 05-01-1945 until 02-02-1945. The Führerreserve (“Officers Reserve”) was set up in 1939 as a pool of temporarily unoccupied high military officers waiting for new assignments in the German Armed Forces during World War II. The various military branches and army groups each had their own pool which they could use as they saw fit. The officers were required to remain at their assigned stations and be available to their superiors, but could not exercise any command function, which was equivalent to a temporary retirement while retaining their previous income. Especially in the second half of the war, more and more politically problematic, troublesome, or militarily incompetent officers were assigned to the Führerreserve.  Canzler was then General of Pioneers with Operations Staff East Coast and his last post was commander Defence of Central Baltic, until he was in captivity in Mai 1945. Released on 08-07-1947 he lived in Speyer, where he at the age of 69 died, on 03-02-1960. Oskar Cantzler is buried on the Stadtfriedhof of Speyer and only a few steps away is resting his WWII General fellow, Karl Adolf Hollidt (see Hollidt).