Ernst Felix

Ernst Faeckenstedt, born 17-12-1896 in Dresden, joined the Army, age 17, as a Fahnenjunker in the Replacement Squadron of the 2^nd Horse Jäger Regiment. With the 2^nd Regiment he was in the field of the first war and ended the war as 1^st Ordinance Officer with the 3^rd Infantry Regiment. He remained in the Reichswehr and at the beginning of World War II he was Chief of Operations of the General Staff of the 3^rd Infantry Division. Faeckenstedt, a Cavalry officer by training and highly experienced Staff Officer, had been Ia, III Korps during the campaign in Poland and Chief of Staff in France. He also held this post in Russia and won the Iron Cross in January 1942, shortly before joining the Staff of 1^st Panzer Army, where he became Commander of Staff within two weeks in April 1942. Major General Faeckenstedt took over from Johannes Nedtwig (see Nedtwig) as commander of the 5^th Panzer Division  in either early May or late June 1943 whilst the division was held in reserve in the Orel area, undergoing a refit, during the offensive against the Kursk Salient. They did not see action until the Russians began counter attacking on the 16^th when they joined 2^nd Panzerarmee’s LV Korps. Promoted to Lieutenant General at the beginning of September, around the same time as his command was transferred to 9^th Army XII Corps  under General Smilo Freiherr von Lüttwitz (see Lüttwitz) as they fell back to Bryansk Fäckenstedt handed the division over to Karl Decker, within a week, Decker died, suicide 21-04-1945, age 47.

   

   Karl Decker.

The 9^th Army XII Corps had famous leaders (see Blaskowitz), (see Model), (see Harpe), (see Busse). After a spell in the reserves, he returned to the Eastern Front as Chief of Staff at VI Korps on 15^th December. It would appear that he avoided the fate of his commander, General Georg Pfeiffer,  who was killed in action, on 28-06-1944, age 54, when 3^rd Panzerarmee collapsed during the destruction of Heeresgruppe Mitte the following June and held the same position at XII Korps from the middle of November, holding this position until the end of the war. The XII Korps posting seems unlikely, this unit was also destroyed during Bagration and was not re-created, in SW Germany, until March 1945. It may be that he held this position at Wehrkreis. XII, from which the Corps was built. Faeckenstedt landed in Allied captivity on 06-05-1945 until 27-03-1948 and lived in Höxter. He died at the age of 64, on 06-04-1961 and is buried on the Friedhof Am Wall, in Höxter and only steps from the grave of WWII General Wolf Graf von Luckner (see Luckner).