Arnim, Hans Jürgen Bernard Theodor von.

Arnim, Hans Jürgen Bernard Theodor von, born on 04-04-1889 in Ernsdorf  the son of Generalmajor Hans von Arnim (1861–1931) and Martha, born, Honrichs (1865–1953), in an old Märkischen nobal family which lived in castles in Uckermark  since the 16th century. Hans-Jürgen von Arnim was a descendant of the Arnim family, who had lived in a castle in Uckermark since the 16th century. Arnim’s descendant was a family of the Brandenburg Uradels, who had been traced back over 800 years and who had given the Prussian-German army 30 Generals, including two field Marshals and one Admiral, for the last four centuries. A total of 26 of Arnims fell in the First World War, no less than 35 died as soldiers in World War II. One of them was the former Rector of the Technical University of Berlin. Professor Achim Konstantin Rudolf Ferdinand von Arnim – Knight of the Order Pour le Merite of the 1st World War – who left his life on 24-05-1940 as Oberstleutnant and regimental commander in the west. His parents were  the Königliche Prussian Generalmajor Hans von Arnim (1861–1931) und Martha Honrichs (1865–1953). On 26-03-1917 he married Annemarie von Dechend, born 07-07-1895 in Küstrin, she the daughter of Oberstleutnant Max von Dechend and Marianne Koch, died age 87 on 16-12-1982 in Bad Wildungen. His cousin was the son of General Hans von Arnim ( 1986-1931), Oberstleutnant s V, Achim Konstantin Rudolf Ferdinand von Arnim  Achim died in battle on 24-05-1940, age 59, near Monchy-Lagache.

Hans Jürgen served in the German Army from 1908 with the 1st Garde Regiment in Potsdam and promoted to Leutnant on 19-08-1909 until the end of World War II. During the First World War he saw action on both the Eastern and Western fronts and ended the war as an Hauptmann and Battalion leader. After the war he remained in the new Reichswehr and rose to command the elite 68^th Infantry Regiment in Berlin, Later Nazi Gauleiter of Berlin was Josef Goebbels.

    With the rise of Nazi Germany, Arnim commanded the 5^th Infantry Division  in both the Battles for Poland and France. In October 1940, Arnim was given command of the 17^th Panzer Division . He lost this command as he was wounded in action and General Karl Ritter von Weber got the command on 24-06-1941.   Von Weber would die of injuries soon on 20-07-1941, age 48. His successor was General Wilhelm von Thoma.  With the outbreak of the war against the Soviet Union, he was promoted to Lieutenant General, commander Heinz Guderian (son Kurt) and (son Heinz Günther) , but was seriously wounded a few days after the start of the campaign. He was promoted to General der Panzertruppe on 01-10-1941 and commanded the XXXIX Panzerkorps, succeeding Generaloberst Rudolf Schmidt, he was placed in command of the 5^th Panzer Army, in 1942, where he succeeded General Heinz Otto Ziegler   under the command of the famous D.A.K, Deutsches Afrika Korps, Army Group Africa, General Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. During the desert war in Africa from 13-09-1940 until Mai 1943, the Allied lost more then 250.000 men, death, wounded and prisoners. The As casualties were 620.000 men, included 250.000 men in captivity. General Heinz Otto Ziegler died age 78, on 21-08-1972 in Göttingen. The 5^th Panzer Army was encircled and trapped in the Ruhr Pocket, and surrendered on 17-04-1945. Von Arnim was promoted to Generaloberst on 04-12-1942 and made Commander in Chief of Army Group Africa. Adolf Hitler (see Hitler Alois) (Paula) (Parents) namely, refused to allow Rommel, who was ill and exhausted of the many frustrating battles, to return to Tunesia. Captured by the British Indian Army’s 4^th Infantry Division  , under Lieutenant General Sir John Ledlie Inglis Hawkesworth two months later on 12-05-1943. Hawkesworth died on the way home to Britain, when he suffered a heart attack while on board his troopship which lay at Gibraltar, on 03-06-1945 at the age of 52.

The casualties of the different forces, Free French, 16,000 killed, wounded or captured, British Empire 53,000 killed, wounded, or captured, United States, 2,715 killed, 8,978 wounded, 6,528 missing and Germany: 12,808 killed, unknown wounded 101,784 + captured. Total Axis: 950,000 total casualties. 8,000 aircraft destroyed or captured, 6,200 guns destroyed or captured and 2,500 tanks destroyed or captured. The Germans and Italians may have been able to take Moscow if they didn’t embark on this wasteful and costly campaign…

. A surrender of the DAK , with a 275.000 German and Italian soldiers, to the meanwhile superior British army and he was in British captivity, at Trent Park Camp in England.

Von Arnim surrendered to the English General Marshal Sir Harold Alexander and his only wish to him was the request that the British should not take revenge for the 700 hundred of prisoners of war who were killed in a German bomb attack on the harbor of  Tunis, where they were waiting on a boat for transport to Italy.

  The captured Staff car of von Arnim, a Steyr 1500 A is now in a museum in Eastbourne Redoubt.  After he was captured, Arnim allegedly expected to be met by his opposite numbers and asked to see Dwight “Ike” Eisenhower. The American General replied to his aides to get as much information out of him as they could, but a personal meeting was out of the question. Eisenhower would not meet with any German officers until the final surrender. Instead von Arnim was brought to the British 1st Army commander in chief , General Kenneth Arthur Noel Anderson

. Anderson’s last years were filled with tragedy: his only son died in action in Malaya and his daughter also died after a long illness. Kenneth Anderson himself died of pneumonia on 29-04-1959, age 67, in Gibraltar and is buried there. Von Arnim was transported,

  with 24 other German General officers, to Camp Clinton, Mississippi, USA,

and was released on 01-07-1947. He returned to Germany and lived in Bad Wildungen, a small town.

He died, high decorated, in the age of 73, on 01-09-1962 and is buried with his wife Annemarie, born von Dechend, who died old age 89 on 16-12-1982, on the town cemetery in Bad Wildungen. Wolfgang Linke visited the cemetery and found out that the gravestone is placed along the war grave section. Only a few steps from the grave of WWII General Gerhard Franz.

  

 

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