Bronsart-Schellendorff, Heinrich Walter Wilhelm Ernst Wiwigens.

Bronsart-Schellendorff, Heinrich, born on 21-09-1916 in Neustrelitz, Brandenburg came from the old Prussian noble and officer family Bronsart von Schellendorff. His father, Heinrich Diomed Bronsart von Schellendorff (1873-1942), was a cousin of Bernhard Bronsart von Schellendorff and Friedrich Bronsart von Schellendorf. He became a highly decorated Generalmajor in the Wehrmacht during World War II. His younger sister was Waltraud-Maria Wanda Elisabeth Ruth, married from Mettenheim. His father’s many cousins included the four sons of the Minister of War and General of the Infantry Walther Franz Georg Bronsart von Schellendorff Generalleutnant (Tannenberg General) Bernhard Heinrich Bronsart von Schellendorff (1866–1952), Oberstleutnant Walter Siegfried Bronsart von Schellendorff (1871–1963) and Major Hans Heinrich Bronsart von Schellendorff (1874–1938), all three knights of the order “Pour le Mérite” in the First World War.

Heinrich joined the Army, on 01-04-1924, as a volunteer in the 6^th Preußian Reiter-Regiment. 10 years later on 01-10-1937, he is the Chief of the 5^th Schwadron, now the 6^th Cavalry Regiment.  He joins World War II as commander of the Horse Schwadron of the 79^th Infantry Division . under command of Generaloberst Karl Strecker,

  born 20-09-1884, was a highly decorated Generaloberst in the Wehrmacht, who commanded except the 79^th Infantry Division several other corps. Born in Austria, the son of a Prussian officer in Radmannsdorf today Trzebiełuch, Poland, Strecker in 1905 joined the Infantry Regiment No. 152 of the German Army at Marienburg in the rank of a Leutnant, promoted to Hauptmann (captain) in World War I. He was also a recipient of the Knight Cross of the Iron Cross. The Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognize extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. Karl Strecker was captured by Soviet troops at Stalingrad in February 1943. Bronsart-Schellendorff here with General Hasso von Manteuffel

  was held in captivity until 1955 and died in Rieziem, Austria, age 88, on 10-04-1973. The 91.000 German POWs taken at Stalingrad, 27.000 died within weeks and only 5-6,000 returned to Germany by 1955. The remainder of the POWs died in Soviet captivity. On 02-02-1943, the organized resistance of Axis troops in Stalingrad ceased. Out of the 91.000 prisoners taken by the Soviets, 3.000 were Romanian. These were the survivors of the 20^th Infantry Division , 1^st Cavalry Division   and “Colonel Voicu” Detachment. According to archival figures, the Red Army suffered a total of 1.129.619 total casualties; 478.741 men killed or missing and 650.878 wounded. These numbers are for the whole Don region; in the city itself 750.000 were killed, captured, or wounded. Anywhere from 25.000 to 40.000 Soviet civilians died in Stalingrad and its suburbs during a single week of aerial bombing by Luftflotte 4 as the German 4^th Panzer and 6^th Armies approached the city; the total number of civilians killed in the regions outside the city is unknown. In all, the battle resulted in an estimated total of 1.7-2 million Axis and Soviet casualties. Promoted to Oberst, Bronsart-Schellendorff crossed the Russian border in 1941 and high appreciated, fighting heavy battles in Russia, he is awarded with the Iron Cross, as commander of the 5^th Panzer Division   , he succeeded Generalleutnant Lemelsen, he died age 66, on 30-03-1954.   The tanks are his ideal and he is really an excellent Panzer commander. For bravery, retreating, fighting’s he received the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, on 12-02-1944, the 394^th soldier to receive. Temporary in the Führer Reserve (see Hitler) (did you know), for a course in Hirschberg, Schlesien and gets the command of the 11^th Panzer Brigade.

During the battles on the Western front in France Bronsart-Schellendorff is killed. There are two stories about his death, he could been killed near Weisskirchen, dying from earlier wounds or 10 kilometers south east of Duss, in the Saar Region and his body first found on 26-09-1944, age 28. He was posthumously promoted to Generalmajor. The date of his death is accepted on 22-09-1944 and he, age 28, is buried on the war cemetery section of the Hauptfriedhof of Freisburg, Breisgau. Only steps away are the graves of other WWII Generals, General Major der Artillerie, Kommandeur der 719^th Infanterie-Division, Rudolf Bader, Generalleutnant der Artillerie, Kommandeur der “Division von Berg”, Kurt von Berg and General Major der Infanterie, Kommandeur der 707^th Infanterie Division, Gustav Gihr.

  

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