Cantzler, Oskar, 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. Oska 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 Pioneer Leader of the 9
th Army under General
Johannes Blaskowitz,

until 17-07-1940. Transferred to the General Command of the XXXI Army Corps until 01-09-1940. Then transferred to the Experimental Staff R until 25-10-1941. He was assigned as Pioneer Leader of the 11
th Army under Generaloberst
Eugen Ritter von Schobert.

Not Hitler’s favourite he was in the infamous Führer Reserve (see
Adolf Hitler) (
did you know), until 20-07-1941. 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 General of Pioneers of Army Group B under Generalfeldmarschall
Fedor von Bock

until 15-01-1942. Again in the Führer Reserve OKH until 10-02-1942 and then General of Pioneers of Army Group D

to 10-05-1944 under Generalfeldmarschall
Gerd von Rundstedt.

General of Pioneers of Army Group G, again under Blaskowitz, until 01-08-1944. Inspector of Pioneers and Railway Pioneers with the Commander of the Replacement Army to 05-01-1945 and again in the Führer Reserve until 02-02-1945.During the course of World War II the Replacement and Training Divisions (Ersatzdivisionen), of the Third Reich

, proved to be the lubricant that oiled the formidable German military machine. Canzler’s last commands were General of Pioneers with Operations Staff East Coast, then commander Defence of Central Baltic, until he was in captivity in Mai 1945.
Death and burial ground of Cantzler, Oskar.
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, Generaloberst der Infanterie,
Oberbefehlhaber der 6th Armee, Karl Adolf Hollidt

.
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