Crüwell, Ludwig August Arnold Julius Friedrich, born 20-03-1892 in Dortmund 
, as the son of a publisher and bookseller, Crüwell joined the Imperial Army in 1911 as a Fahnenjunker at the 9th Dragoons in Metz. With the regiment he moved to the field at the beginning of the war as a leutnant. As a patrol leader, he proved himself in France. He then took, part as Ordonnanzoffizier on the Eastern campaign. At Brzeziny he took part in the riders attack, which led to the breakthrough by the Russian front. He then participated in the attempt to raise the headquarters of Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich. 
Grand Duke Nicholas died on 05-01-1929, age 72, of natural causes on the French Riviera, where he had gone to escape the rigors of winter. In 1916 Crüwell was promoted to leutnant and became regimental adjutant. Subsequently, his General Staff training began at various higher staffs. After the war, he was taken to the Reichswehr 
and transferred to the Reich Ministry of Defense. In May 1922 he was promoted to Hauptmann. After completion of the General Staff training in 1925 he was transferred to the staff of the 2nd Cavalry Division to Wroclaw. From 1928 to 1931 he was squadron chief in the Reiter Regiment 12 in Großenhain in Saxony and was then transferred to the Wehrkreiskommando VI, from October 1935 designated VI. Army Corps.
under command of General der Artillerie Günther von Kluge. 
In 1937 he was commanded as Oberstleutnant to the antitank troop to Stuttgart. On 01-02-1938 he took over the Panzer Regiment 6 in Neuruppin as commander, succeeding Oberst Johannes Meyer. 
In March 1939 Crüwell became division chief in the General Staff of the Army and from 01-11-1939 Oberquartiermeister the 16th Army 
under command of Generalfeldmarschall Ernst Busch. 
On 01-12-1939, he was promoted to Generalmajor. 
Crüwell was the commander of the 11th Panzer Division 
, the 11th Panzer Division was a Panzer Division which saw action on the Eastern and Western Fronts. The formation’s emblem was a ghost (this must not be confused with the famed Gespenster outfit, which was the 7th Panzer Division) 
. The 11th did not take part in the western campaign, or see any action before Serbia. Crüwell was captured by the British on 29-05-1942, after his plane was forced to land. Crüwell and General der Panzertruppe, commander 3rd Panzer Division, Panzer-Lehr-Division, Fritz Bayerlein
, as the son of a publisher and bookseller, Crüwell joined the Imperial Army in 1911 as a Fahnenjunker at the 9th Dragoons in Metz. With the regiment he moved to the field at the beginning of the war as a leutnant. As a patrol leader, he proved himself in France. He then took, part as Ordonnanzoffizier on the Eastern campaign. At Brzeziny he took part in the riders attack, which led to the breakthrough by the Russian front. He then participated in the attempt to raise the headquarters of Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich. Grand Duke Nicholas died on 05-01-1929, age 72, of natural causes on the French Riviera, where he had gone to escape the rigors of winter. In 1916 Crüwell was promoted to leutnant and became regimental adjutant. Subsequently, his General Staff training began at various higher staffs. After the war, he was taken to the Reichswehr and transferred to the Reich Ministry of Defense. In May 1922 he was promoted to Hauptmann. After completion of the General Staff training in 1925 he was transferred to the staff of the 2nd Cavalry Division to Wroclaw. From 1928 to 1931 he was squadron chief in the Reiter Regiment 12 in Großenhain in Saxony and was then transferred to the Wehrkreiskommando VI, from October 1935 designated VI. Army Corps. under command of General der Artillerie Günther von Kluge. In 1937 he was commanded as Oberstleutnant to the antitank troop to Stuttgart. On 01-02-1938 he took over the Panzer Regiment 6 in Neuruppin as commander, succeeding Oberst Johannes Meyer. In March 1939 Crüwell became division chief in the General Staff of the Army and from 01-11-1939 Oberquartiermeister the 16th Army under command of Generalfeldmarschall Ernst Busch. On 01-12-1939, he was promoted to Generalmajor. Crüwell was the commander of the 11th Panzer Division , the 11th Panzer Division was a Panzer Division which saw action on the Eastern and Western Fronts. The formation’s emblem was a ghost (this must not be confused with the famed Gespenster outfit, which was the 7th Panzer Division) . The 11th did not take part in the western campaign, or see any action before Serbia. Crüwell was captured by the British on 29-05-1942, after his plane was forced to land. Crüwell and General der Panzertruppe, commander 3rd Panzer Division, Panzer-Lehr-Division, Fritz Bayerlein
became commander of a the Afrika Korps 
on 31-07-1941, answering to Generalfeldmarschall der Panzertruppe, Afrika Korps, Erwin Rommel,
who on the same day took command of Panzer Army Africa, consisting of one infantry and two Panzer divisions. On 29-05-1942, Crüwell was inspecting operations by air in Libya. In his Fieseler Fi 156 
confusion prevented them from getting the correct flares to warn of the front line. They flew 150 meters above the English lines and were shot at with MG fire and a bullet hit the rear, one the engine and the next hit the pilot who fell fatally aside. Surprisingly, the aircraft hovered in the air and floated independently to a belly landing, in which the undercarriage was completely destroyed. Fortunately the door was not blocked and Crüwell was able to exit the burning plane and was taken prisoner by soldiers of the 150th British Brigade, 
under command of Brigadier Cecil William Haydon 
, commander from 26-04-1940 and who was killed in action 01-06-1942, two days after Crüwell’s crash, age 46.Death and burial ground of Crüwell, Ludwig August Arnold Julius Friedrich
General Crüwell remained a prisoner 
and on 22-03-1943, was intentionally placed with another POW, General der Panzertruppe in the German Africa Corps. DAK, Wilhelm Ritter von Thoma, 
who during the meeting disclosed intelligence regarding the V-2 rocket, (see Wernher von Braun)
and used for RAF Operation Hydra bombing raids on Peenemünde, i.e.; surprise that London was not yet in ruins from German rockets being tested at a ‘special ground near Kummersdorf he had visited. 
Inmates of Trentpark November 1943. Standing left to right, Von Glasow, Boes, Hubbuch, Buhse, Schmidt, Borcherdt, and seated Egersdorff, Crüwell, von Arnim, Meixner and von Hülsen. During the desert war in Africa from 13-09-1940 until Mai 1943, the allied forces lost more then 250.000 men, death, wounded and captured. The As force’s casualties were 620.000 men included 250.000 prisoners of war. Ludwig Crüwell died age 66 in Essen and is buried with his parents, father Louis and mother Mathilde, on the Ostfriedhof of Dortmund in the Crüwell family grave. Field 9, Grave 10 A/10 H.
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