Curtze, Heinrich, born 22-07-1876 in Worms,
Rheinland Pfalz, joined, the Army Service, on 04-08-1889, Adolf Hitler (did you know) was 4 months old then
, as a Fahnenjunker
in the 2nd Bavarian Field Artillery Regiment . With the outbreak of World War I, Curtze, 38 years old, was the Battery Chief of the 8th Bavarian Field Artillery Regiment. The last two months of the war he was with an illness in hospital. Curtze was allowed in the new Reichswehr
until 30-09-1932 and then retired from service.




After the First World War and the armistice, the Imperial Army of Emperor Friedrich Wilhelm II‘s German Empire
quickly disintegrated following the chaotic retreat from the Western Front. In the revolutionary chaos, free corps were formed on the orders of the Rat der Volksbeauftragten, which, in revenge for the defeat, attacked their designated internal enemy, namely the communists, the socialists, the Jews and the republicans. That defeat is said to have been committed by betrayal on the home front due to war fatigue and defeatism: the so-called stab in the back legend.


With the outbreak of the battles on the Western Front, Curtze was placed to disposal of the Army on 01-05-1940, already 64 years old. When the invasion of Holland (see About) (see Jan Ackermans),
the centre of Rotterdam was destroyed
, 800 killed, ordered by Hermann Goering.
Belgium and France started, he was commander of the Troops Exercise Grounds in Maria ter Heide, in Belgium, until 16-08-1941. He was delegated to the leadership of the Field Replacement Division A, to 29-01-1941 and then again assigned as commander of the Troops Exercise Grounds in Maria ter Heide, until 31-03-1942. The old soldier, 66 years old, was placed in the Führer Reserve and not useful for Hitler’s war fare, finally retired on 30-06-1943. The Führer Reserve (“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 Führer Reserve.






Death and burial ground of Curtze, Heinrich.

Heinrich Curtze lived in Munich and died on 11-12-1976, at the old age of 86. He was married to Carlotta Adelaide Tacoli and they had one daughter Maria Matzke. Curtze is buried on the Waldfriedhof in Munich with his wife Carlotta, born Tacoli, who died also old age 94, on 06-06-1974, and his daughter who died on 19-02-1990, age 64, Closeby are buried the next WWII personalities, Generalmajor der Infanterie, Kommandeur Wehrmacht Operaties Staff, Ernst Detleffsen, Oberst der Wehrmacht, Highest German Commander on D-Day, Normandy, Ernst Goth, Goering’s second wife, Emmy Goering-Sonneman,
Generalmajor der Flieger, Commander of the Air Defend Division, Max Ibel, Generalmajor der Flieger, Kommandeur Luftregio Truppe 3, Ernst Weber, and the famous film maker Leni Riefenstahl. “Triumpf of the Will” , the film chronicles the 1934 Nazi Party Congress in Nuremberg.






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