Dawans, Sigismund Hellmut Konrad Alfred Georg Ritter und Edler von

Dawans, Sigismund, born on 23-09-1899 in Erfurt, Thüringen, entered the Army Service on 29-03-1917, age 17, as a Fähnrich in the Replacement Battalion of the 110^th Infantry Regiment, shortly for the outbreak of World War I. He ended the war as a Battalion adjutant in the same Regiment and was discharged to the Reserve on 25-10-1919 and retired on 01-11-1919. Dawans was reactivated in the Army Service on 01-10-1924 and with the outbreak of World War II he was in the General Staff of Border Section Command North until 23-10-1939, under Generalfeldmarsdchall der Infanterie, Georg von Küchler.  Transferred into the General Staff of the 16^th Army and landed in the Führer Reserve OKH on 28-12-1939. From 13-10-1939 to 01-11-1940, in the 19^th Infantry Division , as a Ia Oberstleutnant, then Chief of Staff in the renewed 19^th Panzer Division, under General der Panzertruppe, Otto von Knobelsdorff,  until 01-11-1940. Again in the infamous Führer Reserve (see Adolf Hitler) (did you know) from 12-05-1942 to 01-06-1942 and Chief of General Staff of the III Army Corps. For the third time in the Reserve to 15-05-1943, Chief of the General Staff in the 4^th Army, under Generaloberst der Infanterie, Gotthard Heinrici,  to 15-10-1943. On sick leave in the Reserve OKH again, to 05-12-1943. As commander of the Panzer Troops in Normandy France, Generalmajor Sigismund Dawans was killed in battle during the RAF’s attack on Panzer Group West’s headquarters at La Caine,  on 10-06-1944. Aircraft of the Second Tactical Air Force bombed the chateau. Eighteen members of the HQ staff were known to have died in the raid, including the Chief of Staff Generalmajor Sigismund-Helmut von Dawans, the most senior officer to be killed in the raid. The group’s commander, General der Panzertruppe, Leo Geyr Schweppenburg

   was wounded. Although the chateau was not badly damaged, the nearby orchard in which the HQ’s vehicles were parked was thoroughly bombed and communications equipment was destroyed. The HQ was rendered non-operational and withdrawn to Paris. German command of the sector was temporarily given to SS-Obergruppenführer, Joseph “Sepp” Dietrich  and the I SS Panzer Corps . The attack destroyed the only western German Army organization capable of handling a large number of mobile divisions. The appointment of new staff under General der Panzertruppe, Heinrich Karl Eberbach  and the preparation of plans for the German armored counter-offensive were delayed by a vital three weeks. The counter-attack never materialized as events overtook the situation, as the British Armored spearhead headed towards Caen.