Kissel, Hans.

Kissel, Hans, born 19-02-1897 in Mannheim, Baden Württemberg, entered the Army, age 18, on 23-09-1915, as a Fahnenjunker in the 142^nd Infantry Regiment and was in the fields of World War I, retired on 30-04-1919. He was reactivated in the Growing Wehrmacht  on 01-01-1935 and with the beginning of World War II he was the commander of the III Battalion of the 109^th Infantry Regiment. He as leader of the 229^th Jäger Regiment was severely wounded in hospital , from 02-06-1942 to 15-03-1943, ten months. Again leader of a Battle Group, of the 376^th Infantry Division  succeeding Generalleutnant  Alexander Edler von Daniels  and commander of the 627^th Infantry Regiment until 01-09-1943. Appointed as commander of the 638^th Grenadier Regiment, commander of the 178^rd Grenadier Regiment and again severely wounded in hospital until 10-11-1944. He was also in the Führer Reserve (see Adolf Hitler) (did you know), to 08-05-1945 and in Allied captivity, until his release on 26-06-1947

Alexander Edler von Daniels commanded the 376th Infantry Division in the battle of Stalingrad, which was part of XI Corps of the German Sixth Army under Friedrich Paulus . The Battle of Stalingrad[ (23-08-1942 – 02-02-1943) was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II where Nazi Germany and its allies unsuccessfully fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad (later renamed Volgograd) in Southern Russia. The battle was marked by fierce close-quarters combat and direct assaults on civilians in air raids, with the battle epitomizing urban warfare.  It was the bloodiest battle of the Second World War, with both sides suffering enormous casualties.

The Axis suffered 747,300–868,374 combat casualties (killed, wounded or captured) among all branches of the German armed forces and their allies:

• 282,606 in the 6th Army from 21 August to the end of the battle; 17,293 in the 4th Panzer Army from 21 August to 31 January; 55,260 in the Army Group Don from 1 December 1942 to the end of the battle (12,727 killed, 37,627 wounded and 4,906 missing) Walsh estimates the losses to 6th Army and 4th Panzer division were over 300,000; including other German army groups between late June 1942 and February 1943, total German casualties were over 600,000. Louis A. DiMarco estimated the German suffered 400,000 total casualties (killed, wounded or captured) during this battle.
• According to Frieser, et al.: 109,000 Romanians casualties (from November 1942 to December 1942), included 70,000 captured or missing. 114,000 Italians and 105,000 Hungarians were killed, wounded or captured (from December 1942 to February 1943).
• According to Stephen Walsh: Romanian casualties were 158,854; 114,520 Italians (84,830 killed, missing and 29,690 wounded); and 143,000 Hungarian (80,000 killed, missing and 63,000 wounded). Losses among Soviet POW turncoats Hiwis, or Hilfswillige range between 19,300 and 52,000.

Today, the Battle of Stalingrad is universally regarded as the turning point in the European theatre of war, as it forced the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (German High Command) to withdraw considerable military forces from other areas in occupied Europe to replace German losses on the Eastern Front, ending with the rout of the six field armies of Army Group B, including the destruction of Nazi Germany’s 6th Army and an entire corps of its 4th Panzer Army. The Soviet victory energized the Red Army and shifted the balance of power in the favour of the Soviets.

In late December 1942, after Operation Uranus encircled the Sixth Army, Daniels was promoted to Generalleutnant and awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross. Daniels surrendered himself and his division to Colonel Ivan Konstantinovich Morozov,  commander of the 422nd Rifle Division, and was marched into captivity by the Red Army on 29-01-1943, where he was interrogated by Captain Nikolay Dyatlenko.  Colonel. Ivan Konstantinovich Morozov, died in Volgograd on 11 July 1979, age 74. Captain Nikolay Dyatlenko. age 82 in 1996

Death and burial ground of Kissel, Hans.

Retiring in Agalsternhausen, Kissel died at the age of 78, on 30-11-1975 and is buried with his wife Helma, born Bingener, who died old age 88 in 1995, on the Stadtfriedhof of Königstein am Taunus.

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