Kühme, Kurt.

Kühme, Kurt, born 27-08-1885 in Lötzen, East Prussia, entered the Army as cadet in the 174^th Infantry Regiment, age 17, on 22-03-1903. He was in the fields of the first war as a Company Chief in the 174^th Infantry Regiment and retired in Mai 1920 and became the leader of Freikorps Kühme.  Kühme here next to Hitler in 1931 as the leader of the ReichLeiter School of the SA   Placed to disposal of the Army again on 01-07-1938 and started World War II with the Field Command 509, in Lodz until 24-02-1940. Kühme was the commander of different Regiments and landed five times in the Führer Reserve during his WWII career. 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. In March 1943 he was posted as the commander VI. Abteilung/Artillerie Lehr Regiment 2 (mot.) in Jüterbog but was only there for a short time before being assigned to Sturmgeschütz Abteilung 280 in June 1943. On the 17th of January he was made commander of the Abteilung and took it to the Eastern Front fighting around Tarnopol in Apr 1944. With heavy losses he took the now upgraded Brigade to Denmark where it was to receive replacements in men and material. The unit was on its way to Aachen when Operation ‘Market Garden’  started and a third of the unit was sent to Arnhem where it turned the tide of battle with two members winning the Knights Cross. Awarded for his vital role of his Sturmgeschütz-Brigade 280 on the western front in autumn 1944. Its most important actions were during the battle of Arnhem, where it made a major contribution towards the ultimate failure of Market-Garden by participating in actions such as the interdiction of Hell’s Highway at Vegel on the 22-09-1944 and the crushing of the British 1st Airborne Division led by Major General Roy Urquhart,  at Arnhem itself. The Brigade would also later distinguish itself during the fighting around Kolmar and with the 1. Armee in the Saarpfalz.

After the German surrender on 08-05-1945, the patched-up 1st Airborne Division was flown to Norway as part of Operation Doomsday to monitor the German surrender. Urquhart welcomed Norwegian Crown Prince Alexander Frederik Eduard Christiaan Olaf and three ministers from the Norwegian government in exile on their return. In August 1945, Urquhart’s division returned to Britain.

Prince Olaf enjoyed sports and won gold in sailing at the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam . Until his death in 1991, he was active in bringing the Winter Games to Lillehammer, Norway, which eventually took place in 1994. He was also interested in art, especially 19th- and 20th-century Scandinavian painting.His death, complications from stroke, on 17-01-1991, age 87, was followed by massive mourning from the Norwegian people. His son Harald succeeded him as king. Crown Prince Olaf addresses the crowd upon arrival, while General Roy Urquhart (second from left) watches from the side.

Kühme here in the capola of a StuG IIIG discussing the next assault with escorting infantry in Arnhem   The Brigade went on to fight in Holland for a number of months. Kurt Kühme left Sturmgeschützbrigade 280 in February 1945 where he was assigned to the Führerreserve of the OKH.

Death and burial ground of Kühme, Kurt.

     His last period in the Führer Reserve wand appointed to temporary leader of the Division Command 406 as he was killed in action on 25-12-1944 near Hellschlag, in the Eiffel. Kühme age 59, is buried on the war cemetery section of the Nordfriedhof of Bonn.

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