Rittberg, Georg Graf von.

Rittberg, Georg Graf von, born 30-06-1898 in Straßburg, Elsaß, the son of Botho Karl Aurel Julius Graf von Rittberg (born 26-01-1870 in Graudenz; died 10-03-1943, age 73, in Elberfeld), major and commander of the foot artillery regiment 239, and his wife Anna, born Fritzweiler (born 30-10-1871 in Meran: died 02-01-1959, age  87 in Bonn). Georg’s brother is the brother of Werner Botho Louis Kurt Heinrich Graf von Rittberg (21-12-1906 in Saarburg), who died as an officer on 24-02-1945 in the Battle of Cologne.

Georg moved to Krün in Bavaria and entered the Army Service on 08-08-1914 as a Fähnrich, age 16 and sent to the Cadet School. He was in the fields of the first war with the 61^st Field Artillery Regiment and ended the war as an Oberleutnant. He was retired from the Service but reactivated again on 01-10-1935 with the command of the III Battalion of the 1^st Artillery Regiment. under command of Marshal Filipp Ivanovich Golikov.  Filipp Ivanovich Golikov 30-07-1900 – 29-07-1980, age 80) was a Soviet military commander. As chief of the GRU (Main Intelligence Directorate), he is best known for failing to take seriously the abundant intelligence about Nazi Germany’s plans for an invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, either because he did not believe them or because Joseph Stalin did not want to hear them] He served in subsequent campaigns and was promoted to the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union in 1961.

With the outbreak of World War II he as an Oberleutnant is the commander of 31^st Infantry Division under command of Generalleutnant Rudolf Kaempfe,

and on the Western front in Belgium, the Somme and Loire. The 31^st Infantry Division joined the newly formed Army Group Vistula and fought in the Danzig area before being captured by the Red Army in May 1945. Twenty-three awards of the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross were made to members serving with the division, along with two awards of the Oak Leaves to the Knight’s Cross.  Two of its commanders were killed in action. Generalmajor Kurt Kalmuekoff , killed, age 49 on 13-08-1941 near bei Swonez / Oblast Gomel / UdSSR and Generalmajor Gerhard Berthold , killed age 51 on 14-04-1942 near Juchnow / Korolewka / UdSSR.

Graf von  Rittberg was appointed on 01-10-1940 as commander of the new 131^st Infantry Division , in Bergen, Celle. The 131st Infantry Division was activated in October 1940, primarily out of other divisions – it included soldiers from the 31st and 269th Infantry Divisions, and cavalry from the 19th.  The division participated in Operation Barbarossa and fought during the entire war on the Eastern Front. In January 1945, the division was driven into the so-called Heiligenbeil Pocket, were it was destroyed in March 1945.

With this division von Rittberg is involved in the battles on the Eastern front, Brest Litwosk, Bialystok, Gomel, Brjansk and Tula, against Moscow. Then fighting in the area Spass-Demensk and appointed to commander of the 23^rd Artillery Command, on 01-12-1942. Von Ritrtberg gets the command of the 2^nd Grenadier Regiment of the 11^th Infantry Division , he succeeded General der Infanterie, Herbert von Böckmann

  and assigned as commander of the 88^th Infantry Division  on 22-11-1943, succeeding Generalleutnant Heinrich Roth ,. Roth died of his wounds, age 49 on 06-11-1943 in a field hospital in Shitomir. With this division he is involved in the retreating battles on the East front. After the battles of Shitomir, Berditschew and specially Tscherkassy he is awarded with the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross. For brave retreating fighting’s at Baranow-Bridgehead  he received as the 601^st the Oak leaves, on 10-10-1944, meanwhile a Lieutenant General.

Sandomierz bridgehead, also known as Sandomierz-Baranów bridgehead, was a pocket of resistance created by Red Army’s 1st Ukrainian Front  in late July 1944 on the left bank of the Vistula River in German-occupied Poland. Located around the towns of Sandomierz and Baranów, it covered roughly 40 by 70 kilometres.

Von Rittberg lands in Soviet captivity near Glogau on 27-01-1945 and in the prison camps 144, 27.218.48 and at last in prison 1 in Smolensk. Condemned to 25 years imprison but after the intervention of the new Chancellor Konrad Adenauer  released on 09-10-1955.

George was married to Elisabeth, born Müller (1901–1989) from Metz, their sons are Hellmut Carl Botho Graf von Rittberg and Johann Georg “Jochen” Graf von Rittberg.

Death and burial ground of Rittberg, Georg Graf von.

Retiring in Krün von Rittberg died at the age of 74 and is buried with his wife Elisabeth, born Müller, who died old age 87, on 18-09-1989, on the Stadtfriedhof of Krün, next to the Generalleutnant der Infanterie, Kommandeur 29^th Infanterie Division, nickname “Falcon Division” , Max Fremery, the 29^th was destroyed by the British in northern Italy just before the end of the war. The 29^th Infantry Division, under command of Generalleutnant Dr. Fritz Polack, was innocent of all war crimes except a few minor massacres or civilians. In the final days of the war, on 29-04-1945, the division was involved in the San Martino di Lupari massacre, where it used Italian civilians as human shields against partisan attacks and eventually executed 125 hostages. Pollack was a POW until he was released in October 1947. He resumed his career as a professor in political science and died from a stroke while visiting England in 1956. 06-04-1956 (aged 63) in England.

Buried also Oberst in Generalstaff, under General, Andrey Vlasov, General of Secret Service, Heinz Herre.

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