Schury, Otto.

Back to all people

- Medals

DE_Band_mit_RK_(1) (1)
germanyGeneralmajorWehrmacht

Schury, Otto, born 22-10-1903 in Munich, the son of the bank clerk Otto Schury, entered the Army Service on 01-04-1924, age 20, as Police Assistance Guard Commander in the Police Service. The son of the banker officer Otto Schury joined the state police in Munich. Promoted to Leutnant on 16-12-1926 and to Oberleutnant on 01-03-1933 Otto married Maria Seyfferth on 23-08-1933, and is transferred from the Reichswehr to the Wehrmacht with the 100th Mountain Jäger Regiment and promoted to Hauptmann on 01-01-1936. He on 07-03-1936 was appointed as Chief of the 2nd Company of the 100th Mountain Jäger Regiment in Traunstein and led this company attached to the 1st Mountain Division during the Poland invasion, under General der Gebirgstruppe, Ludwig Kübler. During the Invasion of Poland, soldiers from the 1st Mountain Division assisted in the round-up of Jewish civilians from Przemyśl for forced labour. This event was documented in the divisional photographic album. Picture captions demonstrate strong anti-Semitism by the authors

13 15  On 06-07-1943 a unit from the division attacked the village of Borova in Albania. All of the village houses and buildings were completely burned or otherwise destroyed. 107 inhabitants were massacred including 5 entire families. The youngest victim was an infant of only 4 months, the oldest – a woman of 73. On 25-07-1943, soldiers from the division attacked the village of Mousiotitsa in Greece following the discovery of a cache of weapons nearby, killing 153 civilians. On 16-08-1943, the village of Kommeno was attacked at the order of Oberstleutnant Josef Salminger,  the commander of GebirgsJäger Regiment 98, a total of 317 civilians were killed. Salminger was killed by partisans, two months later, on 01-10-1943, age 40. Elements from the division took part in the murder of thousands of Italians from the 33 Acqui Infantry Division   in September 1943 on the Greek island of Cefalonia following the Italian surrender. Soldiers from the division took part in the murder of 32 officers and an estimated 100 soldiers from the Italian 151st Perugia Infantry Division under command of General.Ernesto Chiminello , in Albania after the Italian surrender. Divisional commander when Italy capitulated in 1943. The division was engaged and captured by the German 1st Mountain (Gebirgs) Division.   under command of Generalleutnant Walter Stettner Ritter von Grabenhofen. General Chiminello and 58 other Italian officers were shot by an execution commando of Gebirgs-Jaeger Battalion 54 on 03-10-1943. Following the killing of Oberstleutnant Josef Salminger by Greek partisans, the commander of XXII Gebirgs-Armeekorps General der Gebirgstruppe, Hubert Lanz    issued an order of the day on 01-10-1943 calling for a “ruthless retaliatory action” in a 20 km area around the place were Salminger had been attacked. In the village of Lingiades 87 civilians were killed, a total of at least 200 civilians died. Lanz was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment, however, after only three years, on 03-02-1951, he was released and died free at the age of 86, on 15-08-1982, in Munich. Schury also led the company on the Western front. Promoted to Major on 01-03-1941 and commander of the II Battalion of the 100th  Mountain Jäger Regiment which he led on the Balkan and in the occupation of Crete (see Bruno Bräuer)

Part of the Crete population took part in the fight against the German attackers and continued the fight as partisans even after the Allied surrender. German soldiers – including wounded ones – were killed. The German troops took retaliatory measures against the civilian population. For example, on 02-06-1941, German soldiers shot an unknown number of male residents of Kondomari as a reprisal. During the following years, resistance against the German occupation continued. The occupiers committed numerous war crimes. Many thousands of Cretan men, women and children were murdered. In the municipality of Viannos, about 500 residents, most of them women and children, were shot on 14-09-1943. On 21-05-1944, units commanded by the German commander of the “Fortress of Crete”, General Bruno Bräuer, surrounded the Jewish quarter of the city of Chania. Fleeing residents were shot. All the others were taken to Greece on a ship, which was sunk en route by a British submarine. Only four people from the Jewish community are said to have survived the war. Bruno Bräuer was extradited to Greece after the end of the war and sentenced to death. He was executed at 5 am on 20-05-1947, together with General Friedrich Wilhelm Müller,  “The Butcher of Crete”.

who was also convicted of war crimes on Crete. A Cretan source puts the number of Cretan civilians killed by German actions at 6,593 men, 1,113 women and 869 children.

For his leading Schury was awarded with the Iron Cross of the Iron Cross on 17-07-1941. On 23-06-1941 assigned as commander of the III Battalion of the 100th Mountain Jäger Regiment and promoted to Oberstleutnant on 01-04-1942 and was involved in the heavy battles on the Eastern front attached to the 5th Mountain Division. under command of Generel Julius ‘Papa’ Ringel.   who survived the war and died 11-02-1967 (aged 77) in Bayerisch Gmain, Bavaria, West Germany. The 5th Division was implicated in the Grugliasco massacre, Piedmont, alongside the 34th Infantry Division, where, on 30-04-1945, 67 civilians were executed. Shortly after the division was also implicated in another massacre in the town of Santhià, on the way to Milan, resulting in 48 deaths

Schury became the commander of the 229th Jäger Regiment in the Kaukasus on 01-10-1942. He was on the battlefields of the Eastern front attached to the 101 Jäger Division under command of Generalmajor then Generalleutnant Erich Marcks   and received the German Cross in Gold. Schury distinct himself in the battle of Lemberg and promoted to Oberst with the Iron Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, on 21-09-1944. He joined a Division Leader Course in Hirschberg on 21-11-1944 and was appointed as commander of the 100th Jäger Division on 01-02-1945. He was promoted to Major General on 01-04-1945 and commander of the 100th Jäger Division  where he succeeded Oberst der Jäger Division, Hans Kreppel,  Kreppel later a General Major died old age 86, on 14-02-1985, in Naugerming. Schury, age 41, landed in Soviet captivity and was first released ten years later in October 1955 by the intervention of the Chancellor Konrad Adenauer.

Death and burial ground of Schury, Otto.

  Living in Brannenburg am Inn, Otto Schury died, age 76, on 11-12-1979 and is buried on the Waldfriedhof of Munich, alas his gravestone is removed. Also buried there are the Generalleutnant der Artillerie, Commander of the Troops Exercise Grounds in Maria ter Heide, Heinrich Curtze, Generalmajor der Infanterie, Kommandeur Wehrmacht Operaties Staff, Ernst Detleffsen, Franz Ritter von Epp, Generalmajor der Kavallerie, Staff of the Inspector of Land Fortifications West, Gero von Gersdorf, Oberst der Wehrmacht, Highest German Commander on D-Day, Normandy, Ernst Goth , SS Obergruppenführer, Kommandeur General II SS Panzerkorps, Paul Hausser, SS Obersturmführer, Chef 1./SS Pz Grenadier Regiment 38 “Goetz von Berlichingen”, Bruno Hinz, Generaloberst der Flakartillerie, Günther Rüdel, Generalmajor der Flieger, Commander of the Air Defend Division, Max Ibel, aircraft desiner, Hugo Junkers, General der Panzertruppe, Kommandeur der 4th Panzerdivision , Dietrich von Saucken, Generalmajor der Flieger, Kommandeur Luftregio Truppe 3, Ernst Weber, the bearer of the Nazi blood flag SS Standartenführer, Jacob Grimminger

, Grimminger, Jakop the scientist Werner Heisenberg, Goering’s second wife, Emmy Goering Sonnemann

and the famous film maker Leni Riefenstahl. “Triumpf of the Will”, the film chronicles the 1934 Nazi Party Congress in Nuremberg.

   
 

Message(s), tips or interesting graves for the webmaster:    robhopmans@outlook.com

 

Share on :

end

comments

  1. Excellent historical work. Thank you for providing the visuals and background stories of these participants.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *