Thoholte, Carl Philipp.

Thoholte, Carl Philipp, born 14-09-1893 in Wesel , entered the Cadet School in Potsdam, age 11 and the Army Service, age 18, on 06-10-1911, as a Fähnrich. Promoted to Leutnant in the 1^st Rheinisches Field Artillery Regiment von Holtzendorff nr 8 , in Saarbrücken, from 16-06-1913. From 06-05-1914 he served in the fields of the first war in the 2^nd Battalion of the Field Artillery Regiment Holtzendorff. He was promoted to Oberleutnant on 18-08-1918 and was wounded  in battle and received the wounded badge in black and both the Iron Crosses. Thoholte was allowed in the new Reichswehr and married Maria Theresa Veronica Anna Nölting, she was born on 23-08-1897, and they got two sons, Carl Robert Paul Edgar and Hubertus Emile Robert and one daughter, Barbara Margarita Clara. With the growing of the Reichswehr, ordered by Hitler, he was assigned as teacher on the War School in Munich on 01-10-1934. From 1935 he was used as Chief of a new battery experiment in contrary with the Treaty of Versailles and instructor. Promoted to Major on 06-10-1936 and appointed to commander of the of the II Battalion of the 58^th Artillery Regiment. Thoholte became a Oberstleutnant on 01-08-1938 and with the outbreak of World War II he was stationed on the OKW as an advisor for railway artillery businesses. From 01-10-1939 he belonged to the Staff of the General of the Artillery in the Highest Command of the Army. Oberst from 01-10-1940 and from 20-01-1941 commander of the 36^th Motorized Artillery Regiment, he succeeded Oberst der Flieger, Fritz Krause  Thoholte led his Regiment in the summer of 1941 in the Eastern front, North and Middle Russia and received the ribbons of the Iron Cross. He lost his command on 06-03-1942 and assigned as Artillery Commander Arko 10 on the same Eastern front under the Motorized XXXXVI Army Corps under General der Panzertruppe, Heinrich Vietinghoff

 and later under the XXXXVI Panzer Corps, commander Generalleutnant der Infanterie, Hans Zorn

  . He was awarded with the German Cross in Gold  for his actions on 13-09-1942 and appointed on 16-02-1943 as Higher Artillery Command 303 in the North of Russia. Now promoted to Generalmajor from 01-04-1943 and took the command of the 18^th Artillery Division. The unit was planned as a mobile artillery force, but due to lack of equipment it was never raised to its planned strength. It was surrounded in the Kamenets-Podolsky Pocket in north-western Ukraine; although it managed to break through the Soviet encirclement, the division suffered heavy losses and was disbanded a few months later and Generalmajor Gerhard Müller took over the command. From 01-03-1944 Thoholte was promoted a Generalleutnant and landed in the infamous Führer Reserve  on 20-07-1944, after the bomb attack on Hitler in the Wolfschanze.    The 20 July treaten at the Bendlerblock in Berlin was saved by Major Otto Ernst Remer  commander of the Infantry Regiment Grossdeutschland  who refused to arrest Josef Goebbels after talking to Hitler in the Wolfschanze by phone. Thoholte was Higher Artillery Commander in the 9^th Army under command of General der Panzertruppe Nikolaus von Vormann  and involved in the battle for Warsaw. General von Vormann survived the war and died  age 63, on 26-10-1959 in Berchtesgaden. Again in the Führer Reserve from 01-11-1944, but on 20-11-1944 assigned as General der Artillerie Special Forces 1. In 1945 he took the Staff General der Artillerie Special Forces 2. On 20-04-1945 he was promoted to General der Artillerie and landed in American captivity near Haan.

Death and burial ground of Thoholte, Carl Philipp.

Released in 1947 he retired in Münster, Thoholte died age 60 in Telgte on 21-03-1954 and is buried, with his wife Voronika, on the Stadtfriedhof of Telgte.

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