Xylander, Wolf Dietrich Ritter von.

Xylander, Wolf Dietrich Ritter von, born 09-04-1903 in Munich, the son of later Generalmajor Rudolf of Xylander  and his wife Helene, born Frommel. His grandfather was the Bavarian Generaloberst Emil von Xylander. 

After graduating from the Wilhelmsgymnasium Munich Xylander entered on 01-05-1921 in the Reichswehr  age 18, in the 19^th Bavarian Infantry Regiment, He as the son of Generalmajor der Artillerie,

    was promoted to Leutnant on 01-03-1925. With the beginning of World War II he was assigned in the Staff of the 206^th Infantry Division  under command of Generalleutnant Hugo Höfl  and in June 1940 in the Staff of the 30^th Infantry Division , under command of General der Infanterie Kurt von Briesen,  Kurt von Briesen here in Paris, June 1940 after the occupation of France. General Hugo Höfl survived the war and died 13-04-1957 and Kurt von Briesen was killed by Soviet aircraft near Isjum on he SeverskyDonetzky River, southeast of Kharkov on 20-11- 1941, aged  79 , With this division Xylander was on the Western Front in France. As a Oberstleutnant from 01-12-1940, Xylander was transferred to the East and involved in the invasion of the North of Russia with the 30^th Infantry Division . under command of General der Infanterie Kurt von Tippelskirch In august 1941 Xylander was released of his position and landed in the Staff of the 2^nd Army, under General der Kavallerie Maximilian von Weichs 

   and received the Knight cross of the Iron Cross on 09-08-1942. He again was released of his position and directed in the Führer Reserve . He became an Oberst on 01-01-1943 and from 19-01-1943 assigned as Chief of Staff of the XXXXIX Mountain Corps in the Kaukasus. Again released he was appointed to Chief of Staff of the 17^th Army under Generaloberst Richard Ruoff    and after two weeks released. Mid November 1943 he became the Chief of Staff of the 17^th Army again. Xylander was promoted to Generalmajor, like his father, on 01-01-1944, age 40, released on 09-07-1944 and in the Reserve. Then he was appointed to the General Staff of the Army Group North Ukraine under Generalfieldmarchall Walter Model   and of the Army Group also in July 1944, some later. On 23-09-1944 Xylander was assigned as Chief of the General Staff of the Army Group A under Generaloberst Günther von Kluge  and on 01-12-1944 promoted to Generalleutnant. In January he got the same position of the Army Group Mitte.

    Ritter Wolf-Dietrich von Xylander was shot down at February, 14 by an escort plane of the second bomber formation that attacked Dresden, age 41, on 15-02-1945, near Struppen  and was posthumous awarded with the Iron Cross of the Iron Cross. However Xylander never had the command of the troops he succeeded to promote from Lieutenant to Lieutenant General in 20 years.

In four raids between 13 and 15 February 1945, 722 heavy bombers of the British Royal Air Force (RAF) and 527 of the United States Air Force (USAAF)  dropped more than 3,900 tons of high-explosive bombs and incendiary devices on the city. The bombing and the resulting firestorm destroyed over 1,600 acres (6.5 km²) of the city centre. An estimated 22,700 to 25,000 people were killed. Three more USAAF air raids followed, two occurring on 2 March aimed at the city’s railroad marshaling yard and one small raid on 17 April aimed at industrial areas. 

Wolfgang von Xylander is buried on the war cemetery section of the Waldfriedhof in Munich, next to Generalleutnant der Infanterie, Eduard Zorn

  , Kommandeur der 189^th Infanterie Division, who was killed in action, age 48.

     

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