Joachim Lemelsen

Joachim Lemelsen
File:JLemelsen.jpg Joachim Lemelsen
Born	(1888-09-28)28 September 1888 Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire
Died	Göttingen, Lower Saxony, West Germany
Allegiance	German Empire (to 1918) Weimar Republic (to 1933) Nazi Germany
Years of service	1907–45
Rank	General der Panzertruppe
Commands held	XLVII Motorized Corps 1. Armee 14. Armee
Battles/wars	World War I World War II Annexation of the Sudetenland Invasion of Poland Battle of France Operation Barbarossa Battle of Smolensk (1941) Battle of Kiev (1941) Battle of Bryansk Battle of Kursk Defense of Italy
Awards	Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves

Joachim Hermann August Lemelsen (28 September 1888 – 30 March 1954) was a German general during the Second World War. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves (German: Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub). The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and its higher grade Oak Leaves was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership.

Early years

Born in Berlin as the son of a German career military officer, Lemelsen entered the German army in 1907. During the First World War Lemelsen served as an artillery officer until 1916, when he was transferred to the staff of the 52nd infantry division. In 1917 he was transferred to the staff of the commanding officer of the German sea coast, Josias von Heeringen, commanded a battalion and was sent to the staff of the VI Reserve Corps. Lemelsen ended the war as a captain with the Iron Cross First and Second class and the House Order of Hohenzollern.

Interbellum

After the Armistice, Lemelsen returned to the artillery. He served as commandant of the Artillery School in 1934 and as commandant of the Infantry School in 1935. In March 1938, Lemelsen was given command of the 29th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht), later motorized, with which he participated in the invasion of Czechoslovakia.

Second World War

Lemelsen and the 29th served in the Polish campaign {the 29th was involved in the Massacre in Ciepielów of 8 September 1939} and the early stages of the Battle of France. On May 28, 1940 Lemelsen was given command of the 5th Panzer Division with which he participated in the Dunkirk campaign.

On November 25, 1940, Lemelsen was given command of the new XLVII Motorized Corps, which he led in the capture of Smolensk and the battles of Kiev and Bryansk. The Corps was designated a Panzer Corps in June 1942 and participated as such in anti-partisan operations and in the Battle of Kursk. Lemelsen made a strong but futile protest to the Wehrmacht High Command against the shooting of unarmed Russian prisoners during the early phases of Operation Barbarossa.

I am repeatedly finding out about the shooting of prisoners, defectors or deserters, carried out in an irresponsible, senseless and criminal manner. This is murder. Soon the Russians will get to hear about the countless corpses lying along the routes taken by our soldiers, without weapons and with hands raised, dispatched at close range by shots to the head. The result will be that the enemy will hide in the woods and fields and continue to fight--and we shall lose countless comrades.

After having commanded the XLVII Panzer Corps in Russia, Lemelsen was placed in the Army Leadership Reserve and temporarily commanded the Tenth Army in Italy for two months until the end of December 1943. Lemelsen was given command of the First Army, stationed near the Atlantic coast in France in May 1944. Only one month later, upon the Allies' capture of Rome and landing in Normandy on the same day, Lemelsen was transferred to Italy to take over command of the Fourteenth Army to replace Eberhard von Mackensen who the theatre commander Albert Kesselring had dismissed. Lemelsen commanded the army in the Italian Campaign from June 1944 until mid October when he was given command of Germany's other major formation in Italy 10th Army. In February 1945 he returned to the leadership of 14th Army until the end of hostilities in Italy in early May.

Imprisoned by British forces after the war, Lemelsen in 1947 testified on behalf of his former commander, Generalfeldmarschall Kesselring, during Kesselring’s war crimes trial before a British military court convened at Venice, Italy. Soon thereafter, Lemelsen was freed from captivity. Kesselring, however, received a death sentence, immediately commuted to life imprisonment. Lemelsen's former commander was nevertheless released from prison five years later on health grounds.

For his service, Lemelsen was awarded the German Cross in Gold and the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oakleaves.

Released from captivity in 1947, General der Panzertruppen Joachim Lemelsen died in Göttingen in 1954.

Awards

• Iron Cross (1914)
  • 2nd Class (21 September 1914)
  • 1st Class (5 December 1916)
• Hanseatic Cross of Hamburg (14 April 1917)
• Knight's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern with Swords (30 October 1918)
• Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918
• Sudetenland Medal with Prague Castle Bar
• Clasp to the Iron Cross (1939)
  • 2nd Class (21 September 1939)
  • 1st Class (30 September 1939)
• Wound Badge (1939)
  • in Black (14 June 1942)
• Eastern Front Medal (1 August 1942)
• Panzer Badge in Silver (13 January 1942)
• German Cross in Gold on 15 July 1942 as General der Panzertruppe and commanding general of the XXXXVII. Panzerkorps
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves
  • Knight's Cross on 27 July 1941 as General der Panzertruppe and commanding general of the XXXXVII. Panzerkorps
  • 294th Oak Leaves on 7 September 1943 as General der Panzertruppe and commanding general of the XXXXVII. Panzerkorps

References

Bibliography

• Hastings, Max (2011). Inferno: the world at war, 1939-1945. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 978-0-307-27359-8.

External links

• Profile, General der Panzertruppe Joachim Hermann August Lemelsen based on a microfilm copy of Lemelsen’s service record housed at the United States National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, D.C.
• Joachim Lemelsen @ Axis Biographical Research at the Wayback Machine (archived January 17, 2011)
• Joachim Lemelsen @ Ritterkreuztraeger 1939-1945
• Joachim Lemelsen @ World War 2 Awards.com
• Joachim Lemelsen @ Lexikon der Wehrmacht

Military offices
Preceded by Generalleutnant Max von Hartlieb-Walsporn	Commander of 5. Panzer-Division May 29, 1940 - November 25, 1940	Succeeded by General der Panzertruppen Gustav Fehn
Preceded by General Johannes Blaskowitz	Commander of 1. Armee 3 May 1944 - 3 June 1944	Succeeded by General Kurt von der Chevallerie
Preceded by Generaloberst Eberhard von Mackensen	Commander of 14. Armee 5 June 1944 - 15 October 1944	Succeeded by General der Panzertruppen Fridolin von Senger und Etterlin
Preceded by General der Infanterie Kurt von Tippelskirch	Commander of 14. Armee 22 February 1945 - 2 May 1945	Succeeded by none