SOME OF THE PRISONERS HELD AT
SPECIAL CAMP 11

NAME: Generalleutnant Ferdinand Heim

PW NO:          18879

RANK:            Generalleutnant

CAPTURED:   Boulogne, France

DATE:             23 September 1944

PERSONAL
DATE OF BIRTH:       27 February 1895

PLACE OF BIRTH:     Reutlingen

DATE OF DEATH:     14 November 1977

PLACE OF DEATH:   Ulm am Donau

NATIONALITY:         German

RELIGION:

OCCUPATION:          Regular Soldier

HEIGHT:

WEIGHT:

NEXT OF KIN:

Promotions:

Commands & Assignments:

• 24 June 1914: Entered Army service as a Fahnenjunker in Feld-Artillerie-Regiment König Karl (1. Württembergisches) Nr. 13.
• 2 August 1914: With the 2nd Battery of Field Artillery Regiment 13 in the field.
• 10 February 1915-10 March 1915: Detached to the Officer Training Course in Beverloo.
• 15 March 1915: Transferred to the 4th Battery of Field Artillery Regiment 13.
• 30 May 1916: Battalion Adjutant in the Inspectorate of Field Artillery Replacement Battalions in Ludwigsburg.
• 3 June 1916: With the I. Battalion of Reserve Field Artillery Regiment 27 in the field.
• 10 June 1916: Transferred to the regimental staff of Reserve Field Artillery Regiment 27.
• 26 February 1917: Adjutant of the I. Battalion of Reserve Field Artillery Regiment 27.
• 7 June 1918: Regimental Adjutant of Reserve Field Artillery Regiment 27.
• 1 January 1919: Transferred to the II. Battalion of Field Artillery Regiment 13.
• 11 March 1919: Adjutant of the Field Artillery Battalion of the 1st Minenwerfer [Trench Mortar]-Regiment.
• 20 July 1919: Regimental Adjutant of Reichswehr Artillery Regiment 13.
• 28 September 1920: Adjutant of the I. Battalion of Reichswehr Artillery Regiment 13.
• 1 January 1921: Adjutant of the III. Battalion of Artillery Regiment 5.
• 23 September 1921: Transferred to the 9th Battery of Artillery Regiment 5.
• 1 October 1921: Detached to Leader Assistant training with the staff of the 5th Division.
• 1 October 1922: Transferred back to Artillery Regiment 5.
• 1 October 1923: Detached to Leader Assistant training with the staff of Wehrkreis [Military District] Command V, Stuttgart.
• 27 May 1926-7 July 1926: Detached to the Artillery Firing Course in Königsbrück.
• 1 October 1927: Transferred to the Reich Defense Ministry.
• 1 June 1928-30 June 1928: Detached to the 3rd Cavalry Division.
• 2 August 1928-25 August 1928: Detached to the 7th Signals Battalion.
• 27 August 1928-30 September 1928: Detached to Cavalry Regiment 5.
• 1 October 1928: Transferred to Artillery Regiment 5 and, at the same time, detached to the Reich Defense Ministry/Army Department (T1), carried the Uniform of a Leadership Staff Officer.
• 1 April 1930: Transferred to the Reich Defense Ministry/Army Department (T1).
• 1 April 1932: Chief of the 4th Battery of Artillery Regiment 5.
• 28 September 1932-28 October 1932: Detached to the Firing Course for Artillery Officers in Jüterbog.
• 1 July 1933: Detached as an Instructor at the Infantry School.
• 1 September 1934: Officer for Special Employment to the Chief of the Army Command, detached as an Instructor at the secret War Academy.
• 1 May 1935: Instructor at the War Academy.
• 10 March 1937: Transferred into the General Staff of the Army.
• 10 November 1938: Operations Officer (Ia) in the General Staff of the XVI Army Corps (Motorized).
• 1 August 1939: Chief of the General Staff of the XVI Army Corps (Motorized). [Heim’s corps took part in the invasion of Poland in 1939.]
• 15 February 1940: Department Chief in the General Staff of the Army.
• 3 September 1940-15 May 1942: Chief of the General Staff of the 6th Army. [Commanded by Generalfeldmarschall Walther von Reichenau, the 6th Army was concentrated on the Cherbourg Peninsula following the surrender of France when Heim joined its General Staff. The army remained on alert for Operation “Seelöwe” (Sea Lion), the proposed invasion of Great Britain. Although the operation was never carried out, the 6th Army had been tentatively assigned landing zones in Lyme Bay between Weymouth and Lyme Regis. Transferred to the east, the 6th Army next took part in the invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941 as a component of Army Group South. Upon von Reichenau’s elevation to Commander-in-Chief of Army Group South in January 1942, he handed over leadership of the 6th Army to his old comrade and former chief of staff, General der Panzertruppe (later Generalfeldmarschall) Friedrich Paulus.]  
• 15 May 1942: Führer Reserve in the Army High Command.
• 22 June 1942: Detached to the Panzer Troop School and to the School for Motorized Troops in Krampnitz.
• 1 July 1942: Commander of the 14th Panzer Division in Russia.
• 1 November 1942: Delegated with the leadership of the XXXXVIII Panzer Corps in Russia. [On 14 November 1942, Heim’s corps began assembling in the rear of the Romanian 3rd Army to bolster its defenses in view of evidence of an imminent Soviet offensive. Composed of only 180 serviceable tanks, Heim’s weak corps comprised the 14th Panzer Division (36 tanks), the 22nd Panzer Division (41 tanks many of which were unreliable from mice chewing through electrical wiring!) and the Romanian 1st Armored Division (103 tanks including 84 woefully inadequate R-2 light tanks). On 19 November 1942, the Soviet Southwestern Front attacked the Romanian 3rd Army and, despite pockets of determined resistance, smashed through and streamed deep into the Romanian rear areas. Heims’ corps counterattacked but, instead of attacking en masse, he received orders to divert the Romanian 1st Armored Division while it was already on the move. Heims’ counterattack was thus dislocated from the start and failed to contain the Soviet breakthrough which resulted in the encirclement and subsequent destruction of the German 6th Army at Stalingrad.]
• 26 November 1942: Führer Reserve in the Army High Command – arrested on Hitler’s orders and placed in solitary confinement in Moabit for the failure of his corps to halt the Soviet counteroffensive that led to the encirclement of the German 6th Army at Stalingrad. General der Infanterie Rudolf Schmundt, the Chief Armed Forces Adjutant to Hitler and Chief of the Army Personnel Office, wrote in his diary: “The Führer [Hitler] himself will decide on all further measures of military discipline in this matter.”
• April 1943: Released from imprisonment into a hospital.
• July 1943: Hitler reversed his decision to expel Heim from the Army and he was allowed to retire instead.
• 16 August 1943: Retired from the Army.
• 1 August 1944: Again, reactivated in the Army.
• 5 August 1944-23 September 1944: Fortress Commandant Boulogne, France. [Following the Allied breakout from Normandy, the Canadian 1st Army cleared the Pas-de-Calais region of France and liberated the Channel ports of Le Havre, Dieppe, Boulogne, and Calais. The German garrison of Boulogne, commanded by Heim, surrendered to the Canadians on 23 September 1944. The capture of Boulogne and Calais ended operation of the huge German naval cannons mounted in concrete casemates on the cliffs at Cape Gris Nez. The guns had been used to bombard the Channel and south coast ports of England.] 

Canadian soldiers examine one of the 12-inch (305mm) guns of Battery "Friedrich August" after its capture in September 1944. Located near the town of La Tresorerie north of Boulogne, this battery consisted of three 12-inch guns mounted in concrete casemates manned by Naval Artillery Battalion 240.

Decorations & Awards: