SOME OF THE PRISONERS HELD AT
SPECIAL CAMP
11
 |
NAME: General der Kavallerie Edwin Graf von Rothkirch und Trach
PW
NO: 18890
RANK: General der Kavallerie
CAPTURED: Bitburg, Germany
DATE: 7 March 1945
PLACE OF BIRTH: Militsch near Oels
DATE OF DEATH: Unknown
PLACE OF DEATH: Unknown
NATIONALITY: German
RELIGION: Evangelical
OCCUPATION: Regular Soldier
HEIGHT: 5'11"
WEIGHT: 154lbs
HAIR COLOUR: Grey
EYE COLOUR: Brown
NEXT OF KIN: Leopold Rothkirsch, Oberurf. Post Borken near
Kassel (US Zone)
Promotions:
- Leutnant: 1 March 1908 (Patent 19 June 1908)
- Oberleutnant: Unknown
- Rittmeister: 16 September 1917
- Major: Unknown
- Oberstleutnant: 1 May 1934
- Oberst: 1 April 1936
- Generalmajor: 1 March 1940
- Generalleutnant: 1 March 1942
-
General der Kavallerie: 1 January 1944
- 1 March 1908: Entered Army service as a Leutnant in 1. Großherzoglich Mecklenburgisches Dragoner-Regiment Nr. 17 after passing out from the Prussian Cadet Corps.
- Remained in Army service in the post-World War I German Reichswehr.
- (As of) 1 May 1930: On the staff of Cavalry Regiment 14, Ludwigslust.
- 1 October 1934: Commander of Cavalry Regiment 15, Paderborn.
- 1 March 1938: Commander of the 2nd Rifle Brigade.
- 10 November 1938: Commandant of the Fortifications of Breslau.
- 1 September 1939: Chief of the General Staff of the XXXIV Corps Command.
- 25 April 1940: Commander of the 442nd Landesschützen (“Territorial”) Division.
- 11 October 1940: Higher Field Commandant 365.
- 5 January 1942: Commander of the 330th Infantry Division on the Eastern Front.
- September 1943: Commander of Army Area Center on the Eastern Front.
- 1 January 1944: Leader of versch. Corps i.V.
- 3 November 1944-6 March 1945: Commanding General of the LIII Army Corps. [At the start of the German Ardennes Offensive in December 1944, Graf von Rothkirch und Trach’s corps was held in 7th Army (General der Panzertruppe Erich Brandenberger) reserve at Trier without any major tactical components assigned. On 22 December 1944, the LIII Army Corps headquarters moved up to Wiltz where it took control of several divisions released from reserve or transferred from other corps in order to shorten the over-extended front of General der Infanterie Baptist Kneiß’s LXXXV Army Corps. Positioned north of the river Sûre, Graf von Rothkirch und Trach’s corps secured the northern flank of the 7th Army with the following units: the 5. Fallschirmjäger-Division (Generalmajor Ludwig Heilmann – also held as a prisoner of war at Special Camp 11, Bridgend), the Führer Grenadier Brigade, the 15th Panzer Grenadier Division, and the 9th, 79th and 276th Volkgrenadier Divisions. Also on 22 December 1944, Lieutenant General George S. Patton, Jr.’s U.S. 3rd Army began its drive against the German southern shoulder to relieve the U.S. 101st Airborne Division surrounded at Bastogne. During heavy combat over the next several days, Heilmann’s paratroopers delayed the U.S. 4th Armored Division, however, that division’s 37th Tank Battalion commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Creighton W. Abrams eventually broke through to Bastogne on 26 December 1944.]
- 7
March 1945-Circa 1947: Prisoner of war in British and then U.S. captivity.
[Graf von Rothkirch und Trach was captured at Bitburg by his old nemesis
from the Ardennes Offensive: Lieutenant Colonel Abrams’ 37th Tank Battalion.
The remnants of Graf von Rothkirch und Trach’s LIII Army Corps fell back
across the Rhine River but was destroyed a month later in the Ruhr pocket.]
- 9 March 1945 transferred to Trent Park Camp 11 sorting camp.
- 9 January 1946 transferred to Island Farm Special Camp 11 from Camp 1
- 9 October 1947 transferred to US Custody via LDC (London District Cage)
|
Abrams and his outfit [37th Tank Battalion] destroyed more than 300 German motor vehicles, 75 artillery pieces, 75 antitank guns, 15 Tiger and Panther tanks, 20 ‘screaming meemies’ and overran a rear-area German hospital with 80 patients, three enemy ammunition dumps, one ordnance depot, one fuel dump and a German army corps headquarters where an annoyed German lieutenant general and most of his staff were captured while still at their desks. |
The captured German corps commander was none other than General der Kavallerie Edwin Graf von Rothkirch und Trach. Lewis Sorley wryly noted: “By this time he was probably getting more than a little tired of the 37th Tank Battalion.”
Decorations & Awards:
- German Cross in Gold: 5 November 1942, Generalleutnant, Commander of the 330th Infantry Division.
- Prussian Iron Cross, 1st Class (1914) with 1939 Bar
- Prussian Iron Cross, 2nd Class (1914) with 1939 Bar
- Mecklenburg-Schwerin Military Merit Cross, 1st Class
- Mecklenburg-Schwerin Military Merit Cross, 2nd Class
- Hamburg Hanseatic Cross
- Reuß Honor Cross, 3rd Class
- Cross of Honor for Combatants 1914-1918
- Armed Forces Long Service Award, 1st Class (25-year Service Cross)
- Armed Forces Long Service Award, 3rd Class (12-year Service Medal