SOME OF THE PRISONERS HELD AT
SPECIAL CAMP 11


	Denecke as a POW at Island Farm Special Camp 11.

NAME: Generalleutnant Erich Denecke

PW NO: A451659

RANK: Generalleutnant

CAPTURED: Schwerin

DATE: 2 May 1945

PERSONAL
DATE OF BIRTH: 18 October 1885

PLACE OF BIRTH: Dresden-At/Saxony

DATE OF DEATH: 7 March 1963

PLACE OF DEATH: Darmstadt

NATIONALITY: German

RELIGION: Evangelical

OCCUPATION: Regular Soldier

HEIGHT: 5'8"

WEIGHT: 168lbs

HAIR COLOUR: Dark Brown

EYE COLOUR: Blue

NEXT OF KIN: Hildegard Denecke, Hannover (British Zone)

Promotions:

Unteroffizier: 27 March 1905
Fähnrich: 23 June 1905
Leutnant: 20 April 1906 (Patent 29 October 1914)
Oberleutnant: 22 May 1913
Hauptmann: 16 October 1914 (RDA 22 March 1915)
Major: 1 January 1928
Oberstleutnant: 1 February 1932
Oberst: 1 June 1934
Generalmajor: 1 October 1937
Charakter als Generalleutnant: 1 October 1939
Generalleutnant: 1 December 1939

Commands & Assignments:

1 April 1904: One-Year Volunteer in I. See-Bataillon, Kiel.
1 April 1905: Entered the Royal Saxon 12. Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 177 with the prospect of promotion.
21 November 1908-2 December 1908: Detached for training in the business of weapons overhaul at the Dresden Munitions Factory.
1 March 1909-31 July 1909: Detached to the Military Riding Institute, Berlin.
1 April 1909: Detached to the service of the Saxon Cadet Corps in Dresden.
24 March 1912: Adjutant of the Saxon Cadet Corps in Dresden.
1 April 1912: Transferred to the Saxon Cadet Corps in Dresden while retaining his position as Adjutant.
3 August 1914: Regimental Adjutant of the Royal Saxon 4. Infanterie-Regiment Nr.103.
4 October 1914: Leader of the II. Battalion of Infantry Regiment 103.
9 October 1914: Again, Regimental Adjutant of Infantry Regiment 103.
14 October 1915: Sick/in hospital.
22 October 1915: Company Leader in Infantry Regiment 103.
22 April 1916: Sick, transferred to Reserve Medical Company 1.
4 June 1916: Again, Company Leader in Infantry Regiment 103.
6 July 1916: Adjutant on the staff of Division Fortmüller.
15 July 1916: Delegated with the leadership of the III. Battalion of Infantry Regiment 103.
18 August 1916: Adjutant of the 48th Reserve Infantry Brigade.
1 October 1917: Officer of the Army and detached for training in General Staff service with the 32nd Infantry Division.
10 March 1918: Detached to the staff of the Artillery Commander of the 32nd Infantry Division.
17 March 1918: Detached to the 7th Battery of the Royal Saxon 5. Feld-Artillerie-Regiment Nr. 64.
7 April 1918: Detached to Foot Artillery Battalion 80.
28 April 1918: Transferred for further General Staff training to the General Command of XIX Army Corps.
30 May 1918-26 June 1918: Detached to the General Staff course in Sedan.
1 September 1918: Transferred to the General Staff of the Royal Saxon Army while retaining his post with the General Command of XIX Army Corps.
15 October 1918: Second General Staff Officer of the 24th Infantry Division.
15 January 1919: Company Leader in Infantry Regiment 177.
2 March 1919: General Staff Officer in the General Command of XII Army Corps.
1 April 1919: General Staff Officer in Wehrkreis [Military District] Command IV and, at the same time, detached to the Processing Establishment of the XII Army Corps.
1 May 1920: Hauptmann on the Staff of the I. Battalion of Reichswehr Infantry Regiment 23.
1 May 1920-2 June 1920: At the same time, detached to the staff of Reichswehr-Brigade 16.
25 September 1920-31 December 1920: At the same time, detached to the staff of Reichswehr-Brigade 4.
1 January 1921: Hauptmann on the Staff of the III. Battalion of Infantry Regiment 10.
1 October 1921: Transferred to the regimental staff of the 10th (Saxon) Infantry Regiment.
1 March 1922: Company Chief in the 10th (Saxon) Infantry Regiment.
20 March 1923: Detached to the Reich War Ministry.
1 October 1923: Transferred to the Abwehr or Intelligence Section of the Statistics Department (T 3) of the Troop Office/Reich Defense Ministry. [This department was responsible for the collection and analysis of documentation on foreign armies.]
1 October 1926: Transferred to the General Staff of Group Command 1.
1 October 1927: Transferred to the General Staff of the 4th Division.
19 February 1928-26 February 1928: Detached to the Artillery Course for Non-Artillerists in Jüterbog.
1 October 1931: Commander of the II. Battalion of the 3rd (Prussian) Infantry Regiment.
1 October 1935: Commander of Infantry Regiment “Marienburg.”
15 October 1935: Commander of Infantry Regiment 45 of the 21st Infantry Division.
1 June 1937: Commander of Army Service Center 2.
10 November 1938: Commander of Army Service Center 6.
1 May 1939: Landwehr (“Territorial Forces”) Commander of Darmstadt.
26 August 1939: Commander of the 246th Infantry Division. [The 246th Infantry Division served in the Saarpfalz as a component of the 1st Army during the early months of World War II. After border defense duties under the 7th Army on the Upper Rhine during the first five months of 1940, the division returned to the control of Generaloberst Erwin von Witzleben’s 1st Army facing the French Maginot Line in Lorraine. Manning the West Wall fortifications (“Siegfried Line”), the 1st Army remained on the defensive during the first phase of the German invasion of the Low Countries and France. On 14 June 1940, the 1st Army finally went over to the offensive in Operation “Tiger” and attacked the Maginot Line between St. Avold and Saarbrücken achieving penetrations in several locations. The next day, the three divisions of Generalleutnant Alfred Boehm-Tettelbach’s Higher Command XXXVII, including the 246th Infantry Division, moved up as a reserve in the wake of the 1st Army’s advance through the Maginot Line into the Vosges. Operating in conjunction with the adjacent 7th Army (General der Artillerie Friedrich Dollmann) and Panzer Group Guderian (General der Panzertruppe Heinz Guderian) sweeping down from the northeast, the 1st Army helped encircle over 400,000 troops of the French 2nd Army Group in Alsace-Lorraine. Following the armistice, the division remained in France as part of the occupation force.]
13 December 1941: Army High Command Leader Reserve.
29 December 1941: Commandant of Smolensk, Russia.
10 July 1942: Army High Command Leader Reserve – sick.
28 September 1942: Commander of Division Nr. 471. [Based in Hannover, this replacement and training division provided basic training for new recruits. In January 1945, elements of this division were detached to help form Division “Denecke” in Pomerania.]
23 January 1945: Commander of Division “Denecke” on the Eastern Front under Army Group Weichsal [Vistula] in Pomerania.
2 February 1945: Army High Command Leader Reserve.
10 March 1945-2 May 1945: Commandant of the Army Rear Area of the 3rd Panzer Army (General der Panzertruppe Hasso Freiherr von Manteuffel) on the Eastern Front.
2 May 1945-15 October 1947: Prisoner of war in British captivity.
- 9th January 1946 transferred to Island Farm Special Camp 11 from Camp 1
- 10th October 1947 transferred to Hamburg onboard the ship "El Nil"

Decorations & Awards:

Prussian Iron Cross, 1st Class (1914)
Prussian Iron Cross, 2nd Class (1914)
Saxon Military St. Henry Order, Knight’s Cross: 28 August 1917.
Saxon Albert Order, Knight 1st Class with Crown and Swords
Saxe-Meiningen Cross for Merit in War
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)
Turkish War Medal (“Iron Crescent”)

NOTE: Generalleutnant Denecke’s World War II decorations, if any, are not known. However, he was not a recipient of any high decorations such as the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross, Knight’s Cross of the War Merit Cross with Swords, or the German Cross in Gold/Silver. It is probable he received the 1939 Bars to his World War I Prussian Iron Crosses as well as the Medal for the Winter Campaign in Russia 1941/1942 (“East Medal”).

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