Generalmajor Walther Leuze

SOME OF THE PRISONERS HELD AT
SPECIAL CAMP 11

NAME: Generalmajor Walther Leuze

PW NO: 560344

RANK: Generalmajor

CAPTURED: Kraak, Germany

DATE: 2nd May 1945

PERSONAL
DATE OF BIRTH: 31 May 1891

PLACE OF BIRTH: Landshut/Bayern

DATE OF DEATH: 13 February 1964

PLACE OF DEATH: Ammerland

NATIONALITY: German

RELIGION: Roman Catholic

OCCUPATION: Regular Soldier

HEIGHT: 6' 1.5"

WEIGHT: 189lbs

HAIR COLOUR: Grey
EYE COLOUR: Blue

NEXT OF KIN: Elisabeth Jaeger, Ammerland am Starnbergersee Oberbayern (US Zone)

Parents: Major a.D. Friedrich and Charlotte (née Gehring) Leuze.

Wife: None (Bachelor).

Promotions:

Fahnenjunker: 18 July 1911
Fähnrich: 8 March 1912
Leutnant: 25 October 1913 – Patent 29 October 1912
Oberleutnant: 17 January 1917 – RDA later changed to 18 April 1916 (29)
Rittmeister: 1 February 1923 (10)
Major: 1 May 1933 (4)
Oberstleutnant: 1 January 1936 (4)
Oberst: 1 June 1938 (5)
Generalmajor: 1 April 1942 (54)

Commands & Assignments:

18 July 1911: Entered the Royal Bavarian Army as a Fahnenjunker in the Bavarian 2. schweres Reiter-Regiment Erzherzog Franz Ferdinand von Österreich-Este.
1 August 1914: In the field as a Platoon Leader in the Bavarian 2nd Heavy Mounted Regiment.
1 April 1915: Transferred to the Bavarian Cavalry Pioneer Detachment.
1 March 1917-2 February 1919: Adjutant of the Bavarian 2nd Heavy Mounted Regiment.
1 May 1919-1 June 1920: Commandant of the Headquarters Staff of Group Command 4.
1 June 1920: Transferred to the 17th (Bavarian) Reiter [Mounted]-Regiment.
13 November 1922: Infantry School at München.
10 November 1923: Adjutant of the Commandant of München.
1 April 1924: Transferred to the 17th (Bavarian) Reiter-Regiment.
1 October 1924: Squadron Chief in the 8th (Prussian) Reiter-Regiment.
1 October 1930: Transferred to the 17th (Bavarian) Reiter-Regiment and appointed the Garrison Senior of Ansbach.
1 April 1932: While retaining his previous assignment to the 17th (Bavarian) Reiter-Regiment, appointed the Garrison Senior of Straubing.
1 October 1933: Major on the Staff of the 18th Reiter-Regiment.
1 October 1934: Adjutant of the General for Special Employment in the Reich Defense Ministry; renamed the Reich War Ministry on 21 May 1935.
1 October 1935: Commander of Panzerjäger-Abteilung [Anti-Tank Battalion] 38.
1 October 1936: Commander of Panzerjäger-Abteilung 33.
1 November 1938: Adjutant of Army Group Command 1; redesignated Army Group North on 26 August 1939; redesignated Army Group B on 10 October 1939. [Under the command of Generaloberst Fedor von Bock, Army Group North controlled the 3rd and 4th Armies, commanded by Generals der Artillerie Georg von Küchler and Günther von Kluge respectively, during the invasion of Poland in September 1939. Following the campaign, von Bock’s army group transferred to the Western Front for future German action against France.[1]]

Generalfeldmarschall Fedor von Bock pictured in 1941 while commanding Army Group Center in Russia.
Walther Leuze served as von Bock’s adjutant from 1 November 1938- 20 October 1939

20 October 1939: Armed Forces Commandant of Würzburg.
1 December 1939: Commander of Infantry Regiment 343 of the 183rd Infantry Division. [After undergoing formation at Münsingen, the 183rd Infantry Division, commanded by Generalmajor Benignus Dippold, was transferred to Army High Command Reserve at Neckarsulm preparatory to the invasion of France in May 1940. Released from reserve status by early June 1940, the division took part in the final German actions in Lorraine as a component of General der Infanterie Ernst Busch’s 16th Army. Following the Franco-German armistice, the 183rd Infantry Division was transferred to the Protectorate of Bohemia-Moravia where it served on garrison duty until May 1941.]
1 April 1941-20 April 1942: Commander of Infantry Regiment 687 of the 336th Infantry Division in France. [Commanded by Generalleutnant Johann Stever (Generalleutnant Walther Lucht from 1 March 1942), the 336th Infantry Division, headquartered at Le Havre, served under the 15th Army on occupation and coastal defense duties in France.]
1 May 1942: Armed Forces Commandant of Wuppertal.
15 February 1943-10 March 1944: Fortress Commandant of Le Havre, France.
10 March 1944: Transferred to Leader Reserve.
15 April 1944: Following work in St. Cloud, appointed Field Commandant 517 in Rouen, France on 6 June 1944.
15 August 1944-25 August 1944: Commander of the Rear Army Area of the 5th Panzer Army on the Western Front. [After taking a severe mauling during the fighting in Normandy and the subsequent escape from the Falaise pocket in late-August 1944, the battered remnants of the 5th Panzer Army had withdrawn to the German frontier by early September.[2]]
1 October 1944-2 May 1945: General for Special Employment in Wehrkreis [Military District] Command III, Berlin.
2 May 1945-22 May 1948: Prisoner of war in British captivity.
- 9th January 1946 transferred to Island Farm Special Camp 11 from Camp 1
- 12th May 1948 transferred to Camp 186 for repatriation.

Island Farm Camp
29th December 1947

Dear Mrs Verity

Allow me to thank you and
your husband from all my heart
for the unforgettable christmas
day

You and your husband made
us feel so quite at home with
all your kindness and good-
will that we have been nearly
forgetting the separation from
our own family.

You really succeeded in sub-
stituting in such a nice way
the domestic circle which we
are missing so much

May I thank you too in
the name of my family for
all that you have done for us

Camp 11, 12.5.48

Dear Mr and Mrs Verity !

I was deeply moved and very enjoyed that
you had the kindness to invite me.

Today, the last day near Bridgend, I
remember especially the enjoing hours
and I thank you once more for your great
kindness and hostility (hospitality).

I wish you and Peter a merry and very
happy future in your bugalow and all
of goods.

Yours very sincerely

Decorations & Awards:

German Cross in Silver: 30 October 1943, Generalmajor, Fortress Commandant of Le Havre.
Prussian Iron Cross, 1st Class (1914) with 1939 Bar
Prussian Iron Cross, 2nd Class (1914) with 1939 Bar
War Merit Cross, 1st Class with Swords
War Merit Cross, 2nd Class with Swords
Bavarian Military Merit Order, 4th Class with Swords
Saxe-Ernestine Ducal House Order, Knight 2nd Class with Swords
Hamburg Hanseatic Cross
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)
Austrian Military Merit Cross, 3rd Class with War Decoration
Wound Badge in Black – World War I award

[1] Promoted to Generalfeldmarschall on 19 July 1940, Fedor von Bock held various army group-level commands until going on indefinite sick leave in mid-July 1942. A recipient of the Prussian Pour le Mérite Order and the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross, von Bock died in a naval hospital on 4 May 1945 after being mortally wounded the day before in a low-level air attack near Lensahn, Germany.

[2] On 9 August 1944, SS-Oberst-Gruppenführer und Panzer Generaloberst der Waffen-SS Josef “Sepp” Dietrich assumed command of the 5th Panzer Army from General der Panzertruppe Heinrich Eberbach. Dietrich, in turn, relinquished command of the army to General der Panzertruppe Hasso von Manteuffel on 10 September 1944. Generals Eberbach and von Manteuffel were both held for varying amounts of time as prisoners of war at Island Farm Special Camp 11.

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