Generalmajor Wilhelm Bleckwenn

SOME OF THE PRISONERS HELD AT
SPECIAL CAMP 11


	Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz & Generalmajor Wilhelm Bleckwenn walking behind to his left

NAME: Generalmajor Wilhelm Bleckwenn

PW NO: 560258

RANK: Generalmajor

CAPTURED: Pulverhof-Schwerin

DATE: 2nd May 1945

PERSONAL
DATE OF BIRTH: 21 October 1906

PLACE OF BIRTH: Berge/Kreis Bersenbrück/Hannover

DATE OF DEATH: 10 May 1989

PLACE OF DEATH: Saarbrücken

NATIONALITY: German

RELIGION: Evangelist

OCCUPATION: Regular Soldier

HEIGHT: 6' 1"

WEIGHT: 182 lbs

HAIR COLOUR: Dark Brown

EYE COLOUR: Blue

NEXT OF KIN: Charlotte Bleckwenn, Stockelsdorf ueber Luebeck (British Zone)

Promotions:

Police:

Polizei-Anwärter: 16 April 1925
Polizei-Unterwachtmeister: 1 October 1925
Polizei-Wachtmeister: 1 January 1929
Polizei-Oberwachtmeister: 1 June 1930
Polizei-Leutnant: 1 April 1933
Polizei-Oberleutnant: 1 July 1934

Army:

Oberleutnant: 15 October 1935 (RDA 1 May 1933)
Hauptmann: 1 October 1936
Major: 15 October 1941 (RDA 1 September 1941)
Oberstleutnant: 1 August 1942 (without RDA; later established at 1 September 1943)
Oberst: 8 November 1943 (RDA 1 September 1943)
Generalmajor: 8 February 1945 (RDA 30 January 1945)

Commands & Assignments:

16 April 1925: Entered police service as a Polizei-Anwärter [Police Candidate] at the Hildesheim Police School.
1 April 1926: Transferred to the Schutzpolizei [Municipal Police] at Wesermünde.
20 September 1929-18 September 1930: Detached to the Police Officer Candidate Course at Spandau and Eiche.
11 August 1932: Named a Police Officer Candidate.
20 September 1932-30 November 1932: Detached to the Firing Teaching Course and Armored Vehicle Training at the School for Technology and Traffic in Berlin.
1 October 1934: Machinegun Officer on the Staff of the Land Police Group “Hannover” and, for a time, also served as a Platoon Leader in the 2nd 100-Man Detachment of the Hannover Land Police.
1 August 1935: Accepted into the Army.
23 September 1935-12 October 1935: Detached to the Course for Machinegun Platoon Leaders at the Infantry School at Döberitz.
15 October 1935: Company Officer in Machinegun Battalion 1.
12 October 1937: Company Chief in Machinegun Battalion 10.
10 July 1938-10 August 1938: Detached to the Officers Course at the Dresden War School.
10 November 1938: Company Chief in Machinegun Battalion 14.
4 January 1940: Commander of the I. Battalion of Border Infantry Regiment 127.
22 November 1940: Commander of the III. Battalion of Infantry Regiment 690 of the 337th Infantry Division.
26 March 1941: Army High Command Leader Reserve, detached as an Officers’ Instructor in Infantry Replacement Battalion 63, Ingolstadt.
20 August 1941: Commander of the III. Battalion of Infantry Regiment 256 of the 112th Infantry Division. [Commanded by Generalleutnant Friedrich Mieth, the 112th Infantry Division deployed to the Eastern Front in August 1941 where it saw action at Bobruisk and Kiev under Army Group Center.]
9 September 1941: Wounded/in hospital/transferred to Infantry Replacement Battalion 256.
31 October 1941: Leader Reserve in Army Group Center on the Eastern Front.
4 November 1941: Commander of the III. Battalion of Infantry Regiment 467 of the 267th Infantry Division on the Eastern Front.
27 November 1941: Commander of the I. Battalion of Infantry Regiment 467 of the 267th Infantry Division on the Eastern Front.
18 January 1942: Delegated with the leadership of Infantry Regiment 487 of the 267th Infantry Division on the Eastern Front.
1 August 1942: Commander of Infantry (later Grenadier) Regiment 487 of the 267th Infantry Division on the Eastern Front.
14 August 1944: Army High Command Leader Reserve in Wehrkreis [Military District] Command XII and temporarily Battle Commandant of Trier.
17 August 1944: After the breakup of Army Group Center, Oberst Bleckwenn broke through with the remnants of the regiments of the Dnieper and the Beresina from Russia to East Prussia in 44 days.
19 October 1944-15 November 1944: At the same time, participated in the 15th Division Leader Course in Hirschberg.
15 November 1944: Delegated with the leadership of the 708th Volksgrenadier Division on the Western Front.
30 January 1945: Commander of the 708th Volksgrenadier Division on the Western Front. [After forming in Slovakia, the division transferred to Alsace, France in November 1944 where it served under the LXIV Army Corps of the 19th Army.[1] The division was destroyed during the Allied reduction of the Colmar Pocket and dissolved in February 1945.]
21 February 1945: Army High Command Leader Reserve in Wehrkreis Command XII.
28 February 1945-4 May 1945: Inspector of the Infantry of the 1st Naval Infantry Division and, at the same time, delegated with the leadership of the 1st Naval Infantry Division on the Eastern Front. [Bleckmann succeeded Konteradmiral Hans Hartmann as commander of the 1st Naval Infantry Division under Army Group Weichsel (Vistula) on the Eastern Front.[2] Formed on 31 January 1945, the division was composed of excess naval personnel who no longer had ships or submarines to man. Committed to combat against the Russians on the Oder River south of Stettin, the 1st Naval Infantry Division suffered heavy losses in fierce defensive fighting in the bridgehead between Alt Damm and Greifenhagen. After being forced back to the west bank of the river, the division continued to see heavy defensive combat against the advancing Russians. Withdrawing across Mecklenburg to Neustrelitz, the remnants of the 1st Naval Division then crossed the demarcation line between the Soviet and Anglo-American forces and surrendered to the British along with the rest of General der Panzertruppe Hasso von Manteuffel’s 3rd Panzer Army.[3]]
1 March 1945: Transferred to the Kriegsmarine in accordance with a telex from the Army High Command Personnel Office (OKH/PA/Ag P1).[4]
4 May 1945-July 1947: Prisoner of war in British captivity
- 11th January 1946 transferred to Island Farm Special Camp 11 from LDC (London District Cage)
- 7th August 1947 transferred to LDC from Island Farm Special Camp 11
August 1947-25 October 1947: Transferred into French captivity.

Decorations & Awards:

[1] General der Infanterie Hellmuth Thumm commanded the LXIV Army Corps from 1 November 1944-15 January 1945. He was later held as a prisoner of war at Island Farm Special Camp 11.

[2] Konteradmiral Hans Hartmann was later held as a prisoner of war at Island Farm Special Camp 11.

[3] General der Panzertruppe Hasso von Manteuffel was later held as a prisoner of war at Island Farm Special Camp 11 for a portion of his captivity.

[4] It remains unclear if Generalmajor Bleckwenn was only detached to the Kriegsmarine or was formally transferred into that branch of service and named to the rank of Konteradmiral. The German Federal Archive maintains a telex from the Army High Command to the Navy High Command dated 17 March 1945 that transferred Bleckwenn to the Kriegsmarine with effect from 1 March 1945. This transfer, also valid for his peacetime status, should have renamed him from Generalmajor to the corresponding grade of Konteradmiral. This would make him the last German officer promoted to that rank in World War II. However, existing documentation from the period of 1 March 1945 to the German surrender cannot confirm this.

Click here to see a photo of Generalmajor Wilhelm Bleckwenn in the company of fellow prisoners of war at Island Farm

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