Franz Böhme
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Franz Friedrich Böhme (15 April 1885 Austria – 29 May 1947) was a general in the German Army, serving as Commander of the Twentieth Mountain Army and Commander-in-Chief in Norway.
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[edit] Personal life
Böhme's father (Ernst Friedrich) died in 1902 when Franz was 17 years old, and his mother (Maria Ludmilla née Stremayr) died the following year.
In 1929, Böhme married Romana Maria Hüller von Hüllenried, the daughter of Generalmajor Karl Rudolf Hüller von Hüllenried.
[edit] First World War
- 1914: East Galicia (Royal 38th Hungarian Honved Division): Combat at Halicz and Bolszowce; Second Battle of Lemberg; Combat in the Carpathians at Szinna, Uszoker Pass, Turka and Boryslaw. West Galicia: Battle of Limanova.
- 1915: East Galicia (in the German South Army): Combat in the Carpathians at Beskiden and Zwinin; Battle of Steryj, Battle of Halicz and Battle of Tarnopol; Combat on the Strypa River.
- 1916: East Galicia (in the German South Army): Combat on the Strypa River at Burkanow; Combat on the Zlota-Lipa at Brzezany.
- 1917: Volhynien-Russia (XXIV Corps): Combat southeast of Vladimir Volynsk (Novi Zagorow). Courland (Prussian General Command for Special Employment 51): Combat at Dünaburg and at Jakobstadt. Italy (XXIV Corps and Second Isonzo Army): 10th, 11th and 12th Isonzo Battles; Advance on the Piave.
- 1918: Italy (First Isonzo Army): Combat on the Piave River. France (Austrian 1st Division): Defensive Battle on the eastern Maas before Verdun with the Prussian V Reserve Corps.
[edit] Second World War
- 1 July 1939: Commander of the 30th Infantry Division.
- 19 July 1939: Commander of the 32nd Infantry Division, taking part in the invasions of Poland in September 1939 and of France in May and June 1940.
- 28 September 1939: At the same time, delegated with the leadership of II Corps.
- On June 5, 1940 Böhme was given interim leadership of the XXXXIII Corps, replacing General Hermann Ritter von Speck who had received command of the XVIII Mountain Corps. Ten days later, Böhme was given control of that Corps, when Speck was killed near Pont sur Yonne in France.
- 29 June 1940: Awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.
- 16 September 1941 - 2 December 1941: At the same time, Commanding General and Commander of Serbia.
- 10 December 1943: Deputy Commanding General of the XVIII Corps and Commander of Wehrkreis [Military District] XVIII, Salzburg.
- 24 June 1944: Delegated with the leadership of the Second Panzer Army in the Balkans. (Böhme succeeded Generaloberst Dr. jur. Lothar Rendulic to command of the Second Panzer Army).
- 15 July 1944: Badly injured in a flying accident in a Fieseler Fi 156 Storch aircraft.
- In July 1944 he was transferred to the Army's High Command Leader Reserve, giving up control of the Second Panzer Army to General Maximillian de Angelis
- 8 January 1945 - 16 October 1945: Armed Forces Commander of Norway and Commander-in-Chief of the Twentieth Mountain Army. (Böhme succeeded Generaloberst Dr. jur. Lothar Rendulic in both duty positions).
[edit] Trial and suicide
After being captured in Norway, he was brought before the Hostages Trial, a division of the Subsequent Nuremberg Trials, and charged with war crimes committed in Serbia, during his 1941 control of the region. He had upped the ante of retaliatory strikes against Serbs, killing a hundred Serbs for every German killed, and fifty for every German wounded. On 29 May 1947 he committed suicide by jumping from the 4th story of the prison he was being held in. His body was interred at St. Leonhard-Friedhof in Graz.
[edit] References
- Walther-Peer Fellgiebel (2000), Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939-1945. Podzun-Pallas. ISBN 3-7909-0284-5
