Joachim von Kortzfleisch

Joachim von Kortzfleisch
General Kortzfleisch (pictured on the right) in 1941.
Born	(1890-01-03)3 January 1890 Braunschweig, Duchy of Brunswick
Died	20 April 1945(1945-04-20) (aged 55) Wulwesort, Sauerland
Allegiance	German Empire (to 1918) Weimar Republic (to 1933) Nazi Germany
Service/branch	Heer
Rank	General der Infanterie
Commands held	1st Infantry Division Defense group III (Berlin)
Battles/wars	World War I World War II
Awards	Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross

Joachim Otto August Achatius Kortzfleisch (3 January 1890 – 20 April 1945) was a German army general who was the commander of the defense group III (Berlin) and had a role in ensuring the failure of the attempted coup after the July 20 Plot attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler.

Biography

Joachim von Kortzfleisch was born into an aristocratic Westphalian family in Braunschweig, Duchy of Brunswick, the son of the Prussian Major General Gustav von Kortzfleisch (1854 – 1910) and Elsbeth Oppermann (1862 – 1937). He joined the army in 1907 and after service in World War I in a machine gun battalion he was an officer in the Reichswehr, reaching the rank of Generalmajor by 1937. He was a generalleutnant and commander of the 1st Infantry Division at the outbreak of World War II and was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 1 September 1940 as commander of the XI Army Corps of the Wehrmacht.

On 20 July 1944 as the commander of the defense group III (Berlin) he was summoned to the Bendlerstrasse where he angrily refused to obey Operation Valkyrie orders issued by one of the leading conspirators General of the Infantry Friedrich Olbricht and kept shouting ‘the Führer is not dead’^[1] and referring to the oath of loyalty to Hitler. He was arrested and put under guard by the plotters and said that he was not willing to take part in a coup as he was just a soldier interested only in going home and pulling weeds in his garden.<ref name=PlottingHitler'sDeath>Joachim Fest (1994). Plotting Hitler's Death: The German Resistance to Hitler, 1933-1945. Weidenfield & Nicholson. ISBN 0-297-81774-4. </ref> He was replaced in his command by General Karl Freiherr von Thüngen and was later allowed to leave the Bendlerblock. He subsequently interrogated Major Hans-Ulrich von Oertzen who was a supporter of the plot.

In March 1945 he was the commander of the Rhine Bridgehead in Army Group B under Field Marshal Walter Model. He was shot dead by soldiers of the 737th Tank Battalion of the United States Army on 20 April 1945. Kortzfleisch and a handful of soldiers had tried to get to Berleburg, moving behind the enemy lines. A US patrol encountered them at Schmallenberg-Wulwesort, Sauerland. The general defended himself with a machine pistol, as he was surrounded by US soldiers and was told "Hands up" he answered "no" and a US soldier shot him in the left breast.

Awards and decorations

• Iron Cross (1914)
  • 2nd Class
  • 1st Class
• Wound Badge (1914)
  • in Black
  • in Silver
• Cross for Faithful Service (Schaumburg-Lippe)
• Military Merit Cross, 3rd class with War Decoration (Austria-Hungary)
• Knight of Honour of the Order of Saint John (Bailiwick of Brandenburg)
• Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918
• Wehrmacht Long Service Award, 4th to 1st class
• Memel Medal
• Iron Cross (1939)
  • 2nd Class
  • 1st Class
• War Merit Cross with Swords
  • 2nd Class
  • 1st Class
• Order of Michael the Brave, 3rd Class (19 September 1941)
• German Cross in Silver (30 December 1943)
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 4 September 1940 as General der Infanterie and commander of XI. Armeekorps

Depiction in media

• In Bryan Singer's 2008 film Valkyrie, based on the 20 July plot, a character representing von Kortzfleisch (but credited only as "Pompous General") is portrayed by English actor Ian McNeice.

References