Gerhard Schmidhuber

Gerhard Schmidhuber (9 April 1894 – 11 February 1945) was a German general during World War II. He was born in Saxony and in 1914 was a reserve officer in the Imperial German Army. He left the army in 1920 and rejoined in 1934. He had served in both France and in the Soviet Union campaigns as a battalion and regimental commander. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves. Schmidhuber was commanding officer of the 13th Panzer Division during World War II. When the Germans occupied Hungary in 1944, Schmidhuber was supreme commander of German army forces in that country. According to Pál Szalai, he prevented the liquidation of Budapest Jewish ghetto by Hungarian Arrow Cross gangs, although his exact role remains disputed.^[1] Schmidhuber was killed in action in the Battle of Budapest during an escape attempt at the end of the battle.

Gerhard Schmidhuber
Born	(1894-04-09)9 April 1894 Dresden, Kingdom of Saxony German Empire
Died	11 February 1945(1945-02-11) (aged 50) Budapest, Kingdom of Hungary
Allegiance	German Empire  Weimar Republic  Nazi Germany
Service / branch	German Army
Years of service	1914–1920 1933–1945
Rank	Generalmajor
Commands	7th Panzer Division 13th Panzer Division
Battles / wars	World War I World War II Siege of Budapest †
Awards	Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves

Awards

• Iron Cross (1914) 2nd Class (9 May 1915) &1st Class (7 December 1917)^[2]
• Clasp to the Iron Cross (1939) 2nd Class (29 September 1939) & 1st Class (24 June 1940)^[2]
• German Cross in Gold on 28 February 1942 as Oberstleutnant in the II./Schützen-Regiment 103^[3]
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves
  • Knight's Cross on 18 October 1943 as Oberst and commander of Panzergrenadier-Regiment 304^[4]
  • Oak Leaves on 21 January 1945 as Generalmajor and commander of the 13.Panzer-Division^[5]