Leo Geyr von Schweppenburg

Leo Dietrich Franz Reichsfreiherr^[1] Geyr von Schweppenburg (2 March 1886 – 27 January 1974) was a German general in the Wehrmacht during World War II, noted for his pioneering stance and expertise in the field of armoured warfare.^[2][3] He commanded the 5th Panzer Army (formalised as Panzer Group West) during the Invasion of Normandy, and later served as Inspector General of Armoured Troops. After the war he was involved in the development of the newly built German Army (Bundeswehr).

Leo Reichsfreiherr Geyr von Schweppenburg
Schweppenburg as a military attaché in London, 1935
Birth name	Leo Dietrich Franz Reichsfreiherr Geyr von Schweppenburg
Born	(1886-03-02)2 March 1886 Potsdam, Germany
Died	27 January 1974(1974-01-27) (aged 87) Irschenhausen, West Germany
Allegiance	German Empire (1904–1918)  Weimar Republic (1919–1933)  Nazi Germany (1933–1945)
Service / branch	Imperial German Army Reichsheer Heer
Years of service	1904–1945
Rank	General der Panzertruppe
Commands	3rd Panzer Division XXIV Army Corps XXXX Panzer Corps LVIII Panzer Corps 5th Panzer Army
Battles / wars	World War I World War II
Awards	Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross

Early life and career

Freiherr von Geyr was born 1886 in Potsdam into the Prussian military aristocracy and descended from a family that produced two Prussian Field Marshals.^[4] His father was the retired colonel Karl Geyr von Schweppenburg (1840–1913), a close friend and chief stable master of William II of Württemberg.^[5] His mother, Elisabeth Karoline von Hülsen-Haeseler (1855–1887), was the daughter of Botho von Hülsen. He joined the German Army in 1904. In World War I he fought on several fronts and rose to the rank of captain. After the war, he remained in the army, becoming an Oberst in 1932, and a Generalmajor in 1935. From 1933 to 1937, he was a military attaché to the United Kingdom, Belgium and the Netherlands, residing in London. Promoted to Generalleutnant upon his return from London, he took command of the 3rd Panzer (armoured) Division in 1937.^[6]

World War II

From 1 September to 7 October 1939 Geyr commanded the 3rd Panzer Division during the invasion of Poland, where it was the most numerically powerful Panzer Division, with 391 tanks.^[7] For a victory at Kulm, he was praised on the battlefield by Hitler who had visited the division in recognition for its achievements in Poland.^[8] He was promoted to General der Kavallerie of the XXIV Panzer Corps on 15 February 1940. In 1940 he commanded the XXIV Panzer Corps in the Invasion of France. In 1941, in the invasion of the Soviet Union, Geyr’s XXIV Panzer Corps was part of General Heinz Guderian’s Second Panzer Army, and consisted of all of Guderian's major tank units.^[9] On 9 July 1941, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross as General der Panzertruppe.^[10] By early November 1941, Geyr's Panzer Corps commanded the 3rd, 4th, and 17th Panzer Divisions, the panzer regiment from the 18th Panzer Division, as well as the Infantry Regiment Großdeutschland, and spearheaded the advance of Army Group Centre during the Battle of Moscow.^[9]

From 21 July 1942, taking over from the court-martialed Georg Stumme,^[11] to 30 September 1942, he was commanding General of the XXXX Panzer Corps, taking part in the fighting in the Caucasus. Geyr was relieved in a command cadre shakeup at the end of September 1942.^[11]

In the spring of 1943 Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt ordered Geyr to prepare a force of 10 Panzer and motorised infantry divisions. On 19 November 1943 Geyr's command was formalised as Panzer Group West, which had responsibility for the training and formation of all armoured units in the west. This group of armoured divisions near Paris constituted the Germans’ main force of tanks in France. In the event of an Allied landing on the northern French coast, Panzer Group West was expected to counterattack northward and halt the invasion force.^[12]

The Allied invasion of Normandy took place on 6 June 1944. By 8 June Geyr moved three panzer divisions northward against British and Canadian forces advancing on the town of Caen.

On 10 June 1944, Royal Air Force aircraft attacked his newly established headquarters at La Caine in Normandy. Geyr was wounded and many of his staff officers were killed, forcing the cancellation of the counterattack.^[13]

Geyr’s reinforced tank units managed to prevent the British advance for another month, but he was nevertheless relieved of his command on 2 July, after seconding Rundstedt’s request that Hitler authorize a strategic withdrawal from Caen.^[14][15][16] He was succeeded by Heinrich Eberbach on 4 July and served as Inspector General of Armoured Troops until the closing phase of the war.^[12]

Post-war

Colonel von Geyr (left) and Captain Wasner at The Cenotaph, London, 1933

Between 1945 and 1947, Geyr was in American captivity. He participated in the work of the U.S. Army Historical Division, where, under the guidance of Franz Halder, German generals wrote World War II operational studies for the U.S. Army, first as POWs and then as employees.^[17][18] After his release Geyr wrote a memoir of his years in London as a military attaché, Erinnerungen eines Militärattachés, London 1933–1937 (1949), which was translated and published along with additional material covering his life through World War II as The Critical Years (1952). During the early 1950s Geyr was involved in both the development and creation of the newly built German Army (Bundeswehr) of West Germany.^[19] Geyr died in Irschenhausen near Munich. He was married to Anais Krausse (22 July 1890, Ludwigsburg - 6 November 1960, Irschenhausen).^[20] Their daughter Blanche Freiin Geyr von Schweppenburg (24 March 1918 - 21 May 2003) was married to Curt-Christoph von Pfuel (2 September 1907, Berlin - 5 August 2000, Bonn), Prussian assessor, member of the Council of Europe, last Fideikommiss, Lord of Jahnsfelde.^[21]

Works and memoirs

• Pz Gp. West: Report of the Commander (1947)
• Erinnerungen eines Militarattachés: London 1933–1937 (Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1949)
• Die Verteidigung des Westens (Frankfurt: Verlag Friedrich Rudl, 1952)
• Die große Frage (Bernard & Graefe, 1952)
• The Critical Years, with foreword by Leslie Hore-Belisha (London: Allan Wingate, 1952)

Awards and decorations

• Iron Cross (1914)^[22]
  • 2nd Class
  • 1st Class
• Military Merit Order (Württemberg)^[22]
• Friedrich-August-Kreuz^[22]
  • 2nd Class
  • 1st Class
• Wound Badge (1918)^[22]
  • in Black
• Military Merit Cross (Austria-Hungary) 3rd Class with War Decoration^[22]
• Order of Bravery IV grade, 2nd class^[22]
• Cross of Honor^[22]
• Wehrmacht Long Service Award IV. – I.
• Iron Cross (1939)
  • 2nd Class
  • 1st Class
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 9 July 1941 as General der Panzertruppe and commander of XXIV. Armeekorps (motorized)^[10]

References

Citations

1. Reichsfreiherr is a German title of nobility, usually translated as Baron of the Empire. Freiherr is a title usually translated as 'Baron', and Reich is usually translated as 'Empire'. The female forms are Reichsfreifrau and Reichsfreiin. Titles using the prefix Reichs- were not created after the fall of the Holy Roman Empire.
2. Fraser, David (2011). Wars and Shadows: Memoirs of General Sir David Fraser. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9781448207718. Retrieved 2016-03-17.
3. Copp, Terry (2014). Fields of Fire: The Canadians in Normandy: Second Edition. London: University of Toronto Press. p. 84. ISBN 9781442626553. Retrieved 2016-03-17.
4. Peter Caddick-Adams (24 September 2013). Monty and Rommel: Parallel Lives. Overlook. pp. 220–221. ISBN 978-1-4683-0906-5.
5. EHRI - Geyr von Schweppenburg, Leo Freiherr, 2024, retrieved 8 June 2024
6. "Militärattachés". Bundesarchiv (in German). Retrieved 2017-04-04.
7. "Orders of Battle – Heer Divisions including Heavy Panzer Battalions". Historical Society of German Military History. Archived from the original on 2016-01-12. Retrieved 2016-03-17.
8. Deutsch, Harold C. (1968). The Conspiracy Against Hitler in the Twilight War. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. pp. 217–218.
9. David Stahel (22 January 2015). The Battle for Moscow. Cambridge University Press. p. 59. ISBN 978-1-107-08760-6.
10. Fellgiebel 2000, p. 195.
11. Glantz & House 2009, p. 25.
12. "Leo Geyr von Schwepenburg". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2016-03-17.
13. H. L. Thompson. "New Zealanders with the Royal Air Force". New Zealand Electronic Text Centre.
14. Harrison, Gordan A. (2004). US Army in WW II: European Theater of Operations, Cross Channel Attack. Washington, D.C.: United States Army Center of Military History. p. 447. ISBN 9780160899386. Retrieved 2016-03-18.
15. Dennis, Peter (2004). Caen 1944: Montgomery's Break-Out Attempt. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. p. 49. ISBN 9781472800121. Retrieved 2016-03-18.
16. Holderfield, Randy; Varhola, Michael (2009-04-30). D-day: The Invasion of Normandy, June 6, 1944. Conshohocken, Pennsylvania: Savas Publishing Company. p. 21. ISBN 9780786746804. Retrieved 2016-03-18.
17. Kienle 2005.
18. Wette 2007, p. 122.
19. "Sage mir, wo die Soldaten sind ..." (in German). Bundesheer. 2005. Retrieved 2016-03-17.
20. "Anais Freifrau Geyr von Schweppenburg". Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels. Limburg an der Lahn: C. A. Starke. 1982. p. 88.
21. "Geyr von Schweppenburg". Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels. Limburg an der Lahn: C. A. Starke. 1967. p. 244.
22. Reichswehrministerium (publ.): Rangliste des Deutschen Reichsheeres. E.S. Mittler & Sohn, Berlin 1930, p. 118.

Bibliography

• Peter Caddick-Adams (24 September 2013). Monty and Rommel: Parallel Lives. Overlook. pp. 220–221. ISBN 978-1-4683-0906-5.
• Fellgiebel, Walther-Peer (2000). Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939–1945 — Die Inhaber der höchsten Auszeichnung des Zweiten Weltkrieges aller Wehrmachtteile [The Bearers of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939–1945 — The Owners of the Highest Award of the Second World War of all Wehrmacht Branches] (in German). Friedberg, Germany: Podzun-Pallas. ISBN 978-3-7909-0284-6.
• Glantz, David M.; House, Jonathan (2009). To the Gates of Stalingrad: Soviet-German Combat Operations, April-August 1942. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas. ISBN 9780700616305.
• Kienle, Polly (2005). "Still Fighting for the Myth: German Wehrmacht Officers' Reports for the U.S. Historical Division". H-net.com. Archived from the original on 31 January 2016.
• Searle, Alaric (2003). Wehrmacht Generals, West German Society, and the Debate on Rearmament, 1949–1959. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers. ISBN 978-0-275-97968-3.
• Wette, Wolfram (2007). The Wehrmacht: History, Myth, Reality. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674025776.

Military offices
Preceded by Generalmajor Ernst Feßmann	Commander of 3. Panzer-Division 1 September 1939 – 7 October 1939	Succeeded by Generalleutnant Horst Stumpff
Preceded by General der Pioniere Walter Kuntze	Commander of XXIV Army Corps 14 February 1940 - 7 January 1942	Succeeded by General der Panzertruppen Willibald von Langermann und Erlencamp
Preceded by General der Panzertruppen Georg Stumme	Commander of XXXX Panzer Corps 20 July 1942 - 30 September 1942	Succeeded by General der Panzertruppen Gustav Fehn
Preceded by New formation	Commander of LVIII Panzer Corps 28 July 1943 - 1 December 1943	Succeeded by General der Panzertruppe Hans-Karl Freiherr von Esebeck
Preceded by General der Panzertruppen Gustav von Vaerst	Commander of 5th Panzer Army 19 November 1943 - 4 July 1944	Succeeded by General der Panzertruppen Heinrich Eberbach