__NOTOC__ Gerhard Schmidhuber (9 April 1894 – 11 February 1945) was a German general during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. 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 The 13th Panzer Division ( en, 13th Armoured Division) was a unit of the German Army during World War II, established in 1940. The division was organized under the code name Infantry Command IV (''Infanterieführer IV'') in October 1934. On O ...

during

. When the Germans occupied

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

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 A cross whose arms end in arrowheads is called a "cross barby" or "cross barbée" in the traditional terminology of heraldry. In Christian use, the ends of this cross resemble the barbs of fish hooks, or fish spears. This alludes to the Ichth ...

gangs, although his exact role remains disputed. Schmidhuber was killed in action in the Battle of Budapest.

Awards

Iron Cross The Iron Cross (german: link=no, Eisernes Kreuz, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, and later in the German Empire (1871–1918) and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). King Frederick William III of Prussia est ...

(1914) 2nd Class (9 May 1915) &1st Class (7 December 1917)Thomas 1998, p. 264. * Clasp to the Iron Cross (1939) 2nd Class (29 September 1939) & 1st Class (24 June 1940) * German Cross in Gold on 28 February 1942 as '' Oberstleutnant'' in the II./Schützen-Regiment 103 * 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 ** Oak Leaves on 21 January 1945 as ''

Generalmajor is the Germanic variant of major general, used in a number of Central and Northern European countries. Austria Belgium Denmark is the second lowest general officer rank in the Royal Danish Army and Royal Danish Air Force. As a two-star ...

'' and commander of the 13.Panzer-DivisionFellgiebel 2000, p. 95.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schmidthuber, Gerhard 1894 births 1945 deaths Military personnel from Dresden Major generals of the German Army (Wehrmacht) German Army personnel of World War I Recipients of the clasp to the Iron Cross, 1st class People from the Kingdom of Saxony Recipients of the Gold German Cross Recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves Raoul Wallenberg German military personnel killed in World War II German Army generals of World War II