Reiner Stahel (15 January 1892 – 30 November 1955) was a German officer. He is best known for his retreat from Vilna and the command of the garrison of

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

during the

Warsaw Uprising The Warsaw Uprising ( pl, powstanie warszawskie; german: Warschauer Aufstand) was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance movement in World War II, Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from German occupation. It occ ...

of 1944. Arrested by the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...

in Romania, he spent the rest of his life in Soviet captivity.

Early life

Stahel was born in

Bielefeld Bielefeld () is a city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 341,755, it is also the most populous city in the administrative region (''Regierungsbezirk'') of Detmold and the ...

World War I

He joined the

German Army The German Army (, "army") is the land component of the armed forces of Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German ''Bundeswehr'' together with the ''Marine'' (German Navy) and the ''Luftwaf ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. By the end of the war, he had moved to Finland and joined the Finnish Army participating in the

Finnish Civil War The Finnish Civil War; . Other designations: Brethren War, Citizen War, Class War, Freedom War, Red Rebellion and Revolution, . According to 1,005 interviews done by the newspaper ''Aamulehti'', the most popular names were as follows: Civil W ...

Interwar

In 1933 he went to

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

where he worked at the

Ministry of Aviation The Ministry of Aviation was a department of the United Kingdom government established in 1959. Its responsibilities included the regulation of civil aviation and the supply of military aircraft, which it took on from the Ministry of Supply. ...

World War II

Stahel participated in the

German invasion of the Soviet Union Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named after ...

as commander of Flakregiments 34 (June 1941), Flakregiment 99 (April 1942) and

4th Luftwaffe Field Division The 4th ''Luftwaffe'' Field Division (german: 4.Luftwaffen-Feld-Division) was an infantry division of the ''Luftwaffe'' branch of the ''Wehrmacht'' that fought in World War II. It was formed using surplus ground crew of the ''Luftwaffe'' and serve ...

(September 1942). During the

Battle of Stalingrad The Battle of Stalingrad (23 August 19422 February 1943) was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II where Nazi Germany and its allies unsuccessfully fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad (later re ...

, Stahel conducted defensive actions at the head of ''Kampfgruppe Stahel''. On 21 January 1943, he was promoted to Major General and then transferred to Air Fleet 4. At the end of May 1943, he was appointed commander of the new 22nd Flak Brigade in Italy and entrusted with protecting the

Strait of Messina The Strait of Messina ( it, Stretto di Messina, Sicilian: Strittu di Missina) is a narrow strait between the eastern tip of Sicily (Punta del Faro) and the western tip of Calabria ( Punta Pezzo) in Southern Italy. It connects the Tyrrhenian Se ...

. Following the German retreat from Sicily and Italy's surrender, Stahel was made the military commander of

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

in September 1943.

1944

In July 1944, he commanded the Vilnius garrison in the Vilnius offensive and was able to postpone the seizure of that city by the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

. For his efforts, on 28 July 1944, he was awarded the Swords to the Knight's Cross and promoted to the rank of

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

Warsaw uprising

Stahel was transferred to Warsaw, where he was to defend the city against the advancing

. However, the Soviet offensive was halted. Instead, on August 1, the

was started by the Polish

Home Army The Home Army ( pl, Armia Krajowa, abbreviated AK; ) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) esta ...

. On the uprising's first day, Stahel was surrounded in his headquarters in the

Saxon Palace The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

, and he lost control of the situation. On August 4, command over Nazi forces in Warsaw was given to

Waffen-SS The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both occup ...

commander

Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski Erich Julius Eberhard von dem Bach-Zelewski (born Erich Julius Eberhard von Zelewski; 1 March 1899 – 8 March 1972) was a high-ranking SS commander of Nazi Germany. During World War II, he was in charge of the Nazi security warfare against tho ...

and Stahel's pocket was subordinated to the new commander. By August 7, the

Dirlewanger Brigade , image = File:Dirlewanger Crossed Grenades symbol.svg , image_size = 180 , caption = Symbol of the Division , dates = 1940–45 , country ...

reached Stahel's positions in the city centre, although he did not resume his command over the city's garrison.

= Suppression of Warsaw uprising

= Despite his relatively limited role in suppressing the Warsaw uprising of 1944, Stahel was responsible for a series of crimes committed against Warsaw's

civilians Civilians under international humanitarian law are "persons who are not members of the armed forces" and they are not "combatants if they carry arms openly and respect the laws and customs of war". It is slightly different from a non-combatant, b ...

. On August 2, he ordered the killing of all men identified as actual or potential insurgents and taking civilian

hostages A hostage is a person seized by an abductor in order to compel another party, one which places a high value on the liberty, well-being and safety of the person seized, such as a relative, employer, law enforcement or government to act, or refr ...

to be used as human shields when assaulting insurgent positions. Testimonies of the soldiers of the 562nd Grenadier Division's Grenadier Regiment East Prussia 4 who arrived in Warsaw on August 3 show that Stahel gave them the order to "kill all men encountered, remove women and children, and burn houses." Moreover, Stahel ordered the

execution Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the State (polity), state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to ...

of Polish prisoners held in

Mokotów prison Mokotów Prison ( pl, Więzienie mokotowskie, also known as ''Rakowiecka Prison'') is a prison in Warsaw's borough of Mokotów, Poland, located at 37 Rakowiecka Street. It was built by the Russians in the final years of the foreign Partitions of P ...

and officially sanctioned

looting Looting is the act of stealing, or the taking of goods by force, typically in the midst of a military, political, or other social crisis, such as war, natural disasters (where law and civil enforcement are temporarily ineffective), or rioting. ...

, allowing German soldiers to take anything they wanted from houses on fire.

Romania

On August 24, he was dispatched to

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

, where the German headquarters anticipated similar

urban warfare Urban warfare is combat conducted in urban areas such as towns and cities. Urban combat differs from combat in the open at both the operational and the tactical levels. Complicating factors in urban warfare include the presence of civilians and t ...

; his troops attempted to occupy Romania's capital Bucharest on August 24, but they were repulsed by troops loyal to King

Michael I Michael I may refer to: * Pope Michael I of Alexandria, Coptic Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark in 743–767 * Michael I Rhangabes, Byzantine Emperor (died in 844) * Michael I Cerularius, Patriarch Michael I of Constantinopl ...

. During this and the coming days, Romania switched sides, and the Red Army entered the city almost unopposed. Reiner Stahel NKVD

On 20 September 1944, Stahel was arrested by the

together with Field Marshal

Ion Antonescu Ion Antonescu (; ; – 1 June 1946) was a Romanian military officer and marshal who presided over two successive wartime dictatorships as Prime Minister and ''Conducător'' during most of World War II. A Romanian Army career officer who made ...

. Interrogated on his part in the Warsaw Uprising, he was imprisoned in the Soviet Union. The exact date of his death is a subject of controversy. According to Soviet sources, Stahel died on 30 November 1952 in

Vladimir Vladimir may refer to: Names * Vladimir (name) for the Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Macedonian, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak and Slovenian spellings of a Slavic name * Uladzimir for the Belarusian version of the name * Volodymyr for the Ukr ...

central transfer prison. However, other sources mention that Stahel died in 1955 in the Voikovo officer prison camp of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

when he was informed of his possible transfer to Germany.

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 (12 October 1914) & 1st Class (24 March 1915)Thomas 1998, p. 340. *

(1939) 2nd Class (16 July 1941) & 1st Class (18 September 1941) *

Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (german: Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes), or simply the Knight's Cross (), and its variants, were the highest awards in the military and paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany during World War II. The Knight' ...

** Knight's Cross on 18 January 1942 as ''

Oberstleutnant () is a senior field officer rank in several German-speaking and Scandinavian countries, equivalent to Lieutenant colonel. It is currently used by both the ground and air forces of Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, and Norway. The Swedis ...

'' and commander of Flak-Regiment 34.Scherzer 2007, p. 716. ** Oak Leaves on 4 January 1943 as ''

Oberst ''Oberst'' () is a senior field officer rank in several German-speaking and Scandinavian countries, equivalent to colonel. It is currently used by both the ground and air forces of Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, and Norway. The Swedish ...

and commander of a

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

Kampfgruppe In military history, the German term (pl. ; abbrev. KG, or KGr in usage during World War II, literally "fighting group" or "battle group") can refer to a combat formation of any kind, but most usually to that employed by the of Nazi Germa ...

"Stahel" ** Swords on 18 July 1944 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 Fester Platz WilnaFellgiebel 2000, p. 44.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stahel, Reiner 1892 births 1955 deaths Nazi Party officials German Army personnel of World War I Luftwaffe World War II generals Recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Liberty, 2nd Class Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Liberty, 3rd Class Military personnel from Bielefeld People from the Province of Westphalia German people who died in Soviet detention Warsaw Uprising German forces Prussian Army personnel Finnish Army personnel Lieutenant generals of the Luftwaffe Holocaust perpetrators in Poland People of the Finnish Civil War (White side) German expatriates in Finland Nazis who died in prison custody