Heinrich Kittel

Heinrich Kittel (31 October 1892 – 5 March 1969) was a German general during World War II who commanded the 462nd Infantry Division. As a POW, he was interned at Trent Park, where his conversations with fellow inmates were surreptitiously recorded by the British intelligence.

Heinrich Kittel
Born31 October 1892
Died5 March 1969(1969-03-05) (aged 76)
Allegiance Nazi Germany
Service/branchArmy (Wehrmacht)
RankGeneralleutnant
Commands held462nd Volksgrenadier Division
Battles/warsWorld War I
World War II
AwardsKnight's Cross of the Iron Cross

Appointed commander of the 462nd Infantry Division on 8 November 1944, he led it during the Battle of Metz until his wounding in action on 22 November 1944. Made a prisoner of war when the field hospital he was in was overrun by American forces,[1] he was held in captivity until 1947.

According to a review of Soldaten: Secret WWII Transcripts of German POWs by Sönke Neitzel and Harald Welzer, Kittel's transcripts (in conversation with another POW) illustrate his culpable passivity while observing mass executions without intervening at all despite his rank: "Kittel (very excited): 'They seized three-year-old children by the hair, held them up and shot them with a pistol and then threw them in. I saw that for myself. One could watch it; the SD [Sicherheitsdienst, the Security Service of the SS] had roped the area off and the people were standing watching from about 300 m. off. The Latvians and the German soldiers were just standing there, looking on'." Kittel, according to the reviewer, ignobly, perhaps criminally, failed to act, despite the [reviewer's] presumption that his high rank could have enabled him to do so.[2]

Awards and decorations

References
  1. Mitcham 2007, pp. 128–129.
  2. ‘Soldaten: Secret WWII Transcripts of German POWs’ by Soenke Neitzel & Harald Welzer Daily Beast
  3. Fellgiebel 2000, p. 211.
  • Fellgiebel, Walther-Peer (2000) [1986]. 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.
  • Mitcham Jr., Samuel W. (2007). German Order of Battle, Volume Two: 291st–999th Infantry Divisions, Named Infantry Divisions, and Special Divisions in WWII. Mechanicsburg, PA, United States: Stackpole Books. ISBN 978-0-8117-3437-0.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
Military offices
Preceded by
Generalleutnant Vollrath Lübbe		 Commander of 462nd Volksgrenadier Division
8 November 1944 – 22 November 1944		 Succeeded by
Oberst Joachim Wagner
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