Erwin Vierow

Erwin Vierow
General Erwin Vierow in 1941
Born	15 May 1890 Berlin
Died	1 February 1982 (aged 91) Tecklenburg
Allegiance	German Empire (to 1918) Weimar Republic (to 1933) Nazi Germany
Service/branch	Heer
Years of service	1908–44
Rank	General der Infanterie
Commands held	9th Infantry Division 55th Army Corps Military Commandant of Kharkov Commander of the army in northwest France General Command Somme
Battles/wars	World War I World War II

General Erwin Vierow (15 May 1890 – 1 February 1982) was an infantry General in the German army who was the commander of German forces in northwest France during World War II.

Career

He joined the Imperial German Army in 1908. During World War I he was an officer in the infantry serving as an adjutant. In 1915 he was promoted to leutnant, he was wounded May 1916 and in 1917 he was promoted to Hauptmann.

Between the wars he served on the General Staff of the Reichswehr and in the infantry and by the outbreak of World War II he had reached the rank of Generalmajor in the Wehrmacht. In August 1940 was appointed as commander of the 9th Infantry Division. In January 1941 was promoted to General of the Infantry. Serving on the Eastern Front as commander of 55th Army Corps he became the military commandant of the city of Kharkov upon its capture on 24 October 1941. He was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on November 15, 1941.

On 1 July 1943 he was appointed commander of the army in northwest France, covering the regions of Laon, Orléans and Rouen and held this command until September 1944 when he was appointed chief of the ad hoc ‘General Command Somme’. He held this post until he was captured by the British. He was then held in the Camp Clinton Prisoner-of-war camp in Mississippi, United States. He died aged 91.

Awards

• Iron Cross (1914)
  • 2nd Class
  • 1st Class
• Cross of Honor
• Wehrmacht Long Service Award IV to I Class
• Iron Cross (1939)
  • 2nd Class
  • 1st Class
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 15 November 1941 as General der Infanterie and commanding general of the LV. Armeekorps^[1]

References

Citations

1. Fellgiebel 2000, p. 431.

Bibliography

• 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.
• Scherzer, Veit (2007). Die Ritterkreuzträger 1939–1945 Die Inhaber des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939 von Heer, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm sowie mit Deutschland verbündeter Streitkräfte nach den Unterlagen des Bundesarchives [The Knight's Cross Bearers 1939–1945 The Holders of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939 by Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and Allied Forces with Germany According to the Documents of the Federal Archives] (in German). Jena, Germany: Scherzers Miltaer-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2.