Rudolf Schmidt

Rudolf Schmidt
Rudolf Schmidt in 1942
Born	12 May 1886 Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire
Died	7 April 1957 (aged 70) Krefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany
Allegiance	German Empire (to 1918)  Weimar Republic (to 1933)  Nazi Germany
Service/branch	Heer
Years of service	1906–45
Rank	Generaloberst
Commands held	1st Panzer Division XXXIX Panzer Corps 2nd Panzer Army
Battles/wars	World War I World War II
Awards	Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves
Relations	Hans-Thilo Schmidt (brother)

Rudolf Schmidt (12 May 1886 – 7 April 1957) was a Panzer General in the German army during World War II who served as the Commander of the 2nd Panzer Army on the Eastern Front. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves.

Career

Schmidt joined the German Imperial Army in 1906 and served during World War I. He was retained in the Reichswehr where he served in staff roles. In October 1937 he was promoted to Generalmajor and appointed commander of the 1st Panzer Division as the successor to Maximilian von Weichs. In 1939 Schmidt led the division in the invasion of Poland.

On 1 February 1940 he was appointed commanding general of the XXXIX Panzer Corps. He led the Corps in France and was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross for his role in that campaign on 3 June 1940. He was promoted to General der Panzertruppe and appointed acting commander of the 2nd Army which took part in the Battle of Moscow. On 25 December 1941 he was appointed Commander of the 2nd Panzer Army (replacing the sacked General Guderian).

In January 1942 Schmidt was promoted to Generaloberst. On 10 April 1943 he was relieved of his command after the Gestapo arrested his brother for spying for the French and found letters that Schmidt had written in which he was highly critical of Hitler’s conduct of the war and the Nazi Party. He appeared before a court martial but was acquitted and transferred to the leadership reserve on 30 September 1943. He was never re-employed.

His brother Hans-Thilo Schmidt sold details of the Germans' Enigma machine and other sensitive military information to the French Deuxieme Bureau from 1931 until the German invasion of France in 1940.^[1]

On 16 December 1947 Schmidt was arrested by Soviet forces on his way to his home in Weimar. Taken to Moscow, he was initially imprisoned at the Vladimir Central Prison and Butyrka prison. In 1952, he was sentenced to 25 years by a military tribunal. On 30 September 1955, Schmidt was among the last prisoners to be released. He died in 1957.

Awards

• Knight's Cross Second Class of the Order of the Zähringer Lion with Swords --->
• Iron Cross (1939) 2nd Class (22 September 1939) & 1st Class (2 October 1939)^[2]
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves
  • Knight's Cross on 3 June 1940 as Generalleutnant and commanding general of the XXXIX. Armeekorps (mot.)^[3]
  • 19th Oak Leaves on 10 July 1941 as General der Panzertruppe and commanding general of the XXXIX. Armeekorps (mot.)^[3]

References

Citations

1. Paillole, Paul (2016). The Spy in Hitler's Inner Circle. Oxford: Casemate UK. ISBN 9781612003719.
2. Thomas 1998, p. 270.
3. Scherzer 2007, p. 671.

Bibliography

• 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 Militaer-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2.
• Thomas, Franz (1998). Die Eichenlaubträger 1939–1945 Band 2: L–Z [The Oak Leaves Bearers 1939–1945 Volume 2: L–Z] (in German). Osnabrück, Germany: Biblio-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7648-2300-9.