SOME OF THE PRISONERS HELD AT
SPECIAL CAMP 11

German Cross in Gold on right breast

World War I Prussian Iron Cross 1st Class with 1939 Bar and Wound Badge on left

NAME: General der Infanterie Günther Blumentritt
PW NO:          A938982
RANK:            General der Infanterie
CAPTURED:   Schleswig-Holstein
DATE:             1 June 1945

PERSONAL
DATE OF BIRTH:     10 February 1892
PLACE OF BIRTH:   München
DATE OF DEATH:   12 October 1967
PLACE OF DEATH: München
NATIONALITY:       German
RELIGION:               
OCCUPATION:        Regular Soldier
HEIGHT:
WEIGHT
NEXT OF KIN:         American Zone

Promotions:

• Fahnenjunker: 29 May 1914
• Fahnenjunker-Unteroffizier: 20 September 1911
• Fähnrich: 27 January 1912 (G2g)
• Leutnant: 19 November 1912 (O)
• Oberleutnant: 22 March 1918 (M); RDA later changed to 22 March 1918 (2)
• Hauptmann/Rittmeister: 1 April 1926 (7)
• Major: 1 September 1933 (1)
• Oberstleutnant: 1 April 1936 (1)
• Oberst: 1 October 1938 (14); RDA later changed to 1 March 1938 (23a)
• Generalmajor: 16 January 1942 – RDA 1 November 1941 (8a)
• Generalleutnant: 1 December 1942 (14)
• General der Infanterie: 1 April 1944 (4)

Commands & Assignments:

• 29 May 1911: Entered the Army as a Fahnenjunker in the 3. Thüringisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr.71
• 5 January 1912-28 September 1912: Detached to the Danzig War School.
• 4 December 1914: Adjutant of the III. Battalion of Infantry Regiment 71.
• 1 January 1918: Regimental Adjutant of Infantry Regiment 71.
• 17 August 1918: Transferred to the hospital of the Replacement Battalion of Infantry Regiment 71.
• 2 September 1918: Transferred to Infantry Regiment 71 in the field.
• 5 September 1918: Adjutant of the 205th Infantry Brigade.
• 23 December 1918: Adjutant of the 76th Infantry Brigade.
• 8 January 1919: Regimental Adjutant of Infantry Regiment 71.
• 20 February 1919: Company Leader in Infantry Regiment 71.
• 11 March 1919: Company Leader in Freikorps “Thüringen.”
• 18 March 1919: Adjutant of the Freikorps Hessen-Thüringen-Waldeck.
• 23 March 1919: Company Leader in the Freikorps Hessen-Thüringen-Waldeck.
• 1 October 1919: Transferred to Reichswehr Schützen [Rifle]-Regiment 22 of Reichswehr-Brigade 11.
• 1 November 1919: Company Leader in Reichswehr Jäger-Regiment 11.
• 16 May 1920: Transferred to Reichswehr Infantry Regiment 21 of Reichswehr-Brigade 11.
• 1 October 1920: Company Leader in the 15th Infantry Regiment upon the formation of the new Reichsheer from the Übergangsheer or Transitional Army.
• 1 January 1921: Detached as Auxiliary Officer to the staff of the 5th Division.
• 7 June 1921-28 September 1921: At the same time, detached for training with the III. Battalion of the 5th Artillery Regiment.
• 10 September 1921: While retaining his previous position in the 5th Division, transferred to the 15th (Prussian) Reiter [Mounted]-Regiment.
• 1 October 1921: Transferred to the staff of the 5th Division.
• 1 October 1922: Transferred back to the 15th Infantry Regiment.
• 1 November 1923-29 February 1924: At the same time, detached to the staff of Artillery Leader V.
• 1 October 1924: Transferred to the 9th (Prussian) Reiter-Regiment and detached to the University of Berlin.
• 1 October 1925: Transferred back to the 15th Infantry Regiment.
• 1 February 1926-1 April 1926: Detached to the staff of the 6th Division.
• 1 April 1926: Operations Officer (Ia) on the staff of the 6th Division.
• 1 October 1927: While still under his previous command, transferred to the 13th (Prussian) Reiter-Regiment.
• 1 February 1928: Transferred in unchanged service position to the staff of the 6th Division.
• 1 January 1930: Company Chief in the 19th (Bavarian) Infantry Regiment.
• 1 October 1932: Detached to the staff of Group Command 1.
• 1 September 1933: Officer for Special Employment with the Chief of the Army Command and Instructor of the Officers Courses (clandestine War Academy), with effect from 1 October 1933 carried the uniform of a Leadership Staff Officer.
• 13 April 1935: Auditorium Director and Tactics Instructor at the War Academy.
• 1 July 1935: Transferred to the General Staff of Wehrkreis [Military District] Command VII, München.
• 15 October 1935: Operations Officer (Ia) in the General Staff of the VII Army Corps.
• 12 October 1937: Commander of the I. Battalion of Infantry Regiment 19 of the 7th Infantry Division.
• 3 November 1938: Chief of the 4th Department of the Army General Staff.
• 18 August 1939: Operations Officer (Ia) in the General Staff of the 12th Army.
• 2 September 1939: Transferred to the General Staff of Army Group South. [Commanded by Generaloberst Gerd von Rundstedt, Army Group South was one of three German army groups that took part in the invasion of Poland in September 1939. With this posting, Blumentritt began a long and close relationship with von Rundstedt. During the course of World War II, he would serve as von Rundstedt’s chief of staff on several occasions in France. Blumentritt deeply respected his superior and likened their relationship to that of a father and son.]
• 23 October 1939: Operations Officer (Ia) in the General Staff of Army Group South (Generaloberst Gerd von Rundstedt).
• 26 October 1939: Operations Officer (Ia) in the General Staff of Army Group A. [Commanded by Generaloberst (promoted Generalfeldmarschall on 19 July 1940) Gerd von Rundstedt, Army Group A was one of the three German army groups that took part in the invasion of the Low Countries and France in May-June 1940. Following the successful conclusion of the campaign, von Rundstedt and his staff moved to their new headquarters at St. Germain-en-Laye near Paris. Shortly thereafter, the General Staff of Army Group A began planning for Operation “Seelöwe” (Sea Lion)—the proposed invasion of Great Britain. The army group would control the operation with its 9th and 16th Armies, commanded by Generaloberst Adolf Strauß and Generaloberst Ernst Busch respectively, making the main assault across the English Channel. Viewing the whole venture with skepticism, von Rundstedt apparently left most of the actual planning to Generaloberst Busch. After the Luftwaffe failed to gain air superiority over southern England during the Battle of Britain, Adolf Hitler postponed Operation “Seelöwe” on 17 September 1940. On 12 October 1940, Hitler further postponed the invasion, if then feasible, to the spring of 1941.]
• 25 October 1940: Chief of the General Staff of the 4th Army. [Commanded by Generalfeldmarschall Günther von Kluge, the 4th Army took part in the invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941 as a component of Army Group Center. On 19 December 1941, von Kluge replaced Generalfeldmarschall Fedor von Bock as Commander-in-Chief of Army Group Center while General der Gebirgstruppe Ludwig Kübler assumed command of the 4th Army.]
• 17 January 1942: Senior Quartermaster I (Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations) in the Army General Staff.
• 22 September 1942: Delegated with the post of Chief of the General Staff of Army Group D (Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt) in France.
• 24 September 1942: Chief of the General Staff of Army Group D (Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt) in France.
• 3 January 1943: Badly injured in a railway accident, transferred to Reserve Hospital I, Hannover.
• 26 June 1943: Special Mission with the 7th Army in France and then with Army Group South on the Eastern Front.

Photograph taken at Rommel's headquarters at château in La Roche-Guyon, France, May 1944 Left to right: Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt, Commander-in-chief West and Army Group D General der Infanterie Günther Blumentritt (Rundstedt's chief of staff) Generalleutnant Hans Speidel (Rommel's chief of staff) Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel, Commander-in-chief Army Group B

St Germain, 1944 Photo taken and generously permitted for use on this web page by Hans Bishoff

• 10 June 1944: Chief of the General Staff of the Commander-in-Chief West and Army Group D (Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt; Generalfeldmarschall Günther von Kluge from 2 July 1944; Generalfeldmarschall Walter Model from 17 August 1944; again, Generalfeldmarschall von Rundstedt from 1 September 1944) in France. [After requesting a combat command, Blumentritt was succeeded as von Rundstedt’s chief of staff by Generalleutnant (later General der Kavallerie) Siegfried Westphal, yet another talented and respected General Staff Officer.]
• 10 September 1944: Army High Command Leader Reserve.
• 1 October 1944-1 November 1944: At the same time, detached to the LXXXVI Army Corps (General der Infanterie Hans von Obstfelder) on the Western Front.
• 2 November 1944-1 December 1944: At the same time, detached for familiarization to the LVIII Panzer Corps (General der Panzertruppe Walter Krüger) on the Western Front.
• 19 October 1944: Delegated with the deputy leadership of the XII SS-Army Corps on the Western Front for the duration of the absence of the commanding general (SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS und Polizei Curt von Gottberg). [The XII SS-Army Corps served in the area of Aachen and, later, on the eastern bank of the Roer River. Tapped to lead the 25th Army, Blumentritt relinquished leadership of the corps to Generalleutnant (later General der Artillerie) Eduard Crasemann.[1]] 
• 23 November 1944: At the same time, Leader of Corps Group “Blumentritt” (XII SS-Army Corps and XXXXVII Panzer Corps) under Army Group “von Manteuffel” (5th Panzer Army) on the Western Front.
• 28 January 1945: Transferred to the 25th Army in the Netherlands.
• 29 January 1945: Delegated with the leadership of the 25th Army in the Netherlands. [Blumentritt succeeded General der Flieger Friedrich Christiansen to command of the 25th Army when that officer resumed his fulltime role as the Armed Forces Commander of the Netherlands.[2]]
• 28 March 1945: Delegated with the leadership of the 1st Parachute Army on the Western Front. [Blumentritt briefly led the army after its commander, General der Fallschirmtruppe Alfred Schlemm, had been wounded in action. Less than two weeks later, Generaloberst Kurt Student assumed command of the 1st Parachute Army from Blumentritt.[3]]
• 10 April 1945: Leader of Army Group “Blumentritt” on the Western Front. [Established to control troops on the Weser River from Hameln to the Baltic Sea coast, the army group staff controlled a hodgepodge of under strength divisions, replacement and training units and battle groups organized primarily under the following headquarter staffs: Corps Ems (General der Infanterie Siegfried Rasp), the General Command “Witthöft” (General der Infanterie Joachim Witthöft) and, later in the month, the Battle Commandant of Hamburg (Luftwaffe Generalmajor Alwin Wolz). Tasked to delay the Anglo-Canadian advance into northern Germany, Blumentritt’s ad hoc army group tried to keep the Baltic Sea ports open as long as possible so that German refugees could escape from the Russian advance in the east. On 3 May 1945, the day Generalmajor Wolz surrendered Hamburg, a German delegation sought out Field Marshal Sir Bernard Law Montgomery, the commander of the 21st Army Group, to begin local surrender negotiations. Meeting Montgomery at his tactical headquarters at Lüneburg Heath, Generaladmiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg, the Commander-in-Chief of the Kriegsmarine, and his delegation began negotiations for the surrender of all German military and naval forces in northwest Germany, the Frisian Islands, Helgoland, all other islands, the Netherlands, Schleswig-Holstein, and Denmark.[4] At 1830 hours on 4 May 1945, the German delegation signed the surrender document which came into effect at 0800 hours the next day.]
• 6 May 1945: Commander-in-Chief of Schleswig-Holstein.
• 1 June 1945- 1 December 1945: Prisoner of war in British captivity
  • 11th January 1946 transferred from Camp 1 to Island Farm Special Camp 11
  • 11th May 1946 transferred from Island Farm Special Camp 11 to LDC (London District Cage)
  • 5th July 1946 transferred from LDC to Island Farm Special Camp 11
  • 4th December 1946 transferred from Island Farm Special Camp 11 to Allendorf (on loan)
  • 6th Nov 1947 to US Custody
• 6th November 1947 - 1 January 1948: Prisoner of war in U.S. captivity.
• 1952: Published Von Rundstedt: The Soldier and the Man, a biography of his former commander-in-chief.