Gustav Lombard

Infobox Military Person
name=Gustav Lombard
born=birth date|1895|4|10|df=y
died=death date and age|1992|9|18|1895|4|10|df=y
placeofbirth=Klein Spiegelberg in the Uckermark
placeofdeath=Mühldorf in Bavaria


caption=
nickname=
allegiance=flagicon|Nazi Germany Nazi Germany
branch=
serviceyears=1933-1945
rank=Brigadeführer
commands=
unit=
battles=World War II
awards=Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
laterwork=

Gustav Lombard (April 10, 1895 – September 18 ,1992) was a Waffen-SS General in Nazi Germany.

Early Life

Lombard was born in Klein Spiegelberg, near Prenzlau, Province of Brandenburg. After his father´s death in 1906 he visited his relatives in the USA (it´s claimed he was an Uncle of Hollywood actress Carole Lombard [ [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001479/bio imdb.com] ] [ [http://www.ritterkreuztraeger-1939-45.de/Waffen-SS/L/Lombard-Gustav.htm ritterkreuztraeger-1939-45.de] ] ) in 1913, where he passed his High School exam and started studying Modern Languages at the University of Missouri. After the end of World War I he returned to Germany in Autumn 1919 and worked for American Express and the Chrysler Motor Company in Berlin. [Martin Cüppers, „Vorreiter der Shoah, Ein Vergleich der Einsätze der beiden SS-Kavallerieregimenter im August 1941“ in Timm C. Richter: „Krieg und Verbrechen“, Meidenbauer Martin Verlag 2006, ISBN-10: 3-89975-080-2 [http://books.google.de/books?id=aioKQyCatq4C&pg=PA88&lpg=PA88&dq=gustav+lombard&source=web&ots=5R-uArIQeZ&sig=WSCVxKrTeYYs2QRKgr_EU35lwPE&hl=de#PPA89,M1] ] .

SS career

Lombard joined NSDAP and SS quickly after the Machtergreifung
Nazi takeover of power in 1933 and became a member of SS – Cavalry. After a short time in the Wehrmacht throughout the German invasion of Poland Lombard was promoted as Commander of the 3. Schwadron (Squadron) of the SS Totenkopf-Reiter-Standarte in December 1939 and in this function he was ordered on April 7, 1940 to occupy and hunt the district of Krolowiec (Poland) near Warsaw, where he gave order to kill any non-german male person between 17 and 60 years of age in the case of resistance. Hermann Fegelein, the Commander of the 1. SS Totenkopf-Reiter-Standarte afterwards reported 250 executed persons throughout this deployment.

In the end of July 1941 Lombard was commander of the Mounted Branch of 1. SS Cavalry Regiment deployed in the Pinsk Marshes east of Brest-Litovsk, where he first used the term ”Entjudung” (De – jewification), his directive was: ” No male Jew survives, no leftover - families will stay in the villages.” Throughout the next weeks members of the SS Cavalry Regiment under Lombards command murdered estimated more than 11,000 Jews and more than 400 dispersed Soviet Soldiers. [Martin Cüppers, „Vorreiter der Shoah, Ein Vergleich der Einsätze der beiden SS-Kavallerieregimenter im August 1941“ in Timm C. Richter: „Krieg und Verbrechen“, Meidenbauer Martin Verlag 2006, ISBN-10: 3-89975-080-2]

= SS Ranks =

* SS membership : May 1933 (No. 185.023)
* NSDAP membership : February 10, 1933 (No. 2.649.630)

* September 15, 1935 "SS-Untersturmführer"
* September 13, 1936 "SS-Obersturmführer"
* September 11, 1938 "SS-Hauptsturmführer"
* March 1, 1940 "SS-Hauptsturmführer der Reserve" in der Waffen-SS
* June 21, 1941 "SS-Sturmbannführer der Reserve"
* March 16, 1943 "SS-Obersturmbannführer der Reserve" ( retroactive March 1, 1942)
* January 30, 1943 "SS-Standartenführer der Reserve"
* March 13, 1944 "SS-Oberführer"
* April 20, 1945 "SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Waffen-SS"

Awards

* Sudetenland Medal
* Iron Cross II. and I. Class
* German Cross, February 11, 1943
* Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, March 10, 1943
* Allgemeines Sturmabzeichen in Silver
* Eastern Front Medal
* SA-Sportabzeichen in Bronze
* Ehrendegen des Reichsführers-SS
* SS-Ehrenring

Commands

* December 6, 1940 - 25. February 25, 1941 I./SS-Totenkopf-Cavalry-Regiment 1
* February 25, - August 19, 1941 Mounted Branch/SS-Totenkopf-Reiterstandarte
* October 15, - November 20, 1941 Commander of the SS-Kavallerie-Brigade as a substitute of Hermann Fegelein.
* August 18, 1941 - October 22, 1943 SS-Totenkopf-Kavallerie-Regiment 1 (renamed to SS-Kavallerie-Regiment 1 on September 1, 1941 )
* 28. October 28, - December 6, 1943 Commander of Waffen-Grenadier-Brigade of the SS (1st Italian)
* April 14, - July 1, 1944 8th SS Cavalry Division Florian Geyer
* July 14, - August 23, 1944 12th Divisions-Führerlehrgang in Hirschberg
* August 23, - September 1, 1944 6th SS Mountain Division Nord ( not assumed )
* September 1944 Führerreserve (Reserve)
* September 28, - October 1, 1944 23rd Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Kama
* October 1, 1944 - April 1945 31st SS Volunteer Grenadier Division.

After 1945

Lombard became a Prisoner of War in the Soviet Union in April 1945 and was sentenced as a war criminal to 25 years in prison in 1947, in 1955 he was amnestied after West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer organized the return of the remaining German POWs from the Soviet Union.

Lombard worked for the Allianz Insurance company in Munich and died in Mühldorf am Inn in the age of 97.

Literature

* Martin Cüppers: "Wegbereiter der Shoah. Die Waffen-SS, der Kommandostab Reichsführer-SS und die Judenvernichtung 1939-1945." Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2005. ISBN 3-534-16022-3
* Martin Cüppers: "Gustav Lombard. Ein engagierter Judenmörder der Waffen-SS." in: Klaus-Michael Mahlmann, Gerhard Paul (Hrsg.): "Karrieren der Gewalt. Nationalsozialistische Täterbiographien." Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2004, ISBN 3-534-16654-X, S. 145-155.

Notes