- Ernst Kaether
Ernst Kaether was an officer in the German Army ("
Wehrmacht Heer ") duringWorld War II .As a Lieutenant-Colonel ("
Oberstleutnant "), Kaether commanded the 14th Infantry Regiment of the 5th Jäger Division. On10 December 1942 , as commander of this regiment, he received aKnight's Cross of the Iron Cross .On
22 April 1945 , Kaether briefly replaced Lieutenant-General ("Generalleutnant")Helmuth Reymann as commander of the Berlin Defense Area and he commanded the defenses of the city of Berlin during theBattle for Berlin . Kaether was personally promoted to Major-General ("Generalmajor") and then Lieutenant-General ("Generalleutnant") by German dictatorAdolf Hitler for this command. Prior to this, Kaether had been the Chief-of-Staff to the German Army's political commissar. [Beevor, Antony. "Berlin: The Downfall 1945", Penguin Books, 2002, ISBN 0-670-88695-5, Page 268]However, Kaether never actually took command of Berlin's defenses. Before he could take command, Hitler cancelled his promotions and Kaether was replaced by Artillery General ("General der Artillerie")
Helmuth Weidling . For a brief period between Kaether and Weidling, Hitler himself took personal command of the Berlin defenses. Another newly promoted Major-General ("Generalmajor"),Erich Bärenfänger , was Hitler's "deputy" commander of the Berlin Defense Area during this brief period.See also
*
List of Knight's Cross recipients References
* Beevor, Antony. "Berlin: The Downfall 1945", Penguin Books, 2002, ISBN 0-670-88695-5
Footnotes
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