World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseKarl Hubert Lanz was born in the Kingdom of Württemberg of the Germany Empire in 1896. He entered the German Army in 1914, joining the Stuttgart-based 125th Infantry Regiment at the rank of Fähnrich. He was severely wounded in Sep 1914, but would return to action upon recovery. He emerged from WW1 at the rank of Oberleutnant. He remained in the post-WW1 German Army. In 1937, he was promoted to the rank of Oberstleutnant and was made the Chief of Staff of IX Army Corps. Between Nov 1937 and Aug 1938, he commanded 100th Gebirgsjäger Regiment, setting up his WW2 career as a commander of mountain troops. When the European War broke out, he served as the Chief of Staff of the Wehrkreis V district, and early in the following year he served with the XVIII Armeekorps in the same capacity. In Oct 1940, he was given command of 1. Gebirgs-Division; he would lead this division in the preparation of the Gibraltar invasion (which was never executed) and the invasion of Yugoslavia. In Jun 1941, he led the division in the invasion of the Soviet Union, seeing action in Poland, Ukraine, and southern Russia; in the Caucasus region, it was Lanz who gave the order to fly a German flag atop Mount Elbrus, the highest peak of the Caucasus Mountains, on 21 Aug 1942. In Jan 1943, having already been relieved as the commanding officer of 1. Gebirgs-Division, he was promoted to the rank of full general (General der Gebirgstruppe) to command the Armeeabteilung Lanz, an army detachment; unable to hold Kharkov, Ukraine, he was dismissed within a month. Between Jun and Jul 1943, he was the commanding officer of XXXXIX Gebirgskorps, serving in the Crimea region of Ukraine. While in Ukraine, along with his Chief of Staff Hans Speidel, he plotted to arrest Adolf Hitler when he visited his headquarters; Hitler's visit would ultimately be canceled, and the plan was never carried out. From Sep 1943 until the end of the European War in 1945, he was the commanding officer of XXII Gebirgskorps based in northern Greece. In this role, he gave orders to forcibly evacuate entire villages near the coast and to conduct reprisal killings as punishment for anti-German partisan activities. Additionally, he was present at Cephallonia when his troops, on Hitler's direct orders, massacred thousands of Italian prisoners of war. Near the end of the war, he led his corps in retreat northeward, ultimately surrendering to US troops on 8 May 1945. He was tried at Nürnberg, Germany in 1947 for the atrocities committed by his troops in Greece; he was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment. He was released in 1951 after having served only 3 years. He joined the Freie Demokratische Partei political party as an adviser on military issues. In 1954, he published a book on the history of the 1. Gebirgs-Division. He passed away in München in southern Germany in 1982.

Photographs

Hubert Lanz Timeline