Hermann Ritter von Speck

Hermann Ritter von Speck
Born8 August 1888
Munich
Died15 June 1940(1940-06-15) (aged 51)
Pont-sur-Yonne, France
Allegiance German Empire (to 1918)
Weimar Republic (to 1933)
Nazi Germany
Branch
Royal Bavarian Army
Reichswehr
Army (Wehrmacht)
Service years
1907–1940
Rank
General of the Artillery
Commands33. Infanterie-Division
XXXXIII. Armeekorps
XVIII. Armeekorps
Conflicts
World War I
World War II Battle of France
AwardsKnight's Cross of the Iron Cross

Hermann Ritter von Speck (8 August 1888 – 15 June 1940) was a German general during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross of Nazi Germany. Speck was killed by French machine gun fire on 15 June 1940 in Pont-sur-Yonne, France.[1]

Speck was born in Munich in 1888 and entered the Royal Bavarian Army in 1907. He fought in World War I and, at the end of the war, he was a highly decorated Hauptmann and the deputy adjutant in the 6th Field Artillery Brigade.[2] After World War I, Speck joined the Freikorps and participated in the suppression of the German Revolution of 1918–1919 in southern Bavaria, Landshut, Augsburg, and Munich. He later became an Oberst in the Reichswehr.[3] Speck was promoted to Generalmajor on 1 August 1937 and to Generalleutnant on 1 June 1939. He was posthumously awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 17 October 1940, and posthumously promoted to General der Artillerie on 15 December 1944.[2]

In 2010, Jay Nordlinger spoke with von Speck's daughter, who claimed that the general deliberately sought death in battle: "According to his daughter, he wanted to die, and arranged to die. He felt he could not break his oath to the army — he could not desert. And his Catholic faith prevented him from committing suicide — suicide straight out, you might say. So, he put himself in the line of fire. In his dying words, he did not say, 'Give my love to my family', or anything like that. He said, 'It had to be this way'.”[4]

Awards and decorations

References

Citations

  1. ↑ Forczyk, Robert (30 November 2017). Case Rot; the Collapse of France. 5715: Osprey Publishing.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Webb 2025, p. 203.
  3. ↑ Jürgen Kraus: Handbuch der Verbände und Truppen des deutschen Heeres 1914–1918. Teil IX: Feldartillerie. Band 1. Verlag Militaria, Wien 2007, ISBN 978-3-902526-15-1, S. 129.
  4. ↑ Jay Nordlinger, "Salzburg Souvenirs, Part IV", National Review Online, 30 August 2010
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Reichswehrministerium (Ed.): Rangliste des Deutschen Reichsheeres. E.S. Mittler & Sohn, Berlin: 1930, p. 123.
  6. ↑ Fellgiebel 2000, p. .

Bibliography

  • Fellgiebel, Walther-Peer (2000) [1986]. Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939–1945 — Die Inhaber der höchsten Auszeichnung des Zweiten Weltkrieges aller Wehrmachtteile [The Bearers of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939–1945 — The Owners of the Highest Award of the Second World War of all Wehrmacht Branches] (in German). Friedberg, Germany: Podzun-Pallas. ISBN 978-3-7909-0284-6.
  • Webb, James Jack (2025). Generals and Admirals of the Third Reich: For Country or Fuehrer. Vol. 3: P–Z. Havertown, PA: Casemate Publishers. ISBN 978-1-952-71518-1.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.