Karl-Heinrich Brenner
Encyclopedia
Karl Heinrich Brenner was a Leutnant in the Imperial German Army during World War I
. He then joined the State police force before joining the Waffen SS. He rose to the rank of Gruppenführer
and Generalleutnant of Polizei
during World War II
and was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
to recognize extreme battlefield bravery and successful military leadership by Nazi Germany
during World War II.
. He attended a secondary technical school and after graduation volunteered to join the Imperial German Army on the 3 August 1914. He joined the Field Artillery Regiment "von Scharnhorst" in Hanover
.
1st and 2nd class and the Wound Badge
in Silver, for being wounded four times.
, the attempt to overthrow the Weimar Republic
and was then discharged from the Army's 7th Infantry Regiment in 1920.
Brenner then joined the Landespolizei
in Baden
and in 1926, joined the Hitler Youth
. In May 1933 he joined the NSDAP (party number 3.460.685). In 1935 he moved to the National Police School in Berlin
and became an aide to the deputy commander of the Prussian State Police. He also got married to Ursula Moninger-Brenner (born March 26, 1915–1983, she would later marry Oberstgruppenführer
, Sepp Dietrich
in 1942). In the summer of 1935 he was involved with the Artillery exercises at the Jüterbog
Artillery School with the 4th Artillery Regiment in Ulm
.
In 1936 he was promoted to Battalion Commander and Hauptmann
of Ordnungspolizei
and he joined the SS on the 11 September 1938 (SS number 307.786) and was given the rank of Obersturmbannführer
.
He then participated in the Anschluss
of Austria
and the occupation of the Sudetenland
in 1938.
In August 1939, he was given command of the Police Sports School at Spandau
in Berlin.
After the Totenkopf Artillery Commander resumed command Brenner was given command of the SS Polezei Artillery Regiment. He received the Wound Badge in Gold in September 1941 for the loss of his left eye and in November 1941.
he was posted to command the Waffen SS Northwest and became the inspector of the police at Salzburg
. Then from August to October 1942, he assisted in the formation of the SS General Command.
In December 1942, he was given command over one of the four Kampfgruppe
s (battle groups), in the occupation of the French port of Toulon
. In February 1943 he returned to Berlin as commander of the Central office of Ordnungspolizei
and then commander of the Ordnungspolizei in Salzburg, as the Chief of anti-partisan operations under Higher SS and Police Leader Alpenland which was one of the most powerful postings in Nazi Germany. He also got married for the second time in 1942, leaving his first wife and three daughters.
During December 1943,he was posted as the police commander in the Ukraine
and was also awarded the German Cross
in Gold. The citation read:
Karl Brenner next assumed command of the Curt von Gottberg
Kampfgruppe in July 1944 and Chief of the Bandenkampfverbände (substituting for Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski) between July and September 1944 on anti partisan
operations. He then replaced Gustav Lombard
as commander of the 6th SS Gebirgs Division Nord in September 1944,
It was while in command of the 6th SS Gebirgs Division that he was awarded the Knight's Cross in December 1944.
The Division was under command of the XVIII Mountain Corps and under attack by the advancing Russia
n forces in the Karella sector. They were ordered to breakthrough at Kuusamo
, Kistinki and simultaneously to prevent reinforcements moving up. On 19 September 1944, the Division attacked a Regiment held in reserve that consisted of two mountain artillery battalions and Headquarters. The successful defence secured the front line along the Finnish
, Russian border.
After pulling out of Finland the division was transferred to Denmark
and later to Germany, where they surrendered to US forces in Bavaria
. Brenner remained in command of the Division until 2 April 1945 when he was made a prisoner of war
by the Americans.
.
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. He then joined the State police force before joining the Waffen SS. He rose to the rank of Gruppenführer
Gruppenführer
Gruppenführer was an early paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party, first created in 1925 as a senior rank of the SA.-SS rank:...
and Generalleutnant of Polizei
Polizei
Polizei is the German word for police. It might refer to:-National agencies:*Bundespolizei - Federal Police of Germany*Bundespolizei - Federal Police of Austria*Bundeskriminalamt - Federal Criminal Office of Germany, comparable to the FBI...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was a grade of the 1939 version of the 1813 created Iron Cross . The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was the highest award of Germany to recognize extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership during World War II...
to recognize extreme battlefield bravery and successful military leadership by Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
during World War II.
Early life
Karl Heinrich Brenner was born on 1 May 1895, in MannheimMannheim
Mannheim is a city in southwestern Germany. With about 315,000 inhabitants, Mannheim is the second-largest city in the Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, following the capital city of Stuttgart....
. He attended a secondary technical school and after graduation volunteered to join the Imperial German Army on the 3 August 1914. He joined the Field Artillery Regiment "von Scharnhorst" in Hanover
Hanover
Hanover or Hannover, on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, under their title as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg...
.
World War I
Brenner was selected to become an officer in 1915, and promoted to Leutnant, he remained in the Field Artillery Regiment "von Scharnhorst" until January 1919. He then served with the Baden Volunteer Battalion Ost from January 1919 to April 1920. During the war he was awarded the Iron CrossIron Cross
The Iron Cross is a cross symbol typically in black with a white or silver outline that originated after 1219 when the Kingdom of Jerusalem granted the Teutonic Order the right to combine the Teutonic Black Cross placed above a silver Cross of Jerusalem....
1st and 2nd class and the Wound Badge
Wound Badge
Wound Badge was a German military award for wounded or frost-bitten soldiers of Imperial German Army in World War I, the Reichswehr between the wars, and the Wehrmacht, SS and the auxiliary service organizations during the Second World War. After March 1943, due to the increasing number of Allied...
in Silver, for being wounded four times.
Between the Wars
Brenner participated in the Kapp PutschKapp Putsch
The Kapp Putsch — or more accurately the Kapp-Lüttwitz Putsch — was a 1920 coup attempt during the German Revolution of 1918–1919 aimed at overthrowing the Weimar Republic...
, the attempt to overthrow the Weimar Republic
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
and was then discharged from the Army's 7th Infantry Regiment in 1920.
Brenner then joined the Landespolizei
Landespolizei
thumb|[[Germany|German]] police officer in [[Hamburg]]The Landespolizei are the main police forces of Germany. They are under the sole jurisdiction, funded and operated by the states of Germany.-History:...
in Baden
Baden
Baden is a historical state on the east bank of the Rhine in the southwest of Germany, now the western part of the Baden-Württemberg of Germany....
and in 1926, joined the Hitler Youth
Hitler Youth
The Hitler Youth was a paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party. It existed from 1922 to 1945. The HJ was the second oldest paramilitary Nazi group, founded one year after its adult counterpart, the Sturmabteilung...
. In May 1933 he joined the NSDAP (party number 3.460.685). In 1935 he moved to the National Police School in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
and became an aide to the deputy commander of the Prussian State Police. He also got married to Ursula Moninger-Brenner (born March 26, 1915–1983, she would later marry Oberstgruppenführer
Oberstgruppenführer
Oberst-Gruppenführer was the highest commissioned SS rank with the exception of Reichsführer-SS, which was a special rank held by Heinrich Himmler...
, Sepp Dietrich
Sepp Dietrich
Josef "Sepp" Dietrich was a German SS General. He was one of Nazi Germany's most decorated soldiers and commanded formations up to Army level during World War II. Prior to 1929 he was Adolf Hitler's chauffeur and bodyguard but received rapid promotion after his participation in the murder of...
in 1942). In the summer of 1935 he was involved with the Artillery exercises at the Jüterbog
Jüterbog
Jüterbog is a historic town in north-eastern Germany, located in the Teltow-Fläming district of Brandenburg. It is located on the Nuthe river at the northern slope of the Fläming hill range, about southwest of Berlin.-History:...
Artillery School with the 4th Artillery Regiment in Ulm
Ulm
Ulm is a city in the federal German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the River Danube. The city, whose population is estimated at 120,000 , forms an urban district of its own and is the administrative seat of the Alb-Donau district. Ulm, founded around 850, is rich in history and...
.
In 1936 he was promoted to Battalion Commander and Hauptmann
Hauptmann
Hauptmann is a German word usually translated as captain when it is used as an officer's rank in the German, Austrian and Swiss armies. While "haupt" in contemporary German means "main", it also has the dated meaning of "head", i.e...
of Ordnungspolizei
Ordnungspolizei
The Ordnungspolizei or Orpo were the uniformed regular police force in Nazi Germany between 1936 and 1945. It was increasingly absorbed into the Nazi police system. Owing to their green uniforms, they were also referred to as Grüne Polizei...
and he joined the SS on the 11 September 1938 (SS number 307.786) and was given the rank of Obersturmbannführer
Obersturmbannführer
Obersturmbannführer was a paramilitary Nazi Party rank used by both the SA and the SS. It was created in May 1933 to fill the need for an additional field grade officer rank above Sturmbannführer as the SA expanded. It became an SS rank at the same time...
.
He then participated in the Anschluss
Anschluss
The Anschluss , also known as the ', was the occupation and annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938....
of Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
and the occupation of the Sudetenland
Sudetenland
Sudetenland is the German name used in English in the first half of the 20th century for the northern, southwest and western regions of Czechoslovakia inhabited mostly by ethnic Germans, specifically the border areas of Bohemia, Moravia, and those parts of Silesia being within Czechoslovakia.The...
in 1938.
In August 1939, he was given command of the Police Sports School at Spandau
Spandau
Spandau is the fifth of the twelve boroughs of Berlin. It is the fourth largest and westernmost borough, situated at the confluence of the Havel and Spree rivers and along the western bank of the Havel, but the least populated.-Overview:...
in Berlin.
World War II
During World War II his first assignment was from October 1939 the command of the police regiment Warsaw until March 1940 when he was transferred to the SS Division Totenkopf and given temporary command of the SS Artillery Regiment Totenkopf.After the Totenkopf Artillery Commander resumed command Brenner was given command of the SS Polezei Artillery Regiment. He received the Wound Badge in Gold in September 1941 for the loss of his left eye and in November 1941.
he was posted to command the Waffen SS Northwest and became the inspector of the police at Salzburg
Salzburg
-Population development:In 1935, the population significantly increased when Salzburg absorbed adjacent municipalities. After World War II, numerous refugees found a new home in the city. New residential space was created for American soldiers of the postwar Occupation, and could be used for...
. Then from August to October 1942, he assisted in the formation of the SS General Command.
In December 1942, he was given command over one of the four Kampfgruppe
Kampfgruppe
In military history and military slang, the German term Kampfgruppe can refer to a combat formation of any kind, but most usually to that employed by the German Wehrmacht and its allies during World War II and, to a lesser extent, in World War I...
s (battle groups), in the occupation of the French port of Toulon
Toulon
Toulon is a town in southern France and a large military harbor on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region, Toulon is the capital of the Var department in the former province of Provence....
. In February 1943 he returned to Berlin as commander of the Central office of Ordnungspolizei
Ordnungspolizei
The Ordnungspolizei or Orpo were the uniformed regular police force in Nazi Germany between 1936 and 1945. It was increasingly absorbed into the Nazi police system. Owing to their green uniforms, they were also referred to as Grüne Polizei...
and then commander of the Ordnungspolizei in Salzburg, as the Chief of anti-partisan operations under Higher SS and Police Leader Alpenland which was one of the most powerful postings in Nazi Germany. He also got married for the second time in 1942, leaving his first wife and three daughters.
During December 1943,he was posted as the police commander in the Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
and was also awarded the German Cross
German Cross
The German Cross was instituted by Adolf Hitler on 17 November 1941 as an award ranking higher than the Iron Cross First Class but below the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross respectively ranking higher than the War Merit Cross First Class with Swords but below the Knight's Cross of the War Merit...
in Gold. The citation read:
Karl Brenner next assumed command of the Curt von Gottberg
Curt von Gottberg
Curt von Gottberg was a Nazi official and military commander. Beginning in October 1942, within a few years he had personally combined the highest civil and military powers in occupied Belarus: from March 1943 as representative of the HSSPF for central Russia, and from October 1943 as the acting...
Kampfgruppe in July 1944 and Chief of the Bandenkampfverbände (substituting for Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski) between July and September 1944 on anti partisan
Partisan (military)
A partisan is a member of an irregular military force formed to oppose control of an area by a foreign power or by an army of occupation by some kind of insurgent activity...
operations. He then replaced Gustav Lombard
Gustav Lombard
Gustav Lombard was an SS Brigadeführer who served in World War II. During World War II, Lombard commanded the 8. SS-Division Florian Geyer, 23. SS-Mountain Division Kama and the 31. SS-Volunteer Grenadier Division...
as commander of the 6th SS Gebirgs Division Nord in September 1944,
It was while in command of the 6th SS Gebirgs Division that he was awarded the Knight's Cross in December 1944.
The Division was under command of the XVIII Mountain Corps and under attack by the advancing Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n forces in the Karella sector. They were ordered to breakthrough at Kuusamo
Kuusamo
Kuusamo is a town and municipality in Finland. It is located in the Oulu province and is part of the Northern Ostrobothnia region. The municipality has a population of and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is ....
, Kistinki and simultaneously to prevent reinforcements moving up. On 19 September 1944, the Division attacked a Regiment held in reserve that consisted of two mountain artillery battalions and Headquarters. The successful defence secured the front line along the Finnish
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, Russian border.
After pulling out of Finland the division was transferred to Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
and later to Germany, where they surrendered to US forces in Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
. Brenner remained in command of the Division until 2 April 1945 when he was made a prisoner of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
by the Americans.
Post war
Brenner survived the war in captivity upon his release he returned to Germany and died on the 14 February 1954 in KarlsruheKarlsruhe
The City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...
.