26 Facts About Karl Strecker

Karl Strecker was a German general during World War II who commanded several army corps on the Eastern Front.

Karl Strecker commanded the German Army's XI Army Corps in the Battle of Stalingrad and was the last German general to surrender his command in the city.

Karl Strecker spent twelve years in Soviet captivity before being released in 1955.

Karl Strecker was born in Radmannsdorf, West Prussia to a Prussian Army officer.

Karl Strecker began military training in a time of transition in the German Army.

Historically the Prussian officer corps had been dominated by aristocratic Junkers, but Karl Strecker was part of a new wave of middle-class Prussians who were beginning to dominate the Army's officer ranks.

Karl Strecker was promoted quickly and served as both the battalion and regimental adjutant.

Karl Strecker participated in the battles of Tannenberg and Masurian Lakes.

Six months later, in May 1917, Karl Strecker was reassigned to the artillery staff of the 52nd Infantry Division on the Western Front near Paris.

Karl Strecker briefly served in two other units before being seriously injured in an automobile accident.

Karl Strecker finally returned to his home unit, the 152nd Regiment, after the Armistice, this time as its commander.

Karl Strecker was transferred to Berlin in 1927 to command one of the police districts in the city.

Karl Strecker worked with the SA to suppress left-wing demonstrations and was generally held in favor by the Nazi government, being quickly promoted to Majorgeneral and given command of the newly restructured Stettin police district in April 1934.

Karl Strecker rejoined the Army as a Generalmajor in 1935.

Karl Strecker's new division was a reserve unit and was assigned to the border with France during the invasion of Poland.

Karl Strecker earned praise by his superiors, including Field Marshal Erwin von Witzleben, who called Strecker one of his best division commanders and recommended him as a corps commander.

Karl Strecker remained in France until early 1941 when his division was transferred to Austria and then to the Eastern Front to participate in Operation Barbarossa as part of the 6th Army in Army Group South.

Karl Strecker led his division in the invasion of Ukraine, participating in the Battle of Kiev and the First Battle of Kharkov.

Karl Strecker commanded the corps in the Second Battle of Kharkov.

Karl Strecker's positions had been largely isolated from the rest of the 6th Army, in the northern sector of Stalingrad.

Karl Strecker was determined to hold on as long as possible in order to provide any assistance he could to Erich von Manstein's other forces, although he refused to continue to fight exclusively for propaganda purposes and forbade his staff from committing suicide.

Karl Strecker issued an order to his officers in the final days of that month that any soldier seen breaking away from their unit and moving toward Soviet positions was to be shot and that any soldier caught taking airdropped supplies for himself or who disobeyed orders was to be immediately court-martialed.

The next morning Karl Strecker surrendered his 11th Corps to Soviet troops.

Karl Strecker was put before a show trial and sentenced to 25 years' imprisonment.

Karl Strecker was among a group of officers who maintained the BDO boycott throughout the war, although Paulus and a little more than half the other captive officers had joined by the end of 1944.

Karl Strecker lived out the remainder of his life in Riezlern, Austria, where he died in 1973.