Rainer Joseph Karl August Stahel (sometimes wrongly written as ''Reiner''; 15 January 1892 – 30 November 1955) was a German military officer and war criminal. He is best known for his retreat from Vilna and the command of the garrison of

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

during the

Warsaw Uprising The Warsaw Uprising (; ), sometimes referred to as the August Uprising (), or the Battle of Warsaw, was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance movement in World War II, Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from ...

of 1944. Arrested by the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

in Romania, he spent the rest of his life in Soviet captivity.

Early life

Stahel was born in

Bielefeld Bielefeld () is a city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 341,755, it is also the most populous city in the administrative region () of Detmold (region), Detmold and the L ...

. On 1 April 1911, he joined the 1. Lothringisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 130 of the Prussian Army.

World War I

He fought with the

German Army The German Army (, 'army') is the land component of the armed forces of Federal Republic of Germany, Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German together with the German Navy, ''Marine'' (G ...

during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. By the end of the war, he had moved to Finland and joined the Finnish Army participating in the

Finnish Civil War The Finnish Civil War was a civil war in Finland in 1918 fought for the leadership and control of the country between Whites (Finland), White Finland and the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic (Red Finland) during the country's transition fr ...

Interwar

In 1933 he went to

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

where he worked at the

Ministry of Aviation The Ministry of Aviation was a department of the United Kingdom government established in 1959. Its responsibilities included the regulation of civil aviation and the supply of military aircraft, which it took on from the Ministry of Supply. ...

World War II

Stahel participated in the German invasion of the Soviet Union as commander of Flakregiments 34 (June 1941), Flakregiment 99 (April 1942) and 4th Luftwaffe Field Division (September 1942). During the

Battle of Stalingrad The Battle of Stalingrad ; see . rus, links=on, Сталинградская битва, r=Stalingradskaya bitva, p=stəlʲɪnˈɡratskəjə ˈbʲitvə. (17 July 19422 February 1943) was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II, ...

, Stahel conducted defensive actions at the head of ''Kampfgruppe Stahel''. On 21 January 1943, he was promoted to major general and then transferred to Air Fleet 4. At the end of May 1943, he was appointed commander of the new 22nd Flak Brigade in Italy and entrusted with protecting the

Strait of Messina The Strait of Messina (; ) is a narrow strait between the eastern tip of Sicily (Punta del Faro) and the western tip of Calabria (Punta Pezzo) in Southern Italy. It connects the Tyrrhenian Sea to the north with the Ionian Sea to the south, with ...

. Following the German retreat from Sicily and Italy's surrender, Stahel was made the military commander of

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

in September 1943.

1944

In July 1944, he commanded the Vilnius garrison in the Vilnius offensive and was able to postpone the seizure of that city by the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

. For his efforts, on 28 July 1944, he was awarded the Swords to the Knight's Cross and promoted to the rank of

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

Warsaw uprising

Stahel was transferred to Warsaw, where he was to defend the city against the advancing

. However, the Soviet offensive was halted. Instead, on August 1, the

was started by the Polish

Home Army The Home Army (, ; abbreviated AK) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) established in the ...

. On the uprising's first day, Stahel was surrounded in his headquarters in the Saxon Palace, and he lost control of the situation. On August 4, command over Nazi forces in Warsaw was given to

Waffen-SS The (; ) was the military branch, combat branch of the Nazi Party's paramilitary ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscr ...

commander Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski and Stahel's pocket was subordinated to the new commander. By August 7, the Kampfgruppe Meyer, which was part of SS-Sonderregiment Dirlewanger reached Stahel's positions in the city centre, although he did not resume his command over the city's garrison.

= Suppression of Warsaw uprising

Despite his relatively limited role in suppressing the Warsaw uprising of 1944, Stahel was responsible for a series of crimes committed against Warsaw's

civilians A civilian is a person who is not a member of an armed force. It is illegal under the law of armed conflict to target civilians with military attacks, along with numerous other considerations for civilians during times of war. If a civilian enga ...

. On August 2, he ordered the killing of all men identified as actual or potential insurgents and taking civilian hostages to be used as human shields when assaulting insurgent positions. Testimonies of the soldiers of the 562nd Grenadier Division's Grenadier Regiment East Prussia 4 who arrived in Warsaw on August 3 show that Stahel gave them the order to "kill all men encountered, remove women and children, and burn houses." Moreover, Stahel ordered the

execution Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in ...

of Polish prisoners held in Mokotów prison and officially sanctioned

looting Looting is the act of stealing, or the taking of goods by force, typically in the midst of a military, political, or other social crisis, such as war, natural disasters (where law and civil enforcement are temporarily ineffective), or rioting. ...

, allowing German soldiers to take anything they wanted from houses on fire.

Romania

On August 25, he was dispatched to

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

to replace General

Alfred Gerstenberg Alfred Gerstenberg (6 April 1893, in Grainau – 1 January 1959, in Bad Tölz) was a general of the Nazi German Luftwaffe (air force) in World War II, serving as commanding general of the Luftwaffe mission to Romania, and organizing a very effect ...

, where the German headquarters anticipated similar

urban warfare Urban warfare is warfare in urban areas such as towns and cities. Urban combat differs from combat in the open at both Military operation, operational and the Military tactics, tactical levels. Complicating factors in urban warfare include the p ...

; his troops attempted to occupy Romania's capital Bucharest, but they were repulsed by troops loyal to King

Michael I Michael I may refer to: * Pope Michael I of Alexandria, Coptic Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark in 743–767 * Michael I Rangabe, Byzantine Emperor (died in 844) * Michael I Cerularius, Patriarch Michael I of Constantinop ...

. On the same day, Romania declared war on the Axis. He was captured together with General Gerstenberg by Romanian soldiers at Gherghița on August 28. In the following days, the Red Army entered the city almost unopposed. On 20 September 1944, Stahel was arrested by the

together with Field Marshal

Ion Antonescu Ion Antonescu (; ; – 1 June 1946) was a Romanian military officer and Mareșal (Romania), marshal who presided over two successive Romania during World War II, wartime dictatorships as Prime Minister of Romania, Prime Minister and ''Conduc� ...

. Interrogated on his part in the Warsaw Uprising, he was imprisoned in the Soviet Union. The exact date of his death is a subject of controversy.

Death

According to initial Soviet sources, Stahel died on 30 November 1952 in Vladimir central transfer prison. However, recent sources confirm that Stahel died in 1955 in the Voikovo officer prison camp of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

when he was informed of his possible transfer to Germany. This date is also confirmed by the gravestone in Russia (General Cemetery of the Chernzy/Cherntsy War Cemetery).

Awards and decorations

Iron Cross The Iron Cross (, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, the German Empire (1871–1918), and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). The design, a black cross pattée with a white or silver outline, was derived from the in ...

(1914), 2nd and 1st Class ** 2nd Class on 12 October 1914 **1st Class on 24 March 1915Thomas 1998, p. 340. * Jäger Cross (''Jägerkreuz'') of the 27th Jäger Battalion (Finland) * Order of the Cross of Liberty, 3rd and 2nd Class ** 3rd Class on 8 May 1918 ** 2nd Class with Swords on 29 May 1918 * Finnish Commemorative Medal for the War of Freedom 1918 with battle clasp “Karjalan R.” (Vapaussodan – ''Karjalan rintama'') *

Wound Badge The Wound Badge () was a German military decoration first promulgated by Wilhelm II, German Emperor on 3 March 1918, which was first awarded to soldiers of the Imperial German Army, German Army who were wounded during World War I. Between the worl ...

(1918) in Black * Bronze Cross for Merit of the Civil Guard (Cross of Merit of the Protection Corps; Suojeluskunta Rautainen ansioristi) * The Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918 with Swords *

Wehrmacht Long Service Award The Wehrmacht Long Service Award () was a List of military decorations of the Third Reich, military service decoration of Nazi Germany issued for satisfactory completion of a number of years in military service. History On 16 March 1936, Adolf ...

, 4th and 3rd Class * Anschluss Medal on 11 February 1939 * War Merit Cross (1939), 2nd Class with Swords on 8 March 1941 * Repetition Clasp 1939 to the Iron Cross 1914, 2nd and 1st Class ** 2nd Class on 10 July 1941 ** 1st Class on 19 September 1941 * Anti-Aircraft Flak Battle Badge * Winter Battle in the East 1941–42 Medal *

Order of the White Rose of Finland The Order of the White Rose of Finland (; ) is one of three official orders in Finland, along with the Order of the Cross of Liberty, and the Order of the Lion of Finland. The President of Finland is the Grand Master of all three orders. The ...

, Commander's Cross * Reference in the '' Wehrmachtbericht'' on 14 July 1944 * Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords ** Knight's Cross on 18 January 1942 as ''

Oberstleutnant () (English: Lieutenant Colonel) is a senior field officer rank in several German-speaking and Scandinavian countries, equivalent to lieutenant colonel. It is currently used by both the ground and air forces of Austria, Germany, Switzerland, ...

'' and commander of Flak-Regiment 34.Scherzer 2007, p. 716. ** Oak Leaves on 4 January 1943 as ''

Oberst ''Oberst'' () is a senior field officer rank in several German language, German-speaking and Scandinavian countries, equivalent to Colonel. It is currently used by both the Army, ground and air forces of Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, a ...

and commander of a

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

Kampfgruppe In military history, the German term (pl. ; abbrev. KG, or KGr in usage during World War II, literally "fighting group" or " battlegroup") can refer to a combat formation of any kind, but most usually to that employed by the of Nazi Germa ...

"Stahel" ** Swords on 18 July 1944 as ''

Generalmajor is the Germanic languages, Germanic variant of major general, used in a number of Central Europe, Central and Northern European countries. Austria Belgium Denmark is the second lowest general officer rank in the Royal Danish Army and R ...

'' and commander of Fester Platz WilnaFellgiebel 2000, p. 44.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stahel, Rainer 1892 births 1955 deaths Nazi Party officials German Army personnel of World War I Luftwaffe World War II generals Recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Liberty, 2nd Class Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Liberty, 3rd Class Military personnel from Bielefeld Military personnel from the Province of Westphalia German people who died in Soviet detention Warsaw Uprising German forces Prussian Army personnel Finnish Army personnel Lieutenant generals of the Luftwaffe Holocaust perpetrators in Poland People of the Finnish Civil War (White side) German expatriates in Finland Nazis who died in prison custody