This article needs additional citations for verification. (October 2012) |
Waldemar Erfurth (4 August 1879 – 2 May 1971) was a German general of infantry, a writer and liaison officer to Finland during World War II.
Waldemar Erfurth | |
|---|---|
 Erfurth with C. G. E. Mannerheim. | |
| Born | 4 August 1879 |
| Died | 2 May 1971 (aged 91) |
| Allegiance |  German Empire  Weimar Republic  Nazi Germany |
Branch | Heer (Wehrmacht) |
Rank | General der Infanterie |
Conflicts | World War I World War II Continuation War |
| Awards | Iron Cross of 1914, 1st class Knight's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern with Swords Finnish Order of the Cross of Liberty, First Class with Breast Star and Swords |
| Other work | Writer |
Erfurth was born in Berlin.[citation needed] He served in World War I, winning the Iron Cross 1st Class and the Knight's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern. After the war, he continued in the Reichswehr of the Weimar Republic.[citation needed] As German–Finnish military relations intensified in early 1941, Erfurth was posted as liaison officer at the Finnish headquarters in St. Michel, where he served from 1941 to 1944. His principal Finnish counterpart was the chief of the general staff, Erik Heinrichs.[1] After the war he published extensively on military history, including works on the Murmansk Railway and his time at the Finnish headquarters.[citation needed] He died in Tübingen.[citation needed]
Awards and decorations
edit- German Empire:
Kingdom of Prussia:
- Iron Cross of 1914, 1st and 2nd Class[2]
- Royal House Order of Hohenzollern, Knight's Cross with Swords (7 November 1916)[2]
- Officer's Service Decoration Cross[2]
Kingdom of Bavaria: Military Merit Order, 3rd Class with Swords[2]
Kingdom of Saxony: Albert Order, Knight's Cross 1st Class with Swords[2]
Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin: Military Merit Cross, 2nd Class[2]
Duchy of Brunswick: War Merit Cross, 2nd Class[2]
Free and Hanseatic City of Lübeck: Hanseatic Cross[2]
- Nazi Germany:
- Wehrmacht Long Service Award, 4th to 1st Class (2 October 1936)[3]
- War Merit Cross 2nd Class with Swords (30 January 1941)[3]
- War Merit Cross 1st Class with Swords (25 October 1941)[3]
- German Cross in Silver (20 April 1943)[3]
- Knight's Cross of the War Merit Cross with Swords (8 November 1944)[3]
Austro-Hungarian Empire:
- Order of the Iron Crown, 3rd Class with War Decoration[2]
- Austrian Military Merit Cross, 3rd Class with War Decoration[2]
Kingdom of Bulgaria: Order of Bravery, 4th Class, 1st Grade[2]
Republic of Finland:
- Order of the Cross of Liberty, First Class with Breast Star and Swords (16 September 1941)[4]
- Medal of Merit in gold of the Order of the Cross of Liberty (13th June 1944)[5]
Ottoman Empire: War Medal (Harp Madalyası or "Iron Crescent")[2]
Bibliography
edit- Der finnische Krieg (1950)
- Muurmannin radan ongelma (1952)
- Sotapäiväkirja marraskuu 1943 – syyskuu 1944 (1954; Swedish translation: Krigsdagbok november 1943 – september 1944, Söderströms, 1954)
- Die Geschichte des deutschen Generalstabs von 1918 bis 1945 (1957)
References
edit- ↑ "Waldemar Erfurth". Biografiskt lexikon för Finland (in Swedish). Helsingfors: Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Rangliste des Deutschen Reichsheeres (in German). Berlin: Mittler & Sohn Verlag. 1924. p. 119.
- 1 2 3 4 5 German Federal Archives (Bundesarchiv), Generalskartei von Waldemar Erfurth, BArch PERS 6/299616
- ↑ "Ausländische Auszeichnungen" (in German). Retrieved 1 January 2014.
- ↑ Tetri 2003, p. 48.
- Tetri, Juha E. (2003). Kunniamerkkikirja (in Finnish) (3rd ed.). Saarijärvi: Ajatus Kirjat. ISBN 951-9440-23-2.
  | This biographical article related to the German Army is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by adding missing information. |
</wiki>