Walter Kuntze

Walter Kuntze
File:List&Kuntze.jpg (Left) Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm List and (right) General der Pioniere Walter Kuntze walking in a prison courtyard during the Hostages Trial
Born	(1883-02-23)23 February 1883 Pritzerbe
Died	Detmold
Allegiance	German Empire (to 1918) Weimar Republic (to 1933) Nazi Germany
Service/branch	Heer
Years of service	1902–45
Rank	General der Pioniere
Commands held	6. Infanterie-Division XXIV. Armeekorps XXXXII. Armeekorps 12. Armee
Battles/wars	World War I World War II Battle of France Operation Sea Lion Operation Barbarossa Siege of Leningrad
Awards	Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross

Walter Kuntze (23 February 1883 – 1 April 1960) was a highly decorated General der Pioniere (US equiv. Lieutenant General of Engineers) in the Wehrmacht during World War II who commanded the 12. Armee. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. He was officer in command when the executions of men and children were ordered in Kragujevac Yugoslavia. Serbian civilians were selected merely to fill the quota of one hundred Serbs for every German soldier killed. General Walter Kuntze was assigned Deputy Wehrmacht Commander Southeast and Commander-in-Chief of the 12th Army on October 24. This was a temporary appointment, until List could return to duty. On October 31, Böhme submitted a report to Kuntze in which he detailed the shootings in Serbia:

“Shooting: 405 hostages in Belgrade (total up to now in Belgrade, 4,750). 90 Communists in Camp Sebac. 2,300 hostages in Kragujevac. 1,700 hostages in Kraljevo.”

Executions of Serbian civilians continued well into the following year. Kuntze stated the following in a directive of March 19, 1942:

"The more unequivocal and the harder reprisal measures are applied from the beginning the less it will become necessary to apply them at a later date. No false sentimentalities! It is preferable that 50 suspects are liquidated than one German soldier lose his life…If it is not possible to produce the people who have participated in any way in the insurrection or to seize them, reprisal measures of a general kind may be deemed advisable, for instance, the shooting to death of all male inhabitants from the nearest villages, according to a definite ratio (for instance, one German dead: 100 Serbs, one German wounded: 50 Serbs).” The Nazi Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. Walter Kuntze was captured by Allied troops in 1945 and was tried at the Hostages Trial in 1947. He was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment, but was released in 1953 due to ill health. He died on 1 April 1960.

Awards and decorations

• Iron Cross (1914)
  • 2nd Class
  • 1st Class
• Wound Badge (1914)
  • in Black
• Hanseatic Cross of Hamburg
• Gallipoli Star (Ottoman Empire) ("Eiserner Halbmond"; Ottoman Empire)
• Knight's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern with Swords
• Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918
• Iron Cross (1939)
  • 2nd Class
  • 1st Class
• War Merit Cross with Swords
  • 2nd Class
  • 1st Class
• German Cross in Silver (2 December 1943)
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 18 October 1941 as General der Pioniere and commander of XXXXII. Armeekorps

See also

• Hostages Trial
• List of Axis personnel indicted for war crimes

External links

• World War 2 Awards.com
• Lexikon der Wehrmacht
• Ritterkreuztraeger 1939-1945

Military offices
Preceded by none	Commander of 6. Infanterie-Division 15 May 1935 – 1 March 1938	Succeeded by Generalleutnant Arnold Freiherr von Biegeleben
Preceded by none	Commander of XXIV. Armeekorps 1 October 1938 – 14 February 1940	Succeeded by General der Panzertruppen Leo Freiherr Geyr von Schweppenburg
Preceded by none	Commander of XXXXII. Armeekorps 15 February 1940 – 10 October 1941	Succeeded by Generalleutnant Hans Graf von Sponeck
Preceded by Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm List	Commander of 12th Army 29 October 1941 – 2 July 1942	Succeeded by Generaloberst Alexander Löhr