Wechmar, Freiherr von, Irnfried (Pz-Aufklär.Abt.3)
- Date of birth:
- February 12th, 1899 (Frankfurt am Main/Hesse, Germany)
- Date of death:
- November 27th, 1959 (Bonn/North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany)
- Nationality:
- German (1933-1945, Third Reich)
Biography
Irnfried Krafft Alexander Freiherr von Wechmar
Promotions:
10.08.1914 Fähnrich (A17a)
24.12.1914 Leutnant, without Patent
12.02.1916 Patent
31.08.1922 Charakter als Oberleutnant a.D.
01.07.1922 RDA 12.02.1916
01.10.1933 char. Oberleutnant a.D. RDA 01.12.1928 (4)
01.05.1934 Hauptmann RDA 01.01.1933 (68)
01.01.1938 Major (52)
01.03.1941 Oberstleutnant (40)
17.12.1941 new. RDA 01.02.1940 (14a)
01.03.1942 Oberst (204)
When the war broke out in 1914, Irnfried Freiherr von Wechmar, not yet 16 years old, joined the Guard Foot Artillery Regiment as an ensign. At the end of the war he was a lieutenant and battery leader.
Taken over by the Reichswehr, he left in 1922 to become a journalist.
In 1933 he was reactivated as captain and at the outbreak of war he was the commander of Panzer Reconnaissance Division 3, which he led in Poland and France.
Under his leadership, the division landed in Africa and took Benghasi and Bardia. For these achievements he was one of the first Africa fighters to be awarded the Knight's Cross on April 13, 1941.
After his return from Africa he became department head in the OKW for the Wehrmacht propaganda.
He then became commander of the 147th Panzer Grenadier Regiment and was in command of the Esbjerg-Fanö defense area in Denmark at the end of the war.
After the end of the war, Wechmar went to the Bundeswehr in 1956, where he served as Oberst der Reserve.
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Eisernes Kreuz 2.Klasse (1914)
- Period:
- First World War (1914-1918)
- Awarded on:
- April 22nd, 1915
- Period:
- First World War (1914-1918)
- Awarded on:
- March 23rd, 1918
- Period:
- First World War (1914-1918)
- Awarded on:
- September 7th, 1918
Ehrenkreuz für Frontkämpfer
- Period:
- First World War (1914-1918)
- Awarded on:
- February 6th, 1935
- Awarded on:
- February 10th, 1937
- Awarded on:
- 1937
Kriegserinnerungsmedaille
- Period:
- First World War (1914-1918)
- Awarded on:
- 1938
Haborus Emlékérem kardokkal és sisakkal
- Period:
- First World War (1914-1918)
- Awarded on:
- 1919
- Awarded on:
- 1939
- Period:
- Second World War (1939-1945)
- Awarded on:
- September 14th, 1939
- Period:
- Second World War (1939-1945)
- Awarded on:
- October 9th, 1939
- Period:
- Second World War (1939-1945)
- Rank:
- Oberstleutnant (Lieutenant-colonel)
- Unit:
- Kommandeur, Panzer-Aufklärungsabteilung 3, 3. Panzer-Division
- Awarded on:
- April 13th, 1941
Medaglia d'argento al Valore Militare
- Period:
- Second World War (1939-1945)
- Awarded on:
- September 1st, 1941
- Period:
- Second World War (1939-1945)
- Awarded on:
- September 4th, 1941
other sources give 01.09.1941
- Period:
- Second World War (1939-1945)
- Rank:
- Oberstleutnant (Lieutenant-colonel)
- Unit:
- Kommandeur, Panzer-Aufklärungsabteilung 3, 3. Panzer-Division
- Awarded on:
- January 16th, 1942
- Period:
- First World War (1914-1918)
- Period:
- Second World War (1939-1945)
Sources
- Photo 1:
- - KUROWSKI, F., Knight's Cross Holders of the Afrikakorps, Schiffer Publishing Ltd., Atglen, United States, 1996.
- Die Ordensträger der Deutschen Wehrmacht (CD), VMD-Verlag GmbH, Osnabrück, 2002
- Patzwall K., Scherzer V., Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941-1945, Geschichte und Inhaber Band II, Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall, Norderstedt, 2001
- http://www.ritterkreuztraeger.info/rk/w/W093Wechmar.pdf
Photo
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