Studnitz, von, Helfrid

Date of birth:: May 2nd, 1911 (Wilhelmshaven, Germany)
Date of death:: May 8th, 1994 (Hamburg, Germany)
Nationality:: German

Biography

Helfrid von Studnitz was born May 2nd, 1911, in Wilhelmshaven, Germany as the son of an Imperial Naval officer who became captain of the cruiser SMS München during World War 1.
Though initially wishing to enter the Cavalry, upon the advice of his cousin Bogislav von Studnitz, a General Staff officer who became a lieutenant- general in World War 1, he applied for and became one of four out of 220 successful candidates to become an officer candidate in the newly established motorized forces in October 1932.
Assigned to the 2nd Motorized Unit in Stettin, he completed NCO school in Wünsdorf near Berlin and the Infantry School in Dresden and became a senior officer candidate on September 1st, 1939.
Due to the rapid expansion of the military forces of the Third Reich he was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant a month later, and assigned as recruit trainer of 1st Company of the Motorized Unit in Schwerin, commanded by Major Werner, who was awarded the Knight's Cross during the French campaign.
After hospitalization due to severe injuries sustained during an car accident in May 1935, Von Studnitz was assigned to 3rd Company of 20th Panzerjäger in Hamburg commanded by Count Hoffmannsegg.
As the new 30th Panzerjäger was set up in Lübeck he was assigned as its first adjutant, and soon thereafter was named commander of its 2nd Company. Promoted to 1st Lieutenant on October 1st, 1937, he led this company into Poland on September 1st, 1939. His company had four other lieutenants and during the war, two were killed in action and two severely wounded with only Von Studnitz being left unscathed.
In Poland, Von Studnitz was involved in the heavy fighting at Shitomir, at Kalisch, at Lodz, and in the battle of Kutno, during which a third of his company was killed or wounded. He was awarded the Iron Cross II Class on September 5th, 1939, and he and his company were transferred to the Western Front on September 15th..
Transferred to the IX Army Corps as 1st Ordnance officer for General Staff training on March 2nd, 1940 and promoted to Captain on September 1st, 1940, he was again given a battle command as chief of 3rd Company of 113th Panzerjäger on December 14th, 1940. This new unit was largely set up with motorized vehicles captured from the British after Dunkirk of which Von Studnitz said had the liability of making it difficult to get replacement parts when necessary.

Von Studnitz' unit was assigned to occupation duty in Poland for a few months, and then was involved in the invasion of Russia. Until mid-August 1941, he led his company in action in the central part of the Front, when he was named adjutant of 7th Panzer Division. With this division he took part in its fierce battles, such as around Wjasana.
Between the end of November and December 6th, 1941, his division reached he Moscow-Volga Canal, which was the easternmost point of Von Studnitz's advance. Von Studnitz told of seeing the lights of Moscow on the horizion and that the temperature during this time fell to -45 degrees Celsius. Von Studnitz told of the terrible conditions during the subsequent retreat; the numbing cold and the need for speed made the troops leave almost all of their material behind, though he added the motorized troops suffered much less than the infantry. Von Studnitz also spoke of the devotion of the Russian Cossack troops siding with the Germans and guarding Axis troop trains in the freezing cold.
After having received the War Merit Cross II Class with Swords on September 20th, 1942, and 1st Class with Swords on January 30th, 1943, February 10th, he was made commander of 42nd Panzerjäger, 7th Panzer Division, followed by his promotion to Major on March 1st, and conferment of the Iron Cross I Class on April 9th.
Due to the heavy losses among tank and infantry officers he was named commander of 1st Battalion, 6th Panzer Grenadier Regiment of his division on June 1st, after seven of his predessesors had been killed within a few weeks. After some time in this position he was sent to a unit commander's school in Paris, having studied law at Sorbonne University before the war. There he was often the guest of the émigré Prince Dadiani, whose daughter Salome asked him not to come in uniform, as she and her family were involved with the Resistance and often were hiding British officers, which he thought astounding as the city was filled with German military and security forces.

On November 10th, 1943 Von Studnitz was transferred to Italy as commander of 190th Panzerjäger within the so-called "Sardines and Malaria division", a nickname earned by the many cases of malaria this division had suffered on Sardinia.
After a rather quiet and uneventfull time guarding the Adriatic coast between Triest and Rimini against an amphibious attack that never materialized, Von Studnitz was involved in the heavy fighting at Monte Cassino. Von Studnitz recalled that at the point he was defending with some 80 troops, only he and a sergeant had survived, all the others having been killed or at least wounded.
Recommended by his division commander General Baade, Von Studnitz was awarded the German Cross in Gold following this engagement. While in Rome Von Studnitz had an audience with the Pope, an event that Hitler usually did not permit German officers, but which was allowed based on Von Studnitz' saying he knew the Pope from his Berlin days.
July 1st, 1944, after leaving Rome with the last German troops as the Allies had already reached the city's outskirts, he was assigned by the Army to be transferred to the Waffen SS as adjutant of the future XIII Waffen SS Army Corps. His request to have this transfer annulled through his influential friend General Linnarz at the Führer's headquarters was denied with the comment that any officer not willing to serve in the SS would no longer have a place in the Army either.
Von Studnitz' refusal to resign resulted in his being forcibly transferred to the Waffen SS, where he was regarded with considerable suspicion. Charged with setting up the staff of the new army corps in Breslau, Von Studnitz was faced with the difficulty that the SS wanted politically loyal officers be put in leading positions, while the availability of such men with the necessary military qualifications was lacking. This resulted in the majority of the officers as well as troops being forcibly transferred from the regular Army.

The attempt of the army corps to stem the tide of German retreat at Saarbrücken failed due to the overwhelming material superiority of the Allies and the corps was gradually driven back through southern Germany. During these last months of the war in 1945 Von Studnitz was made a regimental commander within the Corps and was awarded the German Cross in Silver, having been promoted to Lieutenant Colonel on January 30th.
The Corp's final headquarters before its surrender was at St. Johann at the Chiemsee.
Shortly after the surrender Von Studnitz was named Chief Liasion to the Allies for the 1st Army, where he worked with the Americans in the Grand Hotel at Kitzbühl, Austria in the surrender of Reichsmarshal Wilhelm Göring as well as Field Marshal Ferdinand Schörner who had left his troops in the lurch and offered his services to the Allies in civillian clothes.
After the German disarmament Von Studnitz returned to civilian life, though he became a Lieutenant Colonel in the Reserves when the West German Army was set up in the 1950's, finally demobilizing in the 1970's.
After retiring from a career as an Volkswagen executive, he died in Hamburg on May 8th, 1994.