Oberstleutnant i.G. Richard Robert Haizmann

Born : 29 April 1919 - Hochdorf - Germany

Died as POW : 24 February 1943 – Frolovo - Russia

Burried : Rossoschka – Russia - with the unknown

Mother : Lydia Maria Koch

Father : Albert Haizmann

Richard Haizmann was not married

Children : None

Entered military service voluntarily on 16 April 1928

1931. He attended a course, Box Lehrgang, in Wunsdorf between 15 March 1933 and 7 April 1933. On 16 January 1934 he attended the Gasschutz-Lehrgang in Berlin till 25 Janaury 1934, an E-Mess-Lehrgang in Döberitz between 27 February 1934 and 28 March 1934 and he also attended a course at the Scheinwerferdienst in Lankwitz between 18 July 1934 and 31 August 1934. He was promoted Oberleutnant on 1 April 1934 On 3 September 1934 Richard Haizmann was sent to the Siemens company (Siemens-Schuckertwerken) in Nürnberg for further training with Scheinwerfer (lighting spots) material. The course was 2 days long. On 1 October 1934 he was transferred to the 4. Batterie/Fahr Abteilung in Ludwigsburg near Gotha. On 31 March 1935 he left the Army and he became part of the Reichsluftfahrtministerium on 1 April 1935. Between 4 August 1935 and 11 August 1935 he took part in a course Flottentorpedoschiessen auf Kreuzer “Leipzig”. On 1 October 1935 he became an Adjudant in the I.Abteilung/Flak Regiment 13 in Wurzen. A year later, 1 Oktober 1936, Richard Haizmann was an Adjudant in Flak Regiment 4 in Dortmund.

He attended a shooting course for young officers in the Flakartillerie shool in Wustrow between 5 August 1937 and 26 August 1937.

On 1 December 1937 Richard Haizmann was transferred to the Legion Condor.

He was assigned to the 1.Battarie of Flak Abteilung 88. He promoted Hauptmann on 1 April 1938. He received his Spanienkreuz in Gold mit Schwertern on 6 June 1938. This medal was only given 1126 times. On 11 November 1938 he was transferred to the Luftkriegs school in Dresden-Klotzsche. He remained there till early September 1939.

Hauptmann Richard Haizmann as a Batterie Commander with the Condor Legion. He commanded the 1.F/88. For his actions with his unit around Villalba, Spain, Richard Haizmann received the Spanienkreuz in Gold mit Schwertern.

World War 2

On 10 September 1939 Richard Haizmann was transferred to the Flakartillerie school of Rerik. He was assigned as Ia op 2 with the commander of the Luftwaffe attached to the 1st German Army on 26 October 1939. On 14 May 1940 he was transferred to the Ia op 2 with the commander of the Luftwaffe attached to the 2^nd German Army. Haizmann took part in the Western Campaign between 12 May and 26 June 1940. For his actions he received the E.K. II on 4 July 1940. On 8 August 1940 he was part of the General der Luftwaffe of the Oberbefehlshaber des Heeres. He was transferred to the commander of the Luftwaffe of Army Group B. On 27 October he was sent to the Luftkriegsakademie in Berlin Gatow. There he attended a course Kriegs Kurz Lehrgang. In the meanwhile he became again part of the General der Luftwaffe of the Oberbefehlshaber des Heeres. He was transferred on 16 February 1941 as Quartiermeister of the Stab of the II. Flak Korps. On 1 April 1941 he was assigned as Ia op 2 with the Luftgau Kommando III, Abteilung IIa, in Berlin Dahlem. On 1 November 1941 he was transferred to the General Staf of the Luftwaffe. Richard Haizmann promoted Major on 25 November 1941. On 21 January 1942 he was assigned to the 9. Flak Division (mot) as Ia. By then the division was commanded by Otto-Wilhelm von Renz. On 25 June 1942 Otto Wilhelm von Renz was replaced by General der Flak Artillerie Wolfgang Pickert. With this division Richard Haizmann would march to Stalingrad. The 9. Flak Division was situated on the Belgian-French coast and received the order to pack and to move Eastwards. It was by this time Richard Haizmann was assigned to the division. The division went over Belgium, Holland, Germany, Tsechoslavakia direction Stalino in the Ukrains arriving there in April 1942. Later that year the division advanced over Barvenkovo, Charkov, Millerovo, Konstantinovskaja, Kalatsh, finally arriving in the suburbs of Stalingrad in September 1942. Richard Haizmann received his E.K. I on 10 September 1942.

Fortress Stalingrad

As the 9. Flak Division was not attached to the 6. Armee and was acting as an indepent force some of it’s units were used and attached to several other units. Other units of the 9. Flak Division were used for the protection of the airports in the Stalingrad pocket. Richard Haizmann was promoted Oberstleutnant i.G. on 14 January 1943.

Right the divisional sign of the 9. Flak Division

On 16 January 1943 at 22.26 hr Richard Haizmann received a message with congratulations for his promotion to Oberstleutnant from his division commander General der Flakartillerie Wolfgang Pickert.

As Ia Richard Haizmann was always in close contact with his division commander, who left the Stalingrad Pocket on 12 January 1943 to discuss the situation of the 6. Armee with his Flottenchef Generalfeldmarschall Eberhard Milch and was forbidden to fly in the pocket by Generalfeldmarschall Eberhard Milch after a mysterious failed first attempt to fly in the pocket on 15 January 1943. While the divison commander was outside the stalingrad pocket Oberst Wilhelm Wolff became acting commander of the division but was relieved of this position on 25 Janaury 1943. Oberst Wilhelm Wolff had other things on his mind, he was attached to the XIV Panzer Korps. Richard Haizmann, as Ia always in close contact with the division commander, now became the acting commander of the 9. Flakdivision on 25 January 1943. (There is a lot of discussion about the date Haizmann took over the 9. Flak Division. Some sources are telling us it was 18 January 1943 others are telling that Oberst Wilhelm Wolff took the command over from Haizmann. I was not able to make an end on this discussion no documents were found where the exact dates of taking over command are mentioned)

On 16 January 1943 Richard Haizmann sent another message to General der Flakartillerie Wolfgang Pickert to keep him updated :

For General Pickert:

1) The commander of the 6.Armee has on my request donated the E.K. 1 to Oberleutnant Reinke.

2) In name of you, Herr General, and as discussed, donated the E.K. 1 to Oberstleutnant Burman for his excellent personal acting with the retreat of the Flakforce on Pitomnik airfield.

3) Oberst Krause is requested by the commanding General of the IV. Armee Korps to receive the knight cross.

4) A same request by the XIV Panzer Korps for Oberst Wolff.

5) With proud for the Div. Kdo. which was untill now able without the help of any other forces to forfill the orders given by the 6. Armee.

Note : Oberst Wilhelm Wolff, Kdr.Flak Rgt. 37 (mot.) received his Knight Cross on 24 Janaury 1943. Oberst Fritz Krause, Kdr. Flak Rgt. 91 received his Knight Cross posthumously on 24 March 1943. Oberst Fritz Krause was killed in action in the Stalingrad encirclement on 25 January 1943.

“There is no need for Oberstleutnant i.G. Richard Haizmann in the Stalingrad encirclement any longer. He has no tasks anymore that he can forfill.

Reason to let him fly out : All the expierences he has built up concerning Flak Artillerie during the battle for Stalingrad can be for use in other operations during this war.

Kaiser received on 24 January 1943 at 06.00 hours a message from Richard Haizmann stating that Friedrich Paulus has given him the permission to fly out. But by the time Richard Haizmann had the intention to leave the Stalingrad pocket, the last remaining airfield in the Stalingrad pocket, Stalingradski, was lost for the Germans. Although he had the permission to leave there was no possibility anymore for Richard Haizmann to leave the Stalingrad pocket.

Richard Haizmann won his Knights Cross on 28 January 1943 for his actions during the battle for Kharkov.

During the first 4 decisive days of the battle for Kharkov he commanded in a resposible way the employment of the 9. Flak Division, the divisional commander was by then assigned to the commanding generals of the I. Flak Korps. His actions were named in the Wehrmachtbericht of 21 May 1942. (the 9. Flak Division has destroyed during the battle in the Khakov area untill 20 May 1942 107 enemy panzers) By 24 July 1942 he commanded in absence of the divisional commander the attachment of the division as part of the 4. Panzer Armee to the 6.Armee which were marching direction Stalingrad. To do this he took in dangerous situations without thinking on himself a Fieseler Storch to fly over the battlefield or drove with a truck to the frontline to arrange this attachment in a good way.

Oberstleutnant i.G. Richard Haizmann was captured at Stalingrad on 2 February 1943 in the northern pocket of Stalingrad after he took command of the remnants of the 9.Flak Division. Oberst Wilhelm Wolff, attached tot the XIV. Panzerkorps, went in captivity on 31 January 1943.

About his life

After Richard Haizmann was captured he went by foot and a little by train to the prisoner of war camp in Frolovo. Frolovo was bombed by the Germans a first time on 22 July 1942. It was a disaster for the town. 50 villagers were killed, about 150 were wounded. By bombing Frolovo the Germans had the intention to destroy the railroad network and the railroad station of Frolovo. The Frolovo railroad was used by the Russians to supply Stalingrad. The bombing continued until 1 February 1943. During this period 43 locomoitives, 13 factories, 46 technical buildings and 5 residential buildings were completely destroyed. The Frolovo camp was an occasionally built camp. About 6.000 prisoners of war were here, most of them German officers. The camp was situated about 70 km north of Stalingrad. Mid February 1943 a spotted fever epidemie broke out. This happened due to the bad hygienic conditions in the Frolovo camp. While the spotted fever epidemie broke out the camp was immediately isolated from the outside world. In 6 weeks about 5.000 persons died. This includes 20 female medical personnel and all the Russian leading personel. After the epidemie was over the camp was closed. One of the victims who died from spotted fever was Richard Haizmann, another one mentioned in the biographies is Oberst Richard Lepper. Richard Haizmann did not die from spotted fever itself but due to an attack of the desease he wanted to jump out of a window of one af the barracks of the camp and was shot by a Russian guard. Oberstleutnant Richard Haizmann died on 24 February 1943. He was buried in a mass grave near the Frolovo camp and was finally reinterred in the cemetery at Rossoschka near Volgograd, formerly Stalingrad.

His father started searching for his son by writing letters to several eywitnesses. He also wrote to General der Flak Artillerie Wolfgang Pickert, after the war in Amercan captivity, but received from eywitness all the same answers that his son had died in the prisoner of war camp of Frolovo.

Sources :

The military career file

Bundesarchiv Aachen – Germany

Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939-1945 : Walther-Peer Fellgiebel

Meine Jugend in Stalingrad – Erinnerungen : Josef Mairinger

Privat Stalingrad Archive of Geert Rottiers

www.stalingrad.net by Geert Rottiers

The privat profile

The Haizmann Family

Privat Stalingrad archive of Geert Rottiers

Pictures :

Privat Stalingrad archive of Geert Rottiers.

The Haizmann Family

Legion Condor – 1936 – 1939 – Eine illustrierte Dokumentation : Karl Ries and Hans Ring.

Translations from the Russian language by Karen Van de Cruys

The pictures are copyright protected. Please respect the copyright.

Thanks to :

The Haizmann Family, Fritz Schmelzer, Josef Mairinger, Evgeny Kulichenko, Hugo Heylen and Karen Van de Cruys

Research

Geert Rottiers

The Haizmann Family, Geert Rottiers and Evgeny Kulichenko

Courtesy by the Haizmann family and Evgeny Kulichenko

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Military career