Description
HEER GENERAL’S PHOTO ALBUM & DOCUMENT GROUPING – GENERALLEUTNANT KURT MÜLLER – 286. SICHERUNGS DIVISION
210 photos of a German Army General. Named to Generalleutnant Kurt MÜLLER. Comes with a photo album belonging to him containing a mixture of private and military related images. Several good images of him in uniform. Also photos of his son Eberhard Müller who served as a Leutnant in Pionier Bat. 5 and was KIA on July 24, 1941 during the Russia Campaign. There is a telegram sent to the family informing them of this sad event. The album contains photos of Eberhard during his HJ service and also later as an Army officer. Sadly, the General died a little over a year later, himself. He died of circulatory failure at 6:45 a.m. on October 4, 1942, in Wiesbaden’s Reserve Hospital II following gallbladder surgery Mueller had retired but returned to duty to command the 268. Sicherungs Division.
$385
https://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Personenregister/M/MuellerKurt-R.htm
Müller’s funeral notice contains a letter from Hitler which reads:
Lieutenant General Kurt Müller
most recently Commander of a Security Division
Recipient of the Clasps to the Liserne Cross 1st and 2nd Class of the World War.
The Army commemorates the merits of this proven officer with gratitude.
He was able to successfully apply the extensive knowledge and experience he acquired in various positions during the First World War in key positions in the field of fortification. Retiring from the Army as a Lieutenant General, this dedicated soldier re-enlisted at the beginning of the Greater German War of Independence with exemplary dedication and, as Commander of a Security Division, rendered valuable service to the Fatherland through the firm and prudent leadership of the troops under his command.
December 30, 1942.
Kurt Müller was the son of pharmacist Wilhelm Müller and his wife Klara, née Sperr. He joined the Royal Prussian Army as an ensign on March 30, 1901. He was assigned to the Silesian Pioneer Battalion No. 6 in Neisse. On October 18, 1901, he was promoted to ensign. After attending military school, he was promoted to lieutenant on August 18, 1902. His commission was dated August 19, 1901. Initially, he served as a company officer in the 1st Company of his battalion in Neisse. From October 1, 1904, to July 15, 1906, he was assigned to the Military Technical Academy. Upon his return, he was assigned as a company officer in the 4th Company of his battalion in Neisse. From October 1, 1907, to September 30, 1908, he was assigned to the 3rd Upper Silesian Infantry Regiment No. 62 in Cosel/Ratibor. After returning to his battalion, he was again assigned as a company officer in the 4th Company of his battalion in Neisse. In the spring of 1903, he held the same position in the 3rd Company of the Silesian Pioneer Battalion No. 6 at the same location. On August 18, 1910, he was promoted to First Lieutenant. As such, he was appointed adjutant and judicial officer of his battalion in Neisse on October 1, 1910, succeeding First Lieutenant Just. He served in this capacity for several years. It was not until December 20, 1913, that he was replaced as adjutant by Second Lieutenant Martin Dehmel. For this purpose, he was transferred to the 2nd Engineer Inspectorate on December 21, 1913. From there he was assigned to fortification service at the Posen-West fortification. At the outbreak of World War I, in early August 1914, he was assigned as 2nd Adjutant of the Engineer and Pioneer Corps of the Posen Fortress. On October 8, 1914, he was promoted to captain. From November 1, 1914, he was assigned as a captain for special duties. On December 15, 1914, he was appointed commander of the 1st Field Company of the 1st Pioneer Battalion by General Cabinet Order (AKO). On January 27, 1915, he was awarded the Iron Cross, 2nd Class. He was subsequently awarded the Iron Cross, 1st Class, on March 13, 1915. Barely a year after his appointment as company commander, on December 1, 1915, he was transferred to the 11th Landwehr Division as commander of the pioneers. With this division, he fought in the trench warfare on the Beresina. On February 5, 1917, he was transferred to the staff of General Command 57. On May 18, 1917, he was appointed commander of the Silesian Pioneer Battalion No. 6 by AKO. During the First World War, he was not only wounded, as reflected in the award of the Wound Badge in Black. He was also awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Royal Prussian House Order of Hohenzollern with Swords and both Iron Crosses, as well as several other decorations.After the war, he was commissioned as a captain into the provisional Reichsheer in 1919. From 1 October 1919, he was assigned to the Inspection of Pioneers (In 5) in the Reich Defense Ministry (RWM) in Berlin. When the 200,000-man Reichswehr army was formed in mid-May 1920, he was a company commander in the 8th Reichswehr Pioneer Battalion of the 8th Reichswehr Brigade. When the 100,000-man Reichswehr army was formed on October 1, 1920, he was assigned to the 5th Pioneer Battalion as a company commander. On October 20, 1920 (civil ceremony) and October 21, 1920 (church ceremony), he married the widowed Anna Emilie Elsbeth Heßler, née Schreiber, in Neisse, who was almost exactly eleven and a half years younger than him . His wife brought Andrea Heßler, born on February 1, 1918, into the marriage as a stepchild. On October 19, 1921, his son Eberhard Müller was born in Neu-Ulm. By the spring of 1923 at the latest, he served for several years in the Inspectorate of Pioneers and Fortresses (In 5) at the RWM in Berlin. There he was promoted to major on August 1, 1924. His private residence was on the 4th floor of Joachim-Friedrich-Straße 16 in Berlin-Wilmersdorf. From April 1, 1927, he was part of the commandant’s office of the Ulm Fortress. His private residence was now at Syrlinstraße 12 in Ulm, where his telephone number was 2385. On February 1, 1929, he succeeded Lieutenant Colonel Johannes Freye as commander of the 5th Pioneer Battalion in Ulm. As such, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel on October 1, 1929. On October 1, 1931, he relinquished command of the battalion to Major Ernst Jesse . On that day, he was transferred to the staff of Group Command 2 in Kassel. There, he was promoted to colonel on April 1, 1932 (13). In 1933/34, he was retired from active service in the 100,000-man Reichswehr.
When the Reichswehr was expanded to become the Wehrmacht, he was re-employed on October 26, 1934, with effect from November 1, 1934. His seniority as a colonel was set at April 1, 1932 (13). He was now appointed Inspector of the Inspectorate of the Western Fortifications in Berlin, succeeding Colonel Karl Kitzinger . As such, he was promoted to Major General on April 1, 1935. Even after the units were exposed on October 15, 1935, he remained Inspector of the Western Fortifications. On April 1, 1937, he was given the rank of Lieutenant General. On April 30, 1937, he was again retired from active service. His successor as Inspector of the Western Fortifications was Colonel Dr. Richard Speich .
On October 15, 1938, he was called up again and assigned to the Air Force. From 1939 to 1940, he served as a non-commissioned officer with Luftgaustab XII/XIII. In 1940, he was transferred to the staff of the Luftgau-Kommando Westfracht (West France Air District Command) . At the beginning of 1941, he was transferred back to the Army. From March 15, 1941, he was the first commander of the 286th Security Division . On June 1, 1941, he was promoted to Generalleutnant (Z.V.). On July 24, 1941, his son, Eberhard Müller, a lieutenant and a member of the 2nd Company of the 5th Pioneer Battalion, was killed in action about one kilometer west of Mokroschino. He suffered wounds to the head from infantry bullets and a bullet hole through his right leg. His son was then buried at the entrance to Kasplia on the road from Rytino to Shaljasnaja, 32 kilometers southeast of Smolensk. Lieutenant General Müller’s private residence at the time was located at Humboldtstrasse 7 in Wiesbaden. In mid-June 1942, he relinquished command of the 286th Security Division to Major General Johann-Georg Richert and was transferred to the OKH Führer Reserve. He died of circulatory failure at 6:45 a.m. on October 4, 1942, in Wiesbaden’s Reserve Hospital II following gallbladder surgery. He was subsequently buried on October 8, 1942, in the Südfriedhof (South Cemetery) in Wiesbaden.
He had at least three older siblings.
His older brother was Karl Fritz Wilhelm Müller, born on December 20, 1875, in Ohlau.
His older sister was Clara Gertrud Marie Emilie Müller, born on March 12, 1877, in Ohlau.
Another older sister, Else Hedwig Pauline Müller, died in Ohlau on January 9, 1886, at the age of 4 3/4.
Literature and sources:
Krug, Ottomar German Generals 1918-1945, Federal Archives Freiburg, signature MSG 109/10853
Ranking lists of the Royal Prussian Army and the XIII. (Royal Württemberg) Army Corps 1902, Ernst Siegfried Mittler and Son, Berlin 1902
Ranking lists of the Royal Prussian Army and the XIII. (Royal Württemberg) Army Corps 1903, Ernst Siegfried Mittler and Son, Berlin 1903
Ranking lists of the Royal Prussian Army and the XIII. (Royal Württemberg) Army Corps 1904, Ernst Siegfried Mittler and Son, Berlin 1904
Ranking lists of the Royal Prussian Army and the XIII. (Royal Württemberg) Army Corps 1905, Ernst Siegfried Mittler and Son, Berlin 1905
Ranking lists of the Royal Prussian Army and the XIII. (Royal Württemberg) Army Corps 1906, Ernst Siegfried Mittler and Son, Berlin 1906
Ranking lists of the Royal Prussian Army and the XIII. (Royal Württemberg) Army Corps 1907, Ernst Siegfried Mittler and Son, Berlin 1907
Ranking lists of the Royal Prussian Army and the XIII. (Royal Württemberg) Army Corps 1908, Ernst Siegfried Mittler and Son, Berlin 1908
Ranking lists of the Royal Prussian Army and the XIII. (Royal Württemberg) Army Corps 1909, Ernst Siegfried Mittler and Son, Berlin 1909
Ranking lists of the Royal Prussian Army and the XIII. (Royal Württemberg) Army Corps 1910, Ernst Siegfried Mittler and Son, Berlin 1910
Ranking lists of the Royal Prussian Army and the XIII. (Royal Württemberg) Army Corps 1911, Ernst Siegfried Mittler and Son, Berlin 1911
Ranking lists of the Royal Prussian Army and the XIII. (Royal Württemberg) Army Corps 1912, Ernst Siegfried Mittler and Son, Berlin 1912
Ranking lists of the Royal Prussian Army and the XIII. (Royal Württemberg) Army Corps 1913, Ernst Siegfried Mittler and Son, Berlin 1913
Ranking lists of the Royal Prussian Army and the XIII. (Royal Württemberg) Army Corps 1914, Ernst Siegfried Mittler and Son, Berlin 1914
Seniority list of officers of the Royal Prussian Army and the XIII. (Royal Württemberg) Army Corps 1917, Mittler and Son 1917
Seniority list of officers of the previous Prussian Army and the XIII. (Former Württemberg) Army Corps 1919, Mittler and Son 1919.
Appointments in the Imperial Army, May 16, 1920, Biblio-Verlag 1968.
Appointments in the Imperial Army, October 1, 1920, Biblio-Verlag 1968.
Appointments in the Imperial Army, October 1, 1921, Biblio-Verlag 1968.
Ranking List of the German Imperial Army. As of April 1, 1923, Berlin, Mittler and Son 1923.
Ranking list of the German Reich Army. As of April 1, 1924, Berlin, Mittler and Son 1924
Ranking list of the German Reich Army. As of May 1, 1925, Berlin, Mittler and Son 1925
Ranking list of the German Reich Army. As of May 1, 1926, Berlin, Mittler and Son 1926
Ranking list of the German Reich Army. As of May 1, 1927, Berlin, Mittler and Son 1927
Ranking list of the German Reich Army. As of May 1, 1928, Berlin, Mittler and Son 1928
Ranking list of the German Reich Army. As of May 1, 1929, Berlin, Mittler and Son 1929
Ranking list of the German Reich Army. As of May 1, 1930, Berlin, Mittler and Son, 1930
Ranking List of the German Reich Army. As of May 1, 1931, Berlin, Mittler and Son, 1931
Ranking List of the German Reich Army. As of May 1, 1932, Berlin, Mittler and Son 1932
Staffing levels of the German Reich Army as of May 1, 1933
Staffing levels of the German Reich Army as of April 1, 1934 Staffing levels of the Reich Army as of October 1,
1934 Staffing levels of the Reich Army as of
October 15, 1935 Staffing
levels of the Wehrmacht as of October 6, 1936 Staffing
levels of the Army as of October 12, 1937
Staffing levels of the Army as of 1938
Podzun, HH (ed.): The German Army 1939. Structure, locations, staffing levels and list of all officers as of January 3, 1939, Bad Nauheim, Podzun 1953
