Alfred Wünnenberg

Alfred Bernhard Julius Ernst Wünnenberg (20 July 1891 — 30 December 1963) was SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen SS und Polizei and the commander of the 4th SS Polizei Panzer Grenadier Division during World War II who was awarded the Knight's Cross with Oakleaves.

World War I
Alfred Wünnenberg was born on 20 July 1891 at Saarburg/ Sarrebourg, Alsace-Lorraine, Germany. In February 1913 he joined the army and served in the 56th Infantry Regiment and was soon promoted to Unteroffizier. He took part in World War I and served on the Western Front and was severely wounded in September 1914. In January 1915 he was promoted to lieutenant, and given command of the 8th Company, 255th Infantry Regiment. He was selected for pilot training in June 1916 which was completed in August 1917, afterwards he was posted to the 47th Flying Division as a reconnaissance pilot.

Between the wars
After the end of the War, he served on the eastern border in Upper Silesia as part of the free corps, after his promotion to captain, he left the army in September 1920, to be a lieutenant of the Prussian police unit. In April 1920 he was in command of the dog platoon at the Police School in Essen and was from February 1920 to April 1921 made an instructor at the police school in Potsdam. Then in February 1924 he took over command of the police dog unit, this was followed by further postings to the police schools in Krefeld (1926) and Cologne (1928). In May 1928 he was in charge of police administration serving in Berlin, Charlottenburg. where in 1929 he married and had a daughter. In May 1933 he joined the NSDAP, and issued the party number 2,222,600. From August 1933 he commanded the guard police in Beuthen, in February 1935 in Saarbrücken, in October 1937 Bremen and Mannheim. In December 1938, he moved to the staff of the police inspector of Stuttgart.

World War II
On 2 October 1939 he became the commander of the 3rd Polizei Schützen Regiment with the rank of Standartenführer and given the SS service number 405 898. With this regiment, he took on the Battle of France and the attack on the Soviet Union in 1941 Operation Barbarossa when on 15 November 1941 he was awarded the Knight's Cross. In December 1941 he took over the command of the 4th SS Polizei Division from Walter Krüger. In recognition of the heavy fighting the unit was involved in on 23 April 1942 he was promoted to SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Polizei and awarded the Oakleaves to the Knight's Cross.

On 10 June 1943, he was moved to command the IV SS Panzer Corps, where he remained until 31 August. Afterwards he became chief of the Ordnungspolizei. This post he held up to the end of the war. Alfred Wünnenberg died on 30 December 1963 in Krefeld.