Heinrich Kittel

Heinrich Kittel (31 October 1892 – 5 March 1969) was a highly decorated Generalleutnant in the Wehrmacht during World War II. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. Heinrich Kittel was wounded and captured by American troops on 22 November 1944 during the Battle of Metz. He was held in captivity until 1947.

According to one review of ‘Soldaten: Secret WWII Transcripts of German POWs’ by Soenke Neitzel & Harald Welzer,(Scribe Publications 2012; EISBN 9781921942921) Heinrich Kittel's original speech transcripts (in conversation with another P.O.W.) illustrate his culpable passivity while observing mass executions without intervening at all despite his rank: "Kittel (very excited): 'They seized three-year old children by the hair, held them up and shot them with a pistol and then threw them in. I saw that for myself. One could watch it; the SD [Sicherheitsdienst, the Security Service of the SS] had roped the area off and the people were standing watching from about 300 m. off. The Latvians and the German soldiers were just standing there, looking on'." Kittel, according to the reviewer, ignobly, perhaps criminally, failed to act, despite the [reviewer's] presumption that his high rank could have enabled him to do so.†

Awards and decorations

 * Iron Cross (1914)
 * 2nd Class
 * 1st Class
 * Eiserner Halbmond
 * Knight's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern with Swords
 * Cross of Honor
 * Anschluss Medal
 * Sudetenland Medal with Prague Castle Bar
 * Iron Cross (1939)
 * 2nd Class
 * 1st Class
 * Order of the Cross of Liberty 1st Class with Swords (23 August 1942)
 * German Cross in Gold (23 February 1944)
 * Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 12 August 1944 as Generalmajor and combat commander of Lemberg