Helmut Thumm

Thumm led German forces during the Allied offensive into the Colmar Pocket in January 1945. After pulling Hitler Youth teenagers out of the front lines against orders from above, he was relieved of his command of the LXIV Army Corps on 20 January 1945. He was taken prisoner of war at his home in Welzheim on 19 April 1945^[1] by troops of the 44th Division.^[2] He would be repatriated and finally released on 25 October 1947.

Helmut was the son of Protestant senior teacher (Oberreallehrer) Johann Georg Thumm (1862–1940) and his wife Luise Emilie, née Bachert. His father was head teacher (Hauptlehrer) at a private school for higher education for girls founded in Ravensburg in 1887, which became a "Realschule" in 1903, a "Oberschule für Mädchen" in 1938, the "Mädchen-Gymnasium Ravensburg" in 1954 and the "Welfen-Gymnasium" in 1972, which also accepted boys from the school year 1972/73 and ended the 85 years of purely girls' education at the school.

In 1905, the family relocated to Heilbronn, and in 1908, to Stuttgart. There, his father, a military veteran and a patriotic member of the German People's Party (DVP), became the gymnastics teacher at the Friedrich-Eugens-Realschule as well as, since 1912, chairman of the state association (Landesverband) of the Young Germany League (Jungdeutschland-Bund), where his son also became active. The Bund (from 1924 "Society of Patriotic Youth") was an umbrella organization of bourgeois youth associations founded in 1911 by Generalfeldmarschall Colmar Freiherr von der Goltz for the military education of German youth.

• 8 August 1914 Kriegsfreiwilliger (War Volunteer)
• 14 November 1914 Gefreiter (Private E-2/Lance Corporal)
• 20 December 1914 Fahnenjunker (Officer Candidate)
• 17 January 1915 Fahnenjunker-Unteroffizier (Officer Candidate with Corporal/NCO/Junior Sergeant rank)
• 26 March 1915 Fähnrich (Officer Cadet)
• 2 August 1915 Leutnant (2nd Lieutenant) with Patent from 26 December 1914
  • 1 July 1922 received Reichswehr Rank Seniority (RDA) from 1 September 1915 (107)
• 31 July 1925 Oberleutnant (1st Lieutenant) with effect and RDA from 1 April 1925 (86)
• 1 March 1930 Hauptmann (Captain) with RDA from 1 March 1930 (2)
• 1 November 1935 Major (70)
• 30 September 1938 Oberstleutnant (Lieutenant Colonel) with effect and RDA from 1 October 1938 (40)
• 15 September 1941 Oberst (Colonel) with effect from 1 October 1941 (18)
  • 17 December 1942 received new and improved RDA from 1 October 1940 (28b)
• 10 March 1943 Generalmajor (Major General) with effect and RDA from 1 March 1943 (19)
• 8 September 1943 Generalleutnant (Lieutenant General) with effect and RDA from 1 September 1943 (18)
• 21 December 1944 General der Infanterie (General of the Infantry) with effect and RDA from 1 January 1945 (3)

• Iron Cross (1914), 2nd and 1st Class
  • 2nd Class on 26 August 1915
  • 1st Class on 3 July 1918^[3]
• Friedrich Order, Knight's Cross 2nd Class with Swords (WF3bX) on 5 October 1916
  • upon award of the higher Gold Military Merit Medal and in accordance with the Kingdom’s award regulations, he was no longer entitled to display the Friedrichs-Orden and was obliged to return it.
• Military Merit Medal (Württemberg) for Bravery in Gold (WMVM1/WgM) on 28 June 1917
• Wound Badge (1918) in Black on 10 June 1918
• DRA/German Gymnastics and Sports Badge in Bronze and Silver
  • Bronze c. 1922
  • Silver on 3 July 1930
• Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918 with Swords on 22 January 1935
• Wehrmacht Long Service Award, 4th to 1st Class
  • 2nd Class on 2 October 1936
  • 1st Class on 8 August 1939
• Sudetenland Medal
• Repetition Clasp 1939 to the Iron Cross 1914, 2nd and 1st Class
  • 2nd Class on 2 June 1940
  • 1st Class on 13 June 1940
• Certificate of Recognition of the Commander-in-Chief of the Army on 22 June 1941
• Mentioned by name in the Wehrmachtbericht on 5 July 1941
• Winter Battle in the East 1941–42 Medal on 30 July 1942
• Infantry Assault Badge in Silver on 8 August 1942
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves
  • Knight's Cross on 30 June 1941 as Oberstleutnant and Commander of the Infantry Regiment 56^[4]
  • 166th Oak Leaves on 24 December 1942 as Oberst and Commander of the Jäger Regiment 56^[5]

• Der Weg der 5. Infanterie- und Jäger-Division 1921–1945, Podzun-Pallas-Verlag, Bad Nauheim 1976

• German Federal Archives: BArch PERS 6/367 and PERS 6/301097