Reiner Stahel

Reiner Joseph Karl August Stahel (15 January 1892 – 30 November 1955), also known as Rainer Stahel, was a German and Finnish military officer. He is best known for his retreat from Vilna and the command of the garrison of Warsaw during the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. Arrested by the NKVD in Romania, he spent the rest of his life in Soviet Gulags.

Born in Bielefeld, Stahel joined the German Army during World War I. Initially a lieutenant in the 27th rifle battalion of the 130th Infantry Regiment, by the end of the war he had moved to Finland and joined the Finnish Army participating in the Finnish Civil War. By 1933 he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel and served as a commander of the garrison of the city of Turku. The same year he retired from the Finnish Army and returned to Nazi Germany, where his military grade reverted to captain.

Initially an officer at the Ministry of Aviation, Stahel became responsible for the development of German anti-air artillery. He became the commanding officer of the 71st reserve anti-air artillery battalion in 1938 and the commander of the anti-air defence of the city of Augsburg in June 1940. Soon afterwards he was dispatched to Vichy France as a military advisor, and then in March of the following year he was made the commanding officer of the 99th anti-air regiment. With that unit he served in southern Russia. For the defensive actions on the eastern front on January 18, 1942, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. On March 1 of that year he was promoted to the rank of colonel and by the end of that year he became the commanding officer of a Luftwaffe task force defending the German south-eastern front. On January 4 he was awarded the Oak Leaves to his Iron Cross. Three weeks later he was promoted to the rank of major general and in July of that year he was transferred to Italy, where he assumed command of the 2nd Anti-Air Artillery Brigade, with which he secured the Messina road.

Following the German retreat from Sicily and Italy's surrender, Stahel was made the military commander of the city of Rome in October 1943. In July 1944 he was transferred to Vilnius in German-occupied Lithuania, where he became the military commander of the city's garrison. Initially commanding roughly 500 men, soon he received reinforcements and was able to postpone the seizure of that city by Polish partisans and the Red Army. For his efforts, on July 28, 1944, he was awarded the Swords to the Knight's Cross and promoted to the rank of lieutenant general.

Stahel was transferred to Warsaw, where he was to defend the city against the advancing Red Army. However, the Soviet offensive was halted and instead on August 1 the Warsaw Uprising was started by the Polish Home Army. On the first day of the uprising Stahel was surrounded in his headquarters in the Saxon Palace, and he lost control of the situation. On August 4 the command over Nazi forces in Warsaw was given to General Erich von dem Bach and Stahel's pocket was subordinated to the new commander. Although by August 7 the troops of Oskar Dirlewanger managed to reach Stahel's positions in the city centre, he did not resume his command over the city's garrison. Instead, on August 24 he was dispatched to Bucharest, where similar urban fighting was anticipated by the German headquarters. However, Romania switched sides and the Red Army entered the city almost unopposed.

On September 20, 1944, Stahel was arrested by the NKVD together with Field Marshal Ion Antonescu. Interrogated on his part in the Warsaw Uprising, he was imprisoned in the Soviet Gulag system. The exact date of his death is a subject of controversy. According to Soviet sources Stahel died on November 30, 1952, in Vladimir central transfer prison. However, other sources mention that Stahel died in 1955 in Voikovo of a heart attack when he was informed of his possible transfer to Germany.

Awards

• Iron Cross (1914)
  • 2nd Class (12 October 1914)
  • 1st Class (24 March 1915)
• Cross of Honor
• Iron Cross (1939)
  • 2nd Class (16 July 1941)
  • 1st Class (18 September 1941)
• Wound Badge in Silver
• Eastern Front Medal
• Cross of Liberty 2nd and 3rd Class (Finland)
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords
  • Knight's Cross on 18 January 1942 as Oberstleutnant and commander of Flak-Regiment 99 (mot.)
  • 169th Oak Leaves on 4 January 1943 as Oberst and commander of a Luftwaffenkampfgruppe
  • 79th Swords on 18 July 1944 as Generalmajor and commander of Fester Platz Wilna
• Mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht (14 July 1944)