Friedrich August Eberhard von Mackensen (24 September 1889 – 19 May 1969) was a German general and war criminal during World War II who served as commander of the 1st Panzer Army and the 14th Army. Following the war, Mackensen stood trial for war crimes before a British military tribunal in Italy where he was convicted and sentenced to death for his involvement in the Ardeatine massacre, in which hundreds of Italian civilians and political prisoners were shot. The sentence was later commuted and Mackensen was released in 1952. He died in West Germany in 1969.
At the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, Mackensen served as a regimental adjutant in the 1st Hussar Regiment. On 25 February 1915, he was promoted to first lieutenant, but after a severe wound on 23 August 1915, Mackensen was transferred to a staff job in the General Staff of the Army Group Scholtz. On 20 May 1917, he was promoted to captain.
From 1 November 1933, Mackensen was made chief of the staff of the General Inspectorate of the Cavalry, and was promoted to colonel on 1 September 1934. Mackensen became chief of staff of the X Army Corps in Hamburg, the successor of the cavalry in the newly-formed Wehrmacht. In 1937, Mackensen became commander of the 1st Cavalry Brigade in Insterburg. Mackensen was appointed major general on 1 January 1938, and on 1 May 1939 became commander in the Army Group Command V in Vienna, where he became chief of staff under Field Marshal Wilhelm List.
Shortly after his promotion to Generaloberst, Mackensen was transferred to Italy as commander of the 14th Army. After the Allies broke through the Winter Line during Operation Diadem, Kesselring fired Mackensen for disobeying orders and the latter retired from active service in the army in the summer of 1944.[4]
Trial and conviction
On 24 March 1944, SS members shot and killed 335 Italian civilians in the Ardeatine Caves massacre in retaliation for the deaths of 32 German police troops in a bomb attack. This war crime was ordered by Adolf Hitler in consultation with Generaloberst Alfred Jodl and Field Marshal Albert Kesselring. Mackensen was at this time commander of the 14th Army and subordinate to Kesselring as well as the superior of Lieutenant-General Kurt Mälzer, military commandant of Rome. All three were convicted of war crimes.
Following the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany in 1945 Mackensen became a prisoner of war, and on 30 November 1946 was convicted of war crimes by a British military court in Rome, where he was sentenced to death. In mid-1947, his sentence was commuted to 21 years imprisonment. He was released on 2 October 1952 after serving five years. After his release, Mackensen lived a secluded life in Alt Mühlendorf (now in Warder in Rendsburg-Eckernförde district) near Nortorf in Schleswig-Holstein, West Germany.
Death
Mackensen died on 19 May 1969 in Neumünster, aged 79 years old.
^Theo Schwarzmüller: Zwischen Kaiser und „Führer“ Generalfeldmarschall August von Mackensen. Eine politische Biographie. dtv, München 2001, (181.page) ISBN3-423-30823-0.
Scherzer, Veit (2007). Die Ritterkreuzträger 1939–1945 Die Inhaber des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939 von Heer, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm sowie mit Deutschland verbündeter Streitkräfte nach den Unterlagen des Bundesarchives [The Knight's Cross Bearers 1939–1945 The Holders of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939 by Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and Allied Forces with Germany According to the Documents of the Federal Archives] (in German). Jena, Germany: Scherzers Militaer-Verlag. ISBN978-3-938845-17-2.
Thomas, Franz (1998). Die Eichenlaubträger 1939–1945 Band 2: L–Z [The Oak Leaves Bearers 1939–1945 Volume 2: L–Z] (in German). Osnabrück, Germany: Biblio-Verlag. ISBN978-3-7648-2300-9.
German Empire
Weimar Republic
Nazi Germany
German Army
Generaloberst
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