August Zehender

August Zehender
Born	(1903-04-28)28 April 1903 Aalen, Kingdom of Württemberg, German Empire
Died	Budapest, Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun County, Kingdom of Hungary
Allegiance	Nazi Germany
Service/branch	Waffen SS
Years of service	1935–45
Rank	Brigadeführer
Service number	NSDAP #4,263,133 SS #224,219
Unit	22nd SS Volunteer Cavalry Division Maria Theresia
Battles/wars	World War II
Awards	Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves

August Friedrich Zehender (28 April 1903 – 11 February 1945) was a Brigadeführer and General-Major in the Waffen-SS during World War II and the commander of the 22nd SS Volunteer Cavalry Division Maria Theresia. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, awarded by Nazi Germany to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership.

Career

August Zehender was born at Aalen near Württemberg in a family of a railway official.

August Zehender (center, looking up) walking up the Stairs of Death at Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp during a tour with Heinrich Himmler and other SS officers, June 1941.

In 1918, he joined the army and attended the non-commissioned officers' school at Ellwangen. In 1920, he was posted to the 25th Schützen Regiment at Schwäbisch Gmünd. In 1935, Zehender was posted to the SS-Verfügungstruppe (his NSDAP party number was 4263133 and his SS service number 224219). He served with the III Battalion, SS-Standarte Germania at Ellwangen, where he was in charge of a platoon in the machine-gun company. Several years later, he became the commander of the 4th (machine-gun) Company in SS-Regiment Deutschland. After promotion to Sturmbannführer, he was given command of a motorcycle battalion in the Das Reich Division, having as his company commanders Wilhelm von Kment, Fritz Klingenberg and Christian Tychsen.

At the end of June 1941, Zehender was seriously wounded on the Eastern Front at Losza. After his recovery he was posted to the SS Cavalry Brigade.

In January 1943, Zehender's regiment took control of the village Cholomedina, fought off several counter-attacks from the enemy and made further attacks into the territory held by Soviet Red Army forces. For these actions he was promoted to Obersturmbannführer and awarded the Knights Cross on 10 March 1943.

In the spring of 1944, he was given command of the 22nd SS Volunteer Cavalry Division Maria Theresa, with which he fought at Budapest.

On 4 February 1945, Zehender was awarded the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross. He was killed in action 7 days later in Budapest at the age of 41.

Awards

• Iron Cross (1938) 2nd and 1st Class
• Infantry Assault Badge
• Wound Badge
• German Cross in Gold on 16 October 1942 as SS-Sturmbannführer in SS-Kavallerie-Regiment 2
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves
  • Knight's Cross on 10 March 1943 as SS-Obersturmbannführer and commander of the SS-Kavallerie-Regiment 1 "Florian Geyer"
  • 722nd Oak Leaves as SS-Brigadeführer and Generalmajor of the Waffen-SS, and commander of the 22. SS-Freiwilligen-Kavallerie-Division "Maria Theresia"

References

Bibliography

• Thomas M. Durante. "The German Close Combat Clasp of World War II" (2007). ISBN 978-90-812301-1-7.
• Landwehr, Richard (1999). Steadfast Hussars : the last cavalry divisions of the Waffen-SS. Brookings, Ore.: Siegrunen. ISBN 1-57638-130-7.