General der Kavallerie Ernst-August Köstring
* 20.06.1876 auf Gut Serebrjanyje Prudy/Gouvernement Tula/Russisches Kaiserreich
† 20.11.1953 auf dem Bichlhof bei Unterwössen
Ernst-August Köstring (20 June 1876 – 20 November 1953) was a German diplomat and officer who served in World War II.
Born in Imperial Russia in 1876, Ernst August Köstring grew up in St Petersburg (or Moscow) and was fluent in Russian. He left Russia just before the World War I as many other Germans. He took part in World War I, serving under Major General Hans von Seeckt in the Austro-Hungarian Seventh Army. After the war, he was retained in the Reichsheer. From 1919, he was back in the Prussian War Ministry and then detached to the Ministry of the Reichswehr in 1919 when that ministry was established.
On 1 August 1935, he was returned to active service as a military attaché to Russia and Lithuania and sent back to Moscow. During the invasion of Poland, as a German military attaché in Moscow Köstring played a key role in coordination between Nazi Germany and Soviet Union. In September of 1939 he was involved in the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact negotiations along with Colonel Heinrich Aschenbrenner. On 8 August 1940, Köstring was warned by General Franz Halder that "he would have to answer a lot of questions soon", making him one of a few people who knew what would happen with Russia despite the non-aggression pact. With the planned Operation Barbarossa his position in Moscow was untenable; he was repatriated under diplomatic immunity and assigned to the Führerreserve. He visited, together with Friedrich Werner von Schulenburg, prisoner of war camps recruiting Soviet POWs for the German war effort. On 1 May 1941 German military delegation headed by Ernst August Köstring attended the Soviet military parade in Moscow in honor of International Workers' Day.
On 1 September 1942 when he was appointed "General Officer attached to Army Group A for Caucasian Questions" under General Eduard Wagner. In this role he worked on creating national legions among the indigenous people of the Caucasus, among them the Muslim Karachai. He arranged for Armenians, Georgians and other Caucasian populations to fight at the front after training in Poland. Most of the Armenians deserted.
The Karachai had formed an anti-Soviet committee under Qadi Bayramukov before the Germans arrived. Köstring invited them to the Bairam feast on 11 October. He was exceptionally well received and was carried shoulder high in celebration as was the custom.
In the spring of 1943 Köstring put into the Führer reserve. In mid-June 1943, he was appointed Inspector of the German commanded Turkic associations, on 1 January 1944 appointed the General of the "volunteer" organizations in the Army High Command. Throughout this period he spent most of his time helping with the creation of Andrey Vlasov's Russian Liberation Army. He surrendered on 4 May 1945 to the U.S. Army; he was released in 1947. He co-authored the 1946 book The Peoples of the Soviet Union which was later used by the U.S. Army.
Awards & Decorations:
- Ritterkreuz des Kriegsverdienstkreuzes mit Schwertern: am 04.11.1944 als General der Kavallerie und General der Freiwilligen-Verbände im OKH
- 1914 EK I
- 1914 EK II
- Ritterkreuz II. Klasse des Kgl. Württembg. Friedrichs-Ordens
- Ritterkreuz II. Klasse des Grossherzoglich-Badischen Ordens vom Zähringer Löwen mit Schwertern und Eichenlaub
- Fürstl. Lippisches Kriegsverdienstkreuz
- k.u.k. Österr. Militär-Verdienstkreuz III. Klasse mit der Kriegsdekoration
- Türkischer Medschidié-Orden III. Klasse mit Säbel
- Türkischer Eiserner Halbmond
- Verwundetenabzeichen, 1918 in Schwarz
- Kgl. Preuss. Dienstauszeichnungskreuz
- Ehrenkreuz für Frontkämpfer
- Wehrmacht-Dienstauszeichnung IV. bis I. Klasse
- Kriegsverdienstkreuz II. Klasse mit Schwertern
- Kriegsverdienstkreuz I. Klasse mit Schwertern
Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_August_K%C3%B6string
https://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?p=605555#p605555
http://www.oocities.org/~orion47/WEHRMACHT/HEER/General2/KOESTRING_ERNST.html
A well educated man.
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