Rainer Stahel

Rainer Stahel
Rainer Stahel 1917
Born	(1892-01-15)15 January 1892 Bielefeld
Died	30 November 1955(1955-11-30) (aged 63) Voikovo prison camp
Allegiance	German Empire (to 1918) Finland (to 1933)  Nazi Germany
Service/branch	Army
Years of service	1914–45
Rank	Generalleutnant
Battles/wars	World War I Finnish Civil War World War II
Awards	Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords

Rainer Stahel, (15 January 1892 – 30 November 1955) was a German officer and a member of the Nazi Party. 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 captivity.

Born in Bielefeld, Stahel joined the German Army during World War I. By the end of the war he had moved to Finland and joined the Finnish Army participating in the Finnish Civil War. In 1933 he went to Nazi Germany where he worked at the Ministry of Aviation. 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 Poland (currently 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 Waffen-SS commander 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.