Mortimer von Kessel

Who was Mortimer von Kessel?

Mortimer von Kessel was a Panzer General in the German army during the Second World War.

He joined the Imperial German Army as an officer cadet in 1914 and was commissioned as a leutnant in the 12th Hussar Regiment on 22 March 1915 and was awarded the Iron Cross first and second class in the First World War. He was then retained in the Reichswehr in which he reached the rank of Oberstleutnant by 1937.

He led a reconnaissance regiment during the Invasion of Poland in 1939 and was promoted to Oberst in October that year and appointed as the head of the Army Personnel Department the following month and remained in this post until January 1943, having been promoted to Generalmajor in 1942. When he was moved to the leadership reserve until 8 May 1943 when he was appointed as the commander of the 20th Panzer Division.

On 1 December 1943, he was promoted to Generalleutnant, and for his defence of the Vitebsk region on the Eastern Front he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Then for his actions during the Soviet Summer Offensive of 1944 he was awarded the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. In December 1944, he was appointed commander of the VII Panzer Corps in East Prussia. On 1 March 1945, he was promoted to General der Panzertruppe and continued to command the panzer corps until he was captured.