Johann "Hans" Theodor von Ravenstein (1 January 1889 – 26 March 1962) was a German general (generalleutnant) in the Wehrmacht during World War II. He commanded the 21st Panzer Division from May 1941 until being made a prisoner of war in late November 1941. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.
A professional soldier on the outbreak of World War I, Ravenstein fought as an infantry officer on the Western Front. Awarded the Pour le Mérite in 1918, he participated in the border disputes with Poland after the war before leaving the military. After attending university, he obtained employment with an electrical company and then later with the Duisburg city administration. In 1934, he joined the Heer (Army) branch of the Wehrmacht. He led a rifle regiment in the Invasion of Poland and the Battle of France. In May 1941, he was appointed commander of the 5th Light Division, at the time operating in North Africa. His command was soon redesignated as the 21st Panzer Division. He was captured by soldiers from the 2nd New Zealand Division during the British Eighth Army's Operation Crusader.
The first German general to be captured by Allied forces during World War II, Ravenstein was held in a series of prisoner of war camps in Egypt, South Africa, Canada and lastly in Wales. Repatriated to Germany in 1947, he found employment with the Düsseldorf Corporation before returning to Duisburg to again work for the city's administration. He died of a heart attack in 1962 at the age of 73.
Early life
Johann Theodor von Ravenstein was born in Strehlen, near Breslau, on 1 January 1889 into a family with a military tradition. His father was an officer in the Silesian Hussars and an ancestor was an adjutant to Generalfeldmarschall Blücher during the Napoleonic Wars. He had a harsh upbringing; his father had a major head injury while Johann was young and this affected his interactions with his children. Eventually his mother left his father, later obtaining a divorce in 1893, and raised Ravenstein and his sister on her own.
Despite an early interest in becoming a pastor in the Lutheran Church, Ravenstein began a military education in 1899 when he entered Wahlstatt Cadet School. He went onto the Cadet Academy in Berlin in 1903. During his time there, he made the acquaintance of Kaiser Wilhelm II while occasionally serving as a page at the Neues Palais (New Palace) at Potsdam. Following graduation from the Cadet Academy in 1909 he was posted to the King's Grenadier Regiment, stationed at Liegnitz, as a leutnant (second lieutenant). The same year he met his future wife, Elisabeth von Oriola, who was from an aristocratic Silesian family of Portuguese descent.
World War I
After two years at Liegnitz, Ravenstein transferred to the 155th Infantry Regiment as a battalion adjutant officer. On the outbreak of World War I, his regiment marched into Belgium and he fought in the Battle of Longwy on 22 August 1914. He subsequently saw action in the Battle of Verdun. In 1915 he was promoted to oberleutnant and was soon commanding a company in his regiment. Apart for periods of leave, he served continuously on the Western Front throughout the war. He proposed to Elisabeth in 1917 and married her early the following year while on leave.
Ravenstein was selected for a training course in general staff duties and, after completion, joined the General Staff of the Imperial German Army. He soon sought a return to the frontlines and rejoined the 155th Infantry Regiment which was to soon be involved in the third phase of the German spring offensive. In the Third Battle of the Aisne in May 1918, Ravenstein was given command of his regiment's 1st Battalion and led it through the opposing line. Shortly afterwards, with only a small squad of men, he captured a bridge over the Aisne near Chemin des Dames. Later in the battle, he was in charge of a patrol which executed an ambush of a French battalion, routing it completely. Pushing on with his battalion towards the Marne, his troops eventually took 1,500 prisoners and captured in excess of 30 field guns and machine guns. For his accomplishments, Ravenstein received the Pour le Mérite on 9 June.
Promoted to hauptmann (captain), Ravenstein was posted to the Imperial Guard as a battalion commander. He was serving at the Kaiser's headquarters when the war ended. Attached to the Freikorps from 1919, he was engaged in defending against Polish incursions along the border in the east of Germany. When the border disputes settled, he decided to leave the military rather than stay in the newly formed Reichsheer. He was discharged on 31 March 1920 having received an honorary promotion to the rank of major.
