Heinz Hax

Heinrich-Georg “Heinz” Hax, the son of Olympian Georg Hax, joined the German Reichswehr (Garde-Füsilier-Regiment) in 1918 in Berlin, becoming a Senior Lieutenant in 1927. He participated in the Olympic Games for the first time in 1928 in Modern Pentathlon, competing in shooting in 1932 and 1936, winning silver medals in rapid-fire pistol both times.

After being promoted to Captain in 1934, he was named Chief Commander of the 71st Infantry Regiment in 1938. Hax was soon promoted to Major and then in 1939 became a Lieutenant-Colonel. During World War II he took part in the Polish Campaign, where he earned two Iron Crosses, and in the Western campaign was engaged as a General Staff Officer. In 1942 he was named a Colonel, and in 1943 he became Chief of General Staff for the 16th Panzer Corps. On 4 May 1944 Hax was nominated as commander of the 111th Panzer-Grenadier Regiment of the 11th Panzer Division, relinquishing that post in November of that year. In January 1945 he took over the command of the 8th Panzer Division, with whom he was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross. Hax became a Major General on 1 April 1945, as commander of the 8th Panzer Division, and later that month he received the Knight’s cross with Oak Leaves.

On 9 May 1945 Heinz Hax surrendered to the American troops in Plzeň and was handed over to the Soviet Union Red Army. He was sentenced to 25 years compulsory labor and was a prisoner-of-war up to October 1955, when German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer negotiated the release of many of the German POWs. In 1956, Hax returned to the Army, joining the German Bundeswehr, with the rank of Brigadier General, as Commander of the 3rd Panzer Division in Buxtehude. He retired in 1961 with the rank of Major General as Deputy Commanding General of the 3rd Army Corps in Koblenz.