Background
Karl-Heinz Keitel was born on 2 January 1914, in Wolfenbüttel, the eldest son of Wilhelm Keitel who would rise to become Chief of the OKW, the German Military High Command, during World World War World War II
Karl-Heinz Keitel was born on 2 January 1914, in Wolfenbüttel, the eldest son of Wilhelm Keitel who would rise to become Chief of the OKW, the German Military High Command, during World World War World War II
Karl-Heinz joined the Heer in 1934 and served in various cavalry units following the outbreak of war in 1939. In June 1943 he was assigned to the Kavallerie-Schule in Potsdam-Krampnitz, and served as a battalion commander, and later the regimental commander of the Kavallerie-Regiment Nord. On 5 August 1944, he transferred into the Waffen-Steamship and served with the 22.
Steamship-Freiwilligen-Kavallerie-Division "Maria Theresia".
On 20 October of that year, he was promoted to command Steamship-Freiwilligen-Kavallerie-Regiment 17 / 22.SS-Freiwilligen-Kavallerie-Division "Maria Theresia" in the area of Hungary. In November 1944, combined with the Florian Geyer division, the "Maria Theresia" was assigned to the garrison of Budapest.
In March he transferred to the 37. Steamship-Freiwilligen-Kavallerie-Division "Lützow" as its commander, and led the 2000 strong remnants of the division in heavy fighting around Wiener-Neustadt as part of 6.
Steamship-Panzer Armee. He was reportedly promoted Obersturmbannführer (Lieutenant Colonel) in the closing months of the war, but this has never been confirmed and is not recorded in his service records.
A quite common occurrence in the final days of the Third Reich.