Career
The Knight"s Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. As head of the Wehrmacht Heer"s 384th Infantry Division, he was flown out of the Stalingrad pocket in December 1942, shortly before the division"s destruction. A contemporary Soviet press report described him as having liked his peacetime comforts, such as requiring a nap on a soft bed after every dinner.
Generalleutnant Gablenz was captured in 1945, but was released from Allied captivity in 1947.
Iron Cross (1914) Bibliography.