Name Albert Schnez | Rank Lieutenant general | |
 | ||
Born 30 August 1911
Abtsgmund, Baden, German Empire ( 1911-08-30 ) Allegiance Weimar Republic
Nazi Germany
West Germany Commands held 5th Panzer Division (1962)
III Corps (1965)
Inspector of the Army (1968) Died April 26, 2007, Bonn, Germany Unit 25th Panzergrenadier Division Awards German Cross, Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Service/branch Reichswehr, Wehrmacht, Bundeswehr | ||
Years of service 1930–1945
1957–1971 | ||
Albert Schnez (30 August 1911 – 26 April 2007) was an officer in three successive German armies: the Reichswehr, the Wehrmacht, and finally the Bundeswehr, the armed forces of the modern Federal Republic of Germany. He was involved in the debate on the internal leadership of the newly formed Bundeswehr and was close to the German defense minister, Franz Josef Strauss. Schnez served from 1968 to 1971 with the rank of lieutenant-general (Generalleutnant) as the Inspector of the Army.
From 1949, Schnez, together with other veterans of the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS, built a clandestine shadow army, the "Schnez-Truppe", that intended to fight against the Soviet Union. By 1951, Chancellor Konrad Adenauer had learned of the existence of this secret army and its head Schnez, but evidently declined to act against them.