Adolf Hamann Adolf Hamann ( September 3 , 1885 – December 30 , 1945 ) was a German general . Life and the military . Early life . Hamann joined the Schwerin 89th Grenadier Regiment on 16 July 1901 . He was promoted to corporal on 27 January 1904 and to Unteroffizier on 27 January the following year . Hamann became a Sergeant on 3 March 1908 , and a Feldwebel on 1 October 1911 . In 1914 , during the first year of World War I , he was twice awarded the Iron Cross . On 7 August 1916 , he was promoted to a Warrant Officer and appointed as a platoon commander . Interwar years . On 7 August 1919 , Hamann was commissioned as a second Lieutenant and transferred to the 17th Infantry Regiment of the newly created Reichswehr , where he served as the commander ' s adjutant . On 1 October 1920 , he was assigned to the 6th Infantry Regiment as a company ' s operations officer . On 15 January 1921 he was promoted to Lieutenant , and on 1 April 1923 he was given the rank of a Captain and the command over a company . On 1 July 1933 , he was promoted to Major and assigned to staff duty . From 1 July to 1 October 1934 , he commanded the Flensburg Infantry Battalion . Afterwards , he headed the 3rd Battalion of the Neumünster Regiment , and was transferred to the 46th Regiment on 15 October 1935 , in which he commanded the 3rd Battalion , as well . On 1 March 1936 he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel . From 1 February 1937 until 3 January 1939 , he commanded the Stablak training area in East Prussia . While holding that office , he was promoted to Colonel on 1 August 1938 . From January to 1 September 1939 , he oversaw the Tiborlager training area near Schwiebus . World War II . Immediately after the German invasion of Poland , Hamann was given the command of a frontier defense zone on the Polish border , which he held until 8 January 1940 . Afterwards , he commanded the 3rd Reserve Infantry Battalion until 25 July 1941 . From 4 August until 14 January the following year , he headed the 239th Infantry Division ' s 327th Regiment . After the division was dissolved , he was transferred to the Führerreserve , where he remained until 1 April . Then he was posted as the commander of the 370th Division ' s 666th Regiment , stationed at Reims , in the French Zone occupée . He held the office for only six weeks and was recalled to the reserve on 14 May . On 1 June 1942 , he was promoted to Major General and sent to serve as the governor of Oryol , in the German - occupied area of the Soviet Union . During the Battle of Kursk , while still commandnat of Oryol , he was the chief of " Gruppe Hamann " - a support formation which consisted mainly of the 3rd Brandendburg Regiment and existed from 20 July to 1 August as part of General Lothar Rendulic ' s XXXV Corps . On 4 August , after Oryol ' s liberation in Operation Kutuzov , he was made commandant of Bryansk . When it was retaken by the Red Army on 17 September , he became the governor of Bobruisk , in Belorussia . On 1 June 1944 , an order to promote Hamann to Lieutenant General was issued , though it was not implemented . At 20 June , he was given command of the 383rd Infantry Division , replacing General Edmund Hoffmeister , while retaining his position as commandat of what was now the Fortified Area Bobruisk . Capture and trial . On 22 June 1944 , the Soviets initiated Operation Bagration . The Red Army soon overwhelmed the German forces stationed near Bobruisk , and encircled the city on the 27th . On 28 June 1944 , Hamann - along with the rest of the Bobruisk garrison - was taken prisoner . On 17 July , he was paraded through the streets of Moscow with 50 , 000 other captured German soldiers . He was officially promoted to Lieutenant General while in Soviet captivity , on 20 August 1944 . On 30 December 1945 , a Soviet court convicted him of war crimes against the civilian populations of Bryansk and Bobruisk . Hamann was sentenced to death , and hanged on the same day .