World War II
With the rise of the NSDAP, Lindemann was promoted to Commander of the Kriegsschule in Hanover. He occupied this position until 1936. In 1936, Lindemann was promoted to Generalleutnant and given command of the 36. Infanterie Division. The division was involved in guarding the Saar region during the Invasion of Poland, and it then took part in the Invasion of France. At the end of the Western campaign, Lindemann was promoted to Cavalry General (General der Kavallerie) and given command of the German L Army Corps (L.Armeekorps). In June 1941, at the launch of Operation Barbarossa, Lindemann's Corps was a part of Army Group North. Lindemann commanded the corps during the Army Group North's advance towards Leningrad. His unit was briefly shifted to the command of Army Group Centre during the operations to capture Smolensk. Lindemann's corps was then shifted back to Army Group North. During the period of his military authority in the area, the Russian city of Gatchina received the name Lindemannstadt in his honour under the German occupation.
On 16 January 1942, Lindemann took the command of the German Eighteenth Army (18. Armee), a part of Army Group North. Later, in the summer of 1942, he was promoted to Colonel-General (Generaloberst).
Lindemann commanded the German Eighteenth Army throughout the campaigns around Leningrad and during the January 1944 retreat from Oranienbaum to Narva. Until 4 February 1944, the Sponheimer Group which defended the Narva Line was subordinated to the 18th Army commanded by Lindemann. He was promoted to command of Army Group North on 31 March 1944. His command of the Army Group was short-lived, and on 4 July 1944 he was relieved and transferred to the Reserve Army. Allegedly German dictator Adolf Hitler gave as reason for this change that Lindemann had become too old and too weak.
After serving a few months in the Reserve Army, Lindemann was put in command of a new staff called "Führungsstab Ostseeküste". From 1 February 1945, he held the post as the "Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces in Denmark" (Wehrmachtsbefehlshaber Dänemark), thereby coming in command of all German troops in Denmark. In April 1945, when the end of the war was apparent to almost all German commanders, Lindemann issued an order to his troops to preserve strict discipline. He further ordered that Denmark had to be defended to the last bullet.
On 3 May, Lindemann went to the Naval Academy at Mürwik to participate in a meeting with the OKW, the new government and the new German Head of State, Grand Admiral (Großadmiral) Karl Dönitz. Lindemann informed Dönitz that he would be able to hold Denmark for at least some time, and he and his colleague in Norway, General Franz Böhme, argued for keeping Denmark and Norway in German custody as bargaining chips in the armistice negotiations soon to come. Dönitz however, sued for immediate peace, and Germany surrendered unconditionally in northwest Germany, Holland, and Denmark on 5 May 1945. As commander of "Army Lindemann" (Armee Lindemann), Lindemann was then tasked with the dismantling of the German occupation of Denmark until 6 June 1945, when he was arrested at his headquarters in Silkeborg.
Read more about this topic: Georg Lindemann
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