Helmuth Otto Ludwig Weidling (2 November 1891 – 17 November 1955) was a German general during World War II. He was the last commander of the Berlin Defence Area during the Battle of Berlin, and led the defence of the city against Soviet forces, finally surrendering just before the end of World War II in Europe. Military career Born in Halberstadt in 1891, Weidling entered the military in 1911 and served as a lieutenant in the First World War. He remained in the reduced army of the Weimar Republic after the war. As an artillery officer, Weidling took part in the invasion of Poland, the Battle of France and during the early stages of Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union. In January 1942, still on the Eastern Front, Weidling was appointed commander of the 86th Infantry Division. Corps commander On 15 October 1943, Weidling became the commander of the XLI Panzer Corps, a position he held until 10 April 1945 with a short break in his command from 19 June 1944 to 1 July 1944. During this break, Generalleutnant Edmund Hoffmeister took over during the first stages of Soviet Operation Bagration. Hoffmeister was in command when most of the German 9th Army, along with the XLI Panzer Corps, was encircled during the Bobruysk Offensive. While Weidling was in command, XLI Panzer Corps was responsible for an atrocity committed by the Wehrmacht in the Soviet Union during the war: Up to 50,000 civilians were deliberately infected with typhus, and placed in a "typhus camp" in the area of Parichi, Belorussia, in the path of oncoming Red Army forces, in the hopes that this would cause a massive outbreak of typhus among the Red Army soldiers. This was noted by the commander of the 65th Soviet Army, General Pavel Batov, months later when it found itself facing this same corps in the Battle of Berlin. The XLI Panzer Corps was rebuilt as part of the German 4th Army. The 4th Army, under the command of General Friedrich Hoßbach, was given the task of holding the borders of East Prussia. On 10 April 1945, Weidling was relieved of his command. He was thereafter appointed as commander of the LVI Panzer Corps. The LVI Panzer Corps was part of Gotthard Heinrici's Army Group Vistula. As commander of this corps, Weidling began his involvement with the Battle of Berlin. On 16 April 1945,