Born in 1888, Karl Pfeffer-Wildenbruch joined the army in 1907 and served in World War I. He joined the German General Staff, and served as a military attaché to the German military mission in Constantinople and as a staff officer with the 11th Infantry Division. At the end of the war, he remained on the General staff of the ZBV 55 and XXIV reserve corps.[citation needed] In August 1919 Pfeffer-Wildenbruch joined the police service and spent time in the Reich Ministry of the Interior. He became the police commander in Osnabrück and Magdeburg. In 1928 he went to Santiago de Chile, to serve as Chief of the Chilean Carabineros de Chile.[1]
In October 1943, Pfeffer-Wildenbruch was appointed commander of the newly formed VI SS Army Corps (Latvian), a paper command over the two Latvian Waffen-SS divisions. He was promoted to SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS und Polizei.[2][3] In December 1944 Pfeffer-Wildenbruch was appointed commander of the IX SS Mountain Corps, stationed in Budapest, Hungary. He was in command of the German forces during the Battle of Budapest from 24 December 1944 to 11 February 1945.[4] Pfeffer-Wildenbruch was awarded the Knight's Cross on 11 January 1945 and the Oak Leaves on 1 February 1945. During the attempt to break out from Budapest, he was seriously wounded and was taken prisoner by the Soviet forces. On 10 August 1949 he was sentenced to 25 years.[5] In 1955, he was released together with some 10,000 other prisoners of war and war criminals due to an informal agreement concluded in September 1955 between German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and Soviet Premier Nikolai Bulganin.[1] Pfeffer-Wildenbruch was killed in a traffic accident on 29 January 1971 at Bielefeld.[1]
Knight's Cross on 11 January 1945 as SS-Obergruppenführer and General of the Waffen-SS and commanding general of the IX. SS-Gebrigskorps[7]
723th Oak Leaves on 1 February 1945 as SS-Obergruppenführer and General of the Waffen-SS and commanding general of the IX. Waffen-Gebrigskorps of the SS[8]
Fellgiebel, Walther-Peer (2000). Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939–1945 — Die Inhaber der höchsten Auszeichnung des Zweiten Weltkrieges aller Wehrmachtteile [The Bearers of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939–1945 — The Owners of the Highest Award of the Second World War of all Wehrmacht Branches] (in German). Friedberg, Germany: Podzun-Pallas. ISBN978-3-7909-0284-6.
Scherzer, Veit (2007). Die Ritterkreuzträger 1939–1945. Die Inhaber des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939 von Heer, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm sowie mit Deutschland verbündeter Streitkräfte nach den Unterlagen des Bundesarchives [The Knight's Cross Bearers 1939–1945 The Holders of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939 by Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and Allied Forces with Germany According to the Documents of the Federal Archives] (in German). Jena, Germany: Scherzers Militaer-Verlag. ISBN978-3-938845-17-2.
Thomas, Franz; Wegmann, Günter (1994). Die Ritterkreuzträger der Deutschen Wehrmacht 1939–1945 Teil VI: Die Gebirgstruppe Band 2: L–Z [The Knight's Cross Bearers of the German Wehrmacht 1939–1945 Part VI: The Mountain Troops Volume 2: L–Z] (in German). Osnabrück, Germany: Biblio-Verlag. ISBN978-3-7648-2430-3.
Thomas, Franz (1998). Die Eichenlaubträger 1939–1945. Band 2: L–Z [The Oak Leaves Bearers 1939–1945 Volume 2: L–Z] (in German). Osnabrück, Germany: Biblio-Verlag. ISBN978-3-7648-2300-9.