Stahel participated in the
German invasion of the Soviet Union as commander of Flakregiments 34 (June 1941), Flakregiment 99 (April 1942) and
4th Luftwaffe Field Division (September 1942). During the
Battle of Stalingrad, Stahel conducted defensive actions at the head of
Kampfgruppe Stahel. On 21 January 1943, he was promoted to major general and then transferred to Air Fleet 4. At the end of May 1943, he was appointed commander of the new
22nd Flak Brigade in Italy and entrusted with protecting the
Strait of Messina. Following the German retreat from Sicily and
Italy's surrender, Stahel was made the military commander of
Rome in September 1943.
1944 In July 1944, he commanded the Vilnius garrison in the
Vilnius offensive and was able to postpone the seizure of that city by the
Red Army. For his efforts, on 28 July 1944, he was awarded the
Swords to the Knight's Cross and promoted to the rank of
lieutenant general.
Warsaw uprising Stahel was transferred to Warsaw, where he was to defend the city against the advancing
Red Army. Testimonies of the soldiers of the
562nd Grenadier Division's Grenadier Regiment East Prussia 4 who arrived in Warsaw on August 3 show that Stahel gave them the order to "kill all men encountered, remove women and children, and burn houses." Moreover, Stahel ordered the
execution of Polish prisoners held in
Mokotów prison and officially sanctioned
looting, allowing German soldiers to take anything they wanted from houses on fire.
Romania On August 25, he was dispatched to
Bucharest to replace General
Alfred Gerstenberg, where the German headquarters anticipated similar
urban warfare; his troops attempted to occupy Romania's capital Bucharest, but they were repulsed by troops loyal to King
Michael I. On the same day, Romania declared war on the Axis. He was captured together with General Gerstenberg by Romanian soldiers at
Gherghița on August 28. In the following days, the Red Army entered the city almost unopposed. On 20 September 1944, Stahel was arrested by the
NKVD together with Field Marshal
Ion Antonescu. Interrogated on his part in the Warsaw Uprising, he was imprisoned in the Soviet Union. The exact date of his death is a subject of controversy. ==Death==