Wehrmacht Generals Who Became Bundeswehr Officers (& other ranks with dual service)

Discussion in 'Axis Units' started by Gerard, Aug 26, 2005.

  1. At Home Dad (Returning)

    At Home Dad (Returning) Well-Known Member

    I remember The Bedford Incident where the
    wonderful Eric Portman plays a former U-Boot
    commander now assisting the US in Soviet sub
    hunting tactics.

    Presumably many of these 'retired' mariners would
    have been employed in a hush-hush way? I wonder
    what stories lie there!
     
  2. Sheldrake

    Sheldrake All over the place....

    Here are a few others.

    Max-Josef Pemsel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Max pemsel also narrowly avoided becoming the last commandant of Berlin

    Edgar Feuchtinger - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia If he was British he might have been described as a cad and a bounder. Not technically asleep when the allies landed as in bed with his mistress, an exotic dancer ;) Post war I think he was employed by the US Army but was a spy for the DDR. I read somewhere that he died under mysterious circumstances after meeting his handler in East Berlin.

    Anoither wehrmacht and Bundeswehr officer and prolific writer about tanks and military history was Ferdinand Maria von Senger und Etterlin.Ferdinand Maria von Senger und Etterlin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia He was wounded at Stalingrad, which saved him from captivity and lost his right arm in Aug 1944. He was commander AFCent in 1979. His father was the general Fridolin von Senger und Etterlin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
     
  3. dbf

    dbf Moderatrix MOD

  4. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    Missed this.
    Lordy, a man who handed over disposition docs to Zhukov pottering around NATO HQs in the 50s... Can't help thinking that's exactly the kind of experience one might hope to see in the higher echelons of military command. That right there, is an officer who's been round the block a bit.

    Equally fascinating that such chatty/gossipy notes were being passed around by counterparts in former allied nations - and who could blame 'em.

    [​IMG]
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulrich_de_Maizi%C3%A8re
     
  5. dbf

    dbf Moderatrix MOD

    A continuation of the tone from the earlier era in many of the comments on file.

    For the most part they're dry biogs listing dates and promotions, but are often perked up in the summary by pre-war gossip, an inspired bit of observation, or what might be described as amusingly 'catty' deductions from slow promotion, physical appearance etc.

    Who's Who (C-E) of senior German Army officers (Birley's Bible)
     
    Last edited: Apr 27, 2023
  6. Gerard

    Gerard Seelow/Prora

    Attached Files:

  7. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    Nice one.
    And I'd not heard of 'The Spiegel Affair' mentioned there.
    Theo Saevecke sounds... interesting, if the scope here was to allow civilian officials.
     
  8. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

  9. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    Just been reading that 'Gunther' Viezenz, he of the RK & rather famous sleeve-ful of Panzer destruction Badges (reputed to have 21 up-close-&-personal tank kills. Reputed...) went on to Oberst rank in the Bundeswehr:
    VIEZENZ.jpg


    Can't find a pic of him in Bundeswehr getup.
    Anyone would think postwar German Officers didn't go in much for media coverage. Discrete, even. Imagine...

    As a passing curiosity, some far from cheap paperwork:
    The Soldbuch & Documents to Günther Viezenz; Record Holder of the Tank Destruction Badge who Destroyed 21 Enemy Tanks
     
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  10. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    Pottered onto a couple of Witzig bundeswehr pics.
    Rudolf Witzig – Wikipedia

    5e68adf6eb42282a73831446af551481.jpg 2397f754b9371625ae485c327054a4d0.jpg 6a8a878f82126805a60eae46b13f95b1 (1).jpg rudolf-witzig-nb.jpg
     
  11. hutt

    hutt Member

    Otto Kretschmer torpedoed and seriously damaged my uncles tanker the Franche Comte on the 16th March 1941. His submarine was forced to the surface a few hours later and he and all but a couple of the crew were captured. The fact that he survived the war and served in the German armed forces later only dying in 1998 was a considerable surprise when I was researching this in some detail. He had outlived my uncle by a few years!
     
  12. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

  13. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

  14. ltdan

    ltdan Nietenzähler

    A bit late, but:
    He was always very uncomfortable with this unspeakable story of 21 kills, and until his death in 1999, he always fought vehemently against the misinformation about his achievement!
     
  15. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    Pottered onto while discussing elsewhere:
    NATO COMLANDCENT Speidel inspecting the RAF Regiment. 1963.

    Screenshot_20230419-111538.png

    1914-1963. What a period to have been a German officer...
     
  16. Jonathan Ball

    Jonathan Ball It's a way of life.

    Here's a list of those who've served as Inspector of the Army of the Bundeswehr since 1956. Some interesting names and backgrounds at the top of the list.

    Inspector of the Army - Wikipedia
     
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  17. davidbfpo

    davidbfpo Patron Patron

    Just an aside. I wonder how many Red Army (USSR) and Russian Federation officers lived to serve in the post-USSR national militaries. Notably the Ukrainian forces.
     
  18. Quarterfinal

    Quarterfinal Well-Known Member

    Vizadmiral Hans-Helmut Klose, onetime Kapitänleutnant and veteran of the Kriegsmarine S–Bootwaffe, here signs the HMS VICTORY guest book on the occasion of his retirement with Admiral Sir David Williams:
    upload_2023-4-27_23-3-20.jpeg

    Having commanded the 2nd Fast Torpedo Boat Training Flotilla (which operated throughout the Baltic) during the latter stages of WW2 and after a short period as a prisoner of war, Klose accepted a special commission with the Royal Navy, being subsequently involved in further special duties and then subsequently progressing to Commander-in-Chief of the new German Fleet:

    British Military Powerboat Trust, Coastal Forces, Gunboats, Target Boats, High Speed Launches, Motor Gun Boats, Torpedo Boats, Patrol Boats, Seaplane Tenders
    ........... perhaps less than half of it?
     
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  19. hucks216

    hucks216 Member

    Major Gerhard Richter who flew bombers in the Legion Condor and was awarded the Knights Cross in late 1940 even kept his Third Reich issued Wehrpass up to date with his post-war service assignments.

    GM (21).jpg GRichter (6).jpg GRichter (7).jpg
     
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  20. hucks216

    hucks216 Member

    Hauptmann Hans Bambey who served in Luftwaffe Flak units won the German Cross in Gold for ground-based combat in Russia in early 1943. He finished his post-war service as an Oberst (Colonel) in the 1960's.

    BAMBEY 003.jpg 20210802_163132.jpg 20210802_162920.jpg BAMBEY 006.jpg 20210802_163600.jpg
     
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