General der Fallschirmptruppe Hermann-Bernhard Ramcke

General der Fallschirmtruppe Hermann-Bernhard Ramcke (Luftwaffe)...CONTINUED...


	Ramcke (right) conferring with Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel near El Alamein in North Africa. Note the Baltic Cross worn next to his First World War Iron Cross 1st Class with 1939 Bar.

8 September 1942-17 September 1942: At the same time, delegated with the deputy leadership of the 90th Light Africa Division. [Ramcke briefly assumed divisional command from Generalmajor Ulrich Kleemann who had been wounded when his staff car struck a mine. Nine days later, Ramcke relinquished command of the division to Oberst Hermann Schulte-Heuthaus.]
13 February 1943-September 1943: Commander of the 2nd Fallschirmjäger-Division. [Following the dismissal of Benito Mussolini as the Italian Head of Government in late-July 1943, his replacement, Maresciallo d’Italia (Marshal of Italy) Pietro Badoglio, falsely assured Adolf Hitler that Italy would remain in the war. Leaving nothing to chance, the Germans began immediate contingency planning to occupy Italy, disarm its military forces and seize the government in the event the country concluded an armistice with the Allies. On 26 July 1943, Ramcke’s division began arriving in Italy via a large-scale airlift from France to bolster the German presence near Rome. Concentrating south of the city, Ramcke’s paratroopers were held in readiness to seize the Italian capital in conjunction with Generalleutnant Fritz-Hubert Graeser’s 3rd Panzer Grenadier Division located to the north. Following the announcement of Italy’s armistice with the Allies on 8 September 1943, the Germans implemented Operation “Achse” (Axis) to take control of the country. Moving on Rome, the German paratroopers faced stiff opposition from elements of Generale di Corpo d’Armata Giacomo Carboni’s Italian Motorized Corps defending the outskirts of the city.[7] In the meantime, the II. Battalion of the division’s Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 6, commanded by Major Walter Gericke, attempted an airborne coup de main to capture Generale d’Armata Mario Roatta, the chief of the Italian Army General Staff, at his headquarters at Monte Rotondo. After parachuting from Ju 52 transport aircraft, Gericke’s battalion captured the headquarters along with some 2,500 Italian troops; however, General Roatta and his staff had already fled the area. With the surrender of General Carboni’s remaining forces, the Germans consolidated their hold on Rome by 10 September 1943. Leaving security detachments at the Vatican and other key points, the 2nd Fallschirmjäger-Division departed the city and continued disarming Italian troops in its operational area.]
September 1943-16 February 1944: Ill. [In his book The Americans in Brittany – 1944: The Battle for Brest, Jonathan Gawne notes that Ramcke was hospitalized in Dresden as a result of injuries sustained when his car was forced off the road by an Allied fighter-bomber.]
1943: Published his memoirs titled Vom Schiffsjungen zum Fallschirmjägergeneral (From Ship’s Boy to Paratroop General). In what would be the first of two memoirs, Ramcke penned his life story from entering the Imperial German Navy as a youth to receiving the Oakleaves to the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross following the Battle of El Alamein.
17 February 1944-17 March 1944: Commander of the 2nd Fallschirmjäger-Division. [While Ramcke was convalescing, the division had deployed from Italy to the southern sector of the Eastern Front in November 1943.[8] Commanded by Generalmajor Gustav Wilke during Ramcke’s absence, the 2nd Fallschirmjäger-Division arrived at Zhitomir where it helped blunt massive Russian attacks aimed at reaching the Dniester River. Airlifted to Kirovograd in mid-December 1943, the division bolstered the German front following a Russian breakthrough. Withdrawing in the face of heavy Russian tank attacks, the battered 2nd Fallschirmjäger-Division fell back across the Bug River in late-March 1944 and later fought to contain enemy bridgeheads on the Dniester River. After falling ill in Russia, Ramcke relinquished divisional leadership to Oberstleutnant (later Oberst) Hans Kroh, the commander of Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 2, and returned home.]
17 March 1944-5 May 1944: Fell ill and returned to Germany to oversee formation and rebuilding of the 2nd Fallschirmjäger-Division.
6 May 1944-10 August 1944: Commander of the 2nd Fallschirmjäger-Division. [While reforming at Wahn near Köln upon returning from Russia, the division received orders to deploy to France following the Allied landings in Normandy on 6 June 1944.[9] Arriving in Brittany later that month, Ramcke’s division continued its formation and training while defending the strategic port city of Brest from possible Allied air landings. In days following Operation Cobra, the dramatic American breakout from the Normandy beachhead in late July 1944, Major General Troy H. Middleton’s U.S. VIII Corps captured Avranches at the base of the Cotentin Peninsula. Hooking west, Middleton’s corps entered Brittany on 1 August 1944 in a lightning drive to clear the region and seize the fortified port city of Brest. Previously ordered to the Normandy front, Ramcke’s division slipped back into Brest even as Major General Robert W. Grow’s 6th Armored Division rapidly approached the city from the north on 8 August 1944. Pausing to turn about and destroy the German 266th Infantry Division moving into its rear areas near Plouvien (and capturing the commander, Generalleutnant Karl Spang), the 6th Armored Division contained the German garrison at Brest until relieved later in the month by the 2nd, 8th and 29th Infantry Divisions.]
11 August 1944-19 September 1944: Commandant of Fortress Brest, France. [After falling back into the Brest defensive perimeter, Ramcke assumed the mantle of “Fortress Commandant” and handed over command of the 2nd Fallschirmjäger-Division to Oberst (later Generalmajor) Hans Kroh. With over 35,000 Army, Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine troops at his disposal—including the 2nd Fallschirmjäger-Division, the 343rd Infantry Division and elements of the 266th Infantry Division—Ramcke instructed his men to defend the city to the “last grenade” in an effort to tie down the besieging American forces for as long as possible. Holding out against General Middleton’s VIII Corps for over a month, Ramcke finally surrendered on 19 September 1944 at his headquarters on the Crozon Penisula, the day after Brest itself had capitulated.[10] On the day of his surrender, Ramcke received a unique simultaneous award of the Swords and Diamonds to his Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross. (The decorations were later presented to him by a representative of the Swiss Red Cross while a prisoner of war at the original “General’s Camp No. 11” at Trent Park where he was held from October 1944-April 1945.)[11]]

General der Fallschirmtruppe Ramcke and his Irish Setter after surrendering at Pointe des Capuçins on the Crozon Peninsula, 19 September 1944. Ramcke meets two of his opponents: Major General Donald Stroh (far right) and Brigadier General Charles D.W. Canham (second from right), the commander and assistant commander respectively of the U.S. 8th Infantry Division.

“These Are My Credentials,” a painting by artist Rick Reeves.

Brigadier General Charles D.W. Canham (centre pointing), the Deputy Commander of the U.S. 8th Infantry Division, demands the surrender of General der Fallschirmtruppe Ramcke (left in leather coat holding satchel). After the U.S. troops entered the German headquarters bunker at Pointe des Capuçins on the Crozon Peninsula, Ramcke allegedly asked Canham for his credentials. Without hesitation, Canham turned to his soldiers and replied, “These are my credentials.” This event was reported in the New York Times and served as the inspiration for Reeves’ painting.

Note the similarity of this painting to the previous photo. Also note that Brigadier General Canham is in that photo (centre wearing glasses-one star on helmet).

Photo courtesy of Charles Canham (grandson)

The above photo shows Charles D.W. Canham receiving the Distinguished Service Order from Montgomery roughly a month after D-Day. He (Col. Charles D. W. Canham) commanded the 116th Regimental Combat Team on Omaha Beach on D-Day. The 116th was a regiment from the 29th Infantry Division - the regiment dated back to Stonewall Jackson's Brigade during the Civil War. I believe the 29th was the first US infantry division sent to Britain specifically to begin training for D-Day. They made the crossing on the Queen Mary in the ill-fated voyage that involved colliding with and sinking a British cruiser (a fact that was apparently covered up until after the war). By all accounts my grandfather was a stern disciplinarian during the 2 years they were in Britain training, but the troops who survived seem to have been more favorably inclined about him. Soon after this photo was taken he was promoted and assigned as Deputy Commander General of the 8th Infantry, which was what he was doing when Ramcke was captured in the surrender at Brest.

20 September 1944 - 23 June 1951: Prisoner of war in U.S., British and, from December 1946, French captivity.
- 27 September 1944 transferred to Trent Park Camp 11 sorting camp.
- 2nd May 1946 transferred to LDC (London District Cage) and then into French Custody
21 March 1951: Sentenced to 5 years’ imprisonment at hard labor for war crimes by a French military court in Paris. However, based on the time he had already served as a prisoner, Ramcke was released three months later on 23 June 1951. [After fleeing to Germany in January 1951, Ramcke voluntarily returned to France to stand trial for war crimes. (At the time of his flight, he had been residing in Soisy on parole. Enduring over six years of captivity without being formally charged with war crimes, Ramcke wished to publicize his plight and that of fellow prisoners in France through the German press.) The French government charged Ramcke with organizing or permitting the premeditated murder of French citizens; reprisals against French citizens resulting in death; the plundering of private property; the deliberate burning of private dwellings and other buildings; the commission of tortures and brutalities; and obligating French civilians to perform illegal and unauthorized war work. The charges were broken down into chronological groupings: those offenses allegedly committed in Finisterre (the western most department of Brittany which includes the city of Brest) from the end of June 1944 to 12 August 1944 and those allegedly occurring in Brest proper from 13 August 1944 to 17 September 1944.]
1951: Published Fallschirmjäger – damals und danach (Paratrooper – Then and Now), the second half of his memoirs; later reissued under the title Vom Ritterkreuzträger zum Angeklagten (From Knight’s Cross Holder to the Accused). Picking up where his earlier memoir ended, Ramcke continued his life story through his release from French captivity on 23 June 1951.

Decorations & Awards:

Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross: 21 August 1941, Oberst, Commander of Fallschirmjäger-Sturm-Regiment 1.
Oakleaves (No. 145): 31 August 1942, Generalmajor, Commander of Fallschirmjäger-Brigade 1 (Ramcke).
Swords (No. 99): 19 September 1944, Generalleutnant, Commandant of Fortress Brest.
Diamonds (No. 20): 19 September 1944, Generalleutnant, Commandant of Fortress Brest.
Prussian Golden Military Merit Cross: 24 April 1918, Offiziers-Stellvertreter, Assault Battalion of the Flanders Naval Corps. [Established by King Wilhelm I of Prussia on 27 February 1864, the Golden Military Merit Cross was the highest bravery award Prussia could bestow upon enlisted men. Considered the other rank’s equivalent to the Prussian Pour le Mérite Order for officers, the Golden Military Merit Cross was awarded only 1,770 times during World War I.]
Prussian Iron Cross, 1st Class (1914): 21 January 1917.
Prussian Iron Cross, 2nd Class (1914): 17 April 1916.
1939 Bar to the Prussian Iron Cross, 1st Class: 23 May 1941.
1939 Bar to the Prussian Iron Cross, 2nd Class: 1 October 1939.
Cross of Honor for Combatants 1914-1918: 26 January 1935.
Armed Forces Long Service Award, 1st Class (25-year Service Cross): 2 October 1936.
Armed Forces Long Service Award, 3rd Class (12-year Service Medal): 2 October 1936.
Baltic Cross: 5 November 1919 (for service with Freikorps “von Brandis”).
Wound Badge in Gold – World War I award: 3 November 1919.
Luftwaffe Combined Pilot/Observer Badge in Gold with Diamonds
Luftwaffe Parachutist Badge: 1 August 1940.
Luftwaffe Ground Combat Badge
“KRETA” Campaign Cuff-Title
“AFRIKA” Campaign Cuff-Title
Italian Army Silver Bravery Medal (Medaglia d’Argento al Valore Militare): 1942. [Ramcke received this prestigious medal upon the recommendation of Generale di Corpo d’Armata Federico Ferrari Orsi, the commanding general of the Italian X Corps, in recognition of his actions at Deir el Munassib on the El Alamein front during the period of 30 August 1942-5 September 1942.[12]]

General der Fallschirmtruppe Ramcke’s World War I Combat Service Record:

Naval Action, 1914-1915

2 August 1914-9 April 1915: Cruiser duty in the North Sea and Baltic Sea aboard the Prinz Adalbert.

Western Front, 1915-1918

16 September 1915-26 May 1917: Positional combat on the Yser.
27 May 1917-3 December 1917: Battle in Flanders.
9-11 July 1917: Seizure of the bridgehead at the mouth of the Yser.
4 December 1917-9 April 1918: Positional combat in Flanders.
10 April 1918-11 November 1918: Positional combat in Flanders and fighting retreat between Lys and the Schelde.

Post-War Combat, 1919

10 February 1919-2 March 1919: Positional combat against Poland in the area of the Netze River.
3 March 1919-4 April 1919: Combat in the Baltic (wounded).
15 July 1919-10 November 1919: Combat in the Baltic.

Ramcke’s impression of Island Farm Special Camp 11 from his memoirs, Fallschirmjäger – damals und danach (A.K.A. Vom Ritterkreuzträger zum Angeklagten), used with kind permission from the Webmaster of www.kriegsgefangen.de:

It was April 1 [1946], when [Generalleutnant Carl] Köchy and I arrived at POW Camp XI, Bridgend, near Cardiff.[13] There were 180 German generals from all branches of service housed in roomy barracks with a small room for each one. Food and treatment were good. Among the generals were: Field Marshal von Kleist, my splendid corps commander in the Polish campaign; Generals Heinrici and Strauß and many old acquaintances. The British camp commandant was the former commandant of Camp Trent Park. Major Topham, who showed himself here, as then, to be a noble person in the best sense of the word. After a month’s time, it was again time to pack our bags. Together with Generals [Alfred] Schlemm and [Ludwig] Heilmann of the parachute troops and General [August] Krakau of the mountain infantry, I was taken again to the horrible District Cage in London. There we met two staff officers of the paratroopers. Already the next day we were flown to Bückeburg and went on by truck to the judicial prison in Lüneburg. That’s where the Crete-trial was to take place of General [Kurt] Student. Student was kept in a guarded cell, which was flooded with light day and night.

Sources:

Bender, Roger James & Law, Richard D. Uniforms, Organization and History of the Afrika Korps. R. James Bender Publishing, San Jose, California, 1973 (1st Edition).
Garland, Albert N. & Smyth, Howard McGaw. Sicily and the Surrender of Italy – The United States Army in World War II: The Mediterranean Theater of Operations. Washington D.C.: Center of Military History, United States Army, 1965.
Gawne, Jonathan. The Americans in Brittany – 1944: The Battle for Brest. Histoire & Collections, Paris, France, 2002.
Hildebrand, Karl-Friedrich. Die Generale der Deutschen Luftwaffe, 1935-1945, Band 3 (Odebrecht-Zoch). Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück, Germany, 1992.
Jurado, Carlos Caballero & Bujeiro, Ramiro (illustrator). Osprey Elite 76: The German Freikorps, 1918-23. Osprey Publishing Ltd., Oxford, United Kingdom, 2001.
Kamman, Willi. Der Weg der 2. Fallschirmjäger-Division.
Karau, Mark D. “Wielding the Dagger”: The MarineKorps Flandern and the German War Effort, 1914-1918. Praeger Publishers, Westport, Connecticut, 2003.
Kurowski, Franz. Battleground Italy, 1943-1945: The German Armed Forces in the Battle for the “Boot”. Ian McMullen, translator. J.J. Fedorowicz Publishing, Winnipeg, Canada, 2003.
Pallud, Jean Paul. “Operation Merkur: The German Invasion of Crete,” After the Battle, Number 47 (1985), pp. 1-31.
Ramcke, Bernhard. Vom Schiffsjungen zum Fallschirmjägergeneral. Verlag die Wehrmacht, Berlin, Germany, 1943.
Ramcke, Hermann Bernhard. Vom Ritterkreuzträger zum Angeklagten. Nation Europa Verlag GmbH, Coburg, Germany, 2001 (originally published in Germany in 1951 and again in 1973 as Fallschirmjäger – damals und danach).
Rogers, Anthony. Churchill’s Folly: Leros and the Aegean—The Last Great British Defeat of World War II. Cassell, London, United Kingdom, 2003.
Waite, Robert G. L. Vanguard of Nazism: The Free Corps Movement in Postwar Germany, 1918-1923. W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., New York, NY, 1969 revised edition of original 1952 printing.
Die Schlachten und Gefechte des Großen Krieges, 1914-1918 (compiled and published in Germany in 1919 by the Great General Staff).

[7] The 2nd Fallschirmjäger-Division faced particularly stout resistance south of Rome from the 21st Granatieri di Sardegna Infantry Division commanded by Generale di Divisione Gioacchino Solinas.

[8] Shortly after Italy concluded its armistice with the Allies on 8 September 1943, the British initiated Operation Accolade, the occupation of Kos, Leros and Samos in the Italian Dodecanese Islands, to gain a favorable base of operations in the eastern Mediterranean. As the 2nd Fallschirmjäger-Division prepared to depart Italy for the Eastern Front, it left behind a battalion which had been earmarked for a role in the recapture of Leros. On 12 November 1943, the Germans launched Operation “Taifun” (Typhoon), a combined sea- and airborne landing operation to retake the island. That afternoon, the I. Battalion of Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 2, commanded by Hauptmann Martin Kühne, took off from airfields near Athens aboard Junkers Ju 52 transport aircraft and parachuted into the center of the island near Mount Rachi. On 16 November 1943, the Germans completed the recapture of Leros taking 3,200 British and 5,350 Italian prisoners during the fierce fighting.

[9] When deployed to Brittany in June 1944, Ramcke’s division consisted of Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 2 (Oberst Hans Kroh), Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 7 (Oberst Erich Pietzonka), Fallschirm-Artillerie-Regiment 2 and signals, pioneer, medical and anti-tank battalions numbered 2. Oberstleutnant Dr. jur. Dr. rer. pol. Friedrich-August Freiherr von der Heydte’s Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 6 had been detached from the division since late-1943. Moved to Normandy in May 1944, the regiment fought independently in the area of Carentan and St. Lô where it was virtually destroyed.

[10] On the afternoon of 18 September 1944, Oberst Erich Pietzonka, the commander of Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 7 and leader of the eastern defense sector, surrendered the city after fierce street and house-to-house fighting.

[11] Along with Ramcke, five other senior German officers were taken prisoner upon the fall of Fortress Brest: Generalleutnant Erwin Rauch, commander of the 343rd Infantry Division; Generalmajor Hans von der Mosel, chief of staff of Ramcke’s Fortress Brest staff; Generalmajor Hans Kroh, commander of the 2nd Fallschirmjäger-Division; Vizeadmiral (Ing.) Alfred Schirmer, senior director of the Kriegsmarine Shipyard and commandant of the Kriegsmarine Arsenal at Brest; and Konteradmiral Otto Kähler, commandant of the Brittany Sea Defenses. Generalleutnant Karl Spang, the commander of the 266th Infantry Division, had been captured outside the city on 8 August 1944.

[12] On 18 October 1942, General Ferrari Orsi was killed by a mine while on a patrol near Deir el Munassib.

[13] Generals Ramcke and Köchy had previously been held as prisoners of war at Camp Clinton near Jackson, Mississippi.

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