Albert Wedemeyer

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Albert Coady Wedemeyer

Albert Coady Wedemeyer (born July 9, 1897 in Omaha , † December 17, 1989 in Fort Belvoir ) was an American general .

Life

Wedemeyer was born in Omaha, Nebraska in 1897 . In 1919 he graduated from the US Military Academy at West Point . From 1934 to 1936 he studied at the Command and General Staff School in Fort Leavenworth, from 1936 to 1938 at the reopened Berlin War Academy. In 1941 he became a lieutenant colonel staff officer in the planning department ( War Plans Division of the US War Department ) and wrote the " Victory Plan " of 1941. He was also instrumental in the invasion plans for Europe, including the Normandy landings .

In 1943 he became chief of staff under Mountbatten , who commanded the Allied forces in Southeast Asia . He was then from 1944 to 1946, as the successor to Joseph Stilwell, Chief of Staff for General Chiang Kai-shek and Commander of the Southeast Asia Armed Forces in the Republic of China (the so-called China Burma India Theater of General Stilwell had been split into two parts, Burma-India Theater went to General Daniel Sultan ).

In 1948 he became chief of the armed forces planning staff. He supported General Lucius D. Clay's intention to establish an airlift during the Berlin blockade by the Soviet Union . His experience from the Southeast Asia conflict was a decisive factor, as several advancing armies were supplied here by air for years (→ The Hump ). The tactical organization was carried out by Lieutenant General William H. Tunner , who was then called in to reorganize the Berlin Airlift . He was promoted to general on July 19, 1954, when he had already retired from active service since 1951.

In 1958 he published the book Wedemeyer reports! , a treatise on World War II with autobiographical features. It appeared in 17 editions and has been translated into 5 languages; It was published in Germany in 1958. On May 23, 1985, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from then US President Ronald Reagan .

Wedemeyer died on December 17, 1989 in Fort Belvoir, Virginia .

Works

  • Wedemeyer Reports! , New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1958.
    • The administered war , Mohn, Gütersloh (2nd edition 1960).
  • Wedemeyer on War and Peace. Keith E. Eiler (Ed.), Hoover Institution Press, 1987.

literature

  • John J. McLaughlin: General Albert C. Wedemeyer: America's Unsung Strategist in World War II. Casemate Books, 2012. ISBN 978-1-61200-069-5 .
  • Herbert Feis: The China Tangle: The American Effort in China from Pearl Harbor to the Marshall Mission (Princeton University Press, 1953).
  • Charles F. Romanus, Riley Sunderland: Time Runs Out in CBI (Washington, 1959), official US Army history online edition
  • Piece, William. The Wedemeyer Mission: American Politics and Foreign Policy during the Cold War. U. of Georgia Press, 1984. 177 pp.
  • Tang Tsou:
    • America's Failure in China, 1941-50 (1963)
    • "The Historians and the Generals," The Pacific Historical Review Vol. 31, no. 1 (February 1962), pp. 41-48 in JSTOR
  • John Keegan : Six Armies in Normandy: From D-Day to the Liberation Of Paris. Viking Penguin Inc 1982 (New 50th D-Day Anniversary 365 pp. Edition includes a new introduction by the author) pp. 22, 31-4, 36, 37, 38

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ^ Der Spiegel February 25, 1959: MEIN KAMERAD STAUFFENBERG - from the memoirs of US General Wedemeyer
  2. ^ Remarks at the Presentation Ceremony for the Presidential Medal of Freedom - May 23, 1985
  3. ↑ see Drew University , dissertation 2008.
personal data
SURNAME Wedemeyer, Albert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wedemeyer, Albert Coady
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American general, chief planner of the Normandy invasion
DATE OF BIRTH July 9, 1897
PLACE OF BIRTH Omaha , Nebraska
DATE OF DEATH December 17, 1989
Place of death Fort Belvoir , Virginia