Bruno Bräuer

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Bruno Oswald Bräuer (born February 4, 1893 in Willmannsdorf , Jauer district in Silesia ; † May 20, 1947 in Chaidari near Athens / Greece ) was a German officer and general of the parachute troops during the Second World War . From August 1942 to June 1944 he was in command of the fortress of Crete. After the war, he was charged with war crimes and executed .

Life

From 1905 to 1908, Bräuer was a student at the military boys 'education institute in Annaburg / Halle district and then a student at the non-commissioned officer preschool in Greifenberg / Pomerania , before he started a course at the non-commissioned officers' school in Treptow on Rega in 1910 . In 1911 he was promoted to private , and the following year he joined the 7th West Prussian Infantry Regiment No. 155 in Ostrowo / Pleschen .

As a non-commissioned officer (since July 1, 1912) he took part in the First World War with this unit and was finally promoted to officer deputy in 1917. After the war ended as a lieutenant in the Reichswehr , he served as platoon leader in the 9th Rifle Regiment. He left the Reichswehr and in 1920 switched to the police force . He was a member of this until 1935.

In 1936 Bräuer was accepted into the parachute force of the Air Force and in 1937 was appointed commander of the 4th Parachute Rifle Battalion Regiment General Göring. On January 1, 1938, he became a lieutenant colonel and on April 1, 1938, commander of the 1st battalion of the Parachute Fighter Regiment 1 in Stendal . In 1939 he was promoted to colonel and appointed regimental commander and deputy commander of the 7th Aviation Division .

With the beginning of the Second World War he first took part in the attack on Poland and in May 1940 in the occupation of the Netherlands . In May 1941 he was appointed commander of the "Kampfgruppe Ost" for the Merkur company and was actively involved in the fighting on Crete .

In September 1941 he was promoted to major general. In September 1942, Bräuer was transferred to the Führerreserve and, as an officer for the special use of the Reich Minister for Aviation and Commander in Chief of the Air Force, succeeded the deposed General Andrae with the management of the affairs of the commander of the "Fortress Crete" and the commander of the Crete Aviation Staff . He took over these positions on February 23, 1943 and held them until May 31, 1944, when he was replaced by Lieutenant General Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller and reassigned to the Führer Reserve on June 1, 1944 while being promoted to General of the Parachute Troops. Returned to active service on March 2, 1945, he became commander of the 9th Paratrooper Division. Because of the lack of steadfastness of his units during the Battle of the Oder , he had to give up his command and was reassigned to the Führer Reserve on April 19, 1945.

Two days after the end of the war , he was taken prisoner by the British . He was extradited to Greece for the deportation of the Cretan Jewish Greeks in May 1944 and brought before a court there. He was sentenced to death by shooting together with General of the Infantry Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller . The sentence was carried out in Athens on May 20, 1947. His grave is in the 1974 German military cemetery in Maleme on Crete.

Awards

literature

  • Franz Thomas, Günter Wegmann: The knight's cross bearers of the German Wehrmacht 1939–1945 Part II: Paratroopers , ISBN 3-7648-1461-6

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Tony Le Tissier: '' Kampf um Berlin '', Bechtermünz Verlag, Augsburg 1997, p. 76
  2. ↑ The earth above the graves was still moving in Die Zeit , November 20, 1987
personal data
SURNAME Bräuer, Bruno
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bräuer, Bruno Oswald (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German general of the parachute force and war criminal
DATE OF BIRTH February 4, 1893
PLACE OF BIRTH Willmannsdorf , Jauer district
DATE OF DEATH May 20, 1947
Place of death Chaidari