Eberhard Wagemann

Eberhard Wagemann (born September 6, 1918 in Göttingen ; † May 3, 2010 ) was a German army officer , most recently major general of the Bundeswehr , and a military writer. From 1974 to 1977 he was commander of the command academy of the Bundeswehr .

Life

Wagemann attended the Joachimsthalsches Gymnasium in Templin . After graduating from high school in 1937, he joined the 67th Infantry Regiment of the Wehrmacht . In the Second World War he served as a career officer (from 1939 lieutenant ) and was initially employed as a platoon leader. During the attack on Poland he was seriously wounded, as a result of which his left lower leg had to be amputated. In 1941 he was one with the rank lieutenant in the Army High Command 18 offset. A little later he became company commander of the 67th Infantry Regiment of the 23rd Infantry Division , which fought in the Russian campaign. In the same year he was used as a training officer at the war school in Potsdam. In 1942 he completed a commanding course in Paris. During the Battle of Stalingrad he was company commander in the 103rd Panzer Grenadier Regiment and was flown out as a courier for the 6th Army on January 19, 1943. He was then assigned to the newly established 21st Panzer Division in Rennes. On D-Day (June 6, 1944) he was an officer on duty (OvD) with the 100 Panzer Regiment in the Caen area. During the battle of the cauldron near Falaise , he and several comrades managed to break through to the east. In January 1945 he was sent to the military academy for general staff training . In April 1945 he was taken prisoner of war by the US in the rank of captain near Rosenheim .

After the war he worked as a farm laborer and then studied at the University of Goettingen German, Protestant Theology and History, where he in 1953 at the Faculty of Philosophy with the dissertation The personality in the German drama of the 16th century to Dr. phil. received his doctorate. This was followed by a student assistantship in Lüneburg. In 1956 he joined the newly founded Bundeswehr as a major and in 1957 completed the general staff course at the leadership academy of the Bundeswehr in Bad Ems. He was ranked lieutenant colonel i. G. transferred to the Federal Ministry of Defense as a consultant for education and training in the command staff of the Army (Fü S) . In 1961 he became the commander of Panzer Battalion 44 in Göttingen. From 1965 he served in the field of internal leadership, education and training of the command staff of the armed forces . From April 1, 1968 to January 31, 1970 he was commander of the 4 Panzer Grenadier Brigade , under Federal Defense Minister Helmut Schmidt he was in the command staff of the armed forces subdivision manager Fü S I " Internal Management and Personnel" and from June 3, 1971 to June 30, 1974 he was Commander of the 7th Panzer Grenadier Division in Unna. During this time, for the first time in the history of the Bundeswehr, he invited the chairman of the IG Bergbau und Energie , at the time Adolf Schmidt , to the casino. In his last military assignment, Major General Wagemann was commander of the command academy of the Bundeswehr until September 30, 1977 .

Wagemann was retired a year before his regular release date because he was considered controversial in the SPD government because of his “conservative” understanding of tradition. Wagemann criticized the generally required participation of subordinates in the decision-making process in the issued central service regulation 10/1 "Inner Leadership" with the concern that "in the military history of the 20th century there had been repeated attempts at council-like regulations" and these "in voluntary corps and gang creatures "ended. As early as the end of January 1977, the North German Broadcasting Corporation announced that Defense Minister Georg Leber intended to release Wagemann early on March 31, 1977. Although Leber denied this, Wagemann's early retirement was planned for April 1976. As a result, Wagemann publicly accused the minister of political reasons for the premature dismissal, which is why the inspector general of the Bundeswehr Harald Wust commissioned his deputy lieutenant general Rüdiger von Reichert to investigate a possible breach of duty .

Memberships

Eberhard Wagemann was a member of the Clausewitz Society (vice-president from 1974 to 1978; spokesman for the advisory board from 1984 to 1991). In 1978 he received the Society's Golden Badge of Honor.

Fonts (selection)

• Considerations on the training system of the armed forces (= research report of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung , No. 5). Knoth, Melle 1980, ISBN 3-88368-023-0 .
• (Zsgest.): Far from home - for home. Pictorial chronicle of the 3 regiments "Colonel General von Seeckt" . Comradeship Association Former 67ers, Cologne 1981, ISBN 3-9800594-0-5 .
• (Zsgest.): Peace without armor? . Edited by the Clausewitz Society , Mittler, Herford 1989, ISBN 3-8132-0323-9 .
• Repressed history. Defense and Constitution in Europe . 2 volumes, v. Hase & Koehler, Mainz 1999, ISBN 3-7758-1376-4 .

Web links

• Photo , leadership academy of the Bundeswehr
• ARMED FORCES. Standing in: Der Spiegel from April 4, 1977

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Protocol VAJ-2010  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Vereinigung Alter Joachimsthaler eV  
2. ↑ ^{a b} Dieter E. Kilian : Elite in the penumbra. Generals and admirals of the Bundeswehr . Osning, Bielefeld 2005, ISBN 3-9806268-3-0 , pp. 407-408.
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Tangled up about Wagemann , Die Zeit, January 28, 1977.
4. ^ Panzergrenadierbrigade 4 1956-1993 (BH 9-4). Federal Archives, accessed on August 8, 2020 .  
5. ↑ Eberhard Wagemann , Der Spiegel 24/1971, June 7, 1971.
6. ↑ 7th Panzer Grenadier Division 1958-1993 (BH 8-7). Federal Archives, accessed on August 8, 2020 .  
7. ↑ Former commanders of the command academy , command academy of the Bundeswehr.
8. ↑ ^{a b} Falling standing , Der Spiegel 15/1977, April 4, 1977.