Eike Middeldorf

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Eike Middeldorf (born June 27, 1915 in Adamsdorf in the Neumark ; † November 1, 1995 in Swisttal ) was a major general ret. D. of the Army of the Bundeswehr and was most recently commander of the 7th Panzer Grenadier Division in Unna . He was best known as the superior of the so-called " captains of Unna ". He also worked as a military writer.

Life

Eike Middeldorf grew up as the son of a landowner.

Service in the armed forces

Middeldorf joined the Wehrmacht in 1934 . He led a company and a battalion during World War II and completed general staff training. After that he was employed in the staff of the 4th Panzer Division and in the Army High Command .

Service in the Bundeswehr

After the end of the war he traded in wood and electrical appliances and made some prosperity. As early as 1952, Middeldorf was active in the Blank office, the forerunner of today's Federal Ministry of Defense . In 1955 he became a soldier again and held various staff and commanding posts, including as chief of staff of III. Corps in Koblenz .

Captains of Unna and early release

In 1971 30 captains of the 7th Panzer Grenadier Division from Unna wrote a list of deficiencies on problems in education and training. In a way, this was a reaction to the writing of Lieutenant 70 , who published nine theses on March 10, 1970. The father of the inner leadership , Count von Baudissin , said: “For the first time active officers have overtaken me on the left.” Middeldorf supported the activities of the 30 captains and communicated with them, ignoring the official channels beyond the battalion and brigade commanders . Der Spiegel writes that it had first "encouraged the captains to record their annoyances in a memorandum ". When he met the captains, he is said to have encouraged them “always to be relentlessly sharp”.

In April 1971 Middeldorf wanted to give the star an interview. This took place in the Hotel Rasmussen in Bad Pyrmont . He announced that he would deliver a "explosive bomb" over the Unna memorandum. His lawyer negotiated a fee of 100,000 DM for him to  compensate for an early departure and a lack of promotion. It is unclear whether Middeldorf knew about the fee negotiation, because his lawyer claimed to have acted unauthorized. The star did not find the story explosive and did not publish the interview. Instead, the general's “Balkan offer” appeared under the title “Courageous for 100,000 marks”. On the same day, the then Defense Minister Helmut Schmidt arranged for Middeldorf to be put into temporary retirement.

medal

Middeldorf was awarded the Iron Cross 1st class.

Fonts

  • Tactics in the Russian campaign. Experiences and conclusions . Mittler, Darmstadt 1956.
  • Manual of tactics for leaders and sub-leaders . Mittler, Berlin / Frankfurt am Main 1957.
  • Tactical dictionary. German-English-French . Mittler, Berlin / Frankfurt am Main 1962.
  • Leadership and combat. Outline of the tactic . Bernard and Graefe, Frankfurt am Main 1968.

literature

  • General Middeldorf - tears in my eyes . In: Der Spiegel . No. 16 , 1971 ( online ).

Individual evidence

  1. Dermot Bradley, Heinz-Peter Würzenthal, Hansgeorg Model: The Generals and Admirals of the Bundeswehr 1955-1999. Vol. 3: Laegeler - Quiel . Biblio-Verlag, Bissendorf 2005, ISBN 3-7648-2382-8 .
  2. ^ Dieter E. Kilian: Politics and the military in Germany. Books on Demand, 2011, ISBN 978-3-937-88536-0 , p. 446. Limited preview in Google Book Search
  3. ^ Theses of Lieutenant 70. (No longer available online.) In: alles-fuer-den-offizier.de. Formerly in the original ; Retrieved December 8, 2011 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.alles-fuer-den-offizier.de   After: lieutenants challenge tradition! In: FAZ , March 10, 1970, special edition
  4. to the right and returns . In: Der Spiegel . No. 15 , 1971 ( online ).