Erich Gühler

Erich Gühler (born February 6, 1859 in Bunzlau ; † January 21, 1911 in Hong Kong ) was a German rear admiral and head of the East Asia Squadron .

Life

Erich Gühler joined the Imperial Navy as a cadet on April 28, 1876 , completed his basic training on the sailing frigate Niobe and then attended the naval school . In the next three years he was used on board several times to deepen his qualifications. From October 19, 1879 to May 2, 1881 he continued his training at the Naval School. This was followed by commands on various ships as a flag lieutenant and as an officer on watch . From one of these missions, some of which were carried out abroad, he returned to Germany on the Braunschweig steamer and was initially on leave. On October 1, 1890, he began studying at the Naval Academy, which was interrupted by a five-month assignment as a navigational officer on the ironclad Oldenburg . After his successful completion Giihler on 1 April 1892 as Lieutenant to aides on the staff of the Marine Station of the North Sea appointed. From November 1894 to September 1895 he was in command of the Aviso Loreley and then switched to the armored ship Sachsen as first officer . During his period of service as admiral staff officer with the staff of the 1st Squadron, which lasted from May 28, 1896 to September 29, 1898, Gühler was promoted to Corvette Captain . He then worked for a year in the central department of the Reich Navy Office in Berlin.

The naval attaché Hubert von Rebeur-Paschwitz (1863–1938), who had only been employed at the German embassy in Tokyo since 1898 , urgently had to be ordered to Washington. For the first time since the Sino-Japanese War of 1894/95, the filling of the military attaché posts with the USA could be re-agreed through political channels. But because of the special situation in East Asia and the good relationship between Japan and Germany, the vacancy in Tokyo could not remain vacant. Therefore, in August 1898, it was decided at short notice to send Gühler to Japan to exercise the office of German naval attachès there. He arrived in Tokyo on October 1, 1899. Chargé d'affaires of the German embassy in Tokyo at that time was Count Casimir von Leyden (1852–1939). This mission opened up a completely new perspective for Gühler, coming from the usual Prussian way of thinking and behavior, now having to find one's way around international terrain without much preparation time was quite a challenge. For this new task he brought with him the experience of gathering information from the news center. His employer remained the same, the Reichsmarineamt. There was only a "formal" connection with the Foreign Office, as the military attachés had diplomatic status. The addressees of the news were also the same, first of all the State Secretary of the Reichsmarinamt Alfred von Tirpitz , who reserved the right to be the first to get the information of "his" attachés on the table. During Gühler's service in Tokyo, important processes took place that were also of significant importance for Germany. There was an enormous industrial boom in Japan at the turn of the century, which had a major impact on the defense industry and shipbuilding in Japan. The Japanese military caste had a noticeable influence on government policy, and rapprochement between Great Britain and Japan was sealed in January 1902 with a joint military alliance, the Anglo-Japanese Alliance . In October 1902, Gühler was replaced as a naval attaché. His successor Konrad Trummler (1864–1936) took over the business from the end of 1902 .

Gühler then went home, was initially available to the chief of the Baltic Sea naval station in Germany and was a member of the ship inspection commission from April to September 1903. After that he was in command of the great cruiser Prinz Heinrich for a year . He then switched to the ship of the line, Emperor Charlemagne, as commander . On September 30, 1905, he was transferred to the admiralty staff and at the same time Gühler worked as a teacher at the Naval Academy in Kiel. This was followed by a two-year assignment as Chief of Staff at the command of the North Sea naval station. In this position, promoted to rear admiral on June 6, 1908, Gühler was appointed 2nd admiral of the 2nd squadron on September 29, 1908. He was released from this post on May 15, 1910 and emigrated to East Asia. There Gühler was chief of the East Asia Squadron from June 6, 1910 until his death.

literature

• Dermot Bradley (eds.), Hans H. Hildebrand, Ernest Henriot: Germany's Admirals 1849-1945. The military careers of naval, engineering, medical, weapons and administrative officers with admiral rank. Volume 1: A-G. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1988, ISBN 3-7648-1499-3 , pp. 470-471.
• Klaus-Volker Gießler: The institution of the naval attaché in the German Empire. Harald Boldt Verlag, Boppard am Rhein 1976, ISBN 3-7646-1626-1 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Manfred Kehring: The re-establishment of the German military attaché service after the First World War (1919–1933). Harald Boldt Verlag, Boppard am Rhein 1966, see section on the historical development of the military attaché service
2. ↑ Reinhard Zöllner: History of Japan: from 1800 to the present . 2nd Edition. Schöningh, Paderborn 2009, ISBN 3-506-71383-3 .
3. ^ Klaus-Volker Giessler: The institution of the marine attaché in the empire. Harld Boldt Verlag, Boppard am Rhein 1976, ISBN 3-7646-1626-1 , p. 311.