Friedrich-Wilhelm Dernen

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Friedrich-Wilhelm Dernen

Friedrich-Wilhelm Dernen (born February 15, 1884 in Cologne , † February 15, 1967 in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe ) was a German officer , most recently Major General of the Reserve in World War II .

Life

Dernen joined the grenadier regiment "Kaiser Wilhelm I." (2nd Badisches) No. 110 in Mannheim on October 1, 1907 as a one-year volunteer , from which he was released on September 30, 1908 as a reserve .

With the outbreak of World War I , Dernen was reactivated in his main regiment and used as a platoon leader . As such, he fought first at Mulhouse , then in the Battle of Lorraine and later in northern France at Bauvin , Vermelles and Loos . After becoming a company commander , he took part in the Loretto Battle , then the Autumn Battle of Champagne and the Battle of the Somme . In September 1917 he stormed the Vaux-Kreuz-Höhe near Verdun and at the end of the year he fought in the Battle of Cambrai . He continued to lead his company successfully during the Great Battle of France . He then competed in the Aisne and Marne battles and continued to prove himself at Chemin des Dames .

After the war and march back into the home and the local demobilization ern was on 6 December 1918 the character as Lieutenant dismissed the reserve from military service.

In the following years he worked as a commercial clerk at BASF in Ludwigshafen .

From August 19 to September 15, 1935 Dernen completed a reserve exercise as a company commander and with the battalion staff of the 26th Infantry Regiment in Flensburg .

There he began his service as captain of the reserve on January 1, 1936 and was promoted to major of the reserve shortly afterwards on August 1, 1936 . On August 27, the anniversary of the Battle of Tannenberg in 1914 , Dernen was given the character of Lieutenant Colonel and, after the start of the Second World War , was drafted into the staff of the 15th Infantry Replacement Regiment on September 2, 1939.

A short time later, on October 5, 1939, he was appointed commander of the III. Battalion of the 88th Infantry Regiment, which at that time was on the French border to secure the border. Due to illness, Dehnen was admitted to the military hospital on January 29, 1940 , then transferred to Infantry Replacement Battalion 88, and appointed its commander on April 11, 1940. Two months later, he was appointed commander of the 1st Battalion of the 550 Infantry Regiment. From August 1 to October 14, 1940, he acted as training manager of the 159th Infantry Division and was then commander of the III. Battalion of the 36th Infantry Regiment. Dernen gave up this command on January 17, 1942, was admitted to the hospital due to illness and then transferred to the command reserve of Military District Command IX . After his recovery he was on May 11, 1942 commander of the Infantry Replacement Battalion 9 and on September 27, 1942 commander of the Grenadier Replacement Regiment 9. There he was promoted to Colonel of the Reserve on December 1, 1942 . With effect from May 16, 1943 he was transferred to the staff of the 90th Panzer Grenadier Division and in the following years Dernen was in command of the Fortress Brigade Sardinia . From August 16, 1943 he was in the Führerreserve of the OKH and at the same time he was assigned to the military commander in Belgium-Northern France for training as a field commander. There he was assigned on December 7th to represent Field Commander Mont-de-Marsan . On February 8, 1944, Dernen was assigned to the command of Army Group G in southern France for briefing as a field commander and shortly thereafter appointed field commander 563. In this capacity he was also the combat commander of Montpellier . On October 19, 1944, Dernen was entrusted with the leadership of the 159th Infantry Division and on December 1, 1944, while being promoted to Major General of the Reserve, he was appointed its commander. On December 11, 1944, he handed over the command to Major General Heinrich Bürcky and he was relieved due to illness and added to the Führer Reserve. Dernen was appointed commander of the Olomouc Fortress on January 17, 1945 . Due to illness, he did not take up the command and was admitted to the hospital on January 25, 1945.

After the war ended, Dernen was taken prisoner by the US in September 1945 , from which he was released in February 1948.

Awards

literature

  • Karl-Friedrich Hildebrand, Christian Zweng: The knights of the order Pour le Mérite of the First World War. Volume 1: A-G. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1999, ISBN 3-7648-2505-7 , pp. 297-299.
  • Hanns Möller: History of the knights of the order pour le mérite in the world war. Volume I: A-L. Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Berlin 1935, pp. 221–222.
personal data
SURNAME Dernen, Friedrich-Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German officer, most recently Major General of the Reserve in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH February 15, 1884
PLACE OF BIRTH Cologne
DATE OF DEATH February 15, 1967
Place of death Bad Homburg vor der Höhe