Friedrich Dollmann

Friedrich Dollmann, 1941

Friedrich Karl Albert Dollmann (* 2. February 1882 in Würzburg , † 28 / 29. June 1944 in Le Mans ) was a German army officer (since 1940 Colonel General ). Dollmann served in the Bavarian army until the end of the First World War . Then he rose to the Reichswehr and Wehrmacht unusually quickly. During the Second World War , Dollmann commanded the 7th Army on the German western border and from summer 1940 as an occupying force in France . The management of the defense against the Anglo-American landing in Normandy in June 1944 was largely in his hands. There is uncertainty about the circumstances of Dollmann's death. While a majority of a heart attack is considered as a cause of death, there is also the thesis that the general had suicide committed. No biography has yet been written about Dollmann, so only a few biographical sketches are available.

Life

family

He was the son of Friedrich Dollmann, a staff auditor in the Bavarian army , and his wife Maria, née Kirschbaum. Dollmann married Margareta Jaeger in 1919, with whom he had a child.

Promotions November 1, 1899 flagjunker February 6, 1900 Ensign March 4, 1901 Lieutenant October 23, 1910 First Lieutenant October 1, 1913 Captain October 1, 1921 Major April 1, 1927 Lieutenant Colonel 1st February 1930 Colonel October 1, 1932 Major General October 1, 1933 Lieutenant General April 1, 1936 General of the Artillery July 19, 1940 Colonel General

Bavarian Army

At the age of 17, Dollmann joined the 1st Field Artillery Regiment "Prince Regent Luitpold" of the Bavarian Army on July 15, 1899 as a flag junior . On October 1, 1900, he was transferred to the 7th field artillery regiment "Prince Regent Luitpold" , which was to remain his main troop part for the next few years. During the following years, Dollmann attended the war school in Munich (1900/01), then became a lieutenant and learned at the Amberg rifle factory (1903) and at the artillery and engineering school (1904). He then served from 1905 to 1909 as a department adjutant in his regiment . In the summer of 1909 he successfully qualified for the War Academy , which he attended from October 1, 1909 to September 30, 1912 and which made him qualify for the higher adjutantage.

At the beginning of the First World War , Captain Dollmann was adjutant of the 1st Artillery Brigade (since January 23, 1913). He was used in this position on the Western Front and took over command of the 1st Division of the 7th Field Artillery Regiment on October 19, 1916. After about a year, on November 5, 1917, he was transferred as second general staff officer to the staff of the 6th Infantry Division under Lieutenant General Karl Ritter von Riedl . But after a few weeks Dollmann was transferred again; this time to the Bavarian General Staff , from where he was assigned to the command of the 6th Army as an officer on January 21, 1918 . b. V. was allocated.

In the course of the war, Dollmann was awarded the Iron Cross II. And I. Class, the Bavarian Military Service Order IV. Class with swords and crown and the Bavarian Service Award Cross II. Class.

Interwar period

After the Armistice of Compiègne (November 11, 1918), Dollmann returned to his original post as adjutant of the 1st Field Artillery Brigade in the course of demobilization on December 17, 1918. In the next few months, due to the revolutionary era , he held positions in rapid succession . On March 16, 1919, he was appointed to the Ministry of Military Affairs , where he was assigned to the peace commission of the General Staff. This was likely due to the fact that he spoke both English and French. After this was completed, he served from June 13th in the Central Office of the General Staff before he returned to the Ministry on July 4th. From October 1, 1919, Dollmann finally served as a general staff officer in the newly established Group Command IV of the Provisional Reichswehr in Munich. He held this post for a year.

From October 1, 1920, Dollmann was briefly employed as adjutant to Artillery Commander 21 before he was used in the staff of Artillery Leader VII from January 1, 1921. It was not used again until April 1, 1923, when Dollmann was transferred to the staff of the 7th (Bavarian) Division . On December 1, 1927, after having been promoted to lieutenant colonel a few months earlier, he came to Würzburg to be trained in the 1st division of the 7th (Bavarian) Artillery Regiment . On February 1, 1928, he took over this unit as commander. After more than a year and a half, he gave up command and took over the post of Chief of the General Staff of the 7th (Bavarian) Division on October 1, 1929. During the next few years several uses in higher artillery commands followed ; Dollmann rose to lieutenant general . He commanded the 6th (Prussian) Artillery Regiment (from February 1, 1931) in Minden , was Artillery Leader VII (from October 1, 1932) and then as Artillery Inspector in the Ministry of Defense (from February 1, 1933). After a brief assignment as commander of the Army Service in Kassel (from October 1, 1934), on May 1, 1935, he became Commander of Military District IX, based in Kassel, and Commanding General of IX. Army Corps appointed. In this position he rose to the rank of general of the artillery in 1936 .

Dollmann and National Socialism

Historians who have dealt with Dollmann agree that the general himself was not a National Socialist , even if he showed “pro-Nazi attitudes” . However, the historian Klaus-Jürgen Müller stated that Dollmann's decrees had all “ distinguished themselves by a special National Socialist impetus” and therefore “a stronger tendency towards National Socialism must be assumed” .

In a decree of February 8, 1935, he urged his officers to cooperate more closely with the NSDAP . In the last section of the letter he even demanded "officers who cannot fully and completely submit to the demands of the National Socialist state to be removed from the Wehrmacht." As is evident from another decree of January 28, 1936, Dollmann demanded from his departments to recognize the unconditional claim to leadership of the party and to work towards the fact that the attitude and attitude of every officer becomes “positive and National Socialist” . Even the wives of the officers should be actively involved in the Nazi women 's community. He also ordered the emperor's pictures to be removed from the officers' mess and to hang them up in traditional rooms. In their place, pictures of the “Führer” should now appear. Although he was a Catholic himself , Dollmann did not exempt the military chaplains from his demands for cooperation with National Socialism. In March 1936, for example, he stated: "The Wehrmacht, as one of the bearers of the National Socialist state, demands from you as a military pastor at all times a clear and unreserved commitment to the Führer, the state and the people."

According to historians Samuel W. Mitcham and Gene Mueller, Dollmann's promotions since 1936 are largely due to his political commitment. However, he later had doubts about National Socialism during the occupation in France.

Second World War

At the Siegfried Line

General of the Artillery Dollmann inspecting positions (spring 1940)

At the beginning of the Second World War , Dollmann was deployed on August 27, 1939 as Commander-in-Chief of the 7th Army . This was used in the area of Army Group C (Colonel General Ritter von Leeb ) on the Upper Rhine to protect the German western border. There was initially only minor fighting against the Western Allied troops (→ seat war ). In this phase, Dollmann's units were supposed to simulate an imminent German attack against the upper Rhine and Switzerland . For this purpose, Dollmann had a large number of troop transfers and deception maneuvers carried out, which quite served their purpose. Dollmann only came into contact with the war in Poland (→ attack on Poland ) when he learned that his son-in-law had died there on September 10th as a lieutenant in the 15th Infantry Regiment.

Dollmann's army was only used in the last phase of the western campaign (→ Fall Rot ). Army Group C launched an offensive against the Rhine line on June 14, 1940. The 7th Army took Colmar and Strasbourg and broke through the French Maginot Line on the extreme left wing of the front . It then succeeded in merging with the Guderian Panzer Group near the Swiss border, including the French Army Group 3 (2nd, 3rd, 5th and 8th Army), which was about 200,000 strong. This had to capitulate on June 22, 1940. The 7th Army's offensive had actually become unnecessary in view of the looming collapse of the French army. However, Alsace-Lorraine , which was regarded as “original German”, should be effectively conquered for propaganda purposes instead of just occupied.

On July 19, 1940, Hitler honored numerous high-ranking generals. There were a number of promotions. Dollmann became Colonel General after receiving the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on June 24th .

Period of occupation in France

Dollmann's AOK 7 remained as an occupation in the west after the defeat of France . Along with Erwin von Witzleben, he was the only commander-in-chief of the western campaign who was not used in the war against the Soviet Union . The reason for this can only be guessed at. Dollmann was not viewed as critical of the regime, but probably too inflexible and technically unsuitable. The new area of ​​responsibility extended from the Seine to the Loire . In this function he neglected the preparation of the coast for defense. Only when his command in December 1943, the Army Group B of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was assumed to Dollmann tried to expanding in Rommel's senses. On the other hand, his chief of staff later claimed that Dollmann had tried "with all possible temporary help" to strengthen his defense section, but he would not have been supported by the higher-level leadership. In fact, as early as September 1942, Dollmann pointed out that the weakness of the staff made it impossible to build further gun emplacements and to occupy them in an emergency. Instead, he advocated immediate counter-attacks at the “hot spots” on the coast, as Rommel later called for on a larger scale.

Dollmann is said to have tried to get along well with the French population during the occupation. He often attended church services, but also visited cathedrals and museums. During the fighting in Normandy from June 1944 onwards, he was very committed to the protection of civil property and threatened German looters with severe punishment. At the same time he fell into depression in France and let himself go. In 1917 he was still considered tough and persistent, but now he has gained considerably in weight. During this time, Dollmann's health deteriorated rapidly. He resided in Le Mans and became more and more obese there. Lieutenant General Friedrich von Broich told 1944 in British captivity his fellow prisoners: ". Dollmann had such 'a head two years ago, which has smoked always lots of red wine and giant cigars, and that affects so over time then from" More serious was perhaps, that he was not involved in any front command for four years and therefore had no experience of his own with regard to the developments in tank tactics and the consequences of the Allied air superiority. He was therefore not prepared for the challenges that the landing in Normandy would pose to him. Still, he was a seasoned commander, and so, as Richard Brett-Smith pointed out, there is no reason to believe he was incapable. In fact, a report by the Allies shortly before the invasion in 1944 judged him to be an “expert in defense.” The commander of the West Panzer Group, Leo Geyr von Schweppenburg , later confirmed that Dollmann had a much better understanding of the use of tank troops than other commanders. However, in the summer of 1944, the 7th Army was about six weeks behind in expanding its positions compared to the neighboring 1st Army.

Normandy 1944

Colonel General Dollmann (left) in conversation with Lieutenant General Edgar Feuchtinger (2nd from right) and Field Marshal Erwin Rommel (France 1944)

Course of the fighting in Normandy June 1944

Dollmann had ordered a war game to be held in Rennes on June 6, 1944 . He himself and his corps and division commanders were therefore not with their units when the Allied landing in Normandy began in the area of ​​the 7th Army. Since Rommel was also absent, Dollmann initially acted as head of the German counter-operations. He tried to organize a counter-attack with the 21st Panzer Division , but it was unable to achieve anything. Dollmann now ordered Lieutenant General Fritz Bayerlein to relocate his Panzer Lehr Division to the front at 5 p.m. Bayerlein protested because a daylight march had to invite the Allied Air Force to decimate his division, but Dollmann insisted on his orders. As a result, the division lost five tanks, 40 tank trucks and 84 other vehicles to Allied air strikes in the next few hours and was not ready for a counterattack on the morning of June 7th. Among other things, this was delayed until June 9th and was then repulsed.

After the Panzer Divisions were subordinated to Panzer Group West , Dollmann's 7th Army was only responsible for the left wing of the invasion front. It had 16 divisions and five corps commands there, but had to report on June 21, 1944 that supplies could no longer be guaranteed. The German units offered strong resistance, but could only slow the advance of the Anglo-American troops. Dollmann did not hesitate to discipline his soldiers by threatening the severest punishments. A soldier "who comes back from the front line without a hand weapon ... [is] to be brought to a court martial immediately for cowardice."

On June 18, the strategically important port of Cherbourg was cut off. Although the "fortress" was well supplied, its commander Lieutenant General Karl-Wilhelm von Schlieben surrendered at noon on June 26, 1944 (→ Battle of Cherbourg ). Hitler was furious about the loss and General Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel , head of the OKW , initiated an investigation. On June 29, Hitler met in Berchtesgaden with Rundstedt together and drum and demanded that Doll man should be brought before a court martial because of the loss of Cherbourg. When Rundstedt opposed this, Hitler at least demanded that Dollmann be removed from his command. But Rommel refused. It was only when the General Field Marshals had left after the meeting that Hitler called Le Mans and replaced Dollmann with SS Obergruppenführer Paul Hausser .

Circumstances of death

The exact circumstances of Dollmann's death are still controversial today. Apparently he was returning from a trip to the front where his vehicle was attacked by Allied fighter bombers . The general had to get out of his vehicle and hurried to the army command post on foot. Shortly after reaching him, he finally suffered a heart attack at around 10:00 am on June 28th . This was probably due to his poor health, constant revision since June 6th and finally worries about the announced investigation. In this case it is doubtful whether Dollmann had even found out about his dismissal.

The pilgrimage church on the Bogenberg

The cause of death, heart attack, can be found in Dollmann's personal files as well as in some memoirs, such as that of Rommel's chief of staff, Lieutenant General Hans Speidel . Another version is that of Max-Josef Pemsel , Dollmann's last chief of staff. In 1974 he wrote that Dollmann had first affirmed his innocence in the Cherbourg case in a telex to Hitler , then said goodbye to his staff at 3:00 a.m. and then committed suicide at the army's command post. In 2003 the thesis was put forward that Dollmann could have been forced to commit suicide by Hitler, as would General Field Marshal Erwin Rommel later. The local Gauleiter Fritz Wächtler refused to appear at the general's memorial service. Rather, he had the general's family monitored and threatened them with arrest. The historian Peter Lieb described this in 2007 as "not very convincing" .

Friedrich Dollmann was buried in Paris on July 2, 1944 , with Field Marshals General Rundstedt , Rommel and Sperrle present. On the same day he was posthumously awarded the Knight's Cross ( No. 518 ). Field Marshal Ritter von Leeb, Dollmann's former superior in 1940, held the funeral speech in the Lower Bavarian Bogen , where the Dollmann family lived. The general's body was later transferred to the German war cemetery Champigny-la-Futelaye in Normandy. There is a memorial plaque for Friedrich Dollmann at the pilgrimage church Bogenberg in Lower Bavaria .

Rommel's chief of staff, Lieutenant General Hans Speidel, wrote about him after the war: "Hitler's methods had seriously injured him, both as a soldier and as a person."

References

Web links

Commons : Friedrich Dollmann  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Friedrich Dollmann's estate (ED 462) in the archive of the Institute for Contemporary History Munich-Berlin (PDF; 44 kB) (accessed on July 23, 2009)

literature

• Dermot Bradley (Ed.): The Generals of the Army 1921-1945. The military careers of the generals, as well as the doctors, veterinarians, intendants, judges and ministerial officials with the rank of general. Volume 3: Dahlmann – Fitzlaff. Osnabrück 1994. ISBN 3-7648-2443-3 . Pp. 178-179.
• Richard Brett-Smith: Hitler's Generals. Osprey Publishing. London 1976. ISBN 0-85045-073-X .
• Othmar Hackl : The Bavarian War Academy (1867-1914). CH Beck´sche publishing house bookstore. Munich 1989. ISBN 3-406-10490-8 . Pp. 424-425.
• Peter Lieb : Conventional war or Nazi ideological war. Warfare and the fight against partisans in France 1943/44. R. Oldenbourg. Munich 2007. (= sources and representations on contemporary history. Volume 69). ISBN 3-486-57992-4 .
• Samuel W. Mitcham , Gene Mueller: Hitler's Commanders. Scarborough House. London 1992. ISBN 0-8128-4014-3 .
• Klaus-Jürgen Müller: The Army and Hitler. Stuttgart 1969. (= contributions to military and war history. Volume 10).
• Johann Georg Reissmüller : Dress rehearsal for the elimination of Rommel. Was Friedrich Dollmann, the Commander in Chief of the 7th Army, murdered on June 28, 1944 on Hitler's instructions? In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. No. 191 (August 19, 2003). P. 33.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Franz Thomas, Günter Wegmann: The knight's cross bearers of the German Wehrmacht 1939–1945. Part 3. Volume 4. Osnabrück 1993. p. 367.
2. ↑ There is no agreement in the literature about the date of Dollmann's death. Both June 29 and June 28, 1944 are given, cf. Samuel W. Mitcham, Gene Mueller: Hitler's Commanders. London 1992. p. 131; Detlef Vogel: German and allied warfare in the west. In: Horst Boog, Gerhard Krebs, Detlef Vogel (eds.): The German Reich on the defensive. Stuttgart, Munich 2001. p. 549.
3. ↑ Peter Lieb: Conventional War or Nazi Weltanschauung war. Warfare and the fight against partisans in France 1943/44. Munich 2007. p. 87 fn. 179.
4. ↑ Nikolaus von Preradovich : The military and social origin of the generals of the German army. Biblio publishing house. Osnabrück 1978. p. 94. (= Studies on military history, military science and conflict research , vol. 14)
5. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Dermot Bradley (ed.): Die Generale des Heeres 1921–1945. The military careers of the generals, as well as the doctors, veterinarians, intendants, judges and ministerial officials with the rank of general. Volume 3: Dahlmann – Fitzlaff. Osnabrück 1994. ISBN 3-7648-2443-3 . P. 178.
6. ↑ Othmar Hackl: The Bavarian War Academy (1867-1914). CH Beck´sche publishing house bookstore. Munich 1989. ISBN 3-406-10490-8 . P. 424.
7. ↑ Gerd F. Heuer: The Colonel General of the Army. Owner of the highest German command posts. Rastatt 1988. p. 46.
8. ↑ Samuel W. Mitcham, Gene Mueller: Hitler's Commanders. London 1992. p. 125.
9. ↑ Richard Brett-Smith: Hitler's Generals. London 1976. p. 102. Samuel W. Mitcham, Gene Mueller: Hitler's Commanders. London 1992. p. 126 f.
10. ↑ Klaus-Jürgen Müller: The Army and Hitler. Stuttgart 1969. p. 193 fn. 421.
11. ^ ^{A b} Klaus-Jürgen Müller: The Army and Hitler. Stuttgart 1969. p. 202 fn. 264.
12. ↑ Klaus-Jürgen Müller: The Army and Hitler. Stuttgart 1969. p. 170.
13. ↑ Klaus-Jürgen Müller: The Army and Hitler. Stuttgart 1969. p. 193.
14. ^ ^{A b} Richard Brett-Smith: Hitler's Generals. London 1976. p. 103.
15. ↑ Samuel W. Mitcham, Gene Mueller: Hitler's Commanders. London 1992. p. 126.
16. ↑ Klaus-Jürgen Müller: The Army and Hitler. Stuttgart 1969. p. 202.
17. ↑ Samuel W. Mitcham, Gene Mueller: Hitler's Commanders. London 1992. pp. 127 f.
18. ↑ The often found statement that Dollmann only became Commander in Chief of the 7th Army at the end of October is incorrect. Colonel-General von Leeb reported on August 29th von Dollmann as commander of Army High Command 7, cf. Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb: Diary entries and situation assessments from two world wars. ed. by Georg Meyer. Stuttgart 1976. p. 169.
19. ^ Karl-Heinz Frieser : Blitzkrieg legend. The western campaign in 1940. Munich 1996. pp. 308 f.
20. ^ Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb: Diary entries and situation assessments from two world wars. ed. by Georg Meyer. Stuttgart 1976. p. 182 fn. 75a.
21. ^ Kurt von Tippelskirch: The Second World War. Bonn 1956. pp. 90-93.
22. ↑ Hans Umbreit: The struggle for supremacy in Western Europe. In: Klaus A. Maier, Horst Rohde, Bernd Stegemann, Hans Umbreit (eds.): The establishment of hegemony on the European continent. Stuttgart 1979. p. 305.
23. ↑ ^{a b c} Peter Lieb: Conventional War or Nazi Weltanschauungskrieg. Warfare and the fight against partisans in France 1943/44. Munich 2007. p. 87.
24. ^ ^{A b} Samuel W. Mitcham, Gene Mueller: Hitler's Commanders. London 1992. p. 128.
25. ↑ ^{a b c} Max Pemsel: Colonel General Friedrich Dollmann. In: German Soldier Yearbook. (1974). P. 19.
26. ↑ Hans Wegmüller: The defense against the invasion. The conception of the Commander in Chief West 1940–1944. Freiburg im Breisgau 1986. p. 75.
27. ↑ Peter Lieb: Conventional War or Nazi Weltanschauung war. Warfare and the fight against partisans in France 1943/44. Munich 2007, p. 227.
28. ↑ Sönke Neitzel: Abgehört - German Generals in British Captivity of War 1942–1945 , Berlin 2007, p. 327.
29. ↑ Detlef Vogel: German and Allied Warfare in the West. In: Horst Boog, Gerhard Krebs, Detlef Vogel (eds.): The German Reich on the defensive. Stuttgart, Munich 2001, p. 521.
30. ↑ Hans Wegmüller: The defense against the invasion. The conception of the Commander in Chief West 1940–1944. Freiburg im Breisgau 1986. p. 184.
31. ↑ Samuel W. Mitcham, Gene Mueller: Hitler's Commanders. London 1992. pp. 129 f; Richard Brett-Smith: Hitler's Generals. London 1976. p. 104.
32. ↑ Hans Wegmüller: The defense against the invasion. The conception of the Commander in Chief West 1940–1944. Freiburg im Breisgau 1986. p. 244.
33. ↑ Quoted from: Peter Lieb: Conventional War or Nazi Weltanschauungskrieg. Warfare and the fight against partisans in France 1943/44. Munich 2007. p. 421.
34. ↑ Samuel W. Mitcham, Gene Mueller: Hitler's Commanders. London 1992. pp. 130f; Richard Brett-Smith: Hitler's Generals. P. 104.
35. ^ Walter Görlitz: The Second World War 1939-1945. Volume 2. Stuttgart 1952. p. 290.
36. ↑ Samuel W. Mitcham, Gene Mueller: Hitler's Commanders. London 1992. p. 131.
37. ↑ Hans Speidel: Invasion 1944. A contribution to Rommel and the Reich's fate. Tübingen, Stuttgart 1949. p. 115.
38. ↑ ^{a b} Johann Georg Reißmüller : rehearsal for the elimination Rommel. Was Friedrich Dollmann, the Commander in Chief of the 7th Army, murdered on June 28, 1944 on Hitler's instructions? In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. No. 191 (August 19, 2003). P. 33.
39. ↑ Peter Lieb: Conventional War or Nazi Weltanschauung war. Warfare and the fight against partisans in France 1943/44. Munich 2007. p. 87, footnote 182 .
40. ↑ Photo at www.denkmalprojekt.org
41. ↑ Richard Brett-Smith: Hitler's Generals. London 1976. p. 104 (Osprey Publishing, ISBN 978-0850450736 ).

This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on March 27, 2010 .