Gerhard Bassenge

Gerhard Bassenge in Trent Park .
back row from left to right: Otto Elfeldt , Ferdinand Heim , Gerhard Bassenge

Gerhard Wilhelm Julius Bassenge (born November 18, 1897 in Ettlingen , † March 13, 1977 in Lübeck ) was a German officer, most recently major general during the Second World War .

Life

The son of the then company commander at the NCO School in Ettlingen and later majors and battalion commanders of the 6th West Prussian Infantry Regiment No. 149 in Schneidemühl Julius August Bassenge (born August 4, 1860 in Koblenz ; † May 10, 1910 in Oliva ) and his wife Charlotte, née Dorguth (born June 2, 1866 in Termlaek (East Prussia), † July 1, 1954 in Plön), grew up in an environment dominated by the military. After attending the schools in Jülich and Schneidemühl, he began his first pre-military training at the cadet schools in Köslin , Bensberg and Berlin-Lichterfelde .

In October 1914 he began his military service with the Infantry Regiment "von Horn" (3rd Rheinisches) No. 29 , with which he stayed on the Western Front until March 1916 during the First World War . There he last became an adjutant to the company commander and was able to complete an aircraft pilot training course in April 1916. He then became a fighter pilot, with seven kills. He was wounded in the Boelcke Jagdstaffel in November 1917. For his achievements he received both classes of the Iron Cross and the Wound Badge in Black.

After joining the Reichswehr , Bassenge became a student at the Technical University in Hanover , where he passed his engineering diploma in 1927. Until 1933 he worked in the Reichswehr Ministry , where he led various commands at home and abroad. Most recently he was a captain and company commander in the 6th Infantry Regiment in Flensburg .

On April 1, 1934, he joined the newly founded Air Force and became a captain group leader and advisor in the LC II department in the Reich Ministry of Aviation (RLM). On February 1, 1935, he was promoted to major. From March 1, 1937, he took over as commander of Parachute School 1 in Stendal and was also the commander of the Stendal Air Base. On April 1, 1937 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and appointed to the Reich Ministry of Aviation on June 1, 1938 to head the parachute troop inspection. On October 1, 1938, he switched to the Air Force General Staff in the RLM. On May 1, 1939, he was promoted to colonel and a month later he became chief of staff in Luftgau Command XVII in Vienna. On January 30, 1940, he changed to Luftflotte 2 in the same function and took part in the campaign in the west . On August 1, 1940 he took over the post of Chief of Staff of Air Fleet 5 in Oslo before he was appointed Chief of Staff of the German Air Force Mission in Romania on October 5, 1940. On July 27, 1942, he was awarded the German Cross in Gold. From October 1, 1942, he took over as commander of the 19th Air Force Field Division and was appointed major general on January 1, 1943. On February 1, he moved to the North African theater of war and became commander of the fortress district of Tunis-Bizerte in Tunisia. There he went into British captivity on May 10, 1943.

After his dismissal in 1947, he founded his own craft business for toys and utensils in Plön , where he worked on a voluntary basis as a city councilor and district councilor, as well as in various other associations and organizations.

On October 7, 1955, Bassenge married Annemarie Hedwig Langmaack (born February 16, 1933 in Kiel).

literature

• Tobias Seidl: Major General Gerhard Bassenge - from supporter to resistance fighter. In: Leadership Personalities. Interpretations and interpretations of German Wehrmacht generals in British captivity. Schöningh, Paderborn 2012, ISBN 978-3-506-77382-1 , pp. 114–126 (also dissertation, University of Mainz 2010)
• Heinrich Bassenge: Bassenge. In: German gender book. CA Starke, Limburg (Lahn), 1970, Vol. 154, p. 42.

Web links

• Entry in the state bibliography of Baden-Württemberg
• CV on a British page about a prison camp

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Henry L. deZeng IV, Douglas G. Stankey: Air Force Officer Career Summaries, Section A-F. (PDF) (No longer available online.) 2016, pp. 163–164 , archived from the original on December 28, 2016 ; accessed on January 23, 2017 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.