Gerhard Schacht

Gerhard Schacht (born April 6, 1916 in Steglitz near Berlin , † February 7, 1972 in Dortmund ) was a German military attaché , colonel and holder of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross .

Life

In the summer of 1935, Schacht began studying engineering at the Technical University of Charlottenburg . There he became a member of the Berlin fraternity Franconia in 1935 (1950 also the Berlin fraternity of the Märker ). He broke off his studies to pursue a career in the air force. In November 1939 he was in a paratrooper special unit in Hildesheim in order to take part in the storming of Fort Eben-Emael in Belgium on May 10, 1940 as a lieutenant in the paratrooper assault group "Beton". For this achievement he received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on May 12, 1940 together with his promotion to lieutenant . In the further course of the war he took part in the airborne battle for Crete , commandos in North Africa, the battle for Monte Cassino and the liberation of Mussolini . In early 1945 he was promoted to major and transferred to the general staff. At the end of the war he was appointed commander of a paratrooper regiment. b. V. deployed on the Eastern Front.

After the war, he was initially employed in Munich and worked for the Gehlen organization, before joining a paratrooper unit (S3 of the battalion) in Bavaria after the Bundeswehr was founded in June 1956 . In 1962 he was commanded to build up the airborne troops in Koblenz (Corps Heeresfliegerkommandeur III Corps) and from September 1968, after being promoted to colonel, was a military attaché at the German Embassy in Tehran (Iran). In the autumn of 1970 he was transferred as G3 to the 1st LL Division in Bruchsal. Schacht died during his active service and was buried with military honors .

family

He was married to Rolande Schacht and they had 3 children.

Awards

Iron Cross (1939) 2nd and 1st class
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on May 12, 1940
German cross in gold on December 21, 1944

literature

Berlin fraternity of Märker: Obituary for Gerhard "Eule" Schacht , In: Märkerblatt No. 2/1972 , Berlin, 1972.

Individual evidence

^ Helge Dvorak: Biographical Lexicon of the German Burschenschaft. Volume I: Politicians. Sub-Volume 5: R – S. Winter, Heidelberg 2002, ISBN 3-8253-1256-9 , pp. 179-180.
↑ ^a ^b Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearer 1939–1945. The holders of the Iron Cross of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and armed forces allied with Germany according to the documents of the Federal Archives. 2nd Edition. Scherzers Militaer-Verlag, Ranis / Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2 , p. 753.

personal data
SURNAME	Schacht, Gerhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German air force officer and military attaché
DATE OF BIRTH	April 6, 1916
PLACE OF BIRTH	Berlin-Steglitz
DATE OF DEATH	7th February 1972
Place of death	Dortmund

[1] Helge Dvorak: Biographical Lexicon of the German Burschenschaft. Volume I: Politicians. Sub-Volume 5: R – S. Winter, Heidelberg 2002, ISBN 3-8253-1256-9 , pp. 179-180.

[RKT-2] Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearer 1939–1945. The holders of the Iron Cross of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and armed forces allied with Germany according to the documents of the Federal Archives. 2nd Edition. Scherzers Militaer-Verlag, Ranis / Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2 , p. 753.