Harry William Hugh Armytage

Harry William Hugh Armytage (* 1890 ; † 1967 ) was a British artillery officer and first Hamburg city ​​commander after the Second World War.

Life

Armytage first served as a soldier in India in 1912/1913 and then fought against Germany in Belgium and France during World War I. There awarded the " Military Cross ", he was on August 3, 1939 Colonel ( Colonel transported). During the Second World War Armytage was initially used as a recruit trainer in Great Britain. Although he had reached retirement age at the beginning of 1945 at the age of 55, Armytage was again put on the "active list" and was responsible for several detachments on the staff of the 2nd British Army . At the end of April he was involved in the liberation of the German prisoner-of-war camp Sandbostel ("Stalag XB") and was responsible there for the care of the liberated Allied prisoners of war.

On May 10, 1945 - a week after the city was occupied - Armytage took up his post as city commander of Hamburg. Within 24 hours he had the incumbent Nazi Senate under Carl Vincent Krogmann dismissed ; several senators, including Krogmann himself, were immediately arrested. Only Social Senator Oskar Martini and Finance Senator Bernhard Velthuysen remained in office for a transitional period. Four days later, on May 15, the independent businessman Rudolf Petersen was appointed as the new First Mayor.

Armytage remained in office until August 19, 1946 and was promoted to brigadier shortly before that . After the appointment of his successor Henry Vaughan Berry (1891–1979), Armytage remained his deputy until late autumn 1946. He then went to the British “Advanced Headquarters” in Berlin as deputy head of administration, and from there he took care of the implementation of the “ Hamburg project ” from the beginning of 1947 .

After his retirement at the end of 1948, Armytage moved to Lloyds Bank Ltd. to London and spent his final years in Somerset . The former city commandant died in 1967.

literature

• Michael Ahrens: The British in Hamburg. Besatzerleben 1945–1958 , Munich 2011, ISBN 3-86218-009-3 , pp. 51–60.