Hellmut Grashey

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Hellmut Christian Ludwig Grashey (born May 14, 1914 in Nuremberg ; † January 12, 1990 in Murnau-Westried ) was a major general in the army of the Bundeswehr and until the end of 1969 deputy inspector of the army .

Military career

Training in the Reichswehr

Grashey was born the son of a senior principal. After attending the Ludwigsgymnasium in Munich , he joined the Reichswehr in 1933 . He was an officer candidate in the 19th (Bavarian) Infantry Regiment (Reichswehr) in Munich and attended the infantry school in Dresden.

Service in the armed forces

In 1935 he was promoted to lieutenant. He served in the Wehrmacht a . a. as platoon leader and company commander in the Augsburg Infantry Regiment, in the Mountain Infantry Regiment 99 of the 1st Mountain Division in Füssen and as a teaching officer at the Infantry School in Döberitz. Grashey took part in the Polish and French campaigns (including 1943 as General Staff Officer of the 1st Skijäger Brigade ) and was then employed as an adjutant at the Army High Mountain School after being wounded. After the general staff training , he was promoted to major i in 1943 . G. and in 1944 finally to lieutenant colonel i. G. He served in the Army High Command and was the first general staff officer in a division.

He was awarded the Iron Cross 1st Class.

Takeover in the Bundeswehr

Initially active as a businessman, he was reinstated as a colonel after the armed forces were deployed and was the first to command the B8 mountain group in Mittenwald from November 15, 1957 to May 15, 1959 . After further assignments, Major General Grashey finally took over command of the 4th Panzer Grenadier Division in Regensburg from April 1, 1966 to September 30, 1968 . After this troop command he was transferred to the Bonn Federal Ministry of Defense , where he served under the Inspector of the Army , the newly appointed Lieutenant General Albert Schnez , from November 1968 as the latter's deputy and chief of the staff of the army command staff .

In the wake of the social criticism by the 1968 movement , a growing number of conservative officers took the view that the military should respond to the political and social attacks on their profession. So was u. a. a more "traditional" tradition is required. In December 1969, a secret study commissioned by Schnez and edited by Grashey with the title "Thoughts on improving the internal order of the army" became known. It then became known as the “Schnez Study”, which was commissioned by the former Defense Minister Gerhard Schröder ( CDU ).

It is seen as an open outbreak of conflict among the war-served generation of soldiers who viewed the principles of Innereführung as too narrow for the military. The study lamented the “lack of will to defend the people” and called for “a reform of the head and members, of the armed forces and society” in order to decisively increase the army's reduced fighting power. In addition, the study criticized an "excessive parliamentary control" of the military. It made far-reaching demands on civil society, including amendments to the Basic Law to strengthen the military's authority in crises and war. Furthermore, the Bundeswehr should reflect on the values ​​of a “community of struggle, fate and emergency”. Grashey also demanded that the Bundeswehr should finally take off the “mask” of the Inner Leadership and return to old military values.

Despite demands to resign, Schnez remained at the head of the army until his retirement on September 30, 1971. Grashey himself had to retire on December 31, 1969.

Others

From 1973 to 1981 he was head of the Bavarian regional district of the Clausewitz Society .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dermot Bradley: The Generals and Admirals of the Bundeswehr, Volume 2.1 (Gaedcke - Hoff), Osnabrück 2000, pp. 103f.
  2. ↑ Donald Abenheim: Bundeswehr and Tradition. The search for the valid legacy of the German soldier, Munich 1989, p. 175f.
  3. ↑ 50 years of the Bundeswehr ( from politics and contemporary history (APuZ 21/2005); viewed online at bpb.de on March 19, 2008)
  4. ^ The Bundeswehr: A Legally Compliant Parliamentary Army? (imi-online.de; accessed on March 19, 2008; PDF; 144 kB)
  5. ↑ Abendheim, p. 179.
  6. ↑ Detlef Bald, Johannes Klotz, Wolfram Wette: Myth of the Wehrmacht. Post-war debates and maintaining tradition, Berlin 2001, p. 45.
personal data
SURNAME Grashey, Hellmut
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Grashey, Hellmut Christian Ludwig (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Deputy Inspector of the Army of the Bundeswehr
DATE OF BIRTH May 14, 1914
PLACE OF BIRTH Nuremberg
DATE OF DEATH January 12, 1990
Place of death Murnau-Westried