Hermann Foertsch

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Hermann Foertsch (born April 4, 1895 in Drahnow, district of Deutsch Krone / West Prussia ; † December 27, 1961 in Munich ) was a German infantry general in World War II and a member of the Gehlen organization and the Federal Intelligence Service . His younger brother Friedrich Foertsch became General Inspector of the Bundeswehr .

First World War

Foertschs military career as an officer began on March 20, 1913, entry as a cadet in the eighth West Prussian Infantry Regiment. 175 . On November 20, 1913, he was appointed ensign there . At the beginning of the First World War and the mobilization, Foertsch came to the front with his regiment, was promoted to lieutenant on August 5, 1914 , and as such was wounded there on December 10, 1914. Until February 27, 1915 he was in the hospital and then took over the 4th company of his regiment. In the fall of 1916 he then joined the 7th Sturm Battalion. On December 18, 1917 he was promoted to lieutenant there . He was awarded both the Iron Cross II and I Class. He experienced the end of the war in the hospital due to illness.

Between the wars

He then joined the Freikorps "Field Marshal Hindenburg" and was then accepted into the Imperial Army . In 1921 he was assigned to the staff of the 6th Division for general staff training . In 1923 he was an adjutant in the training battalion of the 17th Infantry Regiment. On February 1, 1926, he was promoted to captain . On October 1, 1928, he was transferred to the Reichswehr Ministry and was employed in the Wehrmacht Department (W). On April 1, 1930 he was appointed chief of the 6th Company of the 17th Infantry Regiment.

In 1932 he became Reichswehr press chief under the Reichswehr Minister Kurt von Schleicher . Foertsch had already revealed his inclination towards politics as a Reichswehr captain.

On May 1, 1933, he was promoted to major . On the day of the death of Reich President Paul von Hindenburg , his superior Walter von Reichenau , who was instrumental in building up the Wehrmacht, dictated the new oath (“ Fuehrereid ”) to Adolf Hitler . From now on soldiers swore “in all barracks of the empire 'by God' to 'unconditional obedience' to their new master and 'to use my life for this oath at any time'. Then they agreed to the additionally prescribed 'Hurray' for Hitler. ”After the expansion of the Reichswehr, he was appointed commander of the 4th Battalion of the 4th Infantry Regiment in the Wehrmacht on October 15, 1935. As such, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel on January 1, 1936 . After a year he was assigned to the military academy . On February 1, 1937, he was transferred to the Army High Command and appointed tactics teacher at the War Academy. There he was promoted to colonel on June 1, 1938 .

Second World War

During the mobilization he was appointed Chief of the General Staff of the Deputy General Command of the VIII Army Corps. In the autumn of 1939 he was appointed Chief of the General Staff of the XXVI. Army Corps appointed. With this he then took part in the western campaign. In the fall of 1940 he was transferred to the " Führerreserve ". At the beginning of October 1940 he took over the leadership of the general staff courses in Berlin. On May 10, 1941, he was appointed Chief of the General Staff of the 12th Army. As such, he also took part in the Balkan campaign. He then remained stationed with this army in the Balkans . On February 1, 1942, he was promoted to major general. As such, he had already been awarded both clasps for his Iron Crosses. By renaming the army to Army Group E , he was appointed Chief of the General Staff in January 1943. On July 10, 1943, he was awarded the German Cross in Gold. In August 1943, he was Chief of the General Staff of the newly established Army Group F appointed. As such, he was promoted to lieutenant general on October 1, 1943. From March 28 to August 22, 1944, he commanded the 21st Infantry Division . On August 27, 1944 he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross . In the summer of 1944 he gave up his command and was entrusted with the leadership of the X. Army Corps . On November 9, 1944, he was promoted to General of the Infantry. As a result, he was then also appointed commanding general of the X Army Corps. On December 20, 1944, he was replaced and reassigned to the Führerreserve. At the beginning of 1945 he was assigned to Commander-in-Chief West to serve as an army commander. At the end of February 1945 he took over the deputy leadership of the 19th Army . After just a few days he was commissioned to lead the 1st Army . His troops fought against the American Operation Undertone (March 15-24 , 1945).

Foertsch capitulated - also in the name of General der Infanterie Friedrich Schulz and Army Group G - on May 5, 1945 near Munich to US troops under the command of General Jacob L. Devers .

The surrender took place in the Thorak building in Baldham , about 10 km from the eastern city limits of Munich . Some other sources give the place of surrender as the place of surrender - a few kilometers away - Haar near Munich , which is also mentioned in the surrender document.

After the end of the war

As a result, he became a US prisoner of war and from mid-May 1947 had to answer to the International Military Tribunal in the Generals Trial in Southeast Europe . The trial ended in an acquittal for Foertsch and he was released on February 19, 1948. In 1950 he belonged to the Himmeroder expert group .

Foertsch was a member of the Gehlen organization , where he used the service name "Viersen". In October 1952 he took over the management of the Department for Psychological Warfare (camouflage code "60") from August Winter and, at the beginning of 1956, from Horst von Mellenthin, he took over the position of the director, Reinhard Gehlen , "in case of long absence". On April 1, 1956, Foertsch was taken over into the Federal Intelligence Service .

Awards

literature

  • Dermot Bradley: The Generals of the Army 1921–1945 , Volume 4: Fleck – Gyldenfeldt. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1996, ISBN 3-7648-2488-3 , pp. 26-28.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Friedrich Foertsch . In: Der Spiegel . No. 42 , 1962, pp. 39 ( online ).
  2. ↑ Deeply immersed . In: Der Spiegel . No. 31 , 1969 ( online ).
  3. ^ Samuel W. Mitcham: German Order of Battle: 1st-290th Infantry divisions in World War II . Stackpole Books, 2007, ISBN 978-0-8117-3416-5 , pp. 64 ( google.de [accessed on August 3, 2019]).
  4. ↑ Thomas Wolf: The emergence of the BND. Structure, financing, control (=  Jost Dülffer , Klaus-Dietmar Henke , Wolfgang Krieger , Rolf-Dieter Müller [eds.]): Publications of the Independent Commission of Historians for Research into the History of the Federal Intelligence Service 1945–1968 . Volume 9 ). 1st edition. Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-96289-022-3 , pp. 123, 150, 557 .
  5. ↑ a b c Ranking list of the German Imperial Army . Ed .: Reichswehr Ministry . Mittler & Sohn Verlag , Berlin 1930, p. 142
  6. ↑ 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. 313.
personal data
SURNAME Foertsch, Hermann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German officer, most recently General of the Infantry in World War II and defendant in the Generals Trial in Southeastern Europe
DATE OF BIRTH April 4, 1895
PLACE OF BIRTH Drahnow , West Prussia
DATE OF DEATH December 27, 1961
Place of death Munich