Hermann Geyer (General)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
General of the Infantry Hermann Geyer (July 1940).

Hermann Geyer (born July 7, 1882 in Stuttgart , † April 10, 1946 at Wildsee near Wildbad (suicide)) was a German officer , most recently a general of the infantry in World War II .

Life

Hermann Geyer joined the Royal Württemberg Grenadier Regiment "Queen Olga" No. 119 in Stuttgart on July 4th, 1900 as a flag junior . In this he was promoted to ensign on February 25, 1901 and on October 18, 1901 lieutenant . After he was promoted to first lieutenant on February 19, 1910 , he joined the General Staff for a year in the spring of 1913. On September 13, 1912 he and his future wife Charlotte, née Bernis, the marriage license.

First World War

With the outbreak of the First World War , on August 2, 1914, he was promoted to captain and transferred to the General Staff . On August 2, 1916, Geyer came to the Fusilier Regiment "Graf Roon" (East Prussian) No. 33 and on May 21, 1916 as a company commander with the regiment at the front. From May 21, 1916 he acted as deputy leader of the 1st Battalion, was transferred to the Chief of the General Staff of the Field Army on July 3, 1916 and transferred to the General Staff there on August 12. At the same time he was assigned to the 103rd Reserve Infantry Brigade. For a short time Geyer was a member of the General Staff of the 199th Division , before he was again employed on September 15, 1916 by the Chief of the General Staff of the Field Army, where he remained until the end of the war. In January 1918 he described the new principles of German infantry tactics in his handbook "The attack in trench warfare", which was developed on behalf of the Supreme Army Command. On November 13, 1918, he was assigned to the Armistice Commission in Spa and from March 14, 1919 a member of the German peace delegation.

Interwar period

After the war he was accepted into the Reichswehr and initially used in the Reichswehr Ministry. From March 1, 1922, Geyer was with the headquarters of the Döberitz military training area and on May 1, 1922 company commander in the 13th (Württemberg) Infantry Regiment . In the meantime he had become a major on March 20, 1922 . In 1923 he was deployed to the headquarters of the 5th Division and on February 1, 1927, while being promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, he was in command of the 2nd Battalion of the 13th Infantry Regiment. On October 1, 1928, he moved to the Reichswehr Ministry, where he took over a department on November 1, 1928 and became a colonel on February 1, 1930 . On February 1, 1931, he was appointed commander of the 17th Infantry Regiment in Braunschweig . Geyer gave up this command again on October 1, 1932 and was appointed Infantry Leader V and promoted to Major General on December 1, 1932 .

On February 1, 1933, Geyer was appointed Chief of the General Staff of Group Command 2 and promoted to Lieutenant General on January 1, 1934 . After he was in 1934 commander of the 5th Division of the army since 1 August, he was building the army commanding general of V Corps , while commander of the Military District V . For this he was promoted to General of the Infantry on August 1, 1936.

Geyer retained his two positions until April 30, 1939. He was dismissed early because he was classified as politically unreliable. However, he was given permission to wear the 119 Infantry Regiment uniform.

Second World War

For the Second World War, Geyer was reactivated and on October 25, 1939 commanding general of the IX. Army corps , which he led during the Western campaign and in the war against the Soviet Union . On December 31, 1941, he was replaced and transferred to the Führerreserve . Without being used again, Geyer was adopted on December 31, 1943 and retired.

post war period

Hermann Geyer lived in Höfen a. Enz with the family of Hans-Otto Metzger, together with his wife Charlotte (1887–1948). From April 1945 on, Geyer was mayor of Höfen. When General Marie-Pierre Kœnig , the commander in chief of the French occupation forces in Germany, ordered the displaced persons from the east to be brought to American camps, Geyer refused to carry out the order. He wrote a letter to General Koenig and committed suicide. General Koenig forbade burying General Geyer in courts. A few weeks later Geyer was reburied in the cemetery of Höfen.

family

His older son Hans-Peter (born 1914) died in 1942 as a captain in France. His younger son Ulrich (1920–1948) returned from Soviet captivity about four weeks after his father's suicide. He died of tuberculosis in the Charlottenhöhe lung sanatorium, Schömberg community.

Awards

literature

  • Dermot Bradley, Karl-Friedrich Hildebrand, Markus Rövekamp: The Generals of the Army 1921-1945, Volume 4: Fleck-Gyldenfeldt. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1996, ISBN 3-7648-2488-3 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The regiment was stationed in Württemberg , took over the tradition of former Württemberg regiments and was therefore often referred to as "Württemberg".
  2. ↑ Copy of the letter deposited in the town hall in Höfen.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l Ranking list of the German Reichsheeres , Mittler & Sohn Verlag, Berlin, p. 111.
  4. ↑ Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearers 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. 334.
personal data
SURNAME Geyer, Hermann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German officer, most recently General of the Infantry in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH July 7, 1882
PLACE OF BIRTH Stuttgart
DATE OF DEATH April 10, 1946
Place of death Wildsee (Wildbad)