Johannes Gohl

Johannes Hubertus Gohl (born August 19, 1908 in Lipke , Landsberg district (Warthe) ; † October 15, 1982 in Northeim ) was a German staff officer and major in the Wehrmacht .

He was a participant in the Polish and Italian campaigns and led an offensive against US-American units in 1944 , during which he recaptured the height 327 at Sogliano . From June 1945 he was a prisoner of war in command of the 9945th Port Battalion (port battalion) in Naples .

From 1952 to 1968, as Staff Superintendent, he was head of a German service organization of the British Armed Forces in West Berlin , from which the 248 German Security Unit of the Royal Military Police emerged in 1982 .

Early years

Johannes Gohl grew up in what was then the Brandenburg district of Landsberg (Warthe) as the son of the head gardener Stanislav Gohl and his wife Helene, who however separated relatively early and finally divorced .

With his mother with a butcher a new marriage entered, Gohl moved to Berlin-Pankow , where he was first in the operation of his stepfather with helping out. He completed a commercial apprenticeship , which he ended early, however, and signed up for the Reichswehr in 1927 at the age of 19 .

He completed his basic training by July 1928 with the 9th Training Battalion in Wünsdorf near Berlin . He was then transferred to the 5th Company of the 9th Infantry Regiment in Berlin-Lichterfelde and promoted to Oberschützen in October 1929 .

In the fall of 1930 Gohl returned to Wünsdorf, where he became a private instructor in the 9th reserve battalion. In the same unit, he graduated from November 1931 to April 1932 the sergeant knowledge course before he his now to Potsdam laid tribe Regiment returned.

Under the command of Major General Ernst Busch Gohl was a squad leader and later as a platoon leader used and finally in May 1935, Sergeant promoted .

Second World War

Battle for Height 327

In 1939 Gohl was deployed in the incipient attack on Poland that triggered World War II . From November, meanwhile promoted to staff sergeant , he took on a position as training manager for subordinate officers and officer students at the replacement battalion in Potsdam, before he was transferred to the Schwerin War School in June 1940 as a teacher .

In 1940, at the age of only 32, he received an officer's license and promotion to lieutenant . At this point, Gohl had already received several awards, including a. with the War Merit Cross 2nd Class.

From January to March 1941 Gohl was deployed as leader of a convalescent company in Potsdam before he became company commander in Infantry Replacement Battalion 178, which was also stationed in Potsdam.

In February 1942 he was, now with the rank of lieutenant , adjutant at again established field replacement Regiment D / 3, whose main tasks the supplies belonged -supply of the Eastern Army. In October of the same year Gohl switched to the newly established 721st Jägerregiment as a captain in the staff, which was already on the way to Croatia . Only a few weeks later Gohl took over the vacant position of the leader of the 3rd Company until December 1942. With his unit he was initially used to fight the partisans of the Yugoslav Marshal Josip Broz Tito , whose capture he only just missed.

Johannes Gohl became battalion commander of the 721 Jägerregiment in December 1942 and transferred to Italy with his unit in 1943 . In the same year, Gohl also changed his status from war officer to active officer.

With the march to Italy, Gohl was exposed to particularly tough fighting with US and British units. He was commissioned to the Italian treble on the Adriatic - front to conquer, to which the US in particular concentrated strategically. The heights had previously been fought for reciprocally by German or American troops and were currently held by the Americans.

In February 1944, Gohl was seriously injured in combat and was first taken to the field hospital in Rome , later to Aschaffenburg and finally to Potsdam. The officer was only able to resume his command in May. He was promoted to major that same month .

Even before he was able to implement his new mission to conquer the Adriatic region at height 327 , Gohl and his unit faced an elemental force of floods , storms and bitter cold , which made actual progress in the Sagliano region almost impossible. That region formed the important transition to the mountain front.

On the Rubicon , which flows into the Adriatic Sea and offered the only way to reach Sagliano, Gohl met units of the 5th US Army , which still held the tactical position at height 327 .

End of October 1944 ordered John Gohl an offensive against the numerically superior US forces and decided that as a melee led battle initially for themselves. Gohl's regiment was able to take 57 Americans captive and thus achieved the highest number of prisoners ever recorded in the area of ​​the heights .

Just three days later, the British Kings Own Royal Regiment counterattacked . Gohl then used mountain troops as his last reserve , which eventually forced the British to retreat . Another 32 soldiers were taken prisoner during this operation.

After the withdrawal of the British, Gohl, who also suffered massive losses , finally had to straighten the front line. From November 1944 he also temporarily represented the wounded Major General Lothar Berger until January 1945 as regimental commander, which means that he was now subordinate to three battalions and 17 companies.

It is not known where and under what conditions Gohl and his unit spent the winter of 1944/1945. The further fate of Gohl up to March 1945 is also unknown. It is assumed. that he had to adapt to the conditions of the changed front line. Meanwhile, had the Kingdom of Italy the Alliance from the USA, UK , France and Canada connected, so the Wehrmacht now, were in the land of a former ally-driven.

Prisoner of war and port commander

On March 3, 1945, Johannes Gohl and other comrades, including Captain Werner Heise, were taken prisoner by the US. He is first brought to Aversa and finally taken to the PWE 334 prison camp there .

During this phase he benefited from the fact that he was neither a member of the SA nor the SS . Even a simple party membership in the NSDAP never existed with Gohl, which is why the American military authorities treated him politely and correctly and granted him all officer privileges. Finally, the authorities classified Gohl as "harmless".

From mid-1944, Naples was under American sovereignty and the authority of the military administrator Charles Poletti , who had the task of rebuilding the Neapolitan police and administration . Above all, the port of Naples, which is relevant for supplies, was a strategic and logistical focus for the USA . However, because of the ongoing Second World War, the American authorities did not manage to deploy enough civilians to the port to unload and reload their navy's warships .

In order to keep their own soldiers free for the war effort, the Americans put together units of trustworthy German prisoners of war to implement this logistical challenge. Wehrmacht officers in particular were approached for management tasks.

In the midst of this selection fell May 8, 1945, on which the war in Europe ended with the ratification of the document for the unconditional surrender of the Wehrmacht in Berlin-Karlshorst . The date also marks the liberation from National Socialism . The tasks assumed by the USA continued, however, which is why the situation for Johannes Gohl as a prisoner of war did not change at first.

On June 16, 1945 Gohl was appointed commander of the 9945th Port Battalion (port battalion) and was thus responsible for the logistical handling of supplies for the US armed forces.

The use of prisoners of war goes back to the plans drawn up on April 13, 1943 by British Lieutenant General Sir Frederick E. Morgan , which dealt with the situation of the premature end of the Second World War due to the collapse of the German resistance.

Morgan's Chief of Staff to the Supreme Allied Commander later initiated preparations for the implementation of Operation Overlord as well as Operations Talisman and Eclipse , from which Allied Service Groups (later: German Service Organizations) were eventually formed in the later British and US sectors . In this way the Allies were able to keep their own soldiers free for original tasks.

In February 1946, Gohl was released from his command and taken to the release camp in Pisa . On April 10, the American authorities transferred him back to Germany, where he arrived two days later. He spent his last days as a prisoner of war in the quarantine facility in Löbau before he was finally released on May 12, 1946.

Promotions

Upper gunner	October 1, 1929
Private	October 1, 1931
Oberjäger	October 1, 1933
sergeant	May 1, 1935
Sergeant Major	November 1, 1938
Staff Sergeant	October 1, 1939
lieutenant	July 1, 1940
First lieutenant	October 1, 1941
Captain	December 1, 1941
major	May 1, 1944

post war period

After his return home, Gohl moved with his family to his mother- in -law in the Hansaviertel in Berlin-Charlottenburg and registered as unemployed . Since his hometown Lipke now belonged to Poland and thus to Soviet sovereignty, Gohl also received the status of a Category C displaced person .

On April 13, 1947, he took up a position as a warehouse worker at the TRAWEST forwarding company and qualified as a warehouse manager in November 1948. A short time later he took over the position of a dispatcher . In July 1950 he left the company after discovering irregularities there and confronting those responsible.

German service organization

As in West Germany , the British Armed Forces in West Berlin formed German service organizations that were merged into the German Service Organization (GSO) on October 21, 1950 . The USA and Great Britain also decided to form new sub-units from the existing structures, which, uniformed and armed, were to take over the protection of their most important properties .

For the British sector , the Chief of Staff of the Rhine Army issued the order to set up the German Service Organization Berlin (Watchmen's Service) , short form: GSO Berlin (WS), on December 1 , 1950 .

The new GSO Berlin (WS) was set up with a total strength of 350 men in two companies , each with a staff department and four platoons , whose members were equipped with specially dyed British military clothing as well as long and short weapons . In terms of structure and organization, it corresponded to a military unit, even if the guards were formally not soldiers but German civilian employees. As a paramilitary unit, the Watchmen's Service was also an Independent Unit (Independent Unit) of the British Armed Forces, which was assigned to various regiments in constant rotation.

The Rhine Army put together a team of trustworthy former Wehrmacht officers who were to take over the management level of the new unit in advance.

Johannes Gohl and his former war comrade Werner Heise were appointed to the development staff on November 16, 1950.

With the official commissioning of the new Watchmen's Service of the GSO Berlin on December 1, 1950, Gohl was appointed superintendent (equivalent to a first lieutenant) and used as platoon leader and deputy company commander.

The site barracks of the GSO Berlin (WS) were the Smuts Barracks in the Berlin district of Wilhelmstadt in the Spandau district . There, the new unit initially took over nine buildings, including the Kitcheners Block , which the formation used until its demobilization in 1994.

The primary task of the unit was the protection and guarding of the most important barracks and properties in order to keep the soldiers deployed in the city free for their original tasks. In the 1950s, the protection tasks focused primarily on the numerous coal stores, since coal was the most urgently needed raw material of the time. Other guard objects also included the British headquarters at the Berlin Olympic Stadium , ammunition depots and fuel depots, and the British military hospital .

The legal assignment of tasks resulted primarily from the Allied Kommandatura Berlin / Order (BK / O) and its subordinate service regulations .

In 1952, Gohl was promoted to Staff Superintendent and appointed unit leader after the previous agency chief retired. With the new rank, which corresponded to a major, he also got his old rank back.

Act as a unit leader

Immediately after starting work, Gohl implemented an important project with the establishment of a dog squadron , which ultimately led to the Watchmen's Service being converted into a formal police guard in 1968 . The internally Biters & Barkers designated (biters and Beller) protection and guard dogs remained a firm figurehead of the unit whose handler over time numerous to demobilization of the later 248 German Security Unit Awards at International comparison competitions , u. a. won the Rhine Army biathlon competition at the Sennelager site . The animals were legally classified by the military as a weapon and not as an aid, which also had an impact on the threat of using dogs against people.

The first dog handlers completed the relevant training courses as early as 1953.

In 1952 Johannes Gohl was a founding member of the registered association G.SO-Club Berlin , which was the first company sports association of the unit, which focused on water sports at the Spandau Pichelssee . Gohl wanted his men not only to have a pleasant leisure time, but also to create a harmonious atmosphere.

Gohl also held several positions of responsibility within the association , such as chairman (1952–1957) and also head of the council of elders (1958–1959, 1965–1970). From 1970 he was finally an honorary member until he left the association because of his departure from Berlin.

The still existing water sports club Grün-Silber-Orange e. V. emerged.

Application to the Bundeswehr

With the concretisation of the construction of a new German armed force, which was initially to be found in the so-called European Army, former Wehrmacht officers were also approached in order to contribute their experiences. Finally, in March 1954, Gohl applied for a job.

He was initially supported by the British armed forces and also received a letter of recommendation from his regimental commander, which underlined his leadership skills . In fact, he was shortlisted by the newly founded Federal Ministry of Defense and invited to Kassel , where the former Wehrmacht officer underwent an examination procedure.

In October 1956 Gohl was rejected in a first wave by the Federal Ministry of Defense, which was connected with a "large number of applications in the area of ​​the entry office for staff officers" . Only three months later, in January 1957, Gohl was finally rejected.

From a historical point of view, it cannot be ruled out that the British armed forces prevented the unit leader from leaving.

Restructuring of the unit

In 1956 the Watchmen's Service was reduced to 156 men and a complete company was dissolved, which was in line with the formation of the Bundeswehr. Many of the previous GSO members migrated to the new German army, but also to the newly established auxiliary police station of the Berlin police . Werner Heise, Gohl's comrade in the war, also decided to join the Bundeswehr and left the German Service Organization.

At the end of the 1950s, Johannes Gohl began to have a deep professional life and his endeavors to convert the Watchmen's Service into a police unit thus became a long way off. After the many departures to the Bundeswehr and the police, some employees who were in the eastern part of the city in August 1961 were no longer able to return to West Berlin because of the sudden closure of the Soviet sector and the subsequent construction of the Berlin Wall . This circumstance also led to the fact that the public service , which was also affected , lured with lucrative offers and thus wooed other members of the unit away. It was not until the late 1960s that more adjustments were made. At the same time, the British Military Government took further measures to increase the attractiveness of the unit.

Gohl also turned to the new Berlin collective agreement concluded between the brigade and the civil employees of the GSO , which came into force a year later and was primarily intended to compensate for disadvantages vis-à-vis the soldiers. As a result of the contract , the members of the German Service Organization were officially classified as civilian employees, which meant that the unit lost its paramilitary character. In addition, for the first time employees were allowed to elect a works council to represent them. Organizing in trade unions was still prohibited .

In 1968 Johannes Gohl took legal retirement and left the German Service Organization. A short time later, the Watchmen's Service was converted into a security guard under the new name German Service Unit (Berlin) .

Private

Johannes Gohl had been married to his wife Margot (1914–1997) since November 1935, whom he met while serving in Berlin in the mid-1930s. The sons Wolfgang (1936-2000) and Hans-Joachim (* 1940) emerged from the marriage, both of whom initially pursued military careers. Gohl lived with his family in Berlin until 1970, and since January 1967 in the Spandau district. Three years later he and his family moved to Lower Saxony , where his older son was stationed. He remained connected to his passion , water sports, even as a pensioner and was also a passionate fisherman .

Johannes Gohl died in October 1982 at the age of 74 from complications from a heart disease . He rests next to his late wife in the main cemetery in Northeim.

As a supporter of the GSU History project, Gohl's son Hans-Joachim keeps his father's memory alive.

Awards

• Service award IV class (1936)
• War Merit Cross 2nd Class with Swords (1940)
• Iron Cross 2nd Class (1943)
• Infantry Assault Badge (1943)
• Iron Cross 1st Class (1944)
• Black Wound Badge (1944)
• Achievement badge of the GSO (1955)
• Meritorious Service Certificate Award (1963)
• Badge of honor in gold of the water sports club Grün-Silber-Orange e. V. (1964)

Web links

• Johannes Gohl on the website of the contemporary witness project GSU History
• Website of the water sports club Grün-Silber-Orange 1952 e. V.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ DIE SÜDFRONT (Ed.): Flood and fog . October 16, 1944.
2. ↑ Carsten Schanz: And they followed Caesar's footsteps . In: GUARD REPORT . Edition 64, 7th year. Kameradschaft 248 German Security Unit e. V., January 2017, p. 1-8 .
3. ^ Certificate of employment from the US authorities dated February 25, 1946
4. ^ Carsten Schanz: Naples German port commander . In: GUARD REPORT . Edition 65, 7th year. Kameradschaft 248 German Security Unit e. V., February 2017, p. 1-6 .
5. ↑ Carsten Schanz: The great lifeline of the GSO . In: GUARD REPORT . Issue 54, 6th year. Kameradschaft 248 German Security Unit e. V., March 2016, p. 1-10 .
6. ^ Rejection order of the Federal Minister of Defense, Gesch. -zeichen: III C 9 H-1-5 of January 26, 1957
7. ↑ Carsten Schanz: With courage and vigilance . In: GUARD REPORT . Issue 66, 7th year. Kameradschaft 248 German Security Unit e. V., March 2017, p. 1-9 .
8. ↑ Supporters of the GSU History project. In: GSU History website. December 24, 2019, accessed December 24, 2019 (German).