Karl Wohlgemuth
Karl Wohlgemuth (born September 15, 1917 in Vienna , † August 29, 1983 in Salzburg ) was an Austrian general and from 1976 to 1982 commander of the II Corps in Salzburg.
Life
He came from a family that had provided a number of important soldiers in Austria, including Lieutenant Field Marshal Ludwig Freiherr von Wohlgemuth , who in Italy under Radetzky acquired the Commander's Cross of the Order of Maria Theresa in 1849 and the ship's captain and polar explorer Emil von Wohlgemuth . Karl Wohlgemuth enlisted in 1936 as a one-year volunteer for Dragoon Regiment No. 1 of the First Federal Army and began training as an officer at the Theresian Military Academy on September 1, 1937 .
After the occupation of Austria by National Socialist Germany, the academics were immediately taken over into the German armed forces and Wohlgemuth and his class were transferred to the troops as a senior ensign in September 1938 - to the 4th Cavalry Regiment in Allenstein in East Prussia. Promoted to lieutenant on January 1, 1939 , he had been with Reconnaissance Division 1 since the beginning of the war and took part in the campaigns in Poland and France as a platoon leader with this association . From 1941 he was used as a company commander in the Russian campaign and was wounded twice during this time. On February 1, 1943, he became the commander of Reconnaissance Division 1 (later Division Fusilier Battalion 1). On September 30, 1944 he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross . From December 1944 until the end of the war he was a major tactics teacher at the cavalry school in Bromberg (Bydgoszcz, Poland), which was relocated to Denmark in 1945.
From April to November 1945 in British captivity , he worked in civilian professions after his return home. On June 1, 1955, he joined the B-Gendarmerie as a cavalry officer and became a company commander in the "Fahreinheit Tirol" and from December 1955 at the armored troop school in Hörsching . In the fall of 1956 he and his unit took part in the "Hungarian mission" to protect the border during the fighting in the neighboring country. This was followed by accommodation in Götzendorf and the construction and expansion of this future garrison of the tank troops. In September 1957 he took over the armored reconnaissance school department as a major. During this time he and his comrades like Kuntner , Adrario, Lang and Hoy were one of the pillars of the commanding officer, Colonel Emil Spannocchi, and with him shaped the image of the 9th Tank Brigade. From 1958 to 1959 he completed the 2nd general staff course. This was followed by a time as a tactics teacher at the Theresian Military Academy, as chief of staff of the 9th Panzer Grenadier Brigade and as general staff course commander at the staff academy (later the national defense academy ).
From September 1964 to July 1973 he was Chief of Staff of Group Command I in Vienna, since 1970 as a brigadier. In this function his high intelligence, his accurate judgment and his cool composure in difficult situations became clearly visible. The “CSSR crisis” of 1968 should be mentioned here in particular. Together with his G-3, Colonel dG Ségur-Cabanac , he also played a decisive role in setting up and carrying out the large-scale exercise "Bear Paw" in 1969. When the army command was set up under General Emil Spannocchi in July 1973, as major general , he became its chief of staff. He was a loyal subordinate to his general, but he was not afraid to openly express his dissenting opinion if necessary and sometimes to bring his public and imaginative superiors back down to earth with his sober realism.
On October 1st, 1976 he was appointed commander of the II Corps in Salzburg . In the following years he was able to prove his skills on a larger scale again in the leadership of this large association. Shortly before his retirement on October 30, 1982, he was promoted to general . He passed away just under a year after he retired. He was a militarily gifted, energetic and rousing commander who had saved some of the cavalry's "equestrian spirit" into the new era. Typical of him was a quote from the "Exercise Regulations for the Austro-Hungarian Cavalry" that he had hung on the wall of his office:
“Only a man who, with a loyal mind, has a brave heart; who trusts in his strong arm and his horse, which he loves and looks after more than himself; who is capable of a bold decision under all circumstances, which the quick deed follows on the foot - has a riding spirit. Such a man knows no difficulty, the attack is his element, and even in soft he sees only the means to go over to a renewed attack under more favorable conditions. "
literature
- Stefan Bader: At the highest point, The Generals of the Federal Army of the Second Republic , Vienna 2004, p. 370 ff.
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Wohlgemuth, Karl |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Austrian general |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 15, 1917 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Vienna |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 29, 1983 |
| Place of death | Salzburg |