Rudolf Gercke

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General Rudolf Gercke (1943)

Rudolf Ernst Otto Gercke (born August 17, 1884 in Nikolaiken / East Prussia , † February 17, 1947 in Marburg an der Lahn ) was a German officer in World War II , most recently general of the infantry and head of field transport in the Army High Command .

Life

Rudolf was the younger brother of Hubert Gercke . He joined on February 27, 1903 as a cadet in the Hunter Battalion "Yorck von Wartenburg" (East Prussian) no. 1 in Szczytno one. On October 18, 1903 he was appointed ensign and on August 18, 1904 he was promoted to lieutenant . From October 1, 1911 to July 21, 1914, Gercke was assigned to the Prussian War Academy , where he was promoted to first lieutenant on August 18, 1912. After returning to his regular battalion, he served there as an adjutant .

First World War

After the outbreak of World War I , Gercke and his battalion were deployed for the first time on the Eastern Front in the battle near Lahna and Orlau on August 23 and 24, 1914. On November 28, 1914 he became a captain and as such on December 1, 1914 company commander . On May 2, 1915, he was appointed General Command of the XI. Army Corps and on July 18, 1915 transferred to the Army General Staff. On June 26, 1916 he was transferred to the command of the Bug Army . This was followed by assignments in the Falkenhayn corps and the von der Marwitz army group . On December 5, 1916, Gercke was part of the General Staff of the 17th Landwehr Division and on June 29, 1917 to the staff of the 30th Division . From October 18, 1917, he served in the General Staff of the Chief of the Field Railways . On April 3, 1918, he became an authorized general staff officer of the Army Group "Crown Prince Rupprecht" .

Promotions

Interwar period

Gercke remained in this position after the end of the war until December 31, 1918, was then transferred to the field railroad staff and from January 15, 1919 he was authorized general staff officer of the chief of field railroad operations at the Army High Command (AOK) North of the Eastern Border Guard . On August 2, 1919, Gercke was placed at the border command's special disposal, and from September 11, 1919 he was briefly deployed to the Army Peace Commission before he joined the staff of Military District I on October 1 . From this point on, Gercke was also a member of the Königsberg line command . On October 1, 1922, he was appointed company commander in the 1st (Prussian) Infantry Regiment . With simultaneous promotion to major on October 31, 1923, Gercke was retired from active service.

As an L-officer and officer in the troop office , Gercke was active in the Reichswehr Ministry from April 1, 1928 and became group leader on October 1, 1933. There he was appointed lieutenant colonel a on December 1, 1934 . D. On March 5, 1935, Gercke was promoted to lieutenant colonel as an E-officer (supplementary officer ) and reactivated on April 1, 1937. His promotion to colonel took place on October 1, 1937, and from October 12, Gercke served as a department chief in the Army General Staff . On August 26, 1939, he was appointed Wehrmacht and Army Transport Chief at the Army High Command, and after the start of the Second World War, he was promoted to Major General .

Second World War

By redesigning his office, Gercke became head of field transport on January 15, 1940. As such, he was promoted to Lieutenant General on August 1, 1940, and to General of the Infantry on April 19, 1942.

After the assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler on July 20, 1944 , Gercke was noticed by the Führer because of his 'integrity'. The following is recorded of the briefing at the Führer Headquarters on August 31, 1944:

Hitler (on July 20, beginning is missing): "... Department of the General Staff in which the chief was completely in order, namely at Gercke, not a single man has been found who has anything to do with the matter ..."

This resulted in a confidence that persuaded Hitler to include the general in his further planning.

Battle of the Bulge

Due to the balance of power after the defeat in France and the technical and logistical advantages of the Western Allies, the German planning aimed at an efficient, covert deployment to the counter-offensive in the west, the Ardennes offensive in December 1944:

September 17, 1944: Hitler brought in "a new man - General Rudolf Gercke - head of the Wehrmacht transport system. […] At the beginning of October, Gercke had almost finished setting up the transport system […] Gercke's most important task […] was the thorough overhaul of the Deutsche Reichsbahn . "

After the planning was completed on December 7, 1944, “tens of thousands of soldiers and tens of thousands of tons of material had to be transported inconspicuously from the collection points to their deployment points just behind the front at night. […] On December 7th, at nightfall, the first loading was finished and all transports rolled in the same direction - towards the Ardennes. The next day at three in the morning all trains were unloaded and were on their way back to the Rhine. Before daybreak they were reloaded at the starting point. That went on for three days. ”(Toland, 26 f.).

“On December 11th, the constellation was completed. The Reichsbahn had performed a real miracle and transported the first wave into the attack zone. ”(Toland, 28).

With the unconditional surrender of the Wehrmacht on May 8, 1945, Gercke became a prisoner of war in the United States , where he died in the hospital in 1947.

Awards

  • Iron Cross (1914) 2nd and 1st class
  • Clasp for the Iron Cross, 2nd and 1st class
  • War Merit Cross (1939) 2nd and 1st class with swords
  • Knight's Cross of the War Merit Cross with Swords on September 25, 1943

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Reichsarchiv (Ed.): The World War 1914 to 1918, Volume 2, Liberation of East Prussia Mittler & Sohn Verlag , Berlin 1925, pp. 127–129.
  2. ↑ Ed .: Helmut Heiber: Situation discussions in the Führer headquarters. Minutes from Hitler's military conferences 1942–1945 , Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag (dtv 120/21), Munich 1963, p. 277.
  3. ^ John Toland: Battle of the Bulge , Gustav Lübbe Verlag, Bergisch Gladbach 1980, p. 22 f. (Original: The Story of the Bulge , 1959). ISBN 3-404-00707-7 .
  4. ↑ a b Andris J. Kursietis: The Army at War , aspect 1999, ISBN 90-75323-38-7 , S. 314th
personal data
SURNAME Gercke, Rudolf
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gercke, Rudolf Ernst Otto (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German officer, most recently General of the Infantry in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH 17th August 1884
PLACE OF BIRTH Nikolaiken
DATE OF DEATH February 17, 1947
Place of death Marburg on the Lahn