Walter Gericke
Walter Gericke (born December 23, 1907 in Bilderlahe , † October 19, 1991 in Alsfeld ) was a German officer who u. a. participated as battalion commander of the paratroopers in the airborne battle for Crete during the Second World War . He later commanded the 11th Parachute Regiment and took part in the Battle of Anzio in Italy . After the war he joined the armed forces as part of the rearmament and commanded the 1st Airborne Division as major general from 1962 to 1965 . He wrote a series of partly propagandistic writings on parachuting.
Life
From 1929 to 1935 Gericke was a member of the police, first the police of the Weimar Republic and from 1933 the regulatory police . On August 31, 1935, Gericke was promoted to first lieutenant in the state police and joined the air force with this rank a month later . There he led a company in the paratrooper battalion of the "General Göring" regiment . When the war broke out, he was chief of the 4th Company of Paratrooper Regiment 1 of the 7th Flieger Division .
During the occupation of Denmark as part of the Weser Exercise Company on April 9, 1940, Gericke and his company occupied Storstrømsbroen between the islands of Falster and Zealand after a brief battle . Gericke was awarded the Iron Cross II. Class for his work. On the first day of the western campaign , May 10, 1940, Gericke's company captured the road bridge in Dordrecht . For this mission, Gericke was awarded the Iron Cross 1st Class. Then he was transferred to the staff of the pilot in Drontheim, where he remained until his mission in Crete.
As captain, Gericke commanded the 4th Battalion of Airborne Assault Regiment 1 in the airborne battle for Crete , where he jumped over Maleme with his battalion on May 20, 1941 . For his use in Crete he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on June 14, 1941 . In the winter crisis of 1941/42 he was deployed with his battalion on the Eastern Front on the Mius and Wolchow . He then worked as the commander of a training battalion in France.
After the armistice of Cassibile in September 1943, he commanded the 2nd Battalion of the 6th Paratrooper Regiment of the 2nd Paratrooper Division in the attack on the headquarters of the Italian army in Palazzo Orsini in Monterotondo , with which the Italian military command should be eliminated. For this he was awarded the German Cross in Gold on December 12, 1943 . From October 1943, Gericke commanded the 11th Parachute Regiment, which had been newly formed from his battalion, and took part in the Battle of Anzio with it in early 1944 . For this he was awarded the Knight's Cross on September 17, 1944.
He was then employed as head of the driving school of the 1st Parachute Corps in Italy, where he was promoted to lieutenant colonel. At the end of the war, Gericke, meanwhile promoted to colonel , commanded the 21st Paratrooper Division , which was never fully established, but still took part in fighting in Holland and northern Germany. He and his division surrendered at Varel in Oldenburg on May 8, 1945 and was taken prisoner of war by the British . The British put Gericke in command of the reservation area in the Jever area and let him work as a volunteer in a textile department store in order to prepare for his civilian career. He was released from captivity on November 9, 1946, but was ordered not to leave the British zone .
Since his wife and two children had fled Stendal in the meantime before the Russians marched into the American-occupied zone in Alsfeld , he initially continued his traineeship until he received permission to move to Alsfeld in June 1947.
Gericke initially worked there in a textile factory and worked, among other things, as chairman of the non-profit building and settlement cooperative Alsfeld on the reconstruction. In 1952 he was elected to the city council. He was involved in the association of former German paratroopers and was elected 2nd federal leader in 1953. In 1955 he became 1st chairman.
Walter Gericke joined the Bundeswehr as a colonel in 1956. Under his leadership, the paratrooper school, today's air landing and air transport school , was established in Altenstadt near Schongau . On November 2, 1961, Gericke received the gold medal of honor from the city of Schongau for his services to the region .
On September 12, 1961 he was appointed brigadier general and on October 1, 1962, he replaced Major General Hans Kroh (also a participant in the Crete air landing) as commander of the 1st Airborne Division . On September 25, 1963 Gericke was promoted to major general. On March 25, 1965, Federal President Heinrich Lübke awarded him the Grand Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for his services to building up the Bundeswehr .
Gericke was married. His marriage had two children.
Publications (selection)
- Soldiers fall from the sky . Schützen-Verlag, Berlin 1940. (Also published in Swedish, Romanian and Czech.)
- Paratroopers here and there . Schützen-Verlag, Berlin 1941.
- From Malemes to Chania - battle and victory of the assault regiment . Publishing house Die Wehrmacht, Berlin 1943.
- There is no going back ...! - Highlights from the battle for Crete, the island fortress in the Mediterranean . Fallschirmjäger-Verlag, Münster / Westphalia 1955.
- Hurray, we're jumping . Motz, Schongau 1974. (History of paratroopers and parachuting, primarily a photo book.)
- Unforgettable, Crete 1941-1991 . Druckhaus Goldammer Scheinfeld 1991 (special issue of the Bund Deutscher Fallschirmjäger).
- Up there on the Burglachberg . Air landing and air transport school, Altenstadt 1976 (illustrated book on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the LL / LTS in Altenstadt)
literature
- Franz Thomas and Günter Wegmann: The Knight's Cross Bearers of the German Wehrmacht , Part 2: Fallschirmjäger, Biblio-Verlag, Bissendorf 1986, ISBN 3-7648-1461-6 (With a foreword by Walter Gericke.)
- Dermot Bradley: The Generals and Admirals of the Bundeswehr , Volume 2 (Gaedcke-Hoff), Osnabrück 2000, ISBN 978-3-7648-2369-6 .
Web links
ARD media library article: Portrait of General Walter Gericke from August 8, 1963
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Karl Alman : Jump into hell , Erich Pabel Verlag, Rastatt 1964, p. 112 ff
- ↑ a b c 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. 332.
- ^ Bradley p. 49.
- ↑ Soldater falba fran himlen , Dagens Böcker, Malmö 1941.
- ↑ Din cer, cad soldaţi… Tiparul Românesc, Bucharest 1942.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Gericke, Walter |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German officer, most recently major general in the Bundeswehr |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 23, 1907 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Imagery |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 19, 1991 |
| Place of death | Alsfeld |