Werner Haag

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Werner Haag (born April 9, 1909 in Melle ; † July 30, 1985 in Hartenholm ) was a German officer in the Wehrmacht and Bundeswehr .

Career

Werner Haag was born as the son of a book printer owner in Melle, Lower Saxony. He completed his schooling with the Abitur in Hanover and decided in 1928 to begin an officer career at the Prussian Police School in Hildesheim . In 1929 he was promoted as a police sergeant in the city of Wesermünde . Three years later he moved to Bremen .

Career in the Third Reich

In 1933 Haag held the rank of police lieutenant. A year later, Haag was a candidate in the former Reichswehr in the training course of the III. Btl./IR 16. His stations were first lieutenant, platoon leader of a rifle company and mine thrower company, battalion adjutant I. / IR 16 up to the company commander of the 13.Kp./III. Btl./IR 16. Before the outbreak of war, he made a name for himself in 1939 as a junior officer at the Döberitz infantry school . After returning to his main unit, Haag first became a regimental adjutant, then a divisional adjutant in 1940 until he was given command of the 16th Infantry Regiment in 1942. At that time he was the youngest regimental commander in the Wehrmacht. At this time the 22nd Infantry Division was fighting in the section of Army Group South around Sevastopol . His regiment was not used in the Africa campaign, but remained in Greece . Haag commented on this fact with the words

" If you want: I was lucky enough to be in Crete with an active regiment and therefore not have to stand by a few graves ."

In 1944, Haag was transferred to the command reserve of the OKH , shortly afterwards he was adjutant in Army High Command 8 when the southern section of the Eastern Front collapsed. During this phase, Haag took part in the retreat from Bessarabia to Budweis in the annexed protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia . Shortly before the end of the war, Haag fled across the low mountain range for a total of over 1,000 kilometers from the Bohemian Forest via the Bavarian Forest to Oldenburg. In June 1945, Haag was captured by the British and was held as a prisoner of war until 1946. In 1947 he was still responsible for looking after 11,000 German prisoners of war.

Career in the Bundeswehr

Hague's first job in the new Federal Republic was trustee for the district association Friesland of the German Red Cross and later managing director in Oldenburg. This was followed by a trial employment at the Federal Border Police in Hanover. In 1953 Haag was appointed lieutenant colonel of the border guards school in Lübeck . In 1956 he took part in the establishment of the Bundeswehr and worked as a Colonel teaching group commander at the Army Officer School II in Husum . Two years later, Haag was appointed to the Federal Ministry of Defense in Bonn , where he headed a department for personnel management for army officers. In 1959 he was promoted to brigadier general . Haag was Deputy State Secretary Karl Gumbel in the personnel department of the Federal Ministry of Defense. In 1962, Haag returned to active service and, as major general , commanded the 6th Panzer Grenadier Division in Neumünster from 1962 to 1965 . Regarding his inspections, which he carried out by helicopter, he said: "These visits are less for control and more for help and cooperation." Leadership and civic education were among the focus of his leadership. In his opinion, the soldier's insight and personal responsibility were the most important characteristics of Innereführung . Of all the division commanders in the Bundeswehr, he was said to be the most enthusiastic about experimentation. The soldier's initiative was encouraged during the internal barracks duty.

During his time as division commander, in July 1963 a company commander suffered serious misconduct while waking up in a training company in Neumünster- Boostedt . The company commander woke the recruits with smoke candles and the fire of machine gun blanks, causing 20 recruits to suffer eye injuries and severe irritation of the mucous membranes. For this reason, the use of these weapons in closed rooms was prohibited. This behavior was punished with a fine of 300 DM. In 1965 he headed the personnel department of the Federal Ministry of Defense and resigned from the Bundeswehr as lieutenant general on September 30, 1969 . In 1985 Werner Haag died in Hartenholm near Bad Segeberg in Schleswig-Holstein .

Human Resources Management

The time of the appointment of Lieutenant General Werner Haag as head of the personnel department of the Federal Ministry of Defense in 1965 was accompanied by some controversy. While the CSU MP Richard Jaeger threatened to resign, the armed forces should no longer be led by civilians, but again by the military, welcomed senior Bundeswehr officers such as B. Lieutenant General Wilhelm Meyer-Detring , Haag's new position. It was hoped that Haag would provide transparency, pragmatism and a tried and tested sense of reality. In addition, Hague was very popular with the officer corps. Helmut Schmidt was of the opinion that because of his personal suitability, Haag would be the best personnel decision to fill this post. Haag stood for a modern and democratic soldier and for reforms. He turned against a "mechanically functioning" soldier. Insight and a sense of responsibility are the main criteria that must be encouraged during training.

“ I am convinced that if a man is to be able to fight, he needs a lot of independence. The isolation is often given - for example in a tank, in the crew of a radio, in a supply driver - already in terms of weapon and function; people have to be able to make decisions and have to think along . "

Haag largely enforced this maxim during his time as commander of the 6th Panzer Grenadier Division. In response to criticism of the internal leadership of the Bundeswehr, Haag replied:

“ On the contrary. Inner leadership has become common property. Everyone at the commander level is for it. It changes with the company commanders. You have to be careful with the train drivers. If Inner Leadership is at risk at all, it is from below. However, there is also an explanation for this: excessive demands. You have a plethora of organizational work to do, administration, educational work; they have to worry about the technical equipment and deal with human problems. If they are also met with evil will, explosive can build up. You really have to be amazed that so little happens . "

Private

Werner Haag was married, had three children, and in his free time he was engaged in hunting and equestrian sports .

Promotions

  • 1929 police sergeant
  • 1932 police sergeant major
  • 1933 police lieutenant
  • 1934 first lieutenant
  • 1952 Major in the Federal Border Guard
  • 1953 Lieutenant Colonel
  • 1956 Colonel Bundeswehr
  • 1959 Brigadier General
  • 1962 Major General
  • 1965 Lieutenant General

Awards

  • 1936 Wehrmacht service award, fourth class
  • 1940 Iron Cross 2nd and 1st class
  • 1942 medal "Winter Battle in the East 1941/1942"
  • 1942 Crimean sign
  • 1962 storm medal storm surge 1962, Schleswig-Holstein
  • 1969 Large Cross of Merit with Star of the Order of Merit of the FRG

Web links

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ His father fell as a first lieutenant in the reserve in the 73rd Fusilier Regiment in 1914 near Gerpinnes in Belgium.
  2. ^ Infantry Regiment 16, Oldenburg location, was part of the 22nd Infantry Division
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h DER SPIEGEL, edition of September 30, 1964
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Die Zeit, edition of September 10, 1965, With the steel broom to Bonn, The new personnel chief of the Bundeswehr: Soldier, Democrat, Reformer by Theo Sommer
  5. ↑ DER SPIEGEL of August 21, 1963, Recruits, fit II, Bundeswehr
  6. ^ Federal Ministry of Defense.
personal data
SURNAME Haag, Werner
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German officer in the Wehrmacht and Bundeswehr
DATE OF BIRTH April 9, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH Melle
DATE OF DEATH July 30, 1985
Place of death Hartenholm