Wilhelm Gerstenberg

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Bernhard Wilhelm Gerstenberg (born April 2, 1863 on Gut Rosenow , Regenwalde district ; † May 1, 1945 ) was a German major general and free corps leader who became known in 1919 through the use of the Gerstenberg division in the suppression of the Bremen Soviet Republic .

Life

Gerstenberg, son of the manor owner Emil Rudolf Gerstenberg and his wife Karoline, b. Saatz, completed his training as an officer in the Prussian army . He served in the First World War and was the commander of various units: from 1914 to 1916 of the 2nd Pomeranian Field Artillery Regiment No. 17 , 1916 of the East Frisian Field Artillery Regiment No. 62 and from 1916 to 1918 of the Neumärkische Field Artillery Regiment No. 54 .

After the end of the war, he led his regiment back home, where it was initially demobilized in Küstrin in January 1919 and finally dissolved. Gerstenberg joined then as Colonel said as Freikorps country Rifle Corps active and became commander of the 3rd Brigade.

In 1919 he retired from the Reichswehr with the rank of major general .

Gerstenberg Division

Fallen mark of the "Gerstenberg Division" in the Waller cemetery

Even before the proclamation of the Bremen Soviet Republic , representatives of Bremen had turned to the Reich government and asked for military intervention against the revolution. After the suppression of the Spartacus uprising in Berlin , troops were released. The regular troops of the so-called "Division Gerstenberg" under Colonel Gerstenberg were commissioned by Gustav Noske on January 27, 1919 to carry out the military operation. To this end, a detachment consisting of Gerstenberg's 3rd Brigade, the von Roden naval brigade and various support troops was put on the march. Various local troops, such as the Freikorps Caspari with 600 men, joined the detachment before Bremen . They marched together to Bremen, attacked on February 4, 1919 and put down the uprising on the same day as well as on 8/9. February the uprising in Bremerhaven. Gerstenberg took over the supreme command in Bremen and imposed a meeting ban.

There was an association of former barley residents .

The bronze statue Der Jüngling by Herbert Kubica was erected in 1936 to commemorate the fallen soldiers of the Gerstenberg Division and the Caspari Freikorps and is now in the Bremen ramparts .

family

Gerstenberg was married to Frieda Gohlke (1875–1945), daughter of the manor owner Albert Gohlke from Gernheim in the Wirsitz district , with whom he had three daughters, since October 25, 1892 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c marriage register of the registry office Erlau No. 11/1892.
  2. ↑ Harold J. Gordon Jr .: The Reichswehr and the Weimar Republic , Verlag für Wehrwesen Bernard & Graefe, Frankfurt am Main 1959, p. 44
personal data
SURNAME Gerstenberg, Wilhelm
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gerstenberg, Bernhard Wilhelm (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German major general
DATE OF BIRTH April 2, 1863
PLACE OF BIRTH Gut Rosenow , Regenwalde district
DATE OF DEATH May 1, 1945