Wilhelm Ritter von Schramm

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Wilhelm Schramm , since 1917 Ritter von Schramm (born April 20, 1898 in Hersbruck , † December 27, 1983 in Prien am Chiemsee ) was a German officer , journalist and military writer .

Life

family

Birthplace of Wilhelm Schramm in the Hersbrucker Ostbahnstraße

He was the son of the hop merchant Georg Schramm and his wife Anna, née Wagner. Schramm was married twice. After the death of his first wife in December 1945, he married a born von Jeinsen. He had three daughters.

Bavarian Army

After he had first attended a school in Hersbruck, put Schramm at the New School Nürnberg be Notabitur and joined during the First World War, on 24 January 1915 as an ensign in the reserve battalion of the 4th Infantry Regiment "King Wilhelm of Württemberg" of the Bavarian Army in Metz . On August 12, 1915 Schramm was promoted to lieutenant and fought with the regiment on the western front at Les Éparges and on the Meuse heights . At the beginning of 1916 it was used off Verdun and from the middle of the year on the Somme . At the end of August 1916, Schramm was briefly used as a recruitment officer with the staff of the 14th Infantry Division before he took over as leader of the 5th company of his regiment in mid-September 1916. After fighting on the Siegfried Line moved Schramm with his regiment on the Eastern Front and took part in the fighting here on the upper Shchara-Serwetsch, the defensive battle at Serwetsch-Krewo and the trench warfare at the upper Styr - Stochaod part. For his achievements during the fighting on the Kleiner Jägel at the Battle of Riga , Schramm was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Military Max Joseph Order on September 2, 1917 . After his own exploration, he had led his company, which was held back as a reserve, against the Russians and thus ensured the successful passage of his regiment across the river. In addition, he managed to take 150 prisoners and three machine guns as booty from only two of his own wounded . With the award of the highest honorary honor of the Kingdom of Bavaria, the elevation to the personal nobility was connected, and he was allowed to call himself Ritter von Schramm after being entered in the nobility register .

As a result, Schramm led his company in Üxküll on the Daugava River , the fighting on small and great Jägel made with, was at the storming of the bridge head of Jacob City and the position battles before Kreutz castle , Kokenhusen and the Siret .

After the armistice on the Eastern Front , Schramm and his regiment were relocated to the west again in December 1917 and came to the area east of Reims . He was seriously wounded by a bullet in the neck on October 4, 1918 during the fighting on the Avre and spent the last few weeks before the end of the war in the hospital . This wounding forced him to retire from active service on July 1, 1919. In addition to the Military Max Joseph Order, Schramm was awarded both classes of the Iron Cross and the Military Merit Order.

Journalist, Wehrmacht intelligence officer and military historian

Once adopted from military service completed Schramm studying German and history at the universities of Erlangen-Nuremberg and Munich and received his doctorate with a thesis on Jean Paul 1922 Dr. phil. From 1924 until his dismissal in 1933 he was the cultural editor of the Münchner Neuesten Nachrichten , from 1930 as a correspondent in Berlin . To Ernst Jünger 1930 erschienenem anthology of war and warriors headed Schramm in an essay. From 1935 to 1937 he headed the Arcadia publishing house at Ullstein . From 1937 Schramm was the chief editor of the magazine Deutsche Infanterie , which was published by Deutsche Verlag, formerly Ullstein .

At the beginning of the Second World War Schramm was reactivated to the army of the Wehrmacht and initially employed as an orderly officer. This was followed by assignments in the propaganda department of the High Command of the Wehrmacht and as a so-called Higher Reporter in General Staffs in France and the Soviet Union. From September 1944 Schramm was commissioned to write the Wehrmacht report.

After the Second World War, Schramm was press officer for Evangelical Aid until 1946 , when he worked as a freelance writer. From 1957 Schramm was active in the Bundeswehr as a consultant in the Military District Command VI Munich and lecturer at the University of Political Sciences . Since 1961 he had the rank of major in the reserve .

Schramm often incorporated his personal war experiences and messages from his circle of acquaintances into his military history books, often from military personnel of higher ranks, including Albert Praun . His main interest was the role of intelligence services in World War II.

Towards the end of his life, von Schramm became a member of the Pegnese Flower Order . He was also an honorary member of the Clausewitz Society since 1973 . In addition, the Ritter-von-Schramm-Strasse in his hometown is named after him.

Schramm was buried on December 31, 1983 in the Prien am Chiemsee cemetery.

Works (selection)

  • Creative criticism of the war. In: Ernst Jünger (Ed.): War and Warriors . Junker and Dünnhaupt, Berlin 1930.
  • Radical politics. The world on this side and on the other side of Bolshevism. Duncker & Humblot, Munich 1932.
  • The red days. Novel from the time of the Munich councilor. Kösel & Pustet, Munich 1932.
  • Rommel: fate of a German. Dom-Verlag, Munich 1949.
  • July 20th in Paris. Bad Wörishofen 1953.
  • Statesmanship and Armed Power. Isar-Verlag, Munich 1957.
  • Revolt of the generals. July 20th in Paris. Kindler , Munich 1964.
  • Beck and Goerdeler: Joint Documents for Peace 1941–1944. G. Müller, Munich 1964, (publication and introduction)
  • Treason in World War II. Econ , Düsseldorf 1967.
  • Secret Service in World War II. Organizations, methods, successes. Langen Müller , Munich 1974, ISBN 3-7844-1772-8 .
  • Clausewitz. Life and work. Bechtle, Esslingen 1976, ISBN 3-7628-0370-6 .
  • The book box. Literary Munich 1919–1924. Langen Müller, Munich 1979, ISBN 3-7844-1750-7 .

An edition of Carl von Clausewitz 's main work Vom Kriege , edited and edited by von Schramm, was published in many editions by Rowohlt Verlag ( ISBN 3-499-45138-7 ).

literature

  • Rudolf von Kramer, Otto Freiherr von Waldenfels: VIRTUTI PRO PATRIA. The Royal Bavarian Military Max Joseph Order. Acts of War and Book of Honor 1914–1918. Self-published by the Royal Bavarian Military Max Joseph Order, Munich 1966, pp. 206–207, 408–409.
  • Horst G. Kliemann, Stephen S. Taylor (Eds.): Who is Who in Germany. International Book and Publishing Company, Montreal 1964.
  • Union Diplomatique Mondiale (ed.): Munich prominence 1962–1963. UDM-Verlag, Munich without a year.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Albert Geng: A great Hersbrucker. Ritter von Schramm died 50 years ago . In: Hersbruck newspaper . Hersbruck December 24, 2013, p. 1 .
  2. Wehrmacht report . Dirt in the brain . In: Der Spiegel . No. 18 , 1962 ( online ).