Years of service 1905–45 | Name Hermann-Bernhard Ramcke | |
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Unit SMS StoschSMS MoltkeSMS MedusaSMS Prinz AdalbertSMS UndineSMS BlucherSMS Wettin7th Fliegerdivision Battles/wars World War IRussian Civil WarWorld War IIBattle of CreteSecond Battle of El AlameinBattle for Brest Battles and wars World War I, Russian Civil War, Battle of Crete, Second Battle of El Alamein, Battle for Brest, World War II Commands held | ||
Hermann-Bernhard Ramcke (24 January 1889 – 4 July 1968) was a German general of paratroop forces during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds, one of only 27 people in the Nazi German military so decorated. Ramcke was convicted of war crimes in a French court after the war, but was released after 3 months.
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World War I
Born in 1889, Ramcke joined the Imperial German Navy in 1905 and served during the First World War. Ramcke fought in the West with the Marine-Infanterie, mainly in the area of Flanders. In 1916 he was decorated with the Iron Cross second class and later the Iron Cross first class. After a defensive action against three British attacks he was decorated with the Prussian Golden Merit Cross, the highest decoration for non-commissioned officers in the German Imperial Forces.
In 1919 Ramcke fought against the Bolshevik forces in the Baltic region as a member of the "Russian Army of the West", composed mostly of German veterans. Ramcke stayed in the Reichswehr during the Weimar Republic period. He continued to serve in the new Wehrmacht, attaining the rank of Oberstleutnant in 1937.
World War II
On 19 July 1940, Ramcke was transferred to the 7th Fliegerdivision under the command of General Kurt Student and was promoted to Oberst. At the age of 51 he successfully completed the parachute qualification course. In May 1941 working with the division Stab he helped plan and also took part in Operation Merkur, the airborne attack on Crete. Ramcke led the Fallschirmjäger-Sturm-Regiment 1, and also led Kampfgruppe West. After the costly victory in Crete, remainders of several paratroop units were formed into an ad hoc brigade, and command was given to Ramcke. He was promoted to Generalmajor on 22 July 1941.
In 1942, Ramcke's unit, later known as Ramcke Parachute Brigade, was sent to North Africa to join Rommel's Afrikakorps. The brigade supported the offensive towards the Suez Canal, but when the offensive got bogged down they entered the line at El Alamein. During the withdrawal of the Afrikakorps, the Brigade was surrounded and written off as lost by the high command since it had no organic transport. Rather than surrender, Ramcke led his troops out of the British trap and headed west, losing about 450 men in the process. They soon captured a British supply column which provided not only trucks but food, tobacco and other luxuries. About 600 of the paras later rejoined the Afrikakorps in late November 1942. Ramcke was sent back to Germany, where he was awarded the Oak Leaves to the Knights Cross personally by Adolf Hitler.
In 1943 Ramcke, now a generalleutnant, took command of 2nd Parachute Division and transferred to Italy. When Italy signed the armistice with the Allies on 8 September 1943, the division took part in Operation Achse to take control of the country. Ramcke led his division in an assault on Rome, and secured the city two days later.
Following the Allied D-Day landings on 6 June, 2nd Fallschirmjäger-Division was sent to the Brittany region of France, and took up defensive positions at Brest. Following Operation Cobra, the allied breakout from Normandy, Major-General Troy H. Middleton's U.S. VIII Corps hooked left from Normandy and attacked the Brittany region. The German forces in the region fell back on Brest, and Ramcke assumed command of the garrison, now known as Festung Brest. Commanding about 35,000 German troops during the Battle for Brest, Ramcke followed orders to hold out as long as possible, finally surrendering on 19 September 1944. On the same day he was awarded the Swords (99th Recipient) & Diamonds (20th recipient) to the Knights Cross. Ramcke's career was unusual in that he served in all three branches of the German armed forces.
Post-war
Ramcke was moved to the United States as a prisoner of war and later to England and France. While a POW at Camp Clinton, Mississippi, he wrote a letter to Byron Price. Arguing in the letter that the treatment of Germany following World War I had led to National Socialism and World War II, he protested the Morgenthau Plan as another attempt to enforce harsh treatment upon Germany. Citing General Middleton's remarks as verification, Ramcke detailed his efforts to protect American POWs and otherwise uphold the laws of war and stated he was "convinced that all other German commanders have acted in the same way".
In 1951 Ramcke was charged with war crimes in France, relating to the destruction of Brest and murders of civilians, but managed to escape from captivity to Germany. He returned voluntarily and was sentenced to five years imprisonment by a French court in March 1951, but was released on 24 June 1951. Testifying in his defense was American General Troy Middleton, to whose forces Ramcke had surrendered in the autumn of 1944. After the war, Ramcke and Middleton maintained a correspondence for about fifteen years.
Following his release from nearly 7 years captivity, Ramcke, through his public actions, became seen as a dedicated nationalist by his fellow generals and supported extreme right-wing movements such as the Naumann-Kreis in Germany. In November 1952, he told a group of former SS-men attending a HIAG meeting they should be proud of being blacklisted, while pointing out that in the future their blacklist would instead be seen as a "list of honor". Ramcke's remarks caused a furor in Germany; even the former SS General Felix Steiner distanced himself from them. Konrad Adenauer was so furious with Ramcke's remarks that he directed Thomas Dehler, the German federal Minister of Justice, to investigate the possibility of prosecuting Ramcke. Adenauer publicly decried Ramcke's remarks as "irresponsible" and his associated behavior as "foolishness"—a reaction probably prompted because Adenauer's government had made a significant effort to obtain early release for Ramcke from French imprisonment.
Ramcke's intent, as stated by himself and his supporters, in his actions following the war was to again seek to protect his men, both in their reputations and their future, such as in cautioning against their being used as "cannon fodder" in the speech to ex-paratroopers during the rearmament debate. This was consistent with his behavior throughout his career during which his superiors found him to be a demanding subordinate in his advocacy for the needs of his men. Ramcke published two autobiographies, one during the war and the other in 1951. He died in 1968.