Tapping Hitler's Generals

Born Ettlingen, 18.11.1897. Prot. WWI: Entered Army 4.10.1914 Inf.Reg.29; April 1916 fighter pilot, Jagdstaffel 2 Boelcke (seven victories); 1918 Leutnant; 1919 Freikorps Lüttwitz, transferred into Reichswehr; 1922–27 Undergraduate at Technische Hochschule Hanover. Reichswehr: Finally Comp. Cdr, Inf.Reg.6; 1.1.1934 transferred to Luftwaffe; until 1937 Head of Weapons Development Section at Reich Air Ministry; 1938/39 Luftwaffe General Staff; 1.5.1939 Oberst. WWII: 30.1.1940–31.7.1940 Chief of Staff, Fliegerkorps z.b.V (paratroops and airborne forces); 1.8.1940–4.10.1940 Chief of Staff, Luftflotte 5; afterwards Chief of Staff, German Luftwaffe Mission to Rumania, served as Fliegerführer on Eastern Front, awarded German Cross in Gold 27.7.1942; 1.1.43 Generalmajor; from 1.2.1943 Commandant, Fortified Region Tunis/Bizerta; 9.5.1943 PoW Tunisia; 16.5.1943 Trent Park. Repatriated 2.10.1947. Died Lübeck, 13.3.1977.

CSDIC (UK) opinion: ‘Very intelligent, a great pillar of the anti-Nazi clique with an orderly mind, which is perhaps due to his long staff training. Has offered to collaborate with us in getting rid of the Nazis and stopping the war, and his statement that no selfish motives underlie this offer may be believed.’

MAJOR I.G. RUDOLF BECK

Born Frankfurt am Main, 11.8.1908. Prot. Entered Army 29.10.1935. WWII: 1.9.1939–15.8.1940 Battery Cdr, 3.Art.Reg.29 (mot.); until January 1942 Director of Lectures, Artillery School Jüterbog; 15.11.1942–8.5.1943 General Staff training; 1.6.1943 Major, 1.General Staff Officer, Division Manteuffel, Tunisia; from December 1943,

1.General Staff Officer, LVIII.Pz.Korps, France; August 1944 PoW Normandy, spent short time Latimer House monitoring centre, west of London.

On 10.2.1944 assessed as: ‘Strong, self-possessed personality with great verve, full of ideas. Energetic and determined, puts forward his views firmly but tactfully. Pronounced leadership personality who deserves notice. Clear National Socialist disposition.’

OBERSTLEUTNANT I.G. ULRICH BOES

Born Elsdorf/Lower Saxony, 30.1.1911. Prot. Entered Army 1.4.1930; 20.4.1939 Hauptmann. WWII: October–December 1940 General Staff course, War Academy; January 1941–September 1942 General Staff officer zbV (special purposes) at Wehrmachtführungsstab; from 28.11.1942 1a Division Broich/Manteuffel; 9.5.1943 as Major; PoW Tunisia; mid-June 1943–30.1.1944 Trent Park; end 1943 Oberstleutnant; then PoW in Canada. Repatriated 13.3.1947. Entered Bundeswehr 1956, last rank Brigadegeneral.

Assessment of 21 March 1943 stated: ‘Outstanding service achievements, these combined with his good human qualities elevate him to above average amongst his peers. Tactful before commanders, who esteem him highly. Played a decisive role in the expansion of the Division and was involved to an outstanding degree in its successes…’ An earlier assessment of 10.12.1942 considered that he ‘stood squarely on the ground of National Socialist philosophy’.

CSDIC (UK) opinion: ‘This man is a young Nazi Regular Officer. He is fat and gross and an Anglophobe. In a lecture he once gave to the batmen he called the British “degenerate and cowardly and a filthy nation like the French”. Needless to say his knowledge of Britain and the British is non-existent. Strangely enough, on social occasions, this man can be entertaining. His fund of dirty stories is immense and he is adept at telling them–especially in the Hamburg dialect.’

OBERST GEBHARD BORCHERDT

Born 18.6.1895. Prot. WWII: From outbreak of war to November 1941 CO, reserve infantry battalions; 1.4.1941 Oberst; 27.11.1941–8.12.1942 Führer-Reserve; from January 1943 Tunisia, first as local commandant, Bizerta; 20.2.1943 Commandant, District and City, Tunis; 11.5.1943 PoW. Only decoration Iron Cross Class II. No further details of his life are available.

Characterised in his service files by CO, 168 Inf.Div. as ‘conventional, a precise and reliable personality’ who was however ‘as a Field-Commandant too slow and has too little verve’.

CSDIC (UK) opinion: ‘He is a perpetual source of amusement and very much in need of care and attention. He definitely appears to have a “kink” and is known to his fellow PoWs as “mother’s darling”. How he reached his present rank is a mystery.’ Though considered ‘No Nazi’ he inclined towards Crüwell’s clique.

GENERALLEUTNANT FRIEDRICH (FRITZ) FREIHERR VON BROICH

Born Strasbourg (then German), 1.1.1896. Prot. Entered Army 2.7.1914. WWI: Cavalry officer; 1918 Oberleutnant. Reichswehr: Cavalry regiments; 1.10.1937 Oberstleutnant. WWII: 1.9.1940 Oberst; from end 1939–end 1941 CO, Kav.Reg.21, 22 and 1; after re-formation of