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OKW/General Soldbuch

Peter U

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The newest addition and the first General in my Soldbuch collection.

Bernhard von Loßberg (1899-1965) was a professional officer who came from a Prussian military family, he joined the prestigious 2 Garde Rgt zu Fuß in July 1916 as an officers candidate.
A year later he went to front with this regiment, in September 1917 he was wounded for the first time, in January 1918 he was back with his unit and in March 1918 he was wounded for the second time and for a third time in April 1918.
He remained with the Reichwehr after the war ended but the injuries he sustained limited his career possibilities in combat units and he became a staff officer.
When the Nazi's took power he joined the Reich War Ministry as a planner, in the years that followed he held all kinds of commands from company commander in an infantry unit till supply officer but his break came in August 1938 when he joined "Special staff W", the unit that coordinated the support to Franco in the Spanish civil war.
In April 1939 he joined the OKW in the National Defence Department as a planner under Oberst Warlimont and General Jodl, the name was rather euphemistical because the plans they made were far from defensive plans.
In February 1938 the OKW was established to replace the War Ministry, in theory this command controlled all the German armed forces but in reality the OKH held most of his power and the OKW was used to transform Hitler's military ideas in to practical plans.
OberstLt von Loßberg was one of the key planners in this staff, in 1940 he created operation "Weserübung", the invasion of Denmark and Norway and later operation "Fritz", the invasion of the Soviet Union.
Also the OKH made plans for an invasion of Soviet Russia, plans made by General Marcks, the big difference between these two plans was that Gen. Marcks lay the focus of his offensive in a march to Moscow, a strong push towards Kiev and little effort in the Baltic states; the plan of von Loßberg had its focus on the Baltic states and Moscow and only minimal forces used in the Ukraine.
The OKW managed to promote there plan (Operation Fritz) to Hitler as the way to move forward, the plan was adapted with a bit more forces used in the South but the focus would be in the North and Centre: operation "Barbarossa" was created.
In December 1941 the military career of Bernhard von Loßberg came to an abrupt end, he was one of the staff officers that tried to convince Hitler to tactically retreat for winter quarters so that most of the gains they made in the summer of 1941 could be consolidated.
Hitler personally sacked von Loßberg from the OKW staff.
He was promoted to Oberst in January 1942 and in 1944 to General but was also banished to the military district Norway were his military career was basically dead.
In May 1945 he was detained by the British in Special Camp 11 but wasn't prosecuted for war crimes, in 1947 he was released and in 1949 he wrote his memoires about the time he spend as a planner in the OKW.
 

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Last week the book Bernhard von Loßberg wrote while he was detained as a POW arrived.
Nice to have the memoires of the person of the Soldbuch so easily available!


In the last chapter, which I read first ;-) he talks about his removal from the OKW. Hitler had on of his anger out burst direct at him on the staff meeting after he had sacked von Brauchritsch (the chief of staff of the OKH), the reason being how it was possible that von Loßberg with all his critism was still around and not sacked and ordered Keitel to remove him immediately.
After he was marched out of the the room Keitel banished him to Norway. He was asap removed from the OKW, even without the knowledge of Jodl, his direct superior, for his own safety.
That he was publicly sacked by Hitler most likely saved him from going on trial for war crimes after the war like the other staff members of the OKW that stayed until the end of the war.
No better proof that you aren't a Nazi or a Hitler sympathizer then being publicly sacked and threatend by Hitler personally in one of his famous anger out bursts I guess.
 

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A General!! Always interesting...Was he issued a pistol ?

Hello Jack,

Like most Soldbucher of high ranking officers this one too has very little entries in it.
Officers of this rank bought their own uniforms and equipment and I doubt that he was issued a pistol, he most likely carried a personal purchase fire arm but that isn't entered in his Soldbuch like it was with EM or low ranking officers.

Cheers,
Peter
 
Was one of the injuries an eye? The two look different.


I don't know, alas I have no detailed information about the wounds he sustained in WW1, the wound he got in April 1918 must have been rather serious, it kept him from serving in a combat unit for the rest of his career.
 
Great addition to your collection, and thanks for sharing! The Lossbergs were a famous Hessian military family with generals dating back through the eighteenth century. The Regiment von Lossberg (whose chief was Lieutenant-General Henrich August von Lossberg) served in the American War for Independence and was largely captured at Trenton. While the General remained in Europe during the conflict, two other von Lossbergs served as officers in Regiment von Donop and Grenadier Battalion von Block (later Lengercke) in North America.
 
Thanks for the extra information BerlinerLuebecker!
:thumbsup:

His father was also a general and a planner, in WW1 awarded with the "Pour le merite" but I didn't know anything about the role of his family in the American war of independence.
 
Yesterday I finished reading the memoires of Bernhard von Loßberg, he sure was an interesting figure, not only a witness of what happened in the OKW but also an active participant.
von Loßberg had several staff meetings with A.Hitler and he also attended diners with the Führer in the Wolfsschanze.
In December 1941 it wasn't the first time that he got A.Hitler angry, in April 1940 he was the liason officer between the OKW and the German troops in Norway, during operation Weserübung, an operation he had planned himself.
During the Narvik crisis, Hitler got in to a state of panic, he feared that the British forces would defeat the German troops in Narvik, he ordered that General Dietl took himself and his troops in to neutral Sweden so that they could be interned their.
The situation in Narvik was critical but far from hopeless according to von Loßberg and when he got the written order from Hitler to inform General Dietl to abandon Narvik he decided to ignore this Führerbefehl and did pass on the orders to General Dietl; the control of Narvik was the main reason to invade Norway and abandoning it simply because the British also landed their felt like giving up the entire operation because of one little set back.
When Hitler found out that his direct orders were ignored he became very upset on von Loßberg, but von Loßberg's decision to ignore the written order was backed up by the leaders of the OKW and in this period of the war, April 1940, Hitler didn't feel strong enough to intervene.
Hitler still feared that the WH would commit a coup against him.
On May 17 1940 General Guderian will also ignore direct orders from Hitler, a very similar case, but this must have been one of the last cases were WH officers ignored direct orders from Hitler without any form of punishment.






Another interesting fact is that von Loßberg strongly supported an immediate invasion of Great Brittain just after the BEF escaped from Dunkirk, even before the fall of France, according to him even a small/limited invasion could be a success if the British weren't given any time to recuperate from the material losses they suffered in Flanders.
The Kriegsmarine only had a small shipping capacity but according to his calculations it was more then enough to transport WH units that could defeat a British army that had no tanks, no artillery and even had lost most of its small arms.
The Luftwaffe didn't control the sky but sure was capable of operating in the Dover area and keeping the Navy away from the ships that crossed the Channel.
Of course we will never know if his plan would have worked or not but it is a fun thing to speculate about, be an armchair general yourself. :thumbsup:
 
Fascinating stuff and a whole lot of history in that SB! That's a very interesting "what if" with respect to the invasion of England. Had the Germans been able to gain a beachhead and strong foothold would the English have been forced to make peace, thus allowing Hitler to fight a one front war against the Soviets? Where would US forces and air corps have staged?
 
Sure a very interesting what if, the swift invasion plan he proposed was more then just a brainstorm session idea, with the landing experience he had from the invasion of Norway he sure thought it was possible to successfully land a limit amount of German troops on a beach in Southern England.
Personally I think that it would have been a disaster for the western democracies, because the British had nothing in their arsenal to halt the German Panzers, their anti tank weapons and AFV's were all in the Dunkirk pocket and the Spitfires and Hurricanes of this period weren't suited for a ground attack role.
 

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