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Rudolf Bamler

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Rudolf Bamler
Born(1896-05-06)6 May 1896
Osterburg (Altmark), Province of Saxony, Prussia, German Empire
Died13 March 1972(1972-03-13) (aged 77)
Groß Glienicke, East Germany
Allegiance German Empire
 Weimar Republic
 Nazi Germany

NKFD (to 1945)

 East Germany
Service / branch
Years of service1914–45; 1948–56
RankGeneralleutnant of the Wehrmacht
Generalmajor of the KVP
Commands12th Infantry Division
Battles / warsWorld War I
World War II
Other workMain Directorate for Reconnaissance

Rudolf Bamler (6 May 1896 – 13 March 1972) was a German general during World War II. Although Bamler was a member of the Nazi Party[1] he would later serve as a leading member of the East German security forces.

Early life

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Bamler was born in Osterburg (Altmark), Saxony-Anhalt, the son of Protestant clergyman Johannes Bamler (born 1864) and his wife Anna Garlipp (1873-1932).[2] He enlisted in the Prussian Army and served in the First World War with the 15th Division.[3]

Abwehr

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Operations security propaganda poster

Bamler was attached to the Abwehr as the head of section III (counterespionage) and here he helped to encourage closer co-operation with the Gestapo and Sicherheitsdienst (SD).[4] This role also meant that Bamler maintained a network of informers across German society rivalled only by that of the SD.[5] Although he had a difficult personal relationship with his superior Wilhelm Canaris the two co-operated closely in supporting Canaris' friend Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War.[6]

World War II

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Following the outbreak of the Second World War Bamler was appointed Chief of Staff of Wehrkreis VII (Munich) before a transfer to the same role in XX (Danzig).[7] Bamler was then made Chief of Staff to the XXXXVII Panzer Corps in 1940.[7] From 1942 to 1944 he was Chief of Staff[8] to the German Army in Norway under Generaloberst Nikolaus von Falkenhorst, having risen to the rank of lieutenant general.[9]

Bamler was then moved to the Eastern Front and from 1 to 27 June he was commander of the 121st Infantry Division, before being replaced by Helmuth Prieß.[10] He was simultaneously commander of the 12th Infantry Division, with Gerhard Engel his replacement.[11] Bamler's commands ended as he had surrendered to the Red Army on 27 June 1944 after commanding the 12th Infantry Division defending the town of Mogilev which had recently been surrounded during Operation Bagration. The German troops in Mogilev were eventually defeated by the Soviet onslaught with the last radio message from the town coming from General Bamler requesting that "Captain Opke of Artillery Regiment 12 receive the Oak Leaves to the Knights Cross for repeated outstanding military exploits". This message was sent at 10 o'clock in the evening and received an hour and 14 minutes later, this would be the last message from Mogilev.[12] Following his capture by Soviet troops he later defected to the Soviet Union.[7]

Later years

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Bamler settled in East Germany and worked as a Stasi police officer there from 1946 until his retirement in 1962.[7] He also held the rank of major general in the Kasernierte Volkspolizei.[13] He died in Groß Glienicke aged 77.[14]

References

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  1. ^ Michael Mueller, Geoffrey Brooks, Canaris: The Life and Death of Hitler's Spymaster, Naval Institute Press, 2007, p. 95
  2. ^ Rüdiger Wenzke, "Rudolf Bamler – Karrierebruch in der KVP" on Hans Ehlert, Armin Wagner (eds.), Genosse General! Die Militärelite der DDR in biografischen Skizzen, Christoph Links Verlag, Berlin 2003, p. 33
  3. ^ Jürgen Kraus, Handbuch der Verbände und Truppen des deutschen Heeres 1914–1918. Teil IX: Feldartillerie Band 1, Verlag Militaria Wien 2007, p. 266
  4. ^ George C. Browder, Foundations of the Nazi Police State: The Formation of Sipo and SD, University Press of Kentucky, 2004, p. 180
  5. ^ Peter Padfield, Himmler, Cassell & Co, 2001, p. 215
  6. ^ John H. Waller, The Unseen War in Europe: Espionage and Conspiracy in the Second World War, I.B.Tauris, 1996, p. 16
  7. ^ a b c d Samuel W. Mitcham, The German Defeat in the East, 1944-45, Stackpole Books, 2007, p. 39
  8. ^ Toppnazisten ble kommunist - sønnen ble spion [The top Nazi became a communist - the son became a spy]
  9. ^ Hans Fredrik Dahl, Quisling: A Study in Treachery, Cambridge University Press, 1999, p. 343
  10. ^ Samuel W. Mitcham, German Order of Battle Volume One, Volume 3, Stackpole Books, 2007, p. 173
  11. ^ Mitcham, German Order of Battle Volume One, Volume 3, p. 52
  12. ^ Veal, Stephen Ariel (1991). The collapse of the German army in the East in the summer of 1944 (Volume 1) (MA History thesis). Portland State University. p. 335. doi:10.15760/etd.6183.
  13. ^ Walter Henry Nelson, Germany Rearmed, Simon and Schuster, 1972, p. 246
  14. ^ Wenzke, p. 52
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