Heinz Gaedcke

Heinz Gaedcke
Birth name	Ludwig Heinrich Gaedcke
Birth date	16 January 1905
Place of birth	Guben, Province of Brandenburg, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire
Death date	22 December 1992 (aged 87)
Place of death	Waldesch near Koblenz, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
Resting place	Waldesch Village Cemetery
Allegiance	Weimar Republic National Socialist Germany West Germany
Service/branch	Reichswehr Heer Bundeswehr
Years of service	1924–45 1956–65
Rank	Generalmajor (Wehrmacht) Generalleutnant (Bundeswehr)
Commands held	11th Panzergrenadier Division (Bundeswehr) III Corps (Bundeswehr)
Battles/wars	World War II Battle of France Operation Barbarossa Operation Frühlingserwachen Battle of Vienna (1945)
Awards	Iron Cross German Cross in Gold Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
Relations	∞ 1940 Gerda Gater, née Deffner
Other work	Purchasing manager

Ludwig Heinrich "Heinz" Gaedcke (16 January 1905 – 22 December 1992) was a German officer of the Reichswehr, the Wehrmacht and the Bundeswehr, at last Lieutenant General and Commanding General of a Corps as well as recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross during WWII.

Life

Wege eines Soldaten – Heinz Gaedcke (Autobiography 1911–1947), published by Generalmajor a. D. Gerhard Brugmann (1930–2023), Norderstedt 2005

Heinz attended the Humnaist Gymnasium, first in Guben, then in Luckau and passed his Abitur in Luckau in 1924 and started university studies. He joined the 8th Prussian Infantry Regiment in Lübben (Spreewald) as a professional soldier on 1 August 1925. After being commissioned to 2nd Lieutenant in December 1927, he served as platoon leader, orderly officer at the regimental staff and used as battalion adjutant. From 1935 to 1937, he studied at the War Academy.

Chronology

• Detached to the Army General Staff, Operations-Department (12 Oct 1937-01 Apr 1939)
• Transferred into the Army General Staff (01 Apr 1939-04 Jun 1940)
• Chief of Operations (Ia) in the General-Staff of the 25th Infantry-Division (04 Jun 1940-15 Nov 1940)
• Chief of Operations (Ia) in the General-Staff of the 25th Motorised-Infantry-Division (15 Nov 1940-01 Feb 1943)
• Führer-Reserve OKH (01 Feb 1943-01 Mar 1943)
• Lecturer and Instructor at the War Academy (01 Mar 1943-05 Oct 1943)
• Chief of the General Staff of XXIV. Panzer-Corps (05 Oct 1943-05 Nov 1943)
• Detached as Acting Chief of the General Staff of the XI. Army-Corps, Breakthrough of the Cherkassy Pocket (07 Dec 1943-25 Feb 1944)
• Detached as Acting Chief of the General Staff of the 4th Army under General der Infanterie Friedrich Hoßbach (20 Jul 1944-15 Aug 1944)
• Chief of the General Staff of the 6th Army (15 Aug 1944-08 May 1945)
  • During this deployment, Gaedcke was among the officers who, together with the Commander-in-Chief General of the Artillery Maximilian Fretter-Pico, managed to break out of the pocket after the army was largely destroyed by numerically far superior Soviet forces during the Second Jassy–Kishinev offensive and reached Transylvania.
• POW (09 May 1945-07 Nov 1947)
• Purchasing manager at Bürkle in Stuttgart and Bahlsen in Hanover (1948–1956)
• Entered Bundeswehr Service (16 Jun 1956)
• Commander of Army-Officer-School I (Heeresoffizierschule I), Hannover (16 Jun 1956-01 Apr 1957), his successor was Wolf von Kahlden
• Commander of the Operations-Academy of the Bundeswehr in Hanover (01 Apr 1957-30 Sep 1959), his successor was Hellmuth Laegeler
• Commander of the 11th Panzergrenadier Division in Oldenburg (01 Oct 1959-31 Dec 1960)
• Commanding General of III. Corps in Koblenz (01 Jan 1961-31 Mar 1965)
• Retired (31 Mar 1965)

Family

Heinz was the grandson of lord of the manor (Gut Rosenhagen) Ludwig Johann Heinrich Gaedcke (1830–1880) and the son and only child of Carl Gaedcke (1868–1913), Lawyer and notary in Guben, and his wife (∞ 1 March 1904) Frida Elise, née Köhler (1879–1953). The family name was originally written Gädcke. In 1918, widow Frida married Dr. phil. Friedrich Wilhelm Anspach (1868–1929), divorced Gymnasium teacher in Guben (Heinz was one of his students), as of 1919 pastor in Niemaschkleba near Guben.

Marriage

On 6 April 1940 in Berlin-Steglitz, Captain Gaedcke married Gerda Silvia Gater, née Deffner (b. 4 April 1906 in Düsseldorf; d. 27 January 2006 in Waldesch near Koblenz). Gerda was divorced from her first husband (∞ 11 November 1930) Dr. Rudolf Anton Gater (1905–1989). She brought daughter Jutta into the marrigae. Heinz und Gerda would also have three children of their own. Gaedcke was the maternal grandfather of jurist and later the Secretary-General of the European Commission Martin Selmayr.

Promotions

Reichswehr

• 1.4.1925 Fahnenjunker (Officer Candidate)
• 1.9.1926 Fähnrich (Officer Cadet)
• 1.8.1927 Oberfähnrich (Senior Officer Cadet)
• 1.12.1927 Leutnant (2nd Lieutenant)
• 1.5.1930 Oberleutnant (1st Lieutenant)

Wehrmacht

• 1.5.1935 Hauptmann (Captain)
• 1.10.1940 Major im Generalstab; i. G. (Major in General Staff)
• 1.4.1942 Oberstleutnant i. G. (Lieutenant Colonel in General Staff)
• 1.3.1943 Oberst i. G. (Colonel in General Staff)
• 9.11.1944 Generalmajor (Major General)

Bundeswehr

• 16.6.1956 Brigadegeneral (Brigadier General; one star)
• 1.1.1958 Generalmajor (Major General; two stars)
• 1.4.1961 Generalleutnant (Lieutenant General; three stars)

Awards and decorations

• Wehrmacht Long Service Award (Wehrmacht-Dienstauszeichnung), 4th to 3rd Class
• Sudetenland Medal with the Prague Castle Bar
• Medal to Commemorate the Homecoming of the Memelland
• Iron Cross (1939), 2nd and 1st Class
• Winter Battle in the East 1941–42 Medal
• German Cross in Gold on 7 March 1942 as Major i. G. and Chief of Operations (Ia) of the 25. Infanterie-Division (motorized)
• Order of the Crown of Romania, Commander's Cross
• Order of Merit of the Kingdom of Hungary, Commander's Cross with Swords on War Ribbon
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 7 April 1944 as Oberst i. G. and Acting Chief of the General Staff of the XI. Armeekorps
• Legion of Merit in 1965
• Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, Knight Commander's Cross in 1965