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{{Infobox military person
|name=Bruno Gerloch
|birth_name=Bruno Emil Gerloch
|birth_date=11 November 1890
|death_date={{death date and age|1954|9|3|1890|11|11|df=y}}
|birth_place=Teschen, Teschen Silesia, Austrian Silesia, [[Austria-Hungary]]
|death_place=[[Vienna]], [[Republic of Austria]]
|image=[[File:Bruno Gerloch.jpg|330px]]
|caption=
|nickname=
| allegiance = {{flag|Austria-Hungary}}<br/> {{flagicon|Austria}} [[Republic of German-Austria]] <br/>{{flagicon|Austria}} [[Austria|First Austrian Republic]]<br/>{{flag|National Socialist Germany}}
| branch = [[File:Gelbe Fahne der k. u. k. Armee.jpg|23px]] [[Austrian Army|Austro-Hungarian Army]]<br/>[[File:Deutschösterreichische Volkswehr.jpg|23px]] Deutschösterreichische Volkswehr<br/>[[File:Roundel of the Austrian Armed Forces.png|23px]] Austrian Bundesheer<br/>[[File:Balkenkreuz.jpg|23px]] [[German Army (Wehrmacht)|Heer]]
|serviceyears=1907–44
|rank= Colonel
|commands=Arko 2<br/>Arko 117<br/>708th Infantry Division
|unit=
|battles=[[World War I]]<br/>[[World War II]]
* [[Poland Campaign]]
*[[Battle of France]]
*[[Operation Barbarossa]]
*Battle of Białystok–Minsk
*Battle of Smolensk (1941)
*Battle of Moscow
*Battles of Rzhev
*Demyansk Pocket
* [[Invasion of Normandy]]
* Falaise pocket
|awards=Military Merit Cross (Austria-Hungary)<br/>[[Iron Cross]] <br/>[[German Cross in Gold]]<br/>[[Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross]]
|relations=
|laterwork=}}
'''Bruno Emil Gerloch'''
==Life==
[[File:Bruno Gerlach, POW, 19.8.1944 I.jpg|thumb|300px335px|Capture of Colonel Gerloch and his staff on 19 August 1944 at 8 a.m. in Trun (Falaise pocket), however, with the wrong divisional unit given (179. Infanterie-Division), although the correct rank.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20240524084151/https://secureservercdn.net/72.167.230.230/u5o.4e4.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/The-Lincoln-Welland-Regiment.pdf War Diary of the Canadian Lincoln and Welland Regiment for this period]</ref> He was reportedly found asleep in bed, completely exhausted. He is said to have told the responsible officer that he had had no communication with superiors for two weeks and had lost "control" (he probably meant contact through means of communication) over his division, which only existed as such on paper.]][[File:Bruno Gerlach, POW, 19.8.1944 II.jpg|thumb|300px335px|The superior unit, the 4th Canadian (Armoured) Division (subordinated to the Canadian Corps), now has the correct division (708th Infantry Division), although the commander's name was misspelled ("Gerlock"), and his rank was also incorrectly stated as lieutenant colonel. During questioning by the Canadian division commander, as well as by the commanding general of the corps, he refused to disclose any information and was then referred to the headquarters of the responsible army.]]
===708. Infanterie-Division===
Some sources have him commanding until 14 September 1944, but he was actually captured in Trun, along with his staff, on 19 August 1944. Trun was captured by the enemy with such surprise that advancing units could not be warned. More and more German troops reached Trun, hoping for safety or a regrouping of their scattered forces, but instead they were met by Canadian tanks and artillery batteries. It was a bloodbath; German convoys and their crews suffered heavy losses, including {{KIA}}, wounded, destroyed equipment, and over 600 German prisoners on 19 August 1944, alone, as the Canadian Lincoln and Welland Regiment reported to divisional headquarters.
===Major General===
In February 1945, a planned promotion to Major General was announced, however, documents relating to this are missing from his military files at the German Federal Archives, so that a promotion (which is sometimes given in various sources as 20 April 1945) cannot be confirmed.
==Promotions==
==Sources==
