Paul-Hermann Werner was born on March 19, 1893 in Stade near Hamburg and joined the Prussian Army as a Fahnenjunker in 1912. On August 2, 1914 (patent effective August 20, 1912) he was promoted to Leutnant in the Königlich Preußischen Eisenbahn-Regiment Nr. 2 / XVIII.Armeekorps in Hanau. With this unit he went to the First World War in the summer of 1914, served in Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 229 during the war and was wounded four times.
Initially Werner served in the Reichswehr in the 1st Pomeranian Reichswehr Infantry Regiment No. 3. Then he was a company officer in the 5th (Prussian) Infantry Regiment in Stettin, then in 1921 an squadron officer in the 5th (Prussian) Cavalry Regiment in Stolp, later used in the 4th (MG) company of the 5th (Prussian) Infantry Regiment. In 1924 he was trained as a guide assistant in the staff of the 2nd Division of the Reichswehr in Stettin, then from October 1, 1924 to September 30, 1925 as a company officer of the 2nd Company / 2nd. (Preuss.) Motor vehicle department.
Then he came to the staff of the 2nd (Prussian) motor vehicle department in Schwerin, where he was promoted to Hauptmann in 1926 and on February 1, 1928 to the chief of his 2nd company. On January 1, 1931, at the instigation of Oberst Heinz Guderian , he was transferred to the Reichswehr Ministry in Berlin, where he served as a clerk for the inspection of the traffic troops (In 6). From October 15, 1935 to October 12, 1937, he was in command of the anti-tank department 20 in Hamburg.
On January 1, 1937, Major Werner was promoted to Oberstleutnant, from October 12, 1937 to August 26, 1939 he was commander of anti-tank troops X (military district X) in Hamburg. On August 26, 1939, he was appointed commander of the 31st Panzer Regiment , sometimes referred to as the "Sudeten Panzer Regiment", which belonged to the 5th Panzer Division .
After the Polish campaign , he was promoted to Oberst. At the beginning of the western campaign on May 10, 1940, Werner led his regiment via Belgium against Arras in the far north of France (where he had acquired EK I in the First World War). The advance division "Werner" (from General of the Infantry Hermann Hoth of the XV Army Corps briefly subordinated to Major General Erwin Rommel of the 7th Panzer Division ) arrived at the weir and the lock system on the Meuse Island near Houx. Werner's scouting group of motorcyclists was amazed to see that lock No. 5, unlike the bridge at Yvoir, had not been blown. This might be the longed-for transition, but a trap was suspected.
The lock was at the interface between the French II. And XI. Army Corps. The scouting party waited a little longer until it was dark, then some volunteers balanced on the slippery weir over to the island, paused under the protection of the trees and then crept over a sluice bridge to the other bank. Shortly before 11 p.m., they were the first soldiers of Army Group A to reach the west bank of the Meuse; they were the first German soldiers to cross the middle course of the Meuse. Only a few “Brandenburgers” had succeeded in this, similar to the “Morgenröte” company .
On May 23, the advance department "Werner" stormed the "Lorettohöhe". There Werner's men could read the famous inscription of the Battle of Loretto-Höhe in 1915 (→ Lorettoschlacht ):
"Whoever owns the Lorettohöhe owns France."
On June 3, 1940, Generaloberst Walther von Brauchitsch , Commander-in-Chief of the Army, awarded him the Ritterkreuz. The reason for the award reads as follows:
“Oberst Paul-Hermann Werner, commander of a Panzer-Regiment, smashed an advance by strong enemy tank forces that was aimed at an important march route. This was made possible through his determined conduct and skillful leadership of his own troops. Later on he made the independent decision to seize the Maubeuge Fortress from the south. Along with elements of his Regiment, he occupied the citadel as well as two forts. These were then held until the arrival of further reinforcements."
Later Werner crossed the Somme at Amiens in Picardy, as always at the head of his regiment, which was called the "Red Devil" by "Freund und Feind" after his regimental badge, a red devil's head, and joined the 7th Armored Division the boiler at Saint-Valery-sur-Somme on the Somme estuary in the English Channel. After a forced march of 360 kilometers, he reached the French naval port of Brest on the western tip of Brittany on June 19, 1940 as the first officer of the Wehrmacht.
In the course of a swimming accident in the Atlantic, Oberst Paul-Hermann Werner, who had been awarded the Ritterkreuz only a couple of days previously, died of a heart attack on June 30, 1940. The funeral service had taken place on July 5, 1940 in the Hamburg General-Litzmann-Kaserne (after Karl Litzmann ; today Hanseaten-Kaserne in Hamburg-Horn), he was buried the following day in Cambs near Schwerin.
Source :
Jim Haley photo collection
https://de.metapedia.org/wiki/Werner,_Paul-Hermann
https://www.tracesofwar.com/persons/64068/Werner-Paul-Hermann.htm
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