Full name: Hermann-Bernhard Gerhard Ramcke
Date of Birth: 24 January 1889 - Schleswig, Schleswig-Holstein, German Empire
Date of Death: 4 July 1968 - Kappeln, Schleswig-Holstein, West Germany
Battles and Operations: Flanders (World War I), Battle of Crete, North African Campaign, Battle of El Alamein, Italian Campaign (Rome), Eastern Front (brief), Battle for Brest
NSDAP-Number: No information
SS-Number: Not applicable (Wehrmacht/Luftwaffe officer)
Religion: No information
Parents: Franz Hermann Ramcke (veteran sergeant) and Anna Sophia (née Korff)
Siblings: One of 13 children
Spouse: Ruth (née Göldner) (married spring 1929)
Children: Seven children
Promotions:
04.04.1905 Schiffsjunge (Kaiserliche Marine)
26.09.1907 Matrose
01.07.1909 Obermatrose
01.04.1912 Bootsmannsmaat
19.07.1915 Oberbootsmannsmaat
11.09.1915 Feldwebel
05.12.1916 Offiziers-Stellvertreter
18.07.1918 Leutnant der Marine-Infanterie (Patent 01.02.1913)
15.01.1921 Oberleutnant (RDA 21.06.1918)
01.02.1927 Hauptmann
01.09.1934 Major
16.03.1937 Oberstleutnant (RDA 01.03.1937)
29.02.1940 Oberst (RDA 01.03.1940)
01.08.1940 Oberst (Luftwaffe)
22.07.1941 Generalmajor (RDA 01.08.1941)
21.12.1942 Generalleutnant
14.09.1944 General der Fallschirmtruppe (RDA 01.09.1944)
Career:
April 1905 joined Imperial German Navy as ship boy
1914-1918 served with Marine-Infanterie in Flanders on Western Front
Post-1918 served in Reichswehr and Freikorps operations in Baltic region
1920s-1930s various infantry and staff positions in Reichswehr/Heer reaching Oberstleutnant
19 July 1940 transferred to 7. Flieger-Division (Luftwaffe)
31 July 1940 completed parachute training at age 51 and commanded parachute replacement battalion
May 1941 commander Fallschirmjäger-Sturm-Regiment 1 during Operation Merkur (Crete)
Summer 1941 formed and commanded Fallschirmjäger-Brigade Ramcke
July 1942 brigade deployed to North Africa supporting Afrikakorps
November 1942 commanded 2. Fallschirmjäger-Division in Italy and briefly Eastern Front
June-August 1944 division elements in Brittany, assumed command of Fortress Brest 8 August 1944
19 September 1944 surrendered Fortress Brest to US forces
1944-1951 prisoner of war in US, British and French captivity
Awards and Decorations:
Iron Cross 2nd Class (1914) 17 April 1916
Iron Cross 1st Class (1914) 27 January 1917
Golden Military Merit Cross (Prussia) 24 April 1918 (for defensive actions against British attacks as Offiziers-Stellvertreter and Zugführer in Sturm-Abteilung, Marine-Korps Flandern)
Clasp to Iron Cross 2nd Class 1 October 1939
Clasp to Iron Cross 1st Class 23 May 1941
Fallschirmjäger Badge 1 August 1940
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 21 August 1941 as Oberst and commander Fallschirmjäger-Sturm-Regiment 1 (after Generalmajor Meindl wounded on 21 May 1941 during Battle of Crete, took command of Westgruppe Fallschirmjäger, captured Maleme airfield and city of Chania turning potential defeat into victory)
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub (145th recipient) on 13 November 1942 as Generalmajor and commander Fallschirmjäger-Brigade Ramcke (during Battle of El Alamein after British breakthrough isolated brigade in southern sector, refused surrender, captured British supply column and led 350 km march through desert to rejoin Rommel's forces)
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub und Schwertern (99th recipient) on 19 September 1944 as Generalleutnant and commander Fortress Brest (held vital port over one month against superior US forces, delaying Allied use of harbour through stubborn defence and destruction of facilities)
Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub, Schwerter und Brillanten (20th recipient) on 19 September 1944 as Generalleutnant and commander Fortress Brest (same action as Swords, awarded same day as surrender)
Additional awards include Kreta cuff title, Afrika cuff title, Wound Badge in Gold (World War I), Honour Cross for Front Fighters, Wehrmacht Long Service Awards, Italian and other foreign decorations
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Hermann-Bernhard Ramcke was born into a large farming family in Schleswig on 24 January 1889 as one of 13 children of veteran sergeant Franz Hermann Ramcke and Anna Sophia Korff. He chose a military path over farming and enlisted in the Imperial German Navy in April 1905 as a ship boy. During World War I he transferred to Marine-Infanterie and fought in Flanders, earning both Iron Crosses and the Golden Military Merit Cross for leadership in defensive actions against repeated British assaults. After the war he served in the Reichswehr and took part in Baltic operations against Bolshevik forces, rising steadily through the ranks in infantry roles.
In July 1940 at age 51 Ramcke transferred to the Luftwaffe's 7. Flieger-Division, qualified as a paratrooper and commanded a replacement battalion before leading Fallschirmjäger-Sturm-Regiment 1 in the airborne assault on Crete in May 1941. When Generalmajor Meindl was wounded he assumed command of the western group, secured Maleme airfield under heavy fire and captured Chania, securing victory in Operation Merkur and earning the Ritterkreuz on 21 August 1941. He then formed the ad-hoc Ramcke Parachute Brigade which deployed to North Africa in 1942 to support Rommel. At El Alamein in late 1942 the brigade was cut off after Montgomery's breakthrough but Ramcke led it in a fighting withdrawal, seizing a British supply convoy and marching hundreds of kilometres across the desert to rejoin Axis forces, an exploit that brought the Oak Leaves on 13 November 1942.
In 1943 Ramcke commanded the newly raised 2. Fallschirmjäger-Division in Italy during Operation Achse, helping seize Rome after the Italian armistice, then briefly on the Eastern Front before returning to the West. In summer 1944 he took command of Fortress Brest in Brittany. Despite being surrounded by three US divisions he obeyed orders to hold to the last, evacuated civilians, destroyed port facilities and conducted a fierce defence that delayed Allied capture of the harbour for over a month. On 19 September 1944 he surrendered the ruined fortress and was awarded both Swords and Diamonds the same day, becoming one of only 27 recipients of the highest grade. He spent nearly seven years as a prisoner of war in American, British and French camps, briefly escaping in France before giving himself up.
After release in 1951 Ramcke faced a French war-crimes trial for actions against civilians in Brest, received a sentence of five years and six months but was freed after three months having already served time in custody. In the 1950s he became a vocal nationalist speaker at veteran rallies, supported right-wing circles and published memoirs defending his record while criticising Allied policies. He died at his home in Kappeln on 4 July 1968 after a long illness.
Unique facts include qualifying for parachute wings at the advanced age of 51, becoming known as a highly resourceful commander across multiple theatres, the famous exchange at Brest surrender where he demanded credentials from a lower-ranking US general who replied by pointing to his troops ("These are my credentials"), a phrase later adopted as the motto of the US 8th Infantry Division, and his outspoken post-war defence of former soldiers that occasionally caused political controversy in the young Federal Republic.
Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann-Bernhard_Ramcke
https://www.tracesofwar.com/persons/1043/Ramcke-Hermann-Bernhard-GendFallschirmtruppe.htm
https://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Personenregister/R/RamckeHB.htm
https://ritterkreuztraeger.blogspot.com/ (format reference)
https://www.specialcamp11.co.uk/General%20der%20Fallschirmtruppe%20Hermann-Bernhard%20Ramcke2.htm
https://ww2gravestone.com/people/ramcke-hermann-bernard/
http://www.cimilitaria.com/ramcke%20service%20history%20page.htm
https://www.geni.com/ (family references)
https://forum.axishistory.com/
https://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/
https://www.bundesarchiv.de/en/
https://rk.balsi.de/index.php?action=list&cat=300
Hermann-Bernhard Ramcke, Vom Ritterkreuzträger zum Angeklagten, Nation Europa Verlag, Coburg, 2001 (reprint of earlier memoirs)
Veit Scherzer, Die Ritterkreuzträger 1939-1945, Scherzers Militaer-Verlag, Ranis/Jena, 2007
Gordon Williamson, Knight's Cross with Diamonds Recipients 1941-45, Osprey Publishing, 2006
Franz Thomas & Günter Wegmann, Die Ritterkreuzträger der Deutschen Wehrmacht, Biblio Verlag
Additional references from books.google.com searches on Ramcke memoirs and Ritterkreuz citations
https://web.archive.org/web/20091027052912fw_/http://geocities.com/orion47.geo/index2.html
https://www.unithistories.com/units_index/index.php?file=/officers/personsx.html
http://de.metapedia.org/ (supplementary historical entries)
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