Gerhard Bechly (born 1898) was a lieutenant colonel in the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...

(German Army) who helped to establish the League of German Officers in September 1943 as a part of the

German resistance to Nazism Many individuals and groups in Germany that were opposed to the Nazi Germany, Nazi regime engaged in active resistance, including assassination attempts on Adolf Hitler, attempts to remove Adolf Hitler from power by assassination or by overthro ...

Career

Gerhard Bechly was a professional soldier who rose to the rank of

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

and

adjutant Adjutant is a military appointment given to an officer who assists the commanding officer with unit administration, mostly the management of human resources in an army unit. The term is used in French-speaking armed forces as a non-commission ...

in the 295th Infantry Division of the

German Army The German Army (, "army") is the land component of the armed forces of Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German ''Bundeswehr'' together with the ''Marine'' (German Navy) and the ''Luftwaf ...

.''Die getarnte Armee: Geschichte der Kasernierten Volkspolizei der DDR, 1952-1956'', by Torsten Diedrich & Rudiger Wenzke, Hrsg. vom Militargerchichtlichen Forschungsamt, Berlin, 2003, page 892, ''Die 295. Infanterie-Division van 1940 bis 1945'', by Wolfgang Kirstein, 2004, page 13, In 1942, Lieutenant-Colonel Bechly was captured at the

Battle of Stalingrad The Battle of Stalingrad (23 August 19422 February 1943) was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II where Nazi Germany and its allies unsuccessfully fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad (later re ...

by the

Soviet Army uk, Радянська армія , image = File:Communist star with golden border and red rims.svg , alt = , caption = Emblem of the Soviet Army , start_date ...

and became a prisoner-of-war at Lunjowo POW Camp 27, in Krasnogorsk,

Moscow Oblast Moscow Oblast ( rus, Моско́вская о́бласть, r=Moskovskaya oblast', p=mɐˈskofskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ), or Podmoskovye ( rus, Подмоско́вье, p=pədmɐˈskovʲjə, literally "under Moscow"), is a federal subject of Rus ...

. ''Ich Bitte Erschossen Zu Werden'', Der Spiegel, December 2, 1949, page 16
/ref> As a prisoner-of-war, he worked to establish the

National Committee for a Free Germany The National Committee for a Free Germany (german: Nationalkomitee Freies Deutschland, or NKFD) was a German anti-Nazi organization that operated in the Soviet Union during World War II.The Russians in Germany: A History of the Soviet Zone of Occ ...

(NKFD) on 12 July 1943.''The Free Germany movement: a case of patriotism or treason?'', by Kai P. Schoenhals, Greenwood Press, 1989, pp. 51, 59, 61 Subsequently, through his leadership, the League of German Officers (BDO) was formed on 11/12 September 1943. Bechly served as co-founder and board member of the organization.''Paulus - Das Trauma von Stalingrad'', by Torsten Deidrich, 2008, page 321 From 1943 to 1946, Bechly was a staff engineer at the ''Freies Deutschland'' newspaper and the Free Germany radio station. The 295th Infantry Division was decimated from those who were killed in action at the Battle of Stalingrad and many thousands who died as prisoners-of-war. Of the 300,000 Germans who were involved with the Battle of Stalingrad, only about 6,000 lived to return to Germany. The survival rate was much higher for officers, and many of those who returned took positions in the new government of

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

. Bechly returned to Germany in September 1947, and in 1952, he joined the ''

Kasernierte Volkspolizei The Kasernierte Volkspolizei ( en, Barracked People's Police) was the precursor to the National People's Army (NVA) in East Germany. Their original headquarters was in Adlershof locality in Berlin, and from 1954 in Strausberg in modern-day Bran ...

'' (KVP, Barracks People's Police) and became its head of department in the 6th Management of Staff. In 1956, Bechly became a colonel and the chief of staff of the 4th Administration of the East German Ministry of National Defence.

League of German Officers

Shortly after the establishment of the

(NKFD), a recruitment campaign was envisioned for German officers who were held as prisoners-of-war in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. To facilitate the recruitment of these officers, the ''Bund Deutscher Offiziere'' (BDO, League of German Officers) was created on 11/12 September 1943. Starting with 95 officers in the Lunjowo POW camp, the BDO, with Soviet assistance, the BDO grew to well over 1000 German officers held at POW camps in the Soviet Union. The BDO greatly assisted the efforts of the National Committee for a Free Germany in providing propaganda as part of the German resistance to Nazi movement, which culminated with the assassination attempt on

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

on 20 July 1944. After the war, the BDO was dissolved by

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...

on 2 November 1945.

References

External links

Manifesto of conscience, by Peter Rau, Young World Online, December 7, 2013
* 295th Infantry Division article on German Wikipedia * League of German Officers article on German Wikipedia * Kaserniete People's Police article on German Wikipedia * National People's Army article on German Wikipedia * Ministry of National Defense article on German Wikipedia {{DEFAULTSORT:Bechly, Gerhard 1898 births Year of death missing German prisoners of war in World War II held by the Soviet Union National Committee for a Free Germany members National People's Army personnel

Career

League of German Officers

See also

References

External links