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From ship's boy to General of the Paratroopers

This is the biography of para trooper Lieutenant
General "Hermann Bernhard Ramcke"
in which he describes his actions and career from WW1 to WW2.
WW2 reports include Poland, Crete and Africa

Hardcover

  • 314 pages
  • 39 b/w photos

In good exterior and good interior condition.
Boards worn and bumped, inner hinges with small repairs, else ok.


Approx/Measurements: 7-3/4" x 5"  0.7 lbs.

by Generall. Bernhard Ramcke 
Publisher: Verlag Die W. Berlin SW 68

Inhaltsverzeichnis (table of contents):

- Youth time
- The Ship's Boy
- On board the cruisers "Prinz Adalbert"
     and "Blucher
- World War 1914-1918
- Flanders
- Postwar Confusion

 - Baltic fighters
 - Of the 100,000 man army
     to the new German Wehrmacht
 - Poland Campaign
 - As a paratrooper
 - The Crete Campaign
 - Outreach in Africa




Background info of WW2 career [excerpt]:
On 19 July 1940, Ramcke was transferred to the 7th Fliegerdivision under the command of General Kurt Student and was promoted to Oberst. At the age of 51 he successfully completed the parachute qualification course. In May 1941 working with the division Stab he helped plan and also took part in Operation Merkur, the airborne attack on Crete. Ramcke led the Fallschirmjäger-Sturm-Regiment 1, and also led Kampfgruppe West.

After the successful, but costly, victory in Crete, remainders of several Fallschirmjäger units were formed into a ad-hoc [brigade], and command was given to Ramcke. He was also promoted to Generalmajor on 22 July 1941.

In 1942 Fallschirmjäger-Brigade Afrika was sent to North Africa to join Rommel's Afrikakorps. The brigade was renamed Fallschirmjäger-Brigade Ramcke in July and supported the offensive towards the Suez Canal, but when the offensive got bogged down they entered the line at El Alamein.

The British attack at the Second Battle of El Alamein did not directly strike the unit but they soon became involved in heavy fighting. During the withdrawal of the Afrikakorps, the Brigade was surrounded and written off as lost by the high command since it had no organic transport. Rather than surrender, Ramcke led his troops out of the British trap and headed west, losing about 450 men in the process. They soon captured a British supply column which provided not only trucks but food, tobacco and other luxuries. About 600 of the paras later rejoined the Afrikakorps in late November 1942. Ramcke was sent back to Germany, where he was awarded the Oak Leaves to the Knights Cross.

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