Ramcke in Italy and France
In 1943, Ramcke was promoted to lieutenant general, and placed in charge of the 2nd Parachute Division. When Italy abandoned the Axis in 1943, Ramcke led his men in attacking Italian units near Rome, and seized the city. However, he was seriously injured in the fighting, and was evacuated to Germany. While recuperating, he published a memoir, From Cabin Boy to Paratroop General, which was heavily promoted by the Nazis, and sold about 400,000 copies. That enriched Ramcke, and further enriched Hitler, who owned a big stake in the book’s publisher. He rejoined his division in early 1944 on the Eastern Front, but took ill and had to return to Germany. He resumed command in May of 1944.
After the D-Day landings the following month, Ramcke and his division were sent to Brittany, suffering heavily from Allied aircraft that ruled the skies above northern France, and from ambushes by French partisans. They finally reached their destination, and the 2nd Parachute Division found itself fighting American units near Avranches. When the Allies broke out from the Normandy beachhead in Operation Cobra, July 25th to 31st, 1944, German forces in Brittany were pushed back into a steadily shrinking pocket around the port of Brest. On August 8th, American forces approached Brest and demanded its surrender, but were rebuffed. Hitler designated the forces in and around the port city, numbering about 30,000 men, Festung Brest (Fortress Brest), and placed Ramcke in command, with orders to fight to the last man.
Ramcke was game. Upon taking command, he spread out the experienced and hardened veteran paratroopers amongst the rest of his command to brace and stiffen them for the coming onslaught by 3 American armored divisions and French resistance fighters. Determined assaults to capture Brest began on August 21st, and by September 1st, the port city was completely surrounded and cutoff. Ramcke’s actions during the Battle of Brest were described as “fanatical”, as he fought without letup against impossible odds. Most of Ramcke’s men surrendered on September 18th, but he continued the fight at the head of a group of diehards, until they were captured on the 19th. That same day, he was awarded the Swords and Diamonds to his Knights Cross – one of only 27 people to ever receive such a decoration.
In captivity, Ramcke made no bones about being an unrepentant Hitlerite, and his captors viewed him as one of the most vocal Nazis they had encountered. He saw Germany as an innocent country that was wronged by the rest of the world, and was deemed by interrogators to be a “bombastic nasty man who sought to blame others for the crimes of the [Nazi] regime“. After stints in British and American POW facilities, he was transferred to the French, who charged him with war crimes for his conduct during the Battle of Brest.
In 1951, he was tried for executing civilians, looting civilian property, and intentionally destroying civilian houses. He was convicted and sentenced to five and a half years, but was released after only three months. He was never tried for his war crimes in Crete. After his release, Ramcke returned to Germany, where he earned a reputation as an extreme right winger, speaking at rallies for SS veterans, in which claimed that the Allies had been the real war criminals.
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Where Did We Find This Stuff? Some Sources & Further Reading
Avalanche Press, Bennighof, Mike – Alamein: The German Parachute Brigade
Blumenson, Martin – Breakout and Pursuit (1961)
War History Online – Hermann Ramcke, German Marine Turned Paratroop General