I believe that friends who have seen the movie "Hitler" will definitely have a deep impact on the German officer played by Thomas Kleschumann in the movie, and it can be said that it is precisely because this German officer chose to obey Hitler's orders at the most critical time that led to the defeat of the insurgents.
In real history, this major is real, his name is Otto Ernst Reimer, who was the battalion commander of the Great German Guard Battalion at the time, played an important role in the "7.20" assassination, and it was because of this assassination of Stauffenberg that he was promoted from major to colonel overnight, and thus became the youngest general in the German army.
So what exactly did Ernst Reimer do during the 7.20 assassination? This article takes you through the life of the youngest general in the German army, Ernst Reimer.
1. Young and promising officers
Otto Ernst Reimer was born on 18 August 1912 to a Catholic family in Neubrandenburg, Germany.
Influenced by the German domestic environment at that time, when Reimer was 20 years old, the young man chose to join the Weimar Defense Army and became a German soldier.
On September 1, 1939, with the German blitzkrieg against Poland, World War II officially broke out, and Reimer participated in the Polish Campaign first as a company commander of the artillery company of the 497th Infantry Regiment, and then transferred to the 9th Panzer Division as a company commander of the 701st Motorized Artillery Company, successively participating in the French Campaign, the Balkan Campaign and Operation Barbarossa.
In these battles, Reimer showed a decisive, resolute, and fearless fighting style, and his ability was also recognized by his superiors, so when the Wehrmacht "Großdeutsches" infantry regiment was upgraded to the "Großdeutsches" motorized infantry division in April 1942, Reimer was transferred to the "Großdeutsches" division and became the commander of the 4th Battalion of the 1st Infantry Regiment of the "Großdeutsches", and then Reimer entered the peak of his career.
On 29 August 1942, Remer was awarded the Gold German Cross medal for his many heroic performances in battle, and on 1 January 1943, for his outstanding performance in the battle, Reimer was officially promoted to major and took over the will of the battalion commander of the 1st Grenadier Battalion of the "Großdeutsche" Division, and then led his army to participate in the Kharkov Counterattack.
During the Kharkov counterattack, Reimer commanded his forces, first covering the operations of the SS Panzer Division and helping it retake Kharkov, and then pursuing the retreating Soviets all the way and capturing Belgorod, the intended rallying point for German forces on the southern front in the Battle of Kursk.
With this victory, Reimer was awarded the Knight's Cross by Hitler on 18 May 1943, and in July he led his troops to the Battle of Kursk, where he performed well again, becoming Germany's 352nd Knight of the Order of the Oak Leaf on 12 November of that year.
Because of this, in March 1944 (May), Reimer was transferred back to China by his superiors as the commander of the garrison battalion of the "Großdeutsche Division", in charge of the security of the Berlin garrison.
It was also because of this position that Reimer played an important role in the subsequent "July 20 assassination incident".
2. Suppression of rebellion
On July 20, 1944, the German conspiracy group launched a coup d'état, Stauffenberg brought a bomb into Hitler's conference room, after confirming that the bomb exploded, Stauffenberg mistakenly believed that Hitler was dead, so he immediately contacted other premeditated personnel to launch operation "Valkyrie", take control of Berlin, and ask the Allies for peace.
Reimer's superior, Lieutenant General Paul von Haase, commander of the Berlin Garrison, as part of the conspiracy group, immediately ordered Reimer to command a guard battalion, blockade roads in downtown Berlin, and arrest key members of the Nazi Party.
At first, Reimer wondered.
He recalled: "I asked him a lot of questions at that time, is Hitler dead? What the hell happened to him? Where did the uprising take place? General Hazel did not answer. And when I was driving around the streets of the capital, I didn't see any rioters. My troops were mobilized, why didn't the other troops move? Hitler was dead, but what about his successor? Or not Goering? If it was him, what was his command? ”
With none of these questions answered, Reimer immediately became suspicious of General Hazel's orders, which he also thought was a fierce power struggle within Germany after the Fuehrer's death.
Just then, however, one of Reimer's Lieutenants, Hagen, warns him that there may be a conspiracy.
Lieutenant Hagen had been the political instructor that Goebbels had sent to the guard battalion, so Reimer immediately asked him to go to Goebbels and ask what had happened.
During this time, out of the duty of a soldier to obey orders, Reimer completed the task of blocking the central road on the orders of General Hazel, but when he returned to report to General Hazel, he received an order to arrest Goebbels.
Just as Reimer was leaving the office, pondering whether to carry out the order, Lieutenant Hagen rushed back in time, and he told Reimer: "Something went wrong, it seems to be a mutiny." Dr. Goebbels told you to go to the Propaganda Department at once, and if he didn't arrive within 20 minutes, he would have to let the SS solve the problem. ”
In fact, calling the SS to solve the problem was just a means of intimidation for Goebbels, who had already put a potassium cyanide pill in his pocket and was ready to commit suicide.
Between 18:35 and 19:00, Reimer arrived at Goebbels's office with an arrest warrant.
Goebbels first asked Reimer, "Have you forgotten the oath you made?" (This refers to the fact that German soldiers would swear allegiance to Hitler when they enlisted.)
"I have not forgotten, Mr. Minister, but the Fuehrer is dead."
Goebbels then told Remer that the Fuehrer was still alive, and answered the phone to Rasdenburg, and after a few words handed the phone to Reimer, asking him, "Can you hear the Fuehrer's voice?" ”
Reimer took the phone and listened, and it was indeed Hitler's voice.
Later, in his book The Events of July 20, Reimer described Hitler's original call with himself:
"Can you hear me?" I'm alive. The coup failed. A handful of ambitious officers tried to get rid of me. Now let's face this group of sabotagers. We will take decisive measures against this group of 'plagues'. I now give you orders to restore order to the imperial capital immediately, with the use of force if necessary. You will be directly under my command until the SS Imperial Leader (Himmler) arrives in the Imperial capital. ”
At this point, Reimer finally understood what had happened, and his decisive and resolute style was immediately revealed.
After he put down the phone, he first went to arrest his superior, General Hazel, and then led his troops into the reserve headquarters, and after a brief exchange of fire captured a group of coup leaders, including Colonel Staufenberg and Admiral Friedrich Olbricht, and what happened after that was the same as described in the film.
The youngest general
For his outstanding performance in the 720 Incident, Reimer was promoted directly from major to colonel by Hitler and served as brigade commander of the newly formed Führer's Escort Brigade.
At the end of 1944, Reimer led the Führer's Escort Brigade to participate in the Ardennes Counter-Offensive, and performed mediocrely, but on January 31, 1945, Hitler promoted Reimer to major general, and at the age of 32, Reimer became the youngest general in the Wehrmacht.
After the war, Reimer was captured by the Americans, but because he did not commit war crimes, he was released by the Allies two years later.
After his release from prison, Reimer worked as a mason for a while, but for Reimer, who was only in his 30s at the time, this kind of work was clearly not liked by young and vigorous people like him, so in 1950 he formed a far-right party with others, the Socialist Imperial Party, which was banned two years later.
In October 1992, Reimer was sentenced to 22 months in prison for much propaganda of racial hatred, and after his release, Reimer was forced to flee to Spain until his death in Spain on October 4, 1997, and until the last moment of his life, he was also a German fugitive rather than a war hero.
After the end of World War II, the Allies personally identified Stauffenberg and others as heroes of the Nazi rebellion, but Reimer scoffed at this.
He was asked if he regretted his suppression of Staufenberg, but Reimer said he had no regrets, but instead thought he was just doing his duty as a soldier.
"Like all German soldiers, I swore allegiance to the Führer. If the Fuehrer were murdered, I would not hesitate to carry out the orders of my superiors and arrest all the Nazis in Berlin, but the Fuehrer was safe and sound, and I could only fulfill my promise to obey the Fuehrer. ”
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