Bamler, Rudolf.

Bamler, Rudolf, born 06-05-1896 in Osterburg , the only child of Protestant clergyman Johannes Bamler (born 1864) and his wife Anna, born, Garlipp (1873-1932). Rudolf grew up in petit-bourgeois and modest circumstances. The upbringing in the parental home was based on Christian humanistic values. From 1903 to 1905 he attended the village school in Kossebau. From 1905 to 1907 he then took private lessons from his father, who had previously worked as rector in Neuwedell and Osterburg. His hobby was horseback riding. In 1907 he passed the entrance exam for the quarters of the Humanistic Gymnasium in Salzwedel (today the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Gymnasium). In order to finance the high pension costs, his father had himself transferred to Perver in 1909. On 12-03-1914, Bamler passed his Abitur. He decided to pursue a career as a career officer so as not to burden his parents’ coffers with expensive studies.He enlisted in the Prussian Army and served in the First World War with the 15th Division, under command of General Dietrich Gerhard Emil Theodor Tappen . General Tappen survived the First War and died 28-05-1953 (aged 86) in Goslar, Lower Saxony, West Germany. During the war, Bamler was awarded both classes of the Iron Cross. After the Compiègne armistice, the regiment to which Bamler belonged returned to Germany. From December 1918 to spring 1919 he was in charge of demobilizing the regiment in Wildeshausen in the district of Oldenburg.At the end of September 1932 he left the Reichswehr Ministry and was transferred to Königsberg. From 01-10-1932 he was employed there as battery commander in the 1st (Prussian) Artillery Regiment (1st Division) and on 01-04-1934 he was promoted to Major. On 30-01-1933, Bamler was a supporter of the National Socialists’ “seizure of power”. In November 1934, his former first General Staff teacher, Major General Walter von Reichenau, applied for Bamler’s transfer back to the Reichswehr Ministry. Reichenau then acted as head of the ministry under General Field Marshal Werner von Blomberg.

He was attached to the Abwehr   as the head of section III, counterespionage and here he helped to encourage closer co-operation with the Gestapo and Sicherheitsdienst (SD). This role also meant that Bamler maintained a network of informers across German society rival led only by that of the SD. Although he had a difficult personal relationship with his superior Wilhelm Canaris   the two co-operated closely in supporting Canaris’ friend Bahamond Franco    during the. Following the outbreak of the World War II, Bamler was appointed Chief of Staff of Wehrkreis VII, in Munich before a transfer to the same role in XX, in Danzig. Bamler was then made Chief of Staff to the XXXXVII Panzer Corps, under command of General der Artillerie Joachim Lemelsen in 1940. Lemelsen survived the war and died 30-03-1954, aged 65 in Göttingen. From 1942 to 1944 Bamler was Chief of Staff to the German Army in Norway under Generaloberst der Infanterie, Kommandeur Heeresgruppe Norwegen, Nikolaus von Falkenhorst,   having risen to the rank of  Generalleutnant. Bamler was then transferred to the Eastern Front and from 1 to 27 June he was commander of the 121st Infantry Division  , before being replaced by General der Infanterie, Helmuth Prieß. Helmuth Prieß was killed on 21-10-1944, age 48, in Hasenrode, East Prussia. Bamler was simultaneously commander of the 12th Infantry Division , with Generalleutnant der Infanterie, Gerhard Engel his replacement and who became the adjutant of Hitler Bamler’s commands ended as he had surrendered to the Red Army on 27-06-1944. He was a member of the, National Committee of Free Germany in Russia,     with Generalfeldmarschall, Friedrich Paulus “Der Lord”

the 6th Army  commander in Stalingrad and General der Artillerie, Walter von Seydlitz Kurzbach.

However embittered by what he saw as the sacrifice of his division Bamler defected to the Soviet Union that had captured him.

After his capture and internment in Camp 27/I in Krasnogorsk, the Soviet leadership recognized that in Bamler they had gotten their hands on a valuable source of knowledge about the Third Reich. The prisoner of war, on the other hand, was able to adapt quickly to the new circumstances. No longer bound by his oath, Bamler quickly gained the trust of the Soviet side. His talent for speaking and charisma stood him in good stead here, as did his quick learning of the Russian language. As an experienced reconnaissance specialist, he was able to analyze the organizational structures of the NKVD, later MWD, within a very short time.

Death and burial ground of Bamler, Rudolf.

The German generals – Kurt-Jürgen Freiherr von Lützow, Gustav Gihr, Friedrich Golwitzer, Paul Gustav Völckers, Rudolf Bamler, Hans-Walter Heyne, Adolf Hamann, Vincenz Muller and others – before the march of German prisoners of war in Moscow. During the Belarusian offensive operation of the Soviet army, of the 47 Wehrmacht Generals who served as commanders of corps and divisions, 21 were taken prisoner. 19 of them were held in Moscow in front of thousands of columns of German prisoners.

Released on 16-04-1950 and back home, Bamler settled in East Germany, Gross Glieneke near the Wannsee, close to the Villa Wannsee, (see Reinhard Heydrich) (see Adolf Eichmann) and worked as a Stasi police officer there from 1950 until his retirement in 1962. He also held the rank of Generalmajor in the Kasernierte Volkspolizei. Living in Gross Glienicke, Bamler died at the age of 77, on 13-03-1972 and is buried with his wife Auguste, who died at the very old age of 98, on the old section of the local cemetery in Gross Glienicke, a suburb of Berlin.

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