Wilhelm Falley

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Wilhelm Falley (25 September 1897 – 6 June 1944) was the first German general to be killed during the Normandy landings in France. He was commander of the 91st Infantry Division.

Career

Falley joined the Anhalt Infantry Regiment No. 93 as a volunteer on 4 December 1914 during the First World War. After his basic training, he was transferred to the front on 25 August 1915 as a lieutenant in the reserve. In early December 1916, Falley was transferred to the staff of the 7th Guards Infantry Regiment as a mortar officer. For his achievements, he was awarded both classes of the Iron Cross, the Wounded Badge in Black and the Hamburg Hanseatic Cross. After the end of the war, Falley was taken into active military service on 29 January 1919 and served as an ordnance officer on the staff of the 4th Guards Regiment on Foot. With the formation of the Provisional Reichswehr, he joined the Reichswehr Infantry Regiment 29 and was transferred to the Infantry Regiment 5 on 1 October 1920.

Promoted to major general in December 1943, and lieutenant general in May 1944, he held various commands before being appointed Commander of the 91st Infantry Division in April 1944. Falley was the first German general to fall in action during the Normandy landings. On D-Day, Falley was returning from Rennes, where a war game had been organised by the German High Command, to his Division headquarters, in Picauville. Falley was killed alongside Major Joachim Bartuzat (killed) and a corporal Vogt (wounded) when their staff car was shot up by paratroopers of the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division, on the country road outside the rear wall of the German 91st Infantry Division's headquarters, Chateau de Bernaville, in Picauville, southwest of Sainte-Mère-Église, Normandy.

Awards and decorations

Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 26 November 1941 as Oberstleutnant and commander of 4th Infantry Regiment^[1]

References

Citations

↑ Scherzer 2007, p. 302.

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Bibliography

D-Day 1944 - Voices from Normandy, Robert Neillands and Roderick de Normann, Cold Spring Press, New York, 2004 Template:ISBN.
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Military offices
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[1] Scherzer 2007, p. 302.

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