The JCS, the Bundeswehr, and the Pentagon — November 22, 1963

[Leslie Sharp]

 

So many people in the government flying all over the Pacific, and no one in Washington.

In response to the observation, "no one in Washington" [on Friday, November 22, 1963]:

"No one" except the US Joint Chiefs who were — with the exception of Curtis LeMay — in meetings with German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer's Bundeswehr generals, including war criminals, at the Pentagon.

As William Manchester reports in his award-winning book, The Death of a President: November 22-November 25, 1963,

. . . On Friday, November 22 in Washington DC, "Tight security was also enforced in the Pentagon's Gold Room, down the hall from McNamara, where the Joint Chiefs of Staff were in session with the commanders of the West German Bundeswehr [armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany]. General Maxwell Taylor, the Chiefs' elegant, scholarly Chairman, dominated one side of the table; opposite him was General Friedrich A. Foertsch, Inspector General of Bonn's armed forces. Everyone was dressed to the nines—the Germans out of Pflicht [duty], the Americans because they knew the Germans would be that way—and the meeting glittered with gay ribbons and braid. 

Edited April 27, 2023 by Leslie Sharp

[Leslie Sharp]

1 hour ago, Leslie Sharp said:

 

 

So many people in the government flying all over the Pacific, and no one in Washington.

In response to the observation, No one in Washington: "no one" except the US Joint Chiefs who — with the exception of Curtis LeMay — were in meetings with German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer's Bundeswehr generals, including war criminals, at the Pentagon.

As William Manchester reports in his award-winning book, The Death of a President: November 22-November 25, 1963,

. . . On Friday, November 22 in Washington DC, "Tight security was also enforced in the Pentagon's Gold Room, down the hall from McNamara, where the Joint Chiefs of Staff were in session with the commanders of the West German Bundeswehr [armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany]. General Maxwell Taylor, the Chiefs' elegant, scholarly Chairman, dominated one side of the table; opposite him was General Friedrich A. Foertsch, Inspector General of Bonn's armed forces. Everyone was dressed to the nines—the Germans out of Pflicht [duty], the Americans because they knew the Germans would be that way—and the meeting glittered with gay ribbons and braid. 

First, General Friedrich A. Foertsch, Inspector General of Bonn's armed forces:

Friedrich Foertsch, a native of West Prussia, served as Second General Staff Officer of the Brandenburg Army Corps of the Wehrmacht at the outbreak of WWII. 

His brother, Hermann Foertsch who was five years his senior, had announced after Hitler came to power that, “today the Wehrmacht has no greater pride than being associated with this man."

The younger Foertsch later served as First General Staff Officer in the 60th Infantry Division. By 1943 he was promoted to Chief of Staff of this Army and in January 1945 he became the Chief of Staff of Army Group Kurland which included the 18th and 16th Army. Long cut off from the bulk of the eastern army, Group Kurland capitulated on May 8, 1945. 

The obligatory war crimes trial awaited the Army Group Commander, Generalleutnant Foertsch. The indictment contained the accusation that Foertsch had tolerated "that the troops and units under his command destroyed the cities of Pskov, Novgorod and Leningrad and destroyed historical art monuments in the cities of Gatchina, Peterhof, Pavlovsk and Pushkin..."

 

At trial, Foertsch said to his blushing military judges: “I admit that I gave the orders mentioned (such as artillery fire on Leningrad), but I do not plead guilty, because the orders I gave were necessary in order to end the war against the Soviet Union to lead."

The Soviet military tribunal sentenced Friedrich to 25 years in a correctional camp where his German comrades saw him just as his superiors and staff assistants had during the war — steadfast, sober, and clever. However, the anti-Communist and anti-Russian sting was deeply rooted in Foertsch, an avowed German nationalist for the remainder of his life.  

In September 1955, German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer was persuaded to establish diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union during his state visit to Moscow. The Soviets honored the agreement by releasing the last German prisoners of war. Among them, General Foertsch who was granted an "early release from prison."

 

A year after his release, Friedrich put on his general's coat again as if nothing had happened and served in several senior staff positions in Adenauer’s Bundeswehr including an assignment to the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe of NATO in Paris.

In 1961 General Foertsch succeeded the first Inspector General of the Bundeswehr, Adolf ("Order in Conflict") Heusinger, a decision seen by the Moscow government as an "arrogant, unfriendly act towards the Soviet Union." In response, Bonn was outraged, arguing that the Soviet Union had no "right to have a say" in the personnel policy of German military forces. Foertsch himself declared. "I feel completely clean", a phrase that holds significance for those informed of this history: The myth of the clean Wehrmacht is the negationist notion that the regular German armed forces (the Wehrmacht) were not involved in the Holocaust or other war crimes during WWII.  

THE HIMMEROD MYTH

The myth began during the Nuremberg trials when Wehrmacht leaders signed "The German Army from 1920 to 1945" which established key elements meant to control the public perception. 

By 1950, the West was prepared to facilitate rearmament of the Germans so they would be in a position to challenge communist aggression. Along with former Wehrmacht officers, Chancellor Adenaur met secretly at Himmerod Abbey to discuss West Germany’s rearmament and agreed on what is known as the Himmerod Memorandum, laying out the conditions of rearmament which included release of their war criminals, defamation of the German soldier must cease, and a campaign to transform foreign public opinion should ensue. Ike Eisenhower who had once referred to the Wehrmacht as National Socialists, changed his mind. 

Signatories of the Himmerod Memo included Friedrich Foertsch’s brother Hermann, General Adolf Heusinger who was present in the Gold Room, and General Hans Speidel, another character who will surface in this analysis.

Nineteen days after the president of the United States had been assassinated in Dallas while our JCS met with General Friedrich Foertsch and his Bundeswehr delegation were meeting with the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Foertsch retired from active service and was given an official farewell with a Great Tattoo at Ehrenbreitstein Fortress in Koblenz, December 11, 1963.

 

 

Edited April 27, 2023 by Leslie Sharp

[Leslie Sharp]

William Manchester continues with his account of what unfolded in the Gold Room of the Pentagon on November 22, 1963:  

 

. . . Simultaneously the Pentagon’s command center sounded a buzzer, awaken- 

ing General Maxwell Taylor, who was napping in his office between sessions 

with the Germans. McNamara had a tremendous reputation, and he 

deserved it. Despite his deep feeling for the President — the emotional 

side of his personality had been overlooked by the press, but it was very 

much there — he kept his head and made all the right moves. An ashen- 

faced aide came in with the bulletin. Jerry Wiesner studied the man’s 

expression as the secretary read it. Wiesner thought: The Bomb’s been 

dropped. McNamara quietly handed the slip around — Wiesner felt momentary relief;

anything was better than a nuclear holocaust — and then 

the Secretary acted quickly. Adjourning his conference, he sent Mac 

Bundy back to the White House in a Defense limousine and conferred 

with Taylor and the other Joint Chiefs. Over the JCS signature they dis- 

patched a flash warning to every American military base in the world . . .

 

1. Press reports President Kennedy and Governor Connally of Texas shot 

and critically injured. Both in hospital at Dallas, Texas. No official in- 

formation yet, will keep you informed. 

 

In the Pentagon McNamara and the Joint Chiefs remained vigilant, 

though after their conference in the Secretary's office the Chiefs decided 

they should leave sentry duty to subordinate sentinels and rejoin their 

meeting. General Taylor in particular felt that it was important to present 

a picture of stability and continuity, that it would be an error to let their 

visitors from Bonn suspect the depth of the tragedy until more was known. 

At 2:30 he and his colleagues filed back into the Gold Room. He told the 

Germans briefly that President Kennedy had been injured. General Fried- 

rich Foertsch replied for his comrades that they hoped the injury was not 

too serious. The Chiefs did not reply, and for the next two hours they 

put on a singular performance. Aware that the shadow of a new war might 

fall across the room at any time, they continued the talks about dull mili- 

tary details, commenting on proposals by Generals Wessel and Huekelheim 

and shuffling papers and directives with steady hands. Even for men with 

their discipline it was a stony ordeal, and it was especially difficult for 

Taylor, who had to lead the discussion and whose appointment as Chair- 

man had arisen from his close relationship with the President. As America’s 

first soldier he would be expected to make the first military decision should 

war come. Meanwhile he had to sit erect and feign an interest in logistics 

and combined staff work. At 4:30 the meeting ended on schedule. The 

Joint Chiefs rose together and faced their rising guests. Taylor said evenly, 

“I regret to tell you that the President of the United States has been killed.” 

The Germans, bred to stoicism, collapsed in their chairs.

 

Edited April 28, 2023 by Leslie Sharp

[Michael Griffith]

18 hours ago, Leslie Sharp said:

First, General Friedrich A. Foertsch, Inspector General of Bonn's armed forces:

His brother, Hermann Foertsch who was five years his senior, had announced after Hitler came to power that, “today the Wehrmacht has no greater pride than being associated with this man."

The obligatory war crimes trial awaited the Army Group Commander, Generalleutnant Foertsch. The indictment contained the accusation that Foertsch had tolerated "that the troops and units under his command destroyed the cities of Pskov, Novgorod and Leningrad and destroyed historical art monuments in the cities of Gatchina, Peterhof, Pavlovsk and Pushkin..."

At trial, Foertsch said to his blushing military judges: “I admit that I gave the orders mentioned (such as artillery fire on Leningrad), but I do not plead guilty, because the orders I gave were necessary in order to end the war against the Soviet Union to lead."

The Soviet military tribunal sentenced Friedrich to 25 years in a correctional camp where his German comrades saw him just as his superiors and staff assistants had during the war — steadfast, sober, and clever. However, the anti-Communist and anti-Russian sting was deeply rooted in Foertsch, an avowed German nationalist for the remainder of his life.  

I think this is misguided and unfair. 

Even German generals who were plotting to kill Hitler in 1939 voiced the same obligatory pro-Hitler sentiments that Foertsch's brother voiced. 

There were plenty of evil, vicious German generals, but I don't think Foertsch was one of them. I think Foertsch was on the lesser of two evils side of the balance sheet when it came to most Wermacht and SS generals.

"The Soviet military tribunal" was an obscene joke. The Soviet army was just as brutal as the SS and more brutal than the German army. The Soviets had no moral standing to be judging anyone for war crimes. They were arguably the worst of the WWII war criminals. They wiped out numerous cities and slaughtered hundreds of thousands of civilians. The Soviet occupation of Manchuria was far more brutal than the Japanese occupation had been. 

Stalin and his henchmen should have been tried for war crimes, right alongside high-ranking N-azi officials and many SS and Wermacht generals.

Edited April 28, 2023 by Michael Griffith

[Leslie Sharp]

29 minutes ago, Michael Griffith said:

I think this is misguided and unfair. 

Even German generals who were plotting to kill Hitler in 1939 voiced the same obligatory pro-Hitler sentiments that Foertsch's brother voiced. 

There were plenty of evil, vicious German generals, but I don't think Foertsch was one of them. I think Foertsch was on the lesser of two evils side of the balance sheet when it came to most Wermacht and SS generals.

"The Soviet military tribunal" was an obscene joke. The Soviet army was just as brutal as the SS and more brutal than the German army. The Soviets had no moral standing to be judging anyone for war crimes. They were arguably the worst of the WWII war criminals. They wiped out numerous cities and slaughtered hundreds of thousands of civilians. The Soviet occupation of Manchuria was far more brutal than the Japanese occupation had been. 

Stalin and his henchmen should have been tried for war crimes, right alongside high-ranking N-azi officials and many SS and Wermacht generals.

Had Stalin's generals been in the Gold Room at the Pentagon on November 22, 1963, I would be writing about them.

Apparently the US Joint Chiefs held a similar view as you, indicative of the success of the Himmerod Memorandum — drafted for the specific purpose of controlling public perception, the myth of the "clean Wehrmacht."

By 1950, the West was prepared to facilitate rearmament of the Germans so they would be in a position to challenge communist aggression. Along with former Wehrmacht officers, Chancellor Adenaur met secretly at Himmerod Abbey to discuss West Germany’s rearmament and agreed on what is known as the Himmerod Memorandum, laying out the conditions of rearmament which included release of their war criminals, defamation of the German soldier must cease, and a campaign to transform foreign public opinion should ensue. Ike Eisenhower who had once referred to the Wehrmacht as National Socialists, changed his mind. 

Foertsch himself declared. "I feel completely clean".

I'll be elaborating on those who joined Foertsch at the Pentagon soon.
 

Edited April 28, 2023 by Leslie Sharp