1. Wilhelm Fahrmbacher led the 5th Infantry Division in Poland and France, before being promoted to command of the VII Army Corps, which he led during Operation Barbarossa.
16 Facts About Wilhelm Fahrmbacher
1. 2.
In 1942, Wilhelm Fahrmbacher gained command of the XXV Corps in northern France, and after the Allied invasion of France, commanded the German forces holding the Lorient fortress, surrendering only after the unconditional surrender of Germany.
3.
On 18 July 1907, Wilhelm Fahrmbacher joined the 5th Field Artillery Regiment of the Bavarian Army in Landau.
4.
Wilhelm Fahrmbacher attended the artillery and engineering school from October 1911 to the end of June 1912, and on 25 January 1914, he was appointed adjutant of his regiment.
5.
Wilhelm Fahrmbacher was wounded on 24 August 1914 and briefly hospitalized.
6.
Wilhelm Fahrmbacher was promoted to captain on 22 March 1918, and held that rank until the Armistice brought hostilities to a close.
7.
Wilhelm Fahrmbacher was promoted to lieutenant general on 31 May 1939, shortly before the outbreak of World War II.
8.
Wilhelm Fahrmbacher led the 5th Infantry Division during the Invasion of Poland and the Battle of France.
9.
On 1 May 1942, Wilhelm Fahrmbacher assumed command of XXV Corps manning the Atlantic Wall in Brittany.
10.
On 31 July 1944, with US forces breaking out into Brittany after Operation Cobra, Wilhelm Fahrmbacher was ordered to send all his mobile troops to hold the Pontaubault bridge.
11.
Wilhelm Fahrmbacher dispatched the remnants of the 77th Division and a company of assault guns, which reached Pontaubault in the late afternoon, too late to prevent US forces from advancing over the bridge.
12.
Three days later, a surrender ceremony took place near Caudan, during which Fahrmbacher formally surrendered his forces to General Herman F Kramer of the US 66th Infantry Division.
13.
However, Wilhelm Fahrmbacher was of impressive rank, and the CIA gained kudos with Nasser by arranging his employment.
14.
Whilst in Egypt, Wilhelm Fahrmbacher, who was attempting to remodel the Egyptian Army with the goal of making it capable of performing large scale operations, was the subject of an assassination plot by the Israeli secret service, Mossad.
15.
Wilhelm Fahrmbacher wrote a history of creation and defense of the Lorient fortress.
16.
Wilhelm Fahrmbacher died on 27 April 1970 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, West Germany.