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Charles H. Gerhardt

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Charles Hunter Gerhardt
BornJune 6, 1895
Lebanon, Tennessee, United States[1]
DiedOctober 9, 1976 (aged 81)
Winter Park, Florida
Burial place
Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia, United States
RelativesCharles Gerhardt (father)
Military career
AllegianceUnited States
Branch
United States Army
Service years
1917–1952
Rank
Major General
Nickname"Uncle Charlie"
Service number0-5259
UnitCavalry Branch
Commands56th Cavalry Brigade
91st Infantry Division
29th Infantry Division
Conflicts
World War I
World War II
AwardsArmy Distinguished Service Medal
Silver Star
Legion of Merit
Bronze Star

Charles Hunter Gerhardt (June 6, 1895 – October 9, 1976) was a major general in the United States Army who commanded the 29th Infantry Division from 1943 until the end of the war and during part of the occupation of Germany. The division's most famous combat operations were the Omaha Beach landings of June 6, 1944 (his 49th birthday), otherwise known as D-Day, the taking of the French crossroads town of Saint-Lô in July 1944, and later the capture of Brest, Jülich, and München-Gladbach.

Early life and military career

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Gerhardt as a West Point cadet c. 1917
From left to right: Major General William M. Wright, commanding the 89th Division, Major General Frank L. Winn, to succeed Wright in command of the 89th, and Brigadier General Henry D. Todd Jr., commanding the 58th Field Artillery Brigade, Stenay, Meuse, France, November 12, 1918. Standing behind Wright is his aide-de-camp, Captain Charles H. Gerhardt.

Gerhardt grew up in the army as the son of Charles Gerhardt, a career officer who retired as a brigadier general. The younger Gerhardt attended the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, New York, in 1913, where he earned a reputation as a skilled football, baseball and polo player. In 1916, Gerhardt quarterbacked for West Point to a 30–10 upset win over Notre Dame, which was led by the famed freshman George Gipp. It was Notre Dame's only loss that year.[2]

Gerhardt's West Point class graduated on April 6, 1917, the day America officially declared war. Graduation was six weeks earlier than intended because of the U.S. entry into the war. Gerhardt graduated 50th in a class of 139 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Cavalry Branch.[3]

Promoted to first lieutenant on May 15,[3] his first posting upon his graduation was with a cavalry unit in Texas. However, he later served as a staff officer with the headquarters of the 89th Division on the Western Front as part of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF). He ended the war as aide-de-camp to Major General William M. Wright, commander of the 89th Division.[2][3]

89th Division team, Gerhardt standing second from right in back row and Withington in lighter color jersey at front, Higgins bottom left, Lindsey top left and Clark top right

As part of the occupation force after the Armistice, Gerhardt played quarterback for the 89th Division squad that won the AEF football championship in March 1919. Paul Withington of the Army Medical Corps was the right guard, team captain and coach. Future head football coaches Bob Higgins, Adrian Lindsey and George Clark were also members of the squad.[4]

Between the wars

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Remaining in the army during the interwar period, Gerhardt taught tactics back at the Military Academy from February 1926 to August 1931.[5] In 1932, he was selected as a judge in the equestrian events for the 1932 Olympic Games held in Los Angeles.[1] Gerhardt then attended the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, graduating in May 1933.[5] On July 1, 1940, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel.[6]

World War II

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British Lieutenant General Brian Horrocks, Major General Gordon MacMillan and Major General Charles H. Gerhardt on the saluting base during the ceremony to mark the handover of Bremerhaven by British to American forces, May 1945.

By the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the subsequent American entry into World War II, Gerhardt was in command of the 56th Cavalry Brigade, having been in command since September 13 after receiving a promotion to the temporary rank of brigadier general on July 10, 1941.[6]

He was again promoted, now to the two-star rank of major general, on June 26, 1942,[6] eight months after Pearl Harbor, he was the first Commanding General (CG) of the 91st Infantry Division, an all draftee division, at Camp White, Oregon.

In July 1943, taking over from Major General Leonard T. Gerow, he assumed command of the 29th Infantry Division, a National Guard formation which was then stationed in South West England in preparation for the Allied invasion of Normandy and had been there since October 1942. In preparation for the invasion, scheduled for the spring of 1944, the division trained extensively in amphibious operations.[7]

Major General Gerhardt was a hard taskmaster, strict disciplinarian, and considered by many of his men to be a martinet who often became upset at small things such as a soldier not having the chinstrap of his helmet buckled. One famous story has him admonishing a soldier on the day after D-Day for dropping peels from the orange he was eating on the ground. He was intolerant of any dirt or mud being on the trucks, and would make soldiers stop and clean a truck under almost any circumstance. Gerhardt was, however, a superb and driven trainer of soldiers and expected the same from his subordinates. He led the 29th Infantry Division throughout the fighting in Western Europe, from D-Day (June 6, 1944) until the end of World War II in Europe on Victory in Europe Day (May 8, 1945).[7]

The grave of Major General Charles H. Gerhardt and his wife, Nina M. Gerhardt, at Arlington National Cemetery.

Gerhardt was one of the European Theater's more controversial commanders, usually walking the line between approval and disapproval with his superior officers. His critics held that he was lacking as a military tactician and careless with the lives of his men, often pointing to the astonishingly high casualty rate of his division, which suffered over 20,600 men killed, wounded or missing from June 6, 1944 to May 8, 1945. It was said that Gerhardt actually commanded three divisions: one on the field of battle, one in the hospital, and one in the cemetery. He was also considered somewhat loose morally, as evidenced by a house of prostitution he established for his men near Rennes, France, which U.S. 12th Army Group commander Lieutenant General Omar Bradley did not approve of and ordered closed after only being open for five hours. Gerhardt personally approved the sign posted outside, which read, "Blue and Gray Corral; Riding Lessons 100 Francs." "Blue and Gray" was the nickname of the 29th Infantry Division, which consisted of men from both sides of the Mason–Dixon line, the informal cultural boundary between Northern free states and Southern slave-holding states during the American Civil War era. After World War II, he was demoted to colonel for reasons thought to be a combination of the 29th Infantry Division's high casualty rate and his perceived moral lapses.

Postwar

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Following the war, Gerhardt served as the United States Defense Attaché to Brazil and in a post at Fort Meade, Maryland. He was able to retire at his highest-held rank of major general in 1952.

He died on October 9, 1976, in Winter Park, Florida, at the age of 81[8] and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.[9]

Dates of rank

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InsigniaRankComponentDate
No insigniaCadetUnited States Military AcademyJune 14, 1913
Second lieutenantRegular ArmyApril 20, 1917
First lieutenantRegular ArmyMay 15, 1917
Captain (temporary)National ArmyAugust 5, 1917
CaptainRegular ArmyMarch 30, 1920
MajorRegular ArmySeptember 1, 1932
Lieutenant colonelRegular ArmyJuly 1, 1940
Brigadier general (temporary)Army of the United StatesJuly 10, 1941
Major general (temporary)Army of the United StatesJuly 19, 1942 (terminated April 30, 1946)
Colonel (temporary)Army of the United StatesDecember 28, 1945
Major generalRegular Army, retired1952

Awards

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His awards include:

His foreign awards include:

See also

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References

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  1. 1 2 "Fact Sheets on U.S. Army Divisions". 1945.
  2. 1 2 "West Point Association of Graduates". Archived from the original on 2018-01-15. Retrieved 2016-12-24.
  3. 1 2 3 "CONTENTdm". Archived from the original on 2023-08-02. Retrieved 2026-03-24.
  4. ↑ Cart, Doran L. (Autumn 2006). "Kansas Football "Over There"" (PDF). Kansas History: A Journal of the Central Plains. Vol. 29, no. 3. pp. 194–199. Retrieved 2024-08-07.
  5. 1 2 Biographical register of the officers and graduates of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York since its establishment in 1802: Supplement, 1930–1940. Vol. VIII. R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company, The Lakeside Press. April 1941. p. 329. Retrieved 2024-08-04.
  6. 1 2 3 "Biography of Major General Charles Hunter Gerhardt (1895−1976), USA". generals.dk.
  7. 1 2 "Allied Leaders Ashore on D-Day | HistoryOnTheNet". Archived from the original on 2016-12-25. Retrieved 2016-12-24.
  8. 1 2 3 "Charles Hunter Gerhardt". Assembly. Vol. XXXVII, no. 4. March 1979. p. 122. Retrieved 2024-08-04.
  9. ↑ "Burial Detail: Gerhardt, Charles H". ANC Explorer.
  10. 1 2 3 "Valor awards for Charles H. Gerhardt".
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Biographical register of the officers and graduates of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York since its establishment in 1802: Supplement, 1940–1950. Vol. IX. The Association of Graduates, U.S. Military Academy. December 1955. p. 227. Retrieved 2024-08-04.
  12. ↑ Empric, Bruce E. (2024), Uncommon Allies: U.S. Army Recipients of Soviet Military Decorations in World War II, Teufelsberg Press, p. 99, ISBN 979-8-3444-6807-5

Bibliography

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