Gerhard Wagner (Admiral)
| Gerhard Wagner | |
|---|---|
Rear Admiral Wagner in 1944
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|
| Born |
23 November 1898 Schwerin, Germany |
| Died | 26 June 1987 (aged 88) Altenkirchen, Germany |
| Allegiance |
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| Service/branch | |
| Rank | Konteradmiral (rear admiral) |
| Commands held | COMNAVBALTAP (1961–1962) |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
Gerhard Wagner (23 November 1898 – 26 June 1987) was a German naval officer, who ended his career as a Konteradmiral (rear admiral) of the German Navy of West Germany.
Born in Schwerin, Wagner joined the Imperial German Navy on 4 July 1916.
At the beginning of the Second World War, Wagner was Naval Attaché in Madrid, Spain. The Wagner campaign was named after him: From January to August 1940, 300 tons of strategic commodities, mainly tungsten, were exported from Spain to the German Reich. The transaction was accounted with deliveries of German arms, mercenary services and transports to Spain. Still after 1 September 1939, the outbreak of World War II, airplane parts were delivered to Spain. The German exports to Spain which had increased during the Spanish Civil War were mainly carried out seaborne. With the outbreak of World War II the Allies tried to block this sea route. The Wagner campaign was devised to make German cargo ships that were stuck in Spanish ports change their flags and partially subscribe them to Spanish entrepreneur Juan March.
During the Second World War, Wagner became head of the Operational Department of the naval staff. At the end of the war, Wagner together with the supreme commander of the Kriegsmarine, Hans Georg von Friedeburg, visited British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery and negotiated a partial surrender of the German forces in northern Germany at Lüneburg Heath on 4 May 1945.
Wagner gave testimony on 13 and 14 May 1946 at the Nuremberg Trials.
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