Bodo Zimmermann

{{Short description|WW2 German army general (1886-1963)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}} {{Infobox military person | name = Bodo Zimmermann | birth_date = {{birth-date|26 November 1886}} | death_date = {{death-date and age|16 April 1963|26 November 1886}} | birth_place = Metz, Alsace-Lorraine | death_place = Bonn, West Germany | image = Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-718-0149-12A, Paris, Rommel, von Rundstedt, Gause und Zimmermann.jpg | image_size = 320 | caption = Rommel, von Rundstedt, Alfred Gause and Bodo Zimmermann (Hotel George V, Paris, on 19 Dec.1943) | nickname = | allegiance = {{plainlist| * {{flag|German Empire}} (to 1918) * {{flag|Weimar Republic}} (to 1933) * {{flag|Nazi Germany}} (to 1945) }} | service_years = 1906–1945 | rank = ''Generalleutnant'' | branch = Army | commands = ''Chef der Führungsabteilung'' (western sector) | unit = | battles = {{plainlist| * World War II * World War I }} | awards = Deutsches Kreuz in Gold | other_work = }}

'''Bodo Zimmermann''' (26 November 1886 – 16 April<ref>Dermot Bradley: ''Generaloberst Heinz Guderian und die Entstehungsgeschichte des modernen Blitzkrieges.'' Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1986, {{ISBN|3-7648-1486-1}}, p. 374</ref> 1963) was a German general during the Second World War. He also was one of the few recipients of both German crosses (in Gold and in Silver).

==Biography== Bodo Zimmermann was born in Metz in November 1886. He began his cadet training in 1906, joining the Royal Army of Prussia. Zimmermann served in an infantry regiment of the 34th Division. From 1907 to 1914 he served in the regiment with the rank of ''Oberleutnant'' (first lieutenant). In 1915, shortly after the start of the First World War, he was promoted to the rank of captain. During the war he received the Iron Cross for his exemplary actions. Zimmermann was promoted to major in 1920 shortly before leaving the army. After the war he ran a publishing house which specialised in military literature and instructional manuals.

Shortly before the Second World War began in 1939, Zimmermann was reintegrated in the new armed forces of Nazi Germany, the Wehrmacht. As major, Zimmermann served in the High Command of the 1st Army, on the Western Front. In October 1940, he was appointed ''Generalstabsoffizier'' at the headquarters of Army Group D, under the command of Erwin von Witzleben. Zimmermann was promoted to the rank of ''Oberstleutnant'' (lieutenant colonel) on 1 August 1941, under the command of Gerd von Rundstedt. On 1 December 1942, Zimmermann was appointed colonel. On 15 February 1943, he received the German Cross in Silver, for his services.

In the Fall of 1944, Zimmermann became ''Chef der Führungsabteilung'' on the western sector. On 5 June (the day before D-Day) Zimmerman the Operations Officer at OB West in France received a message from Hans Speidel at Rommel’s headquarters that the Fifteenth Army was on alert. But he did not put the Seventh Army defending Normandy on alert ''"because of the weather"''. <ref>{{cite book |last= Margaritis |first= Peter |title= Countdown to D-Day: The German Perspective |year= 2019 |publisher= Casemate |location= Oxford, UK & PA, USA |isbn= 978-1-61200-769-4 |pages= 534,535 }} </ref>

On 25 September 1944, Zimmerman received the German Cross in gold.<ref>Klaus D. Patzwall, Veit Scherzer: ''Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941–1945'', Geschichte und Inhaber Band II, Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall, Norderstedt, 2001.</ref> He was promoted to the rank of ''Generalmajor'' on 1 December 1944. On 1 May 1945 Zimmermann was promoted to the rank of ''Generalleutnant''. After the war ended, he remained a prisoner until 1947. After 1948, Zimmerman published ''Geschichte des Oberbefehlshaber West'' and ''Ideas on the Defense of the Rhine and Western Germany as an outpost area of Western Europe''. Zimmermann died in Bonn in 1963.<ref>Dermot Bradley, Karl-Friedrich Hildebrand, Markus Rövekamp, ''Die Generale des Heeres 1921–1945'', Osnabrück 1994</ref>

==Decorations== * Iron Cross of 1914, 1st and 2nd class * Deutsches Kreuz ** in Gold, on 25 September 1944 ** in Silver, on 15 February 1943 * Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Sources== * Dermot Bradley, Kar-Friedrich Hildebrand, Markus Rövekamp, Die Generale des Heeres 1921–1945, Band 3, Osnabrück 1994

==External links== * Bodo Zimmermann on [http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Personenregister/Z/ZimmermannBodo.htm lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zimmermann, Bodo}} Category:1886 births Category:1963 deaths Category:Military personnel from Metz Category:Military personnel from Alsace-Lorraine Category:German Army personnel of World War I Category:Lieutenant generals of the German Army (1935–1945) Category:Recipients of the clasp to the Iron Cross, 1st class Category:Recipients of the Gold German Cross