Alfred Gause

Who was Alfred Gause?

Alfred Gause was a highly decorated Generalleutnant in the Wehrmacht. He was wounded in the First World War, and was awarded both the Iron Cross, Second Class and the Iron Cross, First Class. In the interwar years he was among the 4,000 officers selected to remain in the Reichwehr, the restricted sized German army. He served primarily on the staff of the First Prussian Engineer battalion.

During the Second World War he was a highly valued staff officer. Gause was initially sent to Africa with a large staff by Oberkommando des Heeres, the German Army High Command, to act as a liaison officer with the Italian High Command, Comando Supremo. Gause had specific instructions not to place himself under the command of Erwin Rommel, but did so when Rommel told him categorically that the command of all troops in Africa were vested in him. This was not correct, but Gause acceded to Rommel's authority, and served as his Chief of Staff. He proved invaluable to the famous desert commander, who was well known to direct his forces from the front and who frequently would lose touch with his command staff during operations. Gause spent two and a half years serving Rommel in the Afrika Korps.