Lourens Schroeter (father)
Lourens Schroeter | |
|---|---|
| Born | 15 December 1889 |
| Died | 14 February 1985 (aged 95) |
| Occupations |
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| Era | |
| Known for | Co-founder of Schroeter Romeo |
| Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) |
| Political party | NSDAP (1932–1945) |
| Spouse | Johanna van der Meer (m. 1927) |
| Children | At least 2, including Lourens Schroeter and Martin Schroeter |
| Parents |
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| Family | Schroeter family |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance | |
| Branch | Army |
| Service years |
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| Rank | General der Infanterie |
| Unit | 5. Rheinisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 65 |
| Commands |
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| Conflicts | |
| Awards |
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Lourens Schroeter (15 December 1889 – 14 February 1985) was an engineer and automotive manufacturer from the Schroeter family. He served as a German Army officer during both world wars and reached the rank of General der Infanterie in the Wehrmacht. He joined the NSDAP in 1932. After leaving military service, he returned to Rotterdam and began assembling road vehicles with his son Lau Schroeter in 1945. Their workshop developed into Schroeter Romeo, which was formally registered in 1950.[1]
Early life
[edit | edit source]Schroeter was born in Cologne on 15 December 1889. His father, Lorenz Schroeter, was German. His mother, Catharina Ladesteijn, was Dutch and came from Rotterdam. Lorenz died in 1896, after which Catharina returned to Rotterdam with Lourens and moved into her parents' home. She continued taking him to visit his father's relatives in Cologne, and he grew up speaking both Dutch and German.
After practical workshop work in Rotterdam, Schroeter trained as a machinist and ship engineer. He later worked aboard short-sea cargo steamships operating from Rotterdam. By 1913–1914 he was serving as chief engineer on a small cargo steamer.
Schroeter acquired Dutch nationality in 1910 without giving up his German nationality. His Dutch nationality ended after he voluntarily entered German military service in 1914. He remained a German national until he was naturalised again in the Netherlands in 1952.
First World War
[edit | edit source]When the First World War began in 1914, Schroeter returned to Germany and volunteered for military service. He entered the replacement organisation of the 5. Rheinisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 65 in Cologne before joining the regiment in France. His technical training and previous responsibility as a ship's chief engineer contributed to his selection as an officer candidate. He became a Leutnant der Reserve in March 1915.
During 1915, the regiment fought in Champagne and around Saint-Mihiel before moving through Artois to the Aisne. Heavy officer losses during 1916 repeatedly left Schroeter in temporary command of larger groups of soldiers. By the second half of the year he was regularly acting as a company commander during the fighting on the Somme.
Schroeter received permanent command of a company in May 1917 after its previous commander became a casualty during the fighting around Arras. He was known for swearing frequently at soldiers, non-commissioned officers and other officers. His manner caused arguments but did not prevent him from remaining in command.
During fighting in Flanders later that year, German artillery shelled a cemetery near his sector. Schroeter confronted officers over the bombardment and called the expenditure of ammunition on the cemetery a "waste of bones". His objection concerned the use of shells on a target he regarded as militarily useless. He was not formally disciplined over the confrontation.
Schroeter was promoted to Oberleutnant der Reserve late in 1917. He remained a company commander during the German spring offensive of 1918. His company suffered heavy losses, after which he rebuilt it with replacements and surviving personnel.
In August 1918, Schroeter was struck by shell fragments on the side of his face and scalp. The wound did not penetrate his skull. He later returned to Infanterie-Regiment 65 and was still serving with the regiment before the armistice.
Interwar period
[edit | edit source]After the war, Schroeter returned to Rotterdam. From 1919 until 1925 he worked at a general machine works repairing marine engines and industrial machinery. Motor vehicles became an increasing part of his work during this period.
Schroeter moved back to Germany in 1925. He entered the civilian Landesschutz or L-Dienst organisation associated with the Reichswehr and was assigned to Wehrkreis II in Stettin. As a Kreisoffizier in Pomerania, he kept district mobilisation records and prepared reserve personnel and equipment for wartime call-up.
He joined the NSDAP on 1 July 1932.
Schroeter returned to active military service in 1934 with the rank of Hauptmann and was promoted to Major in 1935. On 1 April 1936, he took command of I./Infanterie-Regiment 78 in the newly formed 26. Infanterie-Division. Following a regimental reorganisation that October, his battalion became I./Infanterie-Regiment 77.
In late 1937, Schroeter was promoted to Oberstleutnant and transferred to the divisional staff. He worked on mobilisation preparations and infantry readiness as the German Army expanded.
Second World War
[edit | edit source]The 26. Infanterie-Division mobilised in August 1939 and was deployed on Germany's western frontier. Schroeter remained with the formation through the opening months of the Second World War and was promoted to Oberst in early 1940.
During the German offensive in the west, he accompanied the division through Luxembourg and France. On 9 June 1940, fighting around Voncq on the Aisne caused an infantry crossing to become congested while French counterattacks were under way. Schroeter went forward and reorganised movement across the available routes. He also pushed engineering support and heavy weapons toward the troops on the opposite side. His conduct during the action was later cited in support of his promotion.
Schroeter became Generalmajor on 1 February 1941 and was assigned to Höheres Kommando z.b.V. LX in Normandy. He inspected infantry units in the western Cotentin and became critical of reserve formations that were positioned too far inland. An anti-landing exercise showed that part of the reserve could not reach the threatened coast quickly enough. Following an argument over the results, the local deployment plan was changed.
His promotion to Generalleutnant took effect on 1 March 1942. Later that year he was transferred to duties under OB West and Heeresgruppe D.
After the Allied raid on Dieppe in August 1942, Schroeter examined how the German defence had responded. He considered the decision to hold mobile reserves back until the main danger became clear to have been correct. His report called for reserve units to have predetermined movement routes and for coastal commands to communicate more quickly during an attack.
Schroeter was promoted to General der Infanterie in October 1942. He later commanded the temporary Gruppe Schroeter under 15. Armee. The formation coordinated mobile infantry reserves behind the fixed coastal sectors without replacing the corps already responsible for the coastline.
Martinus Antonius Johannes Paap became commander of 15. Armee on 20 March 1943.[2] Schroeter served under him as a senior inspector and adviser. During inspections he found that a number of static formations could hold prepared positions but performed poorly once forced to fight away from them. With Paap's approval, units judged deficient were taken out of bunker duty for repeated field exercises and movement training.
Schroeter and Paap became friends during their work in France. They argued regularly but shared similar views on the need to retain mobile forces behind the coast.
When Erwin Rommel became involved in the strengthening of the western defences, Schroeter disagreed with his preference for placing reserves close enough to the beaches to counterattack immediately. Schroeter continued to favour keeping a substantial mobile force farther inland until the main Allied landing had been identified.
When the Normandy landings began on 6 June 1944, Schroeter initially believed that Normandy might be a diversion and that a larger landing could still take place in the Pas-de-Calais. Paap believed from the beginning that Normandy was the main invasion and requested that formations be released from his sector.[2] By around 20 June, Schroeter had accepted that the Normandy lodgement was the principal Allied operation.
Late that month, Schroeter was sent into Normandy to determine whether depleted German formations could still move, receive supplies and fight effectively under Allied air attack. He regarded Allied air superiority as the most immediate operational problem. He pushed transport into the hours of darkness and ordered vehicles to move in smaller groups, using concealed halts and alternate roads where possible.
Paap took command of 7. Armee on 28 June.[3] Schroeter's work in Normandy continued under his authority.
By July, prolonged exhaustion and the condition of the German forces had begun to affect Schroeter's behaviour. During a telephone call with Paap, he described the formations around him as "a pair of broken bones" and complained that "even the Italians fortified better". The second remark was made during an angry argument about the failure to establish a stronger defence after the Allied breakout from the beaches.
Paap responded by giving Schroeter a special assignment dealing with combat readiness and movement discipline rather than giving him permanent command of a division or corps. Schroeter moved between sectors and imposed immediate changes where he found units unable to move or reorganise themselves.
During one incident in July, he found a large supply and reinforcement column preparing to travel during daylight. Schroeter stopped the movement, broke the column into smaller groups and had the vehicles placed under local cover until they could move more safely. Allied aircraft appeared over the area later that day. Complaints about his treatment of the transport officers reached Paap, who privately warned him to stop publicly humiliating officers and threatening their removal without headquarters approval.
After Operation Cobra began on 25 July, Schroeter was temporarily given authority over badly depleted forces on the Coutances–Avranches axis. He used whatever troops were still available around the road network to establish temporary blocking positions while other German units withdrew.
Around the end of July, Schroeter encountered a battalion retreating along the Coutances–Avranches road. He stopped it with vehicles from his own staff, forced the officers to establish how many men and weapons remained, and reorganised the survivors before sending them back into a temporary defensive position. The battalion broke again under American pressure. Schroeter attempted to reorganise it a second time until Paap ordered him to stop committing the exhausted troops simply because he was angry that they had withdrawn.
In early August, Paap tried to remove Schroeter from direct field command and return him to inspection work. Schroeter refused the order. Paap travelled to his headquarters and confronted him personally, after which Schroeter was allowed to remain near the front but lost independent command authority.
During the retreat from the Falaise area toward the Seine, Schroeter found troops abandoning usable transport and guns before the road had become impassable. He ordered equipment that could still be moved to be recovered and the remainder disabled. When an officer argued that the recovery effort was too dangerous because of Allied aircraft, Schroeter struck him. Members of his staff separated the two men.
Paap did not seek a court-martial. He removed Schroeter from 7. Armee and cited his exhaustion when the incident was reported.
Schroeter was subsequently placed in the Führerreserve. When another active assignment was proposed in September 1944, he refused it and requested release from service. A medical examination recorded serious spinal disease in addition to his exhaustion. He had degenerative lumbar spondylosis with lumbar spinal stenosis, which by then caused a permanent limp and made prolonged standing difficult.
Schroeter remained in the Führerreserve for the rest of the year and was formally discharged from active military service on 31 December 1944.
Postwar life and Schroeter Romeo
[edit | edit source]Schroeter returned to Overschie in January 1945 as a medically discharged German civilian. After the liberation of the Netherlands in May, he was arrested in Rotterdam and detained for several months while authorities reviewed his political and military record.
Ferdinand Schroeter helped arrange legal representation and provided guarantees for his accommodation after release. Schroeter's spinal condition also worsened during his detention. He was conditionally released in the autumn of 1945 and remained subject to restrictions while the investigation continued. He was not convicted of war crimes.
After returning to Overschie, Schroeter began working in a modest workshop with his five-year-old son Lau. The shop took ordinary repair work for income but also recovered usable components from damaged and incomplete wartime vehicles. Complete road vehicles began to be assembled there almost immediately. Lau performed simple workshop tasks while his father carried out the mechanical work.
The operation expanded during the second half of the 1940s. By 1950, several hundred vehicles had been assembled, although the early vehicles varied considerably according to which components were available. The business was formally registered as Schroeter Romeo in Vriendendam in 1950.[1]
Schroeter regained Dutch nationality through naturalisation in 1952.
He remained involved with Schroeter Romeo as Lau grew older. By the early 1960s, Schroeter was still a formal co-director but had stopped handling most daily business. Lau had taken over the company's routine management, while his father continued to examine designs and mechanical problems.
In 1959, Schroeter attended the second Middenvader Commissie alongside Ferdinand Schroeter.[4] He supported Ferdinand during the dispute over the future of Schroeter Traktoren. Schroeter remained seated for much of the meeting because of his spinal condition but repeatedly joined the arguments. He left with Ferdinand and the other Schroeters-West representatives when they walked out of the commission.
Schroeter Romeo continued after Schroeter Traktoren was dissolved later that year and became one of the principal surviving industrial businesses of the family.[5]
Around 1965, Schroeter underwent spinal surgery. The procedure reduced some of his leg pain but did not restore normal mobility. He continued as a co-director but increasingly reviewed company matters from home. Lau brought technical drawings and unresolved engineering problems to him, while factory visits became uncommon.
Schroeter's wartime record remained a subject of public attention. He did not apologise for his service in the German Army and maintained that his military career should not be treated as identical to his political affiliation. When asked why he had joined the NSDAP in 1932, he acknowledged that the membership was genuine but refused to explain his reasons.
Personal life and health
[edit | edit source]Schroeter married Johanna van der Meer, a Dutch woman from Rotterdam, in 1927. Their known children were Lourens (Lau) Albert Wilhelm Schroeter, born on 14 January 1940, and Martin Schroeter, born on 5 December 1940.
Johanna remained based in Rotterdam while Schroeter worked in Germany and later served abroad. He returned home when leave permitted. On a small number of occasions during the war, Johanna and the children stayed near his postings in occupied France, but Overschie remained their permanent home.
Schroeter was less harsh with his family than he was in military service. He spent time showing Lau how machinery worked and later involved him in simple tasks at the postwar workshop. Martin grew up around the workshop but showed little interest in engineering and was only marginally involved.
Schroeter's friendship with Martinus Antonius Johannes Paap continued after the war.
His spinal disease progressively reduced his mobility after 1945. By the middle of the 1960s he commonly used a walker over short distances and a wheelchair for longer journeys.
Schroeter was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease around 1968. The disease gradually compounded his existing mobility problems and eventually affected his speech. By the middle of the 1970s he was largely dependent on a wheelchair, although he remained mentally capable of discussing company matters.
In 1976, Schroeter suffered a stroke. The resulting weakness and speech impairment effectively ended his remaining involvement with Schroeter Romeo. He stayed at home and became increasingly dependent on Johanna and other carers.
Johanna died suddenly from a cerebral haemorrhage on 14 September 1984. In the months after her death, Schroeter ate less, lost further strength and required more daily assistance.
Death
[edit | edit source]Schroeter developed a urinary tract infection at his home in Overschie in late January 1985. It was initially treated at home but progressed to sepsis and acute kidney failure.
He died at home on 14 February 1985, aged 95.
His funeral was attended by members of the Schroeter family and senior personnel from Schroeter Romeo. It was not conducted as a military funeral and included no Wehrmacht honours. Schroeter was buried at Hofwijk cemetery in Rotterdam.
See also
[edit | edit source]References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "History". Schroeter Romeo. Vrienden Universe Wiki.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Higher command". Martinus Antonius Johannes Paap. Vrienden Universe Wiki.
- ↑ "Normandy". Martinus Antonius Johannes Paap. Vrienden Universe Wiki.
- ↑ "Second commission (1959)". Middenvader Commissie. Vrienden Universe Wiki.
- ↑ "Later history". Schroeter family. Vrienden Universe Wiki.