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 a German-born Dutch engineer, automotive manufacturer and former German Army officer. He served on the Western Front during the First World War and later reached the rank of General der Infanterie in the Wehrmacht during the Second World War. After leaving military service, he returned to Rotterdam and began assembling road vehicles with his son Lourens "Lau" Schroeter. Their workshop developed into Schroeter Romeo, which was formally registered in 1950.[1] He was a member of the Schroeter family, whose older branches had a long history of military and industrial work in Germany and the Netherlands.[2]
Early life
Schroeter was born in Cologne on 15 December 1889. His father, Lorenz Schroeter, was German, while his mother, Catharina Ladesteijn, was Dutch and came from Rotterdam. Lorenz died in 1896, after which Catharina returned to Rotterdam with seven-year-old Lourens and moved into her parents' household. Contact with his father's relatives in Cologne continued, and Schroeter remained fluent in German.
He trained as a machinist and ship engineer in Rotterdam after gaining practical workshop experience. He later worked aboard short-sea cargo steamships operating from Rotterdam to British and German ports. By 1913–1914 he had reached the position of chief engineer aboard a small cargo vessel.
Schroeter became a naturalised Dutch citizen in 1910 while retaining German nationality. He lost his Dutch nationality after voluntarily entering German military service in 1914.
Military career
First World War
At the outbreak of the First World War, Schroeter returned to Germany and volunteered for the army. He entered the replacement and training organisation of the 5. Rheinisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 65 in Cologne before joining the regiment in France. His age, technical education 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.
Schroeter served with the regiment during fighting in Champagne, the Saint-Mihiel sector, Artois and the Aisne. During 1916, losses among the regiment's officers repeatedly left him responsible for forces larger than his normal command. By the second half of that year he was regularly acting as a company commander during the fighting on the Somme.
In May 1917, following the loss of a company commander during the fighting around Arras, Schroeter received permanent command of a company. He was known among subordinates and other officers for swearing frequently, including when addressing senior officers, but remained in command because he followed orders and was regarded as effective in the field.
During fighting in Flanders later that year, German artillery struck a cemetery near his sector. Schroeter confronted officers responsible for the bombardment and described the expenditure of shells on the cemetery as a "waste of bones". His objection concerned the use of ammunition on a target he considered 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 into 1918 and took part in the German spring offensive. His company suffered heavy losses from artillery and machine-gun fire, after which he rebuilt it with survivors and replacements.
In August 1918, a shell fragment struck the side of his face and scalp. The wound did not penetrate the skull, and he later returned to Regiment 65 before the armistice.
Interwar period
Schroeter returned to Rotterdam after the war. From 1919 until 1925 he worked at a general machine works, repairing marine engines and industrial machinery. Motor-vehicle repair became an increasing part of his work during this period.
In 1925, Schroeter returned to Germany and entered the civilian Landesschutz or L-Dienst organisation associated with the Reichswehr. He was assigned to Wehrkreis II in Stettin and worked in the Pomeranian border-defence organisation. As a Kreisoffizier, he maintained personnel records and helped organise training, mobilisation preparations and equipment stores.
Schroeter joined the NSDAP on 1 July 1932. He returned to active army service in 1934 as a 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 reorganisation in October, the battalion became I./Infanterie-Regiment 77, with Schroeter remaining in command.
He was promoted to Oberstleutnant in late 1937 and transferred to the staff of the 26. Infanterie-Division. His work concentrated on mobilisation preparation, infantry training, readiness inspections and the integration of reservists.
Second World War
When the 26. Infanterie-Division mobilised in August 1939, it was deployed on Germany's western frontier. Schroeter remained with the division through the opening months of the war and was promoted to Oberst in early 1940.
During the German campaign in the west, he accompanied the division through Luxembourg and France. On 9 June 1940, during fighting around Voncq on the Aisne, an infantry crossing became congested while French counterattacks were under way. Schroeter went forward, reorganised movement through the available crossing points and directed engineers and heavy weapons toward the advancing infantry. The action was later cited in support of his promotion.
Schroeter became Generalmajor on 1 February 1941. He was subsequently assigned to Höheres Kommando z.b.V. LX in Normandy, where he inspected infantry readiness and coastal defences, particularly in the western Cotentin area. During an anti-landing exercise he objected to the time required for inland reserves to reach the coast. After an argument with a divisional commander, reserve positions and movement routes were revised.
He was promoted to Generalleutnant with effect from 1 March 1942. Later that year he was transferred to duties under OB West and Heeresgruppe D. Following the Allied raid on Dieppe in August, Schroeter examined the German response, including reserve movements and communications. He concluded that coastal troops should delay and contain a landing while mobile reserves remained under central control until the main point of attack was clear.
Schroeter was promoted to General der Infanterie in October 1942. He subsequently commanded the temporary Gruppe Schroeter under 15. Armee, coordinating mobile infantry reserves and reinforcement routes behind the fixed coastal formations. His work later shifted toward inspection of infantry readiness along the Atlantic coast.
Martinus Antonius Johannes Paap took command of 15. Armee in March 1943 and spent much of that year inspecting the Pas-de-Calais defences and reorganising forces behind the coast.[3] Schroeter worked under him as a senior inspector and adviser. He found that many static formations could occupy prepared strongpoints but performed poorly when required to manoeuvre outside them. With Paap's approval, he introduced a more intensive programme of field exercises, night movement, weapons training and counterattack drills.
Schroeter and Paap became personal friends during their work in France, despite frequent arguments. Both favoured retaining a substantial mobile reserve behind the coastal positions. Schroeter repeatedly argued with Erwin Rommel over the same issue during the preparations for an Allied invasion.
When the Normandy landings began on 6 June 1944, Schroeter initially believed they might be a diversion and that another major landing could still take place in the Pas-de-Calais. Paap regarded Normandy as the main invasion and requested the release of formations from his sector.[3] By around 20 June, Schroeter had accepted that Normandy was the principal Allied operation.
Late that month he was sent into Normandy to report on infantry strength, replacement quality, ammunition supply and the effect of Allied air attacks on German movement. He concluded that daylight movement had become increasingly difficult and ordered greater use of night transport, dispersed vehicle groups, concealed assembly points and alternative routes. After Paap became commander of 7. Armee on 28 June, Schroeter continued reporting to him.[4]
By July, prolonged exhaustion and the condition of the German formations had begun to affect Schroeter's behaviour. During one telephone call with Paap he described the formations around him as "a pair of broken bones" and complained that "even the Italians fortified better". Paap responded by giving him a special role inspecting combat readiness and movement discipline across 7. Armee rather than assigning him a permanent divisional command.
Schroeter used the position aggressively. In one July incident he stopped a large supply and reinforcement column preparing to move in daylight and ordered the vehicles dispersed beneath trees, beside buildings and along side roads. Allied aircraft appeared over the area later the same day. Complaints about his treatment of transport officers reached Paap, who privately ordered him to stop publicly humiliating officers and threatening their removal without headquarters approval.
During Operation Cobra, Schroeter was temporarily given control of depleted formations on the Coutances–Avranches axis. He organised remnants, stragglers and support troops into short-lived blocking positions intended to delay the American advance. On one occasion he stopped a retreating battalion on the road, ordered its officers to count the remaining weapons and reorganised its survivors into usable companies. The battalion collapsed again under American pressure, and Paap ordered Schroeter to stop repeatedly committing the exhausted unit.[4]
In early August, Paap attempted to return him to inspection and staff duties. Schroeter initially refused the order, prompting Paap to travel to his headquarters and confront him directly. Schroeter was allowed to remain near the front but lost independent command authority.
During the subsequent retreat toward the Seine, Schroeter found a formation abandoning usable vehicles, ammunition trailers and infantry guns. He ordered the equipment recovered or destroyed rather than left intact. After the responsible officer argued that recovery under Allied air attack was too dangerous, Schroeter struck him. Paap did not pursue a court-martial but removed Schroeter from 7. Armee.
Schroeter was placed in the Führerreserve. When another active assignment was proposed in September 1944, he refused it and requested release from military service. A medical assessment recorded severe spinal problems in addition to exhaustion after the Normandy campaign. He was formally discharged from active service on 31 December 1944.
Postwar life and Schroeter Romeo
Schroeter returned to Overschie in January 1945. After the liberation of the Netherlands in May, he was arrested in Rotterdam and detained while authorities examined his NSDAP membership, senior German military service and wartime activities. Ferdinand Schroeter helped arrange legal representation and supplied financial and accommodation guarantees. Schroeter was conditionally released in the autumn of 1945. No war-crimes conviction followed.
After his release, Schroeter returned to Overschie and began working on vehicles with his five-year-old son Lau. They repaired vehicles for income, salvaged parts from incomplete or damaged wartime vehicles and assembled simple passenger cars, light vans and utility vehicles from the components available to them. The work soon developed beyond ordinary repair, and hundreds of vehicles had been assembled by 1950. That year the operation was formally registered as Schroeter Romeo in Vriendendam.[1]
Schroeter regained Dutch nationality in 1952. He remained involved in Schroeter Romeo as Lau became increasingly responsible for production, employees and suppliers.
In 1959, Schroeter attended the second Middenvader Commissie alongside Ferdinand Schroeter.[5] He supported Ferdinand's opposition to the proposed dissolution of Schroeter Traktoren. His spinal condition already made prolonged standing difficult, and he remained seated for much of the meeting while taking part in the arguments. He was present when the Schroeters-West representatives walked out. Schroeter Romeo remained operational after Schroeter Traktoren closed later that year and became one of the surviving industrial enterprises of the family.[6]
By the early 1960s, Schroeter remained a formal co-director of Schroeter Romeo but no longer handled most daily operations. He continued reviewing designs, engines and prototype problems while Lau managed the company's routine work. After spinal surgery around 1965, he increasingly worked from home and visited the factory only for major reviews.
Schroeter continued to be questioned about his wartime career in later life. He did not apologise for having served in the German Army and argued that his military career and NSDAP membership should be treated separately. He acknowledged that he had joined the party in 1932 but refused to explain his reasons for doing so.
Personal life and health
Schroeter married Johanna van der Meer, a Dutch woman from Rotterdam, in 1927. Johanna remained based in Rotterdam while Schroeter worked in Germany and later served abroad. Their known sons were Lourens Albert Wilhelm "Lau" Schroeter, born on 14 January 1940, and Martin Schroeter, born on 5 December 1940.
During the Second World War, Schroeter returned to his family when leave permitted. Johanna and the children also occasionally stayed near his postings in occupied France, although their permanent home remained in Overschie. At home, Schroeter was more patient with Lau than he was with most subordinates and encouraged his early interest in mechanical work.
His friendship with Martinus Antonius Johannes Paap continued after the war. The two remained in contact despite Paap's imprisonment and later release.
Schroeter had degenerative lumbar spondylosis with lumbar spinal stenosis by the end of the war. His mobility deteriorated over the following decades. By the mid-1960s he used a walker for short distances and a wheelchair for longer journeys. He underwent lumbar decompression surgery around 1965, which reduced some of his symptoms but did not restore normal mobility.
He was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease around 1968. The disease progressively caused rigidity, slowed movement, balance problems and speech difficulties. By the mid-1970s it was severe. Schroeter suffered a stroke in 1976, after which his remaining involvement with Schroeter Romeo largely ended. He became increasingly reclusive and required substantial assistance at home.
Johanna died from a cerebral haemorrhage on 14 September 1984. Schroeter's physical condition deteriorated further during the following months, with reduced appetite and increasing dependence on carers.
Death
In late January 1985, Schroeter developed a urinary tract infection at his home in Overschie. The infection progressed to sepsis and acute kidney failure. He remained at home under medical and family care and died there on 14 February 1985, aged 95.
Schroeter received a large family funeral attended by relatives and senior Schroeter Romeo personnel. The ceremony was not conducted as a military funeral and included no Wehrmacht honours. He was buried at Hofwijk cemetery in Rotterdam.
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "History". Schroeter Romeo. Vrienden Universe Wiki.
- ↑ "Origins". Schroeter family. Vrienden Universe Wiki.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Higher command". Martinus Antonius Johannes Paap. Vrienden Universe Wiki.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Normandy". Martinus Antonius Johannes Paap. Vrienden Universe Wiki.
- ↑ "Second commission (1959)". Middenvader Commissie. Vrienden Universe Wiki.
- ↑ "Later history". Schroeter family. Vrienden Universe Wiki.