Major Werner Pluskat

Medals?
Position on D-Day?
Was he really in his bunker or in a Parisian whorehouse?

 

What little I know on him.

Awards: Ek1 and EK2. Russian front medal. Black Wound Badge. I forget which but he had an assault badge or two. I think he also had flower war medals but not sure. Oh and I think an artillery or Infantry badge.

Position: In charge of beach defenses in his sector.

Thats all I know.

[ 14 September 2002, 02:39 PM: Message edited by: C.Evans ]

 

Nice anyway!

 

DOH!!!! I forgot to mention that yes--he was at his command bunker near the beaches.

 

Checking the sites in the net:

http://home13.inet.tele.dk/ash/omaha.htm

( Nice site for D day and stuff )

"Major Werner Pluskat in his bunker overlooking Omaha Beach had heard nothing from his superiors since 1am. He was cold, tired and exasperated. He felt isolated. He couldn't understand why there had been no reports from either regimental or divisional headquaters. To be sure, the very fact that his phone had remained silent all night was a good sign; it must mean that nothing serious was happening. But what about the paratroopers, the massed formations of planes? Pluskat could not rid himself of his grawing uneasiness. Once more he swung the artillery glasses over to the left, picked up the dark mass of the Cherbourg peninsula and began another slow sweep of the horizon. The same low banks of mist came into view, the same patches of shimmering moonlight, the same restless, white-flecked sea. Nothing was changed. Everything seemed peaceful.
Behind him in the bunker his dog, Harras, was stretched out asleep. Near by, Hauptmann Ludz Wilkening and Lieutnant Fritz Theen were talking quietly. Pluskat joined them. "Still nothing out there", he told them. "I'm about to give it up". But he walked back to the aperture and stood looking out as the first streaks of light began to lighten the sky. He decided to make another routine sweep.
Wearily, he swung the glasses over to the left again. Slowly he tracked across the horizon. He reached the dead centre of the bay. The glasses stopped moving. Pluskat tensed, stared hard.
Through the scattering, thinning mist the horizon was magically filling with ships - ships of every size and description, ships that casually manoeuvred back and forth as though they had been there for hours. There appeared to be thousands of them. It was a ghosty armada that somehow had appeared from nowhere. Pluskat stared in frosen disbelief, speechless, moved as he had never been before in his life. At that moment the world of the good soldier Pluskat began falling apart. He says that in those first few moments he knew, calmly and surely that "this was the end for Germany".
He turned to Wilkening and Theen and, with a strange detachment, said simply, "It's the invasion. See for yourselves".
Then he picked up the phone and called Major Block at the 352nd Division's headquaters. "Block", said Pluskat, "it's the invasion. There must be ten thousand ships out there." Even as he said it, he knew his words must sound encredible.
"Get hold of yourself, Pluskat!" snapped Block. "The Americans and the british together don't have that many ships. Nobody has that many ships!"
Block's disbelief brought Pluskat out of his daze. "If you don't believe me," he suddently yelled, "come up here and and see for yourself.......It's fantastic!.......It's unbelievable!"
There was a slight pause and then Block said, "What way are these ships heading?"
Pluskat, phone in hand, looked out of the aperture of the bunker and replied "Right for me."

In Deutsch:

Am Morgen um ca. 6:30 Uhr des 6. Juni 1944 war Major Werner Pluskat einer der ersten, wenn nicht sogar der erste der die alliierten Landungsboote entdeckte. Jedoch war es da bereits zu spät. Kurz darauf gingen unter heftigem Feuer erste Alliierte Verbände an Land. Wer jetzt denkt, "Heftiges Feuer? Waren die Missionen Fallschirmjäger etwa fehlgeschlagen?" dem müßte ich sagen, NEIN ! Die Fallschirmjäger hatten fast alle ihr Ziel erreicht, aber die Artillerie am Strand konnte nicht mit Fallschirmjägern ausgelöscht werden. Bomber waren auch fast unmöglich, da die FLAK dort fast undurchdringlich war.

http://home.vr-web.de/muehlbauer.georg/schule/Seiten/dd.html

 

Nice tale, Kai. I love these things. Thanks.

What I don't like is that you posted it in English before... Once I had read it all with some difficulty I realise it is in German too!!! Just kidding...

 

Great stuff Kai... Wasnt his Shepard named Karl?

 

Actually, I think Pluskat's shepherd's name was Hans!!!!

 

The dogs name was Haras

In the movie Pluskat (Hans-Christian Blech) says:

"Haras, Haras? Who ist mein Hund?"

 

BTW,

anybody got a picture of the real Major Werner Pluskat ?

 

Not that it would help but, I have a Documentary that featured him as one of the guests on it. This doc was done some 16 or so years after D-Day.

 

I don't know who your Hund is!

 

The book " The last battle " by Cornelius Ryan says that W Pluskat surrendered to US 30th infantry division on 23rd April 1945.

So he survived (?!)

 

Yes sir. If I remember correctly, he was also among those interviewed by Cornelius Ryan for his book the Longest Day. I'll double check this. I don't know though if he's still alive today. Ryan's book had a list of what the German survivors were doing at the time of the writing of his book.

 

Found this



omahaD

 

Thaxn PzJgr!

Now we have the face, just have to think of the amazement on D-day...

 

I also seem to remember somewhere reading that he was the engineer in charge of the demolition of the Ludendorf Bridge a.k.a. The Bridge at Remagen. If so, poor Werner, what poor luck that guy had. 5000 ships. Dog blown to bits. Car shot out from under him. Hit in shoulder. Fails to stop allied advance across Rhine river. Single-handedly responsible for the fall of The Third Reich. Bad luck for him. Great luck for the world.

P.S. Hi everyone! My first post!

 

I read about the account but I don't believe it was the Ludendorff bridge. I believe he was suppose to blow up a bridge spanned by Patton's army and was unable to. I can't remember where I read about it.

BTW, welcome to the forum Hummel.

 

Thanks! PzJgr! I love your sig...I feel the same way about being a New Yorker. Even if I have been transplanted to CA. Right Coast, Left Coast.

 

He is mentioned in "THE LAST BATTLE" by Cornelius Ryan. Page 315.