Wilhelm Falley

Wilhelm Falley
Born	(1897-09-25)25 September 1897 Metz, Alsace-Lorraine, German Empire
Died	6 June 1944(1944-06-06) (aged 46) Picauville, Normandy, Occupied France
Buried	Orglandes German war cemetery
Allegiance	Germany
Service / branch	German Army
Years of service	1914–44
Rank	Lieutenant general
Commands	91st Infantry Division
Battles / wars	World War I World War II
Awards	Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
Relations	Leopold Wilhelm Adolf Falley (brother) Claus Falley (son)

Wilhelm Falley (25 September 1897 – 6 June 1944) was the first German general to be killed during the Normandy landings in France. He was commander of the 91st Infantry Division.

Career

Promoted to major general in December 1943, and lieutenant general in May 1944, he held various commands before being appointed Commander of the 91st Infantry Division in April 1944. Falley was the first German general to fall in action during the Normandy landings. On D-Day, Falley was returning from Rennes, where a war game had been organised by the German High Command, to his Division headquarters, in Picauville. Falley was killed alongside a major and a corporal when their staff car was shot up by paratroopers of the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division, on the country road outside the rear wall of the German 91st Infantry Division's headquarters, Chateau de Bernaville, in Picauville, southwest of Sainte-Mère-Église, Normandy.

Awards and decorations

• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 26 November 1941 as Oberstleutnant and commander of 4th Infantry Regiment

References

Bibliography

• D-Day 1944 - Voices from Normandy, Robert Neillands and Roderick de Normann, Cold Spring Press, New York, 2004 ISBN 1-59360-012-7.
• Scherzers, Veit (2007). Die Ritterkreuzträger 1939–1945 Die Inhaber des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939 von Heer, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm sowie mit Deutschland verbündeter Streitkräfte nach den Unterlagen des Bundesarchives [The Knight's Cross Bearers 1939–1945 The Holders of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939 by Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and Allied Forces with Germany According to the Documents of the Federal Archives] (in German). Jena, Germany: Scherzers Militaer-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2.