"If possible, I'd prefer for the Gestapo to be kept out of this matter until after we have the information that we want. .... We don't need them cluttering things up with their torture chambers."
Julius Rosemeyer is a character appearing in both the novel Where Eagles Dare and its movie adaptation.
Novel
Reichsmarschal Julius Rosemeyer was a high-ranking World War II German officer who served as the Wehrmacht Chief of Staff and was an old friend of Standartenführer Paul Kramer. Following the capture of General George Carnaby, Rosemeyer was flown by helicopter from Berlin to the Schloss Adler to assist Kramer in questioning the American about the Allies' plans for a second front. He and Kramer ate dinner with Carnaby in the Golden Hall before proceeding to the interrogation.
Polite and courteous, he was initially hoping Carnaby would give up the information they needed without coercion, but eventually agreed to let Kramer have Anne-Marie torture him. He took little further part in the proceedings past this point, sitting and smoking silently as Kramer had Olaf Christiansen, Lee Thomas and Edward Carraciola brought in and revealed as Nazi spies in an attempt to demoralize Carnaby, who refused to break.
Before the torture could begin, John Smith and Morris Schaffer entered. Smith, claiming to be SS agent Johann Schmidt, revealed "Carnaby" was a fraud, in reality American actor Cartwright Jones. He further claimed Christiansen, Thomas and Carraciola were also frauds, and prodded them to prove themselves by writing down the names of their fellow spies in Britain. After this was accomplished, suddenly "Schmidt" knocked out Oberscharführer Hartmann and held everyone at gunpoint. In reality, he was Smith, and although General Carnaby was indeed Cartwright Jones, Christiansen, Thomas and Carraciola were who they claimed to be; Smith had just wanted the names of their fellow spies.
Following a further intrusion by Hauptsturmfüher von Brauchitsch which ended with Mary Ellison getting the drop on the Gestapo officer, he and Schaffer took Rosemeyer, Kramer and the others prisoner. Rosemeyer was given a choice; be shot or injected with a knockout drug. He chose the latter. Along with Kramer, Anne-Marie, von Brauchitsch and the unconscious Hartmann, Rosemeyer was administered the drug and fell asleep. They were found later by soldiers sent to alert Kramer to the fact Allied agents had broken into the castle.
Film
Rosemeyer is a general and not a reichsmarschal, and does not survive. After Kramer is shot in the back by Schaffer whilst trying to summon help, Rosemeyer grabs Smith's dropped gun and is shot through the heart by Schaffer, dying instantly.
Awards
- Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oakleaves and Swords
- Iron Cross 1st Class
- War Merit Cross 1st Class with Swords
- War Merit Cross 2nd Class with Swords
- Wehrmacht Long Service Award
- Wound Badge
Notes
- The rank of reichsmarschal was only held by one man during World War II, Hermann Göring.
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