Alfred Gause

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Ernst Max Alfred Gause (14 February 1896 – 30 September 1967) was a German general (Generalleutnant) who served in World War II and worked closely with Erwin Rommel and Albert Kesselring. He was Rommel’s chief of staff in North Africa and later held several senior staff roles in Europe. He was the younger brother of Fritz Gause.

Gause began his military career in 1914 and fought in World War I, where he earned the Iron Cross 2nd and 1st Class. In the interwar Reichswehr he held various engineering and staff posts, studied for the General Staff, and progressed through the ranks. He married Elisabeth Geres in 1927 and they had a daughter, Gisela, in 1925.

Before and during the early years of World War II, Gause worked in the General Staff and the War Ministry, helping to organize and plan operations. He was promoted steadily and, in 1938, worked with the new high command system under Alfred Jodl. He also contributed to planning for the annexation of Austria and the Sudetenland.

In World War II, Gause served as a key staff officer in the campaigns in the West. He then went to Africa, where he became Rommel’s chief of staff from August 1941. He traveled with Rommel to the front, played a crucial planning role, and was wounded in the Battle of Gazala in 1942. He was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross in December 1941 for his service.

After Rommel’s departure from Africa, Gause held important staff positions in North Africa, then in Italy and France. He helped plan and supervise operations for Army Group Africa, and he advised on matters like the Atlantic Wall through his collaboration with German and Italian commands. He often emphasized rapid, flexible action in defense against Allied landings. In 1944 he served as chief of staff for Army Group B and, later, for the 6th Panzer Army.

In 1945, Hitler briefly moved him to the II Army Corps in the Courland Pocket. He was captured by Soviet forces on 10 May 1945 and spent time as a prisoner of war until his release in 1955.

After returning to Germany, Gause worked with the United States Foreign Military Studies program and wrote several military articles about his wartime experiences (though he did not publish a book). He passed away in Bonn in 1967.