In March 1917, Kramer was commissioned in the U.S. Army as a second lieutenant of Infantry. He was promoted to first lieutenant and captain during World War I, and served with the 40th Infantry Regiment during its organization and training at Fort Snelling, Minnesota. After the war, Kramer continued to serve in positions of increasing rank and responsibility, and received promotion to major in 1929 and lieutenant colonel in 1939. He was a 1933 graduate of the United States Army Command and General Staff College, and from 1937 to 1939 was a student at the German General Staff School, one of a handful of U.S. officers who were able to participate in an exchange program before it ended at the start of World War II.
Herman Frederick Kramer was born in Lincoln, Nebraska on November 27, 1892, a son of German immigrant Franz (Frank) Kramer and Sophia (Rodenspiel) Kramer, a first generation American whose parents were from Germany.[1][2] Kramer grew up speaking and reading German and English.[3] He attended the public schools of Lincoln and graduated from Lincoln High School in 1909.[4]
In July 1910, Kramer enlisted as a private in the Nebraska National Guard's 5th Infantry Regiment.[5] He was promoted to sergeant the following October, and in December 1912 he received his commission as a second lieutenant.[5] In August 1914, he was promoted to captain as the regiment's inspector of small arms practice.[5]
After high school, Kramer attended the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.[1] At college, he was a member of the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity and the Pershing Rifles.[1] The university maintained a corps of cadets, which Kramer commanded with the rank of student colonel.[6] He was also president of the cadet officers' club.[1] Kramer graduated in 1914 with a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering.[7] After graduation, Kramer continued to serve in the National Guard while working as a partner in his father's construction company.[1] His professional memberships included the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.[1]
Start of career
In June 1916, Kramer accepted reduction in rank to first lieutenant and reassignment from his inspector's position to serve with his regiment on federal active duty during the Pancho Villa Expedition.[8] He served with the 5th Nebraska Infantry at Camp Llano Grande near Mercedes, Texas while the unit performed security patrols along the Mexico–U.S. border.[8][9] The regiment returned to Nebraska in February 1917 and was discharged from active duty.[8][9]
With the army expanding in anticipation of U.S. entry into World War I, in March 1917, Kramer received a commission as a second lieutenant of Infantry in the Regular Army, and was assigned to the 40th Infantry Regiment at Fort Snelling, Minnesota.[8][10] During the war, he also underwent training at posts including Fort Leavenworth and Fort Riley in Kansas.[11][12] Kramer was promoted to first lieutenant in the Regular Army on April 15, 1917, temporary captain in the National Army on August 5, 1917, and permanent captain in the Regular Army on December 15, 1917.[8]
In March 1937, Kramer was assigned to the 29th Infantry Regiment at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.[17] In May 1937, Kramer was one of a small group of German-speaking officers, including Albert Coady Wedemeyer, who were selected for an exchange program that included attendance at the German General Staff School in Berlin and service with a German military unit.[3] After completing the academic course, Kramer served with an Infantry regiment, and was a firsthand observer of Germany's 1938 invasion of Czechoslovakia and 1939 Invasion of Poland.[1][3] He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in June 1939.[8] The start of World War II ended the exchange program, and Kramer returned to the United States in late 1939.[18] In early 1940, he used his exchange program experiences to provide civilian journalists and U.S. intelligence officials current information about Germany's military capability and capacity.[1]
After reorganizing in Cherbourg, the 66th Division relieved the 94th Infantry Division, which had been patrolling the coast in the Lorient and Saint-Nazaire sectors of Brittany and maintaining a defensive perimeter around the German submarine base pockets of resistance that remained after the Operation Overlord invasion.[21] During this duty, the division patrolled a 112-mile front and carried out artillery attacks on the remaining German pockets, and was credited with disabling several German guns and sinking numerous re-supply boats.[21] Because U.S. troops coordinated activities with French units in the area, Kramer simultaneously commanded all Allied forces in the region as head of the Twelfth Army Group Coastal Sector.[22] After Germany's unconditional surrender on May 8, 1945, German and American officers met near Étel to arrange a truce so they could negotiate surrender terms for the German forces holding out in Lorient.[22] On May 10, a ceremony took place near Caudan, during which Kramer accepted the surrender of General Wilhelm Fahrmbacher's 50,000 troops, along with weapons, vehicles, and other equipment.[22] After Germany's surrender, the 66th Division moved to Koblenz for occupation duty and to guard German prisoner of war camps,[21] and Kramer was assigned as military governor.[23]
In September 1945, Kramer was assigned to command the 97th Infantry Division, which had left Europe after Germany's surrender and departed the U.S. for the Pacific theater expecting to participate in the planned invasion of Japan.[24] The Surrender of Japan on September 2 ended the need for an invasion, so after arriving in Japan in late September, the division was headquartered in Kumagaya while it performed occupation duty of six prefectures.[24] During this duty, soldiers under Kramer's command uncovered plans for a "last stand" by Japanese troops who planned to operate from the mountains near Maebashi, and had amassed equipment including 250 remote controlled mini tanks.[25] The 97th Division returned to the United States in February 1946 and was inactivated in March.[24]
After the 97th Division's inactivation, Kramer was assigned to command the 86th Infantry Division, which was assigned to post-war duties in the Philippines.[26] The division fought Japanese soldiers who had not surrendered, as well as the Hukbalahap insurgency that opposed the Philippines government.[27] Kramer left command in July[28] and was retired for disability on December 31, 1946.[29] His contempt for his enemies generated headlines; when Fahrmbacher presented his pistol while surrendering the forces under his command, Kramer opted not to return it, as the victorious commander usually did.[22] Instead, he kept it, and casually tossed it onto the seat of his Jeep with the disdainful remark that at best it was a "class B" firearm.[22] In a January 1947 speech to a Little Rock, Arkansas civic club, he described the Japanese people as "dirty" and "always hungry" while predicting they would not experience a post-war recovery unless they expanded their farm and industrial production beyond just growing rice.[30]
In April 1917, Kramer married Frances Isabel Pratt of Lincoln,[33] whom he had known since college.[6] They remained married until his death and were the parents of a daughter, Betty Frances Kramer.[31] Betty Kramer was the wife of army officer James M. Hall.[31][34]
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