Gerhard Bechly was a professional soldier who rose to the rank of
lieutenant colonel and
adjutant in the 295th Infantry Division of the
German Army. In 1942, Lieutenant-Colonel Bechly was captured at the
Battle of Stalingrad by the
Soviet Army and became a prisoner-of-war at Lunjowo POW Camp 27, in
Krasnogorsk,
Moscow Oblast. As a prisoner-of-war, he worked to establish the
National Committee for a Free Germany (NKFD) on 12 July 1943. Subsequently, through his leadership, the League of German Officers (BDO) was formed on 11/12 September 1943. Bechly served as co-founder and board member of the organization. From 1943 to 1946, Bechly was a staff engineer at the
Freies Deutschland newspaper and the Free Germany radio station. The 295th Infantry Division was decimated from those who were killed in action at the Battle of Stalingrad and many thousands who died as prisoners-of-war. Of the 300,000 Germans who were involved with the Battle of Stalingrad, only about 6,000 lived to return to Germany. The survival rate was much higher for officers, and many of those who returned took positions in the new government of
East Germany. Bechly returned to Germany in September 1947, and in 1952, he joined the
Kasernierte Volkspolizei (KVP, Barracks People's Police) and became its head of department in the 6th Management of Staff. In 1956, Bechly became a colonel and the chief of staff of the 4th Administration of the
East German Ministry of National Defence. == League of German Officers ==