Philipp Zoch

Philipp Zoch (born January 2, 1892 in Aachen , † May 24, 1949 in Wittlich ) was a German Lieutenant General in the Air Force in World War II .

Life

Zoch joined the Imperial Army on March 11, 1912 , served in the infantry and was made a lieutenant on August 18, 1913 . After the beginning of the First World War he switched to the air force , where he ended the war. He then switched back to the infantry , now as a first lieutenant . In 1920 he served in the 5th (Prussian) Infantry Regiment of the 2nd Division of the Reichswehr , where he was promoted to captain on December 1, 1923 . Officially released from the army on October 1, 1928, he worked in the secret main picture office of the Reichswehr Ministry in Berlin . After finishing this activity on April 1, 1930 he rejoined the army and was promoted to major on September 1, 1933 .

On April 1, 1934, he joined the newly founded Luftwaffe and took over the post of Ia ( First General Staff Officer ) on the staff of Luftkreis-Kommando II. Subsequently, he was employed in the Aviation School Hildesheim , the Great Fighting School Fassberg , the Bomb School Fassberg and of the Great Tutow Fighting School. In the meantime he was promoted to lieutenant colonel on September 1, 1935 and to colonel on January 1, 1937. On February 1, 1938, he took over Kampfgeschwader 355 (renamed Kampfgeschwader 53 from May 1, 1939 ) as a squadron commodore , before becoming commander of Luftkriegsschule 3 in Werder on August 1, 1939 . On September 1, 1939, during the attack on Poland , he took over the post of Commander of the Air Force in the 3rd Army . As a so-called Koluft he led the air force's flying reconnaissance, liaison and transport squadrons, which were directly subordinate to the army. A post he then held in the 6th Army , the Army Group D and the Army Group C .

On April 1, 1940, he was promoted to major general. On June 1, 1941, he became a Koluft of Army Group Center and fulfilled this task during the first five months of the German-Soviet War . He then became higher commander of the reconnaissance aircraft before he was promoted to lieutenant general on April 10, 1942. From May 17, 1943, he was briefly transferred to the Führerreserve , after which he took over duties in the Reich Aviation Ministry and then returned to the Führerreserve on August 30, 1944. Reactivated on February 28, 1945 to become the motor vehicle officer in Württemberg and Baden , he was taken prisoner by the Allies on May 6, 1945 and was released on June 5, 1947.

Web links

• Henry L. deZeng IV, Douglas G. Stankey: Air Force Officer Career Summaries, Section S – Z. (PDF) 2017, p. 764 , accessed on December 29, 2017 (English).