14th Flak Division

The 14th Flak Division was a major combat unit of the German Air Force in World War II .

The command staff of the 14th Flak Division was set up in Leipzig ( Saxony ) in January 1942 under the command of Luftgaukommando IV ( Berlin ). Its first commander was Lieutenant General Walter Feyerabend with a command post in Schönau . The main task of the new command staff was the management of all flak forces in the Halle- Leipzig- Zeitz area , which had previously been led by the staff of the 2nd Flak Division . At the end of June 1942 the division was divided as follows:

Flak group Leipzig
Flak group Halle-Leuna
Flak group Zeitz
Flak group Dessau
Anti-aircraft search engine regiment 73

On December 1, 1942, there was a first change in leadership, and Major General Rudolf Schulze became the new division commander . Under his command, the division had 36 heavy and 26 medium and light flak batteries by January 13, 1943 . There were also 9 headlight batteries and 7 air lock batteries. Overall, however, this balance of power was low. Especially against the background of the extremely important Junkers aircraft and engine plants based in Dessau and the hydrogenation plant in Böhlen , where synthetic gasoline was produced.

Among other things, against the background of the Allied bombings on German cities, which began in 1944, the flak units deployed by the 14th Flak Division were massed until the beginning of 1944. The total number of heavy batteries increased from 36 to 74 on January 9, 1944 (29 in Halle-Leuna and 29 in the Leipzig area). The number of medium and light batteries, on the other hand, fell by one battery to 25. The number of headlight batteries even increased more than half from 9 to a total of 24 batteries. The number of air lock compartments with a total of 7 batteries also remained the same. There were also three new fog companies, two in the Halle-Leuna area and one in the Leipzig area.

On May 15, 1944, there was a final change at the top of the division. Schulze's successor was Major General Adolf Gerlach , who directed the division's fortunes until the end of the war. In the course of the year the subordinate regiments of the 14th Flak Division were also subject to constant fluctuation in the form of additions and additions. The previously practiced massive increase in the firepower of the anti-aircraft guns could not be maintained due to the war. It decreased continuously until the end of 1944. The batteries that were still available were then centered to protect the Böhlen hydrogenation plant and in the Leipzig area. At the beginning of January 1944, the division comprised the following units:

Flak Regiment 90 as Flakgruppe Leipzig
Flak Regiment 120 as Flakgruppe Böhlen-Zeitz
Flak Regiment 140 as Flakgruppe Thuringia
Flak searchlight regiment 73 as the anti-aircraft searchlight group Leipzig

On April 16, 1945, the division received a new combat mission in which it was supposed to take over the leadership of the flak forces in the area of the Wenck Army . However, given that the majority of the 14th Flak Division's guns are grounded, i. H. were not mobile, the order could only be fulfilled to a limited extent.

It is not known which batteries of the 14th Flak Division were able to move north in April 1945. From April 25, 1945, the division headquarters had its last command post in Ludwigslust and remained there until the end of the war. The fate of the regiments under her control was as follows at the end of the war:

Flak Regiment 90: capture of Leipzig on April 18, resistance until April 20, 1945 afterwards presumably prisoner of war,
Flak Regiment 120: Still in Zeitz at the end of the war,
Flak Regiment 140: was placed under the 23rd Flak Division in April 1945 and was then smashed south of Berlin.
Flak searchlight regiment 73: remained in Leipzig until April 20, then presumably prisoner of war.

literature

Karl-Heinz Hummel: The German flak cartillery 1935–1945. Your major formations and regiments . VDM, Zweibrücken 2010, ISBN 978-3-86619-048-1 .

Individual evidence

^ Karl-Heinz Hummel: The German flak cartillery 1935-1945 . 2010, p. 78-81 .
^ Karl-Heinz Hummel: The German flak cartillery 1935-1945 . 2010, p. 303, 334, 358, 418 .

[1] Karl-Heinz Hummel: The German flak cartillery 1935-1945 . 2010, p. 78-81 .

[2] Karl-Heinz Hummel: The German flak cartillery 1935-1945 . 2010, p. 303, 334, 358, 418 .