4th Flak Division

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The control center (command post) of the 4th Flak Division between Duisburg and Mülheim an der Ruhr
Graphic representation of the combat strength of the flak batteries in the greater Ruhr area

The 4th Flak Division was a major combat unit of the German Air Force in World War II .

Initially set up as the Düsseldorf Air Defense Command on August 1, 1938 under the command of Colonel Kurt Steudemann, the command was subordinate to the Luftgau Command VI based in Münster . The main task of the Düsseldorf Air Defense Command was to secure the airspace in the greater Cologne area and to protect the entire Ruhr area and the industrial centers in the Rhineland. The following regiments were available to the Düsseldorf Air Defense Command to accomplish its tasks:

On August 1, 1939, the Düsseldorf Air Defense Command, based in Ratingen in the Liebfrauenschule building, was then renamed Air Defense Command 4. Until November 1939 the Flak Regiment 65 was also placed under the command. On October 31, 1939, Major General Otto Wilhelm von Renz took over the air defense command . He held this position until March 1, 1941. By mid-April 1941, the air defense of the affected areas was reorganized, so that from this point in time the defense focus of Air Defense Command 4 was limited to Düsseldorf, Duisburg and Essen. Previously, on March 1, 1941, Major General Gerhard Hoffmann took over command . Under his command, on September 1, 1941, Air Defense Command 4 became the 4th Flak Division as part of the introduction of the new association designation Flak Division. The staff of the newly formed division was relocated in June 1942 after the eastern part of the Ruhr area was surrendered to the 22nd Flak Division from Ratingen to Wolfsburg , located between Duisburg and Mülheim an der Ruhr .

In March 1942 there was another change in the command level. This month, Colonel Johannes Hintz took command of the division . Under him, the 4th Flak Division in December 1942 was divided as follows:

  • Flak Regiment 5
  • Flak Regiment 24
  • Anti-aircraft regiment 44
  • 46th Flak Regiment
  • Anti-aircraft regiment 64

On the night of April 8th to 9th, 1943, the regiments of the 4th Flak Division reported their 250th aircraft kill. On February 20, 1944, there was another change at the top of the division. So came Lieutenant General Ludwig Schilffarth for Hintz , who, however, resigned in November 1944. His successor was Colonel Max Hecht , who then led the division until the end of the war.

As was usual with the Luftwaffe's anti-aircraft divisions in the last years of the war, the regiments of the 4th Flak Division were also subject to constant fluctuation. On February 19, 1945, the division retired from its previous air district command and was assigned to the VI. Subordinate to anti-aircraft corps . The 4th Flak Division was divided as follows:

  • Anti-aircraft regiment 64
  • Anti-aircraft regiment 181
  • Flak searchlight regiment 74

At the end of February 1945, the 4th Flak Division was given the task of protecting the Rhine ferries in the Rees - Xanten area. For this purpose, forces from the 18th Flak Brigade were assigned to the badly weakened division. On April 2, 1945 the division was again placed under a new command, this time the III. Flak corps , which they tore into the vortex of the looming Ruhr basin. On April 17, 1945, the division headquarters in Ratingen was taken prisoner by the Americans. The associations subordinate to it met the same fate.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ historisches-centrum.de , Ralf Blank : Battle of the Ruhr
  2. ↑ a b Muelheim-Ruhr.de , The bombing war in Mülheim an der Ruhr , accessed April 2009
  3. ↑ Overview of the historical development of the Liebfrauenschule ( Memento of the original from May 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.liebfrauenschule-ratingen.de
  4. ^ Karl-Heinz Hummel: The German flak cartillery 1935-1945. Your major formations and regiments . VDM, Zweibrücken 2010, ISBN 978-3-86619-048-1 , p. 52-54 .