7th Flak Division

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The 7th Flak Division was a major combat unit of the German Air Force in World War II .

history

The command staff of the first so-called Air Defense Command 7 was set up in Cologne in March 1940 when the previous areas of operation of the 4th Flak Division were divided. The commander of Air Defense Command 7 was initially (until April 29, 1941) Major General Kurt Menzel . The main task of the command was to lead the flak forces in the Cologne - Aachen area under the command of Luftgaukommando VI , based in Münster . Very little is known about the regiments subordinate to this period. It was not until the 7th Air Defense Command was renamed the 7th Flak Division on September 1, 1941 in the course of the new association names, that the first complete structures are known. Under its new commander, Major General Max Hesse , who took command on April 30, 1941, the division was structured as follows in autumn 1941:

• Flak Regiment 14: Cologne
• Flak Regiment 21: Cologne-Deutz
• Flak Regiment 47: Leverkusen
• Flak searchlight regiment 47: Cologne

Until June 30, 1941, Hesse was the commanding officer of the division; on July 24, 1941 he was followed by Major General Heinrich Burchard , who in turn was replaced on February 21, 1942 by Major General Rudolf Eibenstein . On March 1, 1943, Major General Burchard took over the division again.

At the beginning of July 1944, the division was structured as follows:

• Flak Regiment 14: Cologne
• Flak Regiment 128 (without units, only regimental staff)
• Flak Regiment 144: Brühl
• Flak searchlight regiment 113: Cologne
• Flaka department 514 with a focus on Aachen
• Railway Flak Regiment 112 E (only the command staff for troops)

On July 9, 1944, Major General Alfred Erhard became division commander; he held this position until his death on April 17, 1945. On February 23, 1945 the 7th Flak Division was assigned to the III. Allocated anti-aircraft corps . It was now dependent on the cooperation with the 5th Panzer Army . At the end of March 1945, the flak forces were deployed on the ground in the Cologne and Düsseldorf area, with 47 heavy and 43 medium and light batteries in Cologne and 23 heavy and 22 medium and light batteries in Düsseldorf. The division headquarters was in Herkenrath , where it was captured by American forces in the first days of April 1945. The division commander, Major General Erhard, was able to escape and on April 14, 1945 became the commanding general of III. Antiaircraft Corps was appointed, but its subordinate units had long since been destroyed by this time. At this point in time, the 1st Flak Brigade, subordinated to the 7th Flak Division, was still involved in hard fighting in the Düsseldorf area. On April 17, 1945 their fight in the Ratingen area in the Ruhr basin came to an end. During that day, General Erhard committed suicide . The last remnants of his division went into US captivity until April 21, 1945, the end of the Ruhr basin .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Karl-Heinz Hummel: The German flak cartillery 1935-1945. Your major formations and regiments . VDM, Zweibrücken 2010, ISBN 978-3-86619-048-1 , p. 59-61 .