Alfred Gerstenberg

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Alfred Gerstenberg (born April 6, 1893 in Neudorf ; † January 1, 1959 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen ) was a German lieutenant general in World War II and, as commanding general, commander of the German Air Force in Romania.

Life

Pre-war period

Coming from the cadet corps, Gerstenberg was appointed on April 9, 1912 as a characteristic ensign in the Uhlan regiment “Emperor Alexander III. von Russland ”(West Prussian) No. 1 of the Prussian Army in Militsch and advanced to lieutenant on August 18, 1913 after attending the war school in Danzig .

First World War

During the First World War , Gerstenberg was initially used on the Eastern Front . He later became the aerial reconnaissance of the Air Force added and the beginning of 1916 used as an observer in combat squadron. 2 Since August 31, 1917 he served in Jagdstaffel 11 under Manfred von Richthofen , who called him a good friend. On October 20, 1917 his plane was in a dogfight over Voss Wildemolen in Belgium hit. He had then with severe lung injury in Rollegem-Kapelle emergency landing . The following year he resumed his service, but no longer flew any missions. After his discharge from the hospital, he was used as an intelligence officer in the headquarters from January 1918 . In addition to both classes of the Iron Cross , he was awarded the Wound Badge in Black and the Austrian Military Merit Cross III. Awarded class with war decorations.

Interwar period

After the armistice , Gerstenberg was demobilized via the liquidation office of his regular regiment and in October 1919 initially transferred to the 8th Cavalry Regiment of the Reichswehr . On January 1, 1920 he was transferred to the 9th Cavalry Regiment in Fürstenwalde , where he was used as an adjutant and was promoted to first lieutenant on June 1, 1922 .

In 1926 he officially resigned from the Reichswehr in order to work as an assistant to the head of the secret office of the Reichswehr "Central Moscow" ("Z.Mo") in Moscow , Colonel Oskar von Niedermayer . In this function he maintained a wide variety of contacts, including with representatives of the Soviet side. The office had no political task, but was the executive organ of the Reichswehr Ministry in Berlin , and was therefore in close contact with the Soviet side and the German embassy in Moscow.

After Adolf Hitler came to power , tensions with Russia grew and, despite favorable comments from the Red Army, the office was closed in early 1934.

From July 1 to September 30, 1934 Gerstenberg was Chief of Staff of the German Air Sports Association (DLV) , an association to create a uniform basis for military aviation training. From October 1, 1934, he was a major until July 31, 1936, the Chief of Staff of the Air Force Reserve, which was supervised by the DLV and from November 1935 belonged to the scheduled formation of the Air Force. Then he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and worked as a tactical instructor at the Tutow Combat Flying School in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. At this time he was already preparing for another upcoming assignment abroad. On May 31, 1938, he finished his service at the flying school.

Gerstenberg took over the duties of air force attaché in Poland on June 1, 1938 (until September 3, 1939) and then in the same position in Romania until August 25, 1944. Gerstenberg replaced Bogislav von Studnitz in Warsaw , who from October 1935 had to guarantee the tasks of the military attaché in person with those of the air force attaché. In Bucharest, Gerstenberg's predecessor was the Air Force and Navy attaché Colonel Carl Wahle .

Second World War

On September 1, 1941, he was promoted to major general. While maintaining his position as Air Force Attaché in Bucharest, Gerstenberg served between February 15, 1942 and August 27, 1944 as Commanding General and Commander of the German Air Force in Romania . In addition, he was the successor to Wilhelm Speidel from June 1, 1942, chief of the German air force mission in Romania . His most important task was the defense of the Romanian Ploieşti in order to secure the oil production facilities and refineries of the place that were important for the war effort . For this he set up a defense. This consisted of a line of radio measuring devices and observer troops in the Balkans. In addition, Nebelwerfer battalions and searchlight units were posted. Contrary to the expectations of the Americans, there were more than twice as many anti-aircraft guns instead of a hundred and in addition there was not a small fighter squadron, but more than two hundred Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter planes , as well as Messerschmitt Bf 110 and Junkers Ju 88 destroyers supported by Romanian and Bulgarian Air Force available. The US Air Force suffered heavy losses in air raids as part of Operation Tidal Wave on August 1, 1943, on the other hand, heavy damage could be caused by the bombardment . Two refineries were completely destroyed and three had to reduce their production. Since Gerstenberg had installed splinter protection, the largest Astra Romana system was able to go back into operation after two months. Due to a change in strategy, no further air raids on Ploieşti were flown until April 5, 1944. Thereafter, by August 19, 1944, twenty-four more air raids took place, which resulted in the extensive destruction of the facilities. From June 1944, the oil field had been declared a German fortress and Gerstenberg had been declared the German commander of the Romanian oil region .

After the royal coup of Michael I and the accompanying change of sides in Romania on August 23, 1944, Gerstenberg tried with his troops as part of Operation Margaret II to occupy strategically important points within Bucharest. However, his units were encircled, and despite support from paratroopers from the Brandenburg paratrooper battalion , the attempt failed. Adolf Hitler then ordered the bombing of Bucharest.

On August 28, 1944, Gerstenberg surrendered to the Red Army . During his time as a prisoner of war, a Soviet military court sentenced him to a 25-year prison term for espionage, which he served in the Vladimirovka prison camp from July 1952 . With the remainder of the sentence waived, he was released from prison on October 12, 1955 and returned to Germany.

Gerstenberg died of tuberculosis on January 1, 1959 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen .

literature

  • Dermot Bradley (ed.), Karl-Friedrich Hildebrand: The Generals of the German Air Force 1935-1945. The military careers of the aviator, anti-aircraft cartillery, paratrooper, air intelligence and engineer officers, including doctors, judges, intendants and ministerial officials with the rank of general. Volume 1: Abernetty – v.Gyldenfeldt. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1990, ISBN 3-7648-1701-1 , pp. 567-569.
  • Paul Hagan: Heading One-Two-Seven . Dog Ear Publishing, 2017, p. 44 ff.
  • Andreas Hillgruber : Hitler, King Carol and Marshal Antonescu: German-Romanian Relations 1938–1944 . F. Steiner, publication by the Institute for European History (Mainz) , Wiesbaden 1954.
  • Ioan Scurtu , Gheorghe Buzatu : Istoria Românilor în Secolul XX . Paideia, București 1999, ISBN 973-9368-64-6 , pp. 456 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Heinz J. Nowarra, Bruce Robertson: Von Richthofen and the Flying Circus . Harleyford Pub., 1964, pp. 27 ( google.de [accessed on April 13, 2020]).
  2. ^ Heinz J. Nowarra, Bruce Robertson: Von Richthofen and the Flying Circus . Harleyford Pub., 1964, pp. 85 ( google.de [accessed on April 13, 2020]).
  3. ↑ Reichswehr Ministry (Ed.): Ranking list of the German Reichsheeres. Mittler & Sohn, Berlin 1925, p. 169.
  4. ↑ a b Helm Speidel, Reichswehr and Red Army, quarterly issues of the Zeitgeschichte magazine, 1953, p. 20
  5. ^ Manfred Zeidler: Reichswehr and Red Army. R. Oldenburg Verlag, Munich 1993, p. 179.
  6. ↑ Sebastian Haffner: The Devil's Pact. Manesse Verlag, Zurich 1989, p. 114 ff.
  7. ^ A b c d e Vasilij Stepanowitsch Christoforow, Vladimir Gennadjewitsch Makarow, Matthias Uhl: Interrogated: The interrogations of German generals and officers by the Soviet secret services 1945-1952 . Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG, 2015, ISBN 978-3-11-041618-3 , p. 284 ( google.de [accessed on April 13, 2020]).
  8. ↑ a b Manfred Kehring: The re-establishment of the German military attaché service after the First World War (1919-1933). Harald Boldt Verlag, Boppard am Rhein 1966, p. 226.
  9. ^ War Diary . In: Percy E. Schramm (Ed.): War Diary of the High Command of the Wehrmacht . tape 1942 , Part II. Bernard & Graefe, Munich 1982, ISBN 3-88199-073-9 , p. 1451 .
  10. ↑ Richard Overy: The Bomb War: Europe 1939 to 1945 . Allen Lane, London, 2014, ISBN 978-3-644-11751-8 , pp. dcxy ( google.de [accessed on April 13, 2020]).
  11. ↑ Edward Jablonski: Airwar, Volume 1 (Tragic Victories), Book II (The Big League) . Doubleday, 1979, ISBN 0-385-14279-X , pp. 157, 161 . (English)
  12. ↑ James D. Crabtree: On Air Defense . Greenwood Publishing Group, 1994, ISBN 978-0-275-94792-7 , pp. 81 ( google.de [accessed on April 13, 2020]).
  13. ↑ a b Richard Overy: The Bomb War: Europe 1939 to 1945 . Allen Lane, London, 2014, ISBN 978-3-644-11751-8 , pp. dcxvi ( google.de [accessed April 13, 2020]).
  14. ^ War Diary . In: Percy E. Schramm (Ed.): War Diary of the High Command of the Wehrmacht . tape 1944-1945 , volume I. Bernard & Graefe, Munich 1982, ISBN 3-88199-073-9 , p. 785 .
  15. ^ The Levant and the Balkans WWII: Ploiesti Air Raids, Romania - USAAF WWII - Chronology. ( Memento from July 16, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
  16. ^ Andreas Hillgruber: Hitler, King Carol and Marshal Antonescu: German-Romanian Relations, 1938-1944 . F. Steiner, 1954, p. 190 ( google.de [accessed April 13, 2020]).
  17. ↑ Narcis I. Gherghina: Bombardamentele germane asupra Bucureştiului: 23-26 August 1944. In: Dosarele istoriei. No. 8 (97), 2004, pp. 35-38. (Romanian)

Remarks

  1. ^ Operation Margarethe II was the planned occupation of Romania in the event of a separate peace with the Allies
personal data
SURNAME Gerstenberg, Alfred
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Lieutenant General in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH April 6, 1893
PLACE OF BIRTH Neudorf
DATE OF DEATH January 1, 1959
Place of death Garmisch-Partenkirchen