Alwin Wolz

Alwin Wolz (born September 22, 1897 in Windsfeld , † September 15, 1978 in Vaterstetten ) was a German officer , most recently Major General of the Air Force in World War II . On May 3, 1945, he handed over the Hanseatic City of Hamburg to the British Brigadier General Spurling.

Life

Alwin Wolz was born in Windsfeld in 1897 , today a district of Dittenheim in the Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen district. Wolz joined the Imperial Navy on June 23, 1915, during the First World War . He came as a volunteer in the reserve battalion of the 2nd Marine Infantry Regiment in Wilhelmshaven and was transferred to the 3rd Marine Infantry Regiment on October 25, 1915 . On August 1, 1916, he was promoted to Fahnenjunker- Gefreiten and on July 17, 1916 he was transferred to the Bavarian Army , where he was active in the 5th Infantry Regiment "Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig von Hessen" on the western front . Wolz was wounded on June 8, 1917 and had to stay in the hospital until July 19 of the same year . On June 25, 1917 he was promoted to lieutenant and was platoon and company commander in various regiments from August 23, 1917 to October 31, 1919 .

On November 24, 1919, he switched to the police service , where he held a leading position in the motorized units. Among other things, he was head of the motor transport battalion of the Landshut State Police from 1925 to 1928 .

On September 1, 1935, he was placed under the Air Force and promoted to captain . During the Second World War he was the commander of various anti-aircraft regiments. On April 2, 1945 Wolz, who meanwhile had the rank of major general , was appointed combat commander of Hamburg. According to the controversial historian Kurt Detlev Möller , Alwin Wolz and Reich Governor Karl Kaufmann were in agreement about the hopeless situation and had been planning the surrender of Hamburg without a fight since the beginning of April. After Reich President Karl Dönitz , who had resigned with the last Reich government in Flensburg - Mürwik , agreed to surrender Hamburg without a fight on May 2, Wolz accompanied the German delegation led by Hans Georg von Friedeburg to the British headquarters in the villa on May 3, 1945 Möllering near Lüneburg , where Wolz signed the conditions for handing over the city. In the afternoon of the day the British soldiers marched into Hamburg and Wolz officially handed over the city to the British Brigadier General Spurling in the town hall. The partial capitulation authorized by Karl Dönitz for the German armed forces in north-west Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark and Schleswig-Holstein was only signed the following day . After the city was surrendered, Wolz became a British prisoner of war , from which he was released on July 7, 1947.

Alwin Wolz died of a heart attack in Vaterstetten in 1978 .

Awards

Iron Cross (1914) 2nd and 1st class
Bavarian Order of Military Merit IV class with swords
Wound badge (1918) in black
Wehrmacht service award IV. To II. Class
Clasp for the Iron Cross, 2nd and 1st class
Anti-aircraft combat badge
Arm band Africa
Italian medal of bravery in silver
Air Force Ground Combat Badge
German cross in gold on August 21, 1942
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on June 10, 1943

literature

Uwe Bahnsen , Kerstin von Stürmer: The city that wanted to live. Hamburg and the zero hour. Convent Verlag, Hamburg 2004.

Individual evidence

↑ Spurling's first name (s) are uncertain; see. For example: Local public transport in Hamburg 1945 to 1999 ( Memento of the original from June 1, 2016 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. , accessed on: May 2, 2017 @1@ 2

↑ Der Spiegel : Dr. Möller's last chapter , dated: February 14, 1948; Retrieved on: May 2, 2017

^ Letter to the Citizen. Announcements of the Bürgererverein Lüneburg eV number 75 , from: May 2015; Page 11 f .; accessed on: May 1, 2017

↑ Oliver Schirg: By night and fog: Hamburg's surrender. In: Hamburger Abendblatt, April 18, 2015, pp. 20–21 ( online ).

↑ Norddeutscher Rundfunk : On the silk thread: Hamburg's way to surrender , from: May 2, 2015; accessed on: May 1, 2017

↑ ^a ^b Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearer 1939–1945. The holders of the Iron Cross of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and armed forces allied with Germany according to the documents of the Federal Archives. 2nd Edition. Scherzers Militaer-Verlag, Ranis / Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2 , p. 797.

personal data
SURNAME	Wolz, Alwin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German major general in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH	September 22, 1897
PLACE OF BIRTH	Wind field
DATE OF DEATH	September 15, 1978
Place of death	Vaterstetten

[1] Spurling's first name (s) are uncertain; see. For example: Local public transport in Hamburg 1945 to 1999 ( Memento of the original from June 1, 2016 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. , accessed on: May 2, 2017 @1@ 2

[2] Der Spiegel : Dr. Möller's last chapter , dated: February 14, 1948; Retrieved on: May 2, 2017

[3] Letter to the Citizen. Announcements of the Bürgererverein Lüneburg eV number 75 , from: May 2015; Page 11 f .; accessed on: May 1, 2017

[4] Oliver Schirg: By night and fog: Hamburg's surrender. In: Hamburger Abendblatt, April 18, 2015, pp. 20–21 ( online ).

[5] Norddeutscher Rundfunk : On the silk thread: Hamburg's way to surrender , from: May 2, 2015; accessed on: May 1, 2017

[Scherzer-6] Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearer 1939–1945. The holders of the Iron Cross of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and armed forces allied with Germany according to the documents of the Federal Archives. 2nd Edition. Scherzers Militaer-Verlag, Ranis / Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2 , p. 797.