Bernhard Woldenga

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Bernhard Woldenga (born December 4, 1901 in Hamburg , † January 19, 1999 in Timmendorfer Strand ) was a German officer , last commanding colonel of Fighter Squadrons 27 and 77 of the German Air Force and pilot in command of the Balkans during World War II .

Life

Woldenga's career began as a merchant navy captain . In 1928 he completed his flight training and worked as a chief pilot at air traffic control in Warnemünde .

He transferred to the newly established Luftwaffe and on April 1, 1937 became group commander of I. Group of Jagdgeschwader 131, which was renamed I. / Jagdgeschwader 1 in May 1939 . With this unit he took part in the attack on Poland after the beginning of the Second World War and was awarded the Iron Cross, 2nd and 1st class. He gave up command of this group on February 1, 1940 and was transferred to the Reich Aviation Ministry.

In the Battle of Britain between October 11 and 22, 1940, he was in charge of Jagdgeschwader 27, after which he was appointed squadron commodore of Jagdgeschwader 77. This squadron gained importance under his leadership in the Balkan campaign and in the airborne battle for Crete . He was credited with 50 aerial victories, 114 ground victories, the sinking of five speedboats and a merchant ship with 81,000 gross tons . Woldenga himself was involved in various missions for ground support from the air, for which he received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross as a major on July 5, 1941 .

On June 21, 1941, Woldenga again took command of Jagdgeschwader 27 as part of Operation Barbarossa . In December 1941, the squadron staff was withdrawn from the Soviet Union to participate in the campaign in Africa . For the period from June 10, 1942 to February 7, 1944, he was appointed lieutenant colonel to the Fighter Pilot in Romania and Fighter Pilot in the Balkans in Otopeni , Romania .

In his last post during the war he held the position of commander of the Luftkriegsschule  10 in Fürstenwalde / Spree near Berlin with the rank of colonel .

Woldenga is credited with three aerial victories, two of which he earned on the Eastern Front .

He was married to Erika Wenzel and had three daughters with her. His daughter Dina-Susanne married the German diplomat and politician Rüdiger von Wechmar . His brother-in-law Kurt Wenzel is the grandfather of the German politician Christian von Boetticher .

literature

  • Hans Ring, Werner Girbig: Jagdgeschwader 27: The documentation about the use on all fronts 1939-1945 . Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-87943-215-5 .
  • Ernst Obermaier: The Luftwaffe Knight's Cross bearers fighter pilots 1939–1945 . Dieter Hoffmann, Mainz 1989, ISBN 3-87341-065-6 .
  • Jochen Prien, Peter Rodeike, Gerhard Stemmer: Messerschmitt Bf 109 in use with staff and I./Jagdgeschwader 27 1939–1945 . Struve-Druck, Eutin 1998, ISBN 3-923457-46-4 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearers 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. 794.
  2. ^ Ernst Obermaier: The Knight's Cross bearers of the Luftwaffe fighter pilots 1939–1945 . Dieter Hoffmann, Mainz 1989, ISBN 3-87341-065-6 , p. 226 .
personal data
SURNAME Woldenga, Bernhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German officer, most recently colonel in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH 4th December 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamburg
DATE OF DEATH January 19, 1999
Place of death Timmendorfer beach