Bodo von Witzendorff

Colonel Bodo von Witzendorff (1931)

Bodo Viktor Adolf Wilhelm von Witzendorff (born August 29, 1876 in Schwerin , † August 9, 1943 in Berlin ) was an aviator general in the German Air Force in World War II .

Life

origin

Bodo was the son of the Mecklenburg-Schwerin Chamber Director Ernst von Witzendorff and his wife Elisabeth, nee Freiin von Maltzahn (* 1850).

Military career

Witzendorff joined the Grand Ducal Mecklenburg Grenadier Regiment 89 on December 1, 1894 as a flag junior . From June 1895 to March 1896 he graduated from the Hanover War School . Witzendorff was promoted to first lieutenant by mid-June 1906 and was initially employed as a battalion and regimental adjutant before he was promoted to captain as adjutant of the 76th Infantry Brigade in Erfurt on September 13, 1911 .

With this he was used at the outbreak of the First World War, initially on the western front during the conquest of Namur . Then the brigade moved to the east and took part in the battle of the Masurian Lakes . In May 1915 Witzendorff returned to the Western Front with the appointment as adjutant of the 103rd Infantry Division . In this position Witzendorff was seriously wounded on October 19, 1915. Only after nine months in a hospital did he return on June 21, 1916 to the replacement battalion of the 3rd Thuringian Infantry Regiment No. 71 , where he remained until the end of July 1916. On August 1, 1916, he was transferred to the staff of the Deputy XI. Army Corps , where he only stayed for a few weeks. On August 22, 1916, Witzendorff was appointed commander of the mobile stage command center 5 of the IV Army Corps , which he led until September 8, 1916. He then took over command of the mobile stage command post 4 of the Guard Corps until the end of August 1918 and was promoted to major on January 27, 1918 . On September 1, 1918, he moved to the General Command of the VIII Army Corps as First Adjutant , where Witzendorff saw the end of the war and remained there until the end of September 1919.

Witzendorff then served from August 29 to the end of September 1919, initially with the staff of Reichswehr Group Command 2, of which he was headquarters commander on October 1, 1919. On September 1, 1922, he was appointed battalion commander in the 17th Infantry Regiment , where he remained until the end of July 1925. Then Witzendorff was deployed to the staff of Group Command 2 until the end of January 1928. On February 1, 1928 he moved to the staff of the 6th Infantry Regiment in Lübeck , where he was appointed its commander on March 1, 1929. Witzendorff was promoted to major general from December 1, 1931, in command of Berlin. On January 31, 1933, the day after the seizure of power by the Nazis, he stepped back from this post and resigned under presentation of the character as a lieutenant general from active military service.

A few months later, on December 1, 1933, he was reactivated for the Luftwaffe, which was under construction. In the Reich Aviation Ministry (RLM) he was then employed as head of department in the Air Force Personnel Office until the end of July 1937 and then from August 1, 1937 to the end of February 1938 as head of the central department in the RLM. In this position he was awarded the character of General of the Aviators on October 1, 1937. On March 1, 1938, his department was converted into the Central Office . Witzendorff received the patent for his rank on February 1, 1939 and the German silver cross on November 16, 1942 . On November 30th, he gave up management and was finally retired.

Since 1915 he was married to Carola von Rantzau (1887–1940). His final resting place is in the south-west cemetery Stahnsdorf .

Awards

Order of the Crown IV class

Iron Cross (1914) 2nd and 1st class

Wound badge (1918) in black

Prussian service award cross

Hessian bravery medal

Knight's Cross of the Order of the Griffin

Mecklenburg War Merit Cross 1st Class

Order of Henry the Lion IV class

Knight's Cross II. Class of the Order of the White Falcon

Knight's Cross 1st Class of the Duke of Saxony-Ernestine House Order with swords

Cross for merit in war

Cross of Honor of Schwarzburg III. Class with swords

Austrian Military Merit Cross III. Class with war decorations

literature

Dermot Bradley , Karl Friedrich Hildebrandt: 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 3: O-Z. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1993, ISBN 3-7648-2207-4 , pp. 534-535.

Individual evidence

↑ Reinhard Stumpf : The Wehrmacht Elite. Structure of rank and origin of the German generals and admirals 1933–1945. (Military history studies), Harald Boldt Verlag, Boppard am Rhein 1982, ISBN 3-7646-1815-9 , p. 264.
^ Gothaisches Genealogisches Taschenbuch der Briefadeligen houses. 1916. Tenth year, Justus Perthes , Gotha 1915, p. 1034.
↑ Klaus D. Patzwall , Veit Scherzer : The German Cross 1941-1945. History and owner. Volume II. Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall, Norderstedt 2001, ISBN 3-931533-45-X , p. 560.
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m Reichswehr Ministry (Ed.): Ranking list of the German Reichsheeres. ES Mittler & Sohn , Berlin 1930, p. 110.

personal data
SURNAME	Witzendorff, Bodo von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Witzendorff, Bodo Viktor Adolf Wilhelm von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German aviator general in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH	August 29, 1876
PLACE OF BIRTH	Schwerin
DATE OF DEATH	August 9, 1943
Place of death	Berlin

[1] Reinhard Stumpf : The Wehrmacht Elite. Structure of rank and origin of the German generals and admirals 1933–1945. (Military history studies), Harald Boldt Verlag, Boppard am Rhein 1982, ISBN 3-7646-1815-9 , p. 264.

[2] Gothaisches Genealogisches Taschenbuch der Briefadeligen houses. 1916. Tenth year, Justus Perthes , Gotha 1915, p. 1034.

[3] Klaus D. Patzwall , Veit Scherzer : The German Cross 1941-1945. History and owner. Volume II. Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall, Norderstedt 2001, ISBN 3-931533-45-X , p. 560.

[Rangliste-4] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m Reichswehr Ministry (Ed.): Ranking list of the German Reichsheeres. ES Mittler & Sohn , Berlin 1930, p. 110.