Carl-Alfred Schumacher

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Carl-Alfred Schumacher , sometimes called Karl-August , (born February 19, 1896 in Rheine , Westphalia , † May 22, 1967 in Bad Godesberg ) was a German officer , most recently Major General of the Air Force in World War II . After the war he was a politician and party member of the GB / BHE DP and CDU and as such a member of the Lower Saxony state parliament .

Life

Youth and education

Schumacher was born on February 19, 1896 in Rheine / Westphalia. From 1902 to 1905 he attended pre-school and then a secondary school where he graduated from high school .

First World War

Immediately after the outbreak of World War I , Schumacher joined the 1st Westphalian Field Artillery Regiment No. 7 as a volunteer on August 10, 1914 . Subsequently, from February to December 1915, it was used in the Kleve Field Artillery Regiment No. 43 . At the beginning of January 1916, Schumacher moved to the Imperial Navy . There he received a nautical training which he finished as an ensign at sea in mid-July 1917. Then Schumacher received an observer and radio training at the I. Seeflieger Department until October 1917 . After graduating, he flew from October 12, 1917 as an observer and pilot at the Wyk , Föhr , Apenrade , Ösel and Bug aviation stations . Here he was promoted to lieutenant at sea on March 17, 1918 . At the end of September 1918, Schumacher switched to the aircraft mother ship SMH Answald as an observation officer . In the last months of the war he served as a pilot in the large Baltic Sea Air Force until November 1918 .

Weimar Republic

After the war, Schumacher served as a pilot at the Holtenau seaplane station until November 1919 . On November 22, 1919 he was released from military service and returned to civilian life. In 1920 Schumacher completed an apprenticeship in the commercial sector and then worked until 1932 as a commercial clerk in the Ruhr area in trade and industry. As early as November 1, 1930, Schumacher was a member of the NSDAP (membership number: 345013).

National Socialism

On March 1, 1933, Schumacher was reactivated for the Luftwaffe, which was under construction , while being appointed first lieutenant . There he found, since October 1, 1933 with the rank of captain , until the end of April 1934 on the staff of the German Aviation School in Berlin . After working in the inspection of the flying schools in May / June 1934, Schumacher was assigned to the Land pilot school in July 1934 . From mid-October to December 1934 he completed an infantry course at the Döberitz military training area . After its completion, on December 15, 1934, he was appointed company commander at Fliegerabteilung 16 (See) in Holtenau. On August 1, 1936, Schumacher was promoted to major to squadron captain at the Seefliegerhorst Jever ; a position he then held until the end of June 1938 with Jagdgruppe 136 in Pilsen . In July 1938 Schumacher rose to group commander in Jagdgeschwader 136 . There he was promoted to lieutenant colonel on March 1, 1939 .

Second World War

On April 1, 1939, Schumacher was appointed group commander of Group II of Jagdgeschwader 77 ; at the same time he served in this position as a military airfield -Kommandant of Pilsen. After the outbreak of World War II, Jagdgeschwader 77 took part in the German attack on Poland as part of the 2nd Flieger Division from Silesia . At the end of September 1939, Group II was relocated to Nordholz . In November 1939 it was moved to Wangerooge where the fighter pilot group was deployed for protection in the North Sea region.

On December 12, 1939 Schumacher was appointed commodore of Jagdgeschwader 1 . The squadron was in the formation at this time. In this capacity his squadron managed to repel the attacks of the English bombers on the German coastal area in the first phase of the air war . In particular, the squadron gained importance in the aerial battle over the German Bight on December 18, 1939. The squadron was deployed in the western campaign on the far right wing of the German front in Holland . From August 1940 to the end of July 1941, Schumacher served as a commodore in addition to his position as a fighter pilot in the German Bight . In this position, Schumacher was promoted to colonel on July 19, 1940 and was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on July 21, 1940 .

On August 1, 1941, Schumacher was appointed Fighter Pilot Norway . He held this post until the end of April 1943. In May 1943 Schumacher was transferred to the Balkans . There he took a position in training with the Romanian Air Force and received his promotion to major general on January 1, 1944. In April 1944 Schumacher returned to Germany, where he was employed in the staff of Luftgau Command XI in Hamburg . His subsequent activities from October 1944 to the end of January 1945 are declared as "special tasks". On January 30, 1945, Schumacher was appointed head of the NS management staff in the Air Force High Command in the Reich Aviation Ministry ; a function that he held until the end of the war. In total, Schumacher flew around 160 aircraft and scored three aerial victories. On May 8, 1945, he was taken prisoner by the United States , from which he was released on April 1, 1947. With the decision of August 26, 1948, Schumacher was denazified in Category V as exonerated.

Post-war years and political career

After his release, Schumacher went to Jever. There he worked from 1948 to 1950 as a government employee for the District President Aurich. From 1951 he worked for the Wilhelmshavener Olympia-Werke AG . From October 24, 1952 to May 5, 1955 he was a member of the Lower Saxony State Parliament and a member of the Committee for Development and Settlement and later in the Committee for Youth Issues in the second electoral term, and from September 24, 1955 to May 5, 1963 in the 3 and 4th electoral term. There as a member of the sub-committee for questions of civil service law, as a member of the committee for ports and fisheries and most recently a member of the special committee for storm surge disaster as well as a member of the committee for the election of members of the state audit office. He belonged to the GB / BHE parliamentary group until August 5, 1958, to the DP parliamentary group from August 6, 1958, and finally to the CDU parliamentary group from March 29, 1962 .

Schumacher died on May 22, 1967 in Bad Godesberg at the age of 71.

literature

  • Karl Friedrich Hildebrand: The Generals of the German Air Force 1935-1945. Part II, Volume 3: Odebrecht – Zoch. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1992, ISBN 3-7648-2209-0 , pp. 269-270.
  • Ernst Obermaier: The knight's cross bearers of the Luftwaffe fighter pilots 1939-1945. Verlag Dieter Hoffmann, Mainz 1966, ISBN 3-87341-065-6 .
  • Barbara Simon : Member of Parliament in Lower Saxony 1946–1994. Biographical manual. Edited by the President of the Lower Saxony State Parliament. Lower Saxony State Parliament, Hanover 1996, p. 352.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ In the ranking list of the generals of the German Air Force from April 20, 1945 the name Karl Schumacher is used.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Stephan A. Glienke: The Nazi past of a later member of the Lower Saxony state parliament. Final report on a project of the Historical Commission for Lower Saxony and Bremen on behalf of the Lower Saxony State Parliament. Hanover 2012, p. 202f.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l Karl Friedrich Hildebrand: The Generals of the German Air Force 1935–1945 Part II, Volume 3: Odebrecht – Zoch. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1992, ISBN 3-7648-2209-0 , p. 270.
  4. ^ A b c d e f g Karl Friedrich Hildebrand: The Generals of the German Air Force 1935-1945 Part II, Volume 3: Odebrecht – Zoch. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1992, ISBN 3-7648-2209-0 , p. 269.
  5. ↑ a b c d Ernst Obermaier: The Knight's Cross bearers of the Luftwaffe fighter pilots 1939 - 1945 Mainz: Verlag Dieter Hoffmann 1966, p. 207.
  6. ^ Georg Tessin : Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS in World War II 1939–1945. Volume 14: Flying Forms. Biblio-Verlag 1998, p. 424.
  7. ^ Georg Tessin: Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS in World War II 1939–1945. Volume 14: Flying Forms. Biblio-Verlag 1998, p. 326.
  8. ↑ 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. 693.
  9. ^ Rudolf Absolon: Ranking list of the generals of the German Air Force as of April 20, 1945 , Podzun-Pallas Verlag 1984, p. 57.
personal data
SURNAME Schumacher, Carl-Alfred
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schumacher, Karl-August
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German air force officer and fighter pilot, German politician (GB), MdL
DATE OF BIRTH February 19, 1896
PLACE OF BIRTH Rheine , Westphalia
DATE OF DEATH May 22, 1967
Place of death bad Godesberg