Egon Doerstling

Egon Doerstling (* 28. January 1890 in Chemnitz ; † 9. November 1965 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen ) was a German Luftwaffe General of the Air Force in World War II .

Life

Doerstling joined the 12th Infantry Regiment No. 177 of the Saxon Army on February 24, 1910 as a characterized ensign . After attending the war school in Danzig , he was promoted to lieutenant until the end of March 1911 and served as a company officer until August 1914. With the outbreak of the First World War, Doerstling moved up to the staff of the 2nd Battalion of his regiment and was promoted to first lieutenant on July 15, 1915 . In April 1916, Doerstling switched to the air force , where he completed his training as a pilot and observer in Hanover and Grossenhain by the end of January 1917 . Then he came as a pilot in the Kampfgeschwader 4, later Kampfgeschwader 1 of the OHL . In January 1917 Doerstling rose to the squadron leader in bomb squadron 7 of the OHL. After 100 enemy flights and the two successful bombing raids on Paris during the Great Battle of France , Doerstling was on May 1, 1918 by King Friedrich August III. entrusted with the Knight's Cross of the Military Order of St. Henry . For his work during the war, in addition to both classes of the Iron Cross , he received the Wound Badge in Black, the Knight's Cross II. Class of the Order of Albrecht and the Order of Merit and the Bulgarian Military Order for Bravery IV. Class II. Level.

After the end of the war and the ban on aviation in Germany due to the Treaty of Versailles , his squadron was disbanded. Doerstling then joined the Border Aviation Department 1 based in Bautzen . In March 1919 he was accepted into the provisional Reichswehr and assigned as a company commander to the Reichswehr Infantry Regiment 24. In the same function he then worked from October 1, 1920 to September 30, 1924 in the 10th (Saxon) Infantry Regiment in Bautzen. Doerstling was then on the staff of the 2nd Battalion for two years, before he then served as company commander until September 30, 1927 . In 1927 he married Sibylle Freiin von Reitzenstein (1905–1997). In October 1927, Doerstling transferred to the staff of the 4th Division as a pilot's officer, where he was deployed until September 1932.

In October 1932 Doerstling was sent to the Reinhard course with the staff of Group Command 1 in Berlin , where he was also studying at the university until June 1933. In July 1933 he was appointed department head in the air protection office of the Reichswehr Ministry, whose post he filled until the end of September 1933. On October 1, 1933, Doerstling joined the air force, where he, meanwhile in the rank of major, was appointed air base commander of Schleissheim . In January 1935 he returned to Berlin as head of department in the Reich Ministry of Aviation . On April 1, 1936, he was promoted to Chief of the 2nd Division in the General Staff of the Air Force , while being appointed Colonel . Doerstling held this function until September 1937 and in October 1937 he switched to Kampfgeschwader 253 "General Wever" as a commodore .

In June 1938 Doerstling gave up this command and returned to the Reich Aviation Ministry. There he acted from July 1938 beyond the beginning of the Second World War until August 6, 1943 as chief of the replenishment office, which was later renamed to the post of chief of replenishment of the Air Force. In this position, he was appointed major general on January 1, 1939 , promoted to lieutenant general on December 1, 1940, and on June 1, 1942 to general der Flieger. On August 7, 1943 Doerstling was appointed commanding general and commander in Luftgau Holland . With the renaming of the Luftgau to the Luftgau Command Belgium-Northern France on January 1, 1944, Doerstling resigned from this position and joined the Führerreserve temporarily without a command until the end of February 1944 . On February 28, 1944 he was appointed Commanding General and Commander in Luftgau Command XVIII Vienna . Doerstling inherited his predecessor there, General der Flieger Stefan Fröhlich . Doerstling then led the Luftgau Command until the end of the war.

On May 8, 1945, he and his staff were taken prisoner by the United States , from which he was released on December 22, 1947.

literature

• Dermot Bradley (ed.), Karl Friedrich Hildebrand: The Generals of the German Air Force 1935-1945. Part II, Volume 1: Abernetty – v.Gyldenfeldt. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1990, ISBN 3-7648-1701-1 , pp. 207-208.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The Royal Saxon Military St. Heinrichs Order 1736-1918. An honor sheet of the Saxon Army. Wilhelm and Bertha von Baensch Foundation, Dresden 1937, pp. 201–202
2. ↑ Reichswehr Ministry (Ed.): Ranking list of the German Reichsheeres. Mittler & Sohn Verlag, Berlin 1930, p. 131.