Elard von Löwenstern

Elard Baron von Löwenstern (born August 30, 1886 in Bischdorf ; † December 21, 1945 in the Hohenschönhausen special camp ) was a German officer , most recently Major General of the Air Force in World War II .

Life

family

He came from the Baltic noble family of the Barons von Löwenstern and married Therese Schillmann on April 21, 1931 in Hamburg . She was the daughter of the businessman and commercial judge Karl J. Schillmann and his wife Maria Merks. The marriage remained childless.

Military career

Löwenstern joined the Uhlan regiment “Emperor Alexander III” as an ensign on November 18, 1905 . von Russland ”(West Prussian) No. 1 of the Prussian Army in Militsch . After successfully attending the war school , he was promoted to lieutenant on August 18, 1906 , and shortly thereafter completed the officer's riding school in Paderborn by early February 1907 . Löwenstern then served with the 5th Squadron. From April 19, 1913, he trained as an aircraft observer in Posen .

When the First World War broke out , he was transferred as an observer to Field Aviation Department 15 of the air force stationed in Königsberg . The deployment took place on the Eastern Front . There Löwenstern was promoted to first lieutenant on November 28, 1914 and to Rittmeister on March 22, 1916 . From November 2, 1916 to March 1, 1917 he was director of a school for observers. He then became the leader of Aviation Department 254, which was deployed in France . From July 6, 1918 to October 8, 1918, he led the aviation division 270 LB, which was used for reconnaissance. On October 9, 1918, he was assigned to the bomb squadron of Supreme Army Command 7 (Bogohl 7), of which he was a member until April 1919 until the end of the war .

Von Löwenstern then served as the commander of the Altenburg aviation station until mid-July 1919 and then in the same function at the Halle (Saale) aviation station . Since Germany's air force was banned by the Versailles Peace Treaty , von Löwenstern was tasked with demobilizing the Braunschweig airfield on August 26, 1919 and retired from active military service on March 31, 1920.

In secret , he worked during the Weimar Republic, an air force that there were officially only from the March 31, 1935 on construction. On March 20, 1934, von Löwenstern became a consultant in the Air Protection Office / Department III of the Reich Aviation Ministry , which was responsible for training. On October 1, 1934, he was appointed pilot commander. That corresponded to the major. Military ranks were not used in the Aviation Office. On October 1, 1935, he was officially promoted to major . From July 1936 he served in the General Staff of the Air Force, responsible for reconnaissance and was promoted to lieutenant colonel on April 1, 1938 .

After the beginning of the Second World War, Löwenstein was briefly in command of the Großenhain Air Base from September 11 to November 1, 1939 . Finally, he served as Ic the staff of the 2nd Air Fleet in the Army Group B . On September 21, 1940, von Löwenstern was transferred to the General Staff of the IV Fliegerkorps in the same function and was promoted to colonel a little later . Further staff assignments followed until he was transferred to the Führer Reserve as major general on October 1, 1944 , and finally retired from military service on March 31, 1945.

In May 1945 he was taken prisoner by the Soviets, in which von Löwenstern died on December 21, 1945 in special camp 3 in Hohenschönhausen.

Works

Von Löwenstern was also the author of various books:

• The aerial survey in the world war. Bernard & Graefe, Berlin 1937.
• The front aviator. Bernard & Graefe, Berlin 1937.
• A wrong English bill. Bernard & Graefe, Berlin 1938.
• Camouflage and deception. Bernard & Graefe, Berlin 1938.
• Mobilization, deployment and deployment of the German air forces in August 1914. ES Mittler & Sohn , Berlin 1939, (co-author Friedrich Bertkau).
• Air force over the enemy. Limpert 1941.

literature

• Dermot Bradley (ed.), Karl Friedrich Hildebrand: 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 2: HN. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1991.
• Sebastian Rosenboom: In action over the forgotten front: The aerial warfare on the Eastern Front in the First World War. Center for Military History and Social Sciences of the Bundeswehr (ZMSBw), Potsdam, ISBN 978-3-941571-27-3 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial: Book of the Dead of the Soviet Special Camp No. 3. Weblink
2. ↑ Rosenboom, p. 33.
3. ↑ LB stands for photo