Ernst Exss

Ernst Exss (born September 22, 1896 in Lindenberg , West Prussia , † January 28, 1965 in Recklinghausen ) was a German major general in the Air Force in World War II .

Life

Exss served in the air force during the First World War and was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern with Swords on January 1, 1918 .

After he was promoted to first lieutenant on July 9, 1920 , he switched to the Münster police squadron as an observer. He stayed there until April 30, 1925. From 1922 he also studied at the University of Münster . He stayed with the police and was promoted to major in January 1935 .

With this rank he switched to the newly established Luftwaffe on July 1, 1935, where he attended the 2nd air war training course at Air War School 2 in Berlin-Gatow from December 2, 1935 . From April 1, 1936, he started training as a combat observer in the Tutow Fliegergruppe, before moving to the staff of Group I of Kampfgeschwader 155 in Giebelstadt on July 1 . There he was promoted to lieutenant colonel on January 1, 1937 , combined with the takeover of Group II of Kampfgeschwader 153 as group commander . On December 1, 1938, he took over the position of a teacher for air attack tactics at the higher air force school in Berlin-Gatow, where he was promoted to colonel on April 1, 1939 .

After the beginning of the Second World War, Exss went briefly to Kampfgeschwader 55 from November 8, 1939 , before he was appointed Geschwaderkommodore of Kampfgeschwader 1 on December 18, 1939 . He led this combat squadron, which was equipped with the twin-engine Heinkel He 111 , in the campaign in the west that began on May 1, 1940 . He stayed with the squadron until July 15, 1940 and then moved to the Armistice Commission , where Exss monitored compliance with the Franco-German armistice in the Air Force . From October 16, he was, in this, head of the Air Force Control Commission V, since April 1, 1942 as major general. From March 15, 1943 he was an officer z. b. V. of Luftflotte 3 before he became air base commander at the Dutch air base Gilze-Rijen on May 31, 1943 . He stayed there until October 6, 1944 and then went to Luftgaukommando V. His last position was on January 9, 1945, as commander of the Verona Air Base in Italy . Here he was taken prisoner by the Allies on May 2, 1945 , from which Exss was released in July 1947.

Web links

• Henry L. deZeng IV, Douglas G. Stankey: Air Force Officer Career Summaries, Sections A – F. (PDF) 2016, pp. 702–703 , accessed on April 15, 2018 (English).