Ernst Kusserow

Ernst Kusserow (born December 29, 1903 in Berlin , † January 1, 1968 in Bonn ) was an officer and pilot in the Air Force of the Wehrmacht and later the Air Force of the German Armed Forces . He retired as brigadier general .

Life

In 1924, Kusserow moved from the State Educational Institute in Potsdam to the Reichswehr and went to the cavalry . From June 1, 1931, he was one of the few members of the Reichswehr to take part in secret pilot training courses in the Soviet Union and Italy . On October 1, 1935, he was transferred as a captain to the newly founded Air Force and went to Air War School 2 in Berlin-Gatow . On November 1, 1935 a general staff training followed at the Luftkriegsschule 2, before he took over duties in the staff of the Higher Flieger-Kommandeur IV in Münster on April 1, 1937 . After that, from April 20, 1938, he was employed in the General Staff of the Air Force, after which he took over a position as a squadron captain in training wing 1 on September 29, 1939 . After he was promoted to major on November 1, 1939 , he took over the III on April 15, 1940 . Group of Kampfgeschwader 4 as group commander . On April 24th, he was shot down and wounded in his Heinkel He 111 P ( squadron identification 5J + AT) over Norway . There he and his group took part in the Weser Exercise company . He was taken prisoner in Norway, from which he was released a little later after the fighting ended. After that, due to the injuries he had suffered, he was in the reserve of the Reich Aviation Ministry and was not used. On February 1, 1941, he took over the post of First General Staff Officer in the Air Force Command Staff . There he was promoted to lieutenant colonel on March 1, 1942 and transferred to the 1st division of the General Staff of the Air Force. From August 25, 1942, he temporarily took over the post of Chief of Staff of the IV Air Corps . At the time, this Fliegerkorps was part of Air Fleet 4 in the southern section of the Eastern Front . On March 1, 1943, he was promoted to colonel , followed on March 5 by a transfer to chief of staff of the II. Air Corps, which was part of Air Fleet 2 in the Mediterranean. From September 6, 1943, further staff posts followed in the I. Fighter Corps, in the Barsewisch staff and again in the II. Fliegerkorps, which he only filled out briefly before he took up the post of Chief of Staff of Air Fleet 5 in Oslo on January 1, 1944 . On November 18, 1944, he took over the post of Chief of Staff of the 1st Parachute Army on the Western Front , where the war ended for him.

In 1955 he joined the air force of the German Armed Forces and served as brigadier general from 1956 to 1961 on the staff of the Allied Air Forces of NATO . From July 1, 1961 to March 31, 1963 he was head of the Air Force Office . He then retired.

Web links

• Henry L. deZeng IV, Douglas G. Stankey: Air Force Officer Career Summaries, Section G – K. (PDF) 2017, p. 813 , accessed on April 14, 2018 (English). 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Newspaper report with pictures of the shooting ( memento of the original from February 10, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.