Ernst Weber (General)

Ernst Weber (born March 25, 1895 in Emmendingen , † October 27, 1969 in Munich ) was a German officer , most recently Major General of the Air Force in World War II .

Life

Weber took effect on September 3, 1914 during the First World War as an officer cadet in the fifth Baden Infantry Regiment. 113 of the Prussian army in Freiburg one. After his training he was transferred to the regiment on the Western Front , where Weber took part in the trench warfare in Flanders and Artois and the battles at La Bassée and Arras . Promoted to lieutenant on October 1, 1915 , he fought as platoon and company commander in the autumn battle in Champagne and was then involved in the positional battles there. In the course of 1916 Weber completed an air observer training course, which he completed in 1917. Until the end of the war, he was then employed by the Remote Reconnaissance Aviation Department 6. For his achievements during the war he had been awarded both classes of the Iron Cross , the Knight's Cross II. Class of the Order of the Zähringer Lion with Swords and the Baden Medal of Merit in silver.

After the Armistice of Compiègne and the demobilization of these departments, Weber was returned to his main regiment. After this regiment had also been demobilized, he joined the Baden Volunteer Battalion V. With the takeover of this Freikorps in the provisional Reichswehr Weber came in June 1919 to the I. Department of the Reichswehr Artillery Regiment 20. From October 1, 1920 to December 31, 1922 he acted as an intelligence officer in the staff of the III. Battalion of Infantry Regiment 3 or later in the staff of 1st Battalion of Infantry Regiment 2 . From January 1, 1923 Weber served as a company officer and platoon leader in the 14th (Baden) Infantry Regiment . He later worked as an intelligence officer, was first lieutenant on April 1, 1925 and captain on October 1, 1931 . As such, Weber was company commander until the end of December 1933 .

On January 1, 1934, Weber joined the Luftwaffe, which was being secretly set up, as a captain, and was an officer in the Reich Aviation Ministry (RLM) until 1934 . In the course of that year he was assigned to the combat pilot school in Lechfeld , where he taught as a weapons and bomb instructor and as a company commander. On April 1, 1935 he was appointed squadron captain and group commander in Kampfgeschwader 155 and promoted to major on June 1, 1935 . From March 1, 1937 Weber was head of the "Training" group in the command of the flying schools and substitute departments V, and later with the Higher Aviation Training Command 7.

He held this position as a lieutenant colonel , or from June 1, 1940, as a colonel from the beginning of the Second World War to July 29, 1940. Weber was then appointed commander of the 21st Flieger Regiment, which he commanded until September 1942. Subsequently, he was leader of the deployment staff of the 6th Air Force Field Division . On November 17, 1942, he took over the command of the Aviation Regiment 53, which he led until the end of November 1943. Weber then returned to the Reich Ministry of Aviation in Berlin and worked until 1944, initially as an aircraft stage manager and later as General, e.g. for the Quartermaster General of the Air Force in the RLM. As a major general Weber was in 1944 commander of Luftgau troops 3. At the end of the war he was taken prisoner by the British , from which he was released on March 5, 1948.

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 3: Odebrecht Zoch. Biblio Publishing House. Osnabrück 1992, ISBN 3-7648-2209-0 . P. 474f

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Reichswehr Ministry (Ed.): Ranking list of the German Reichsheeres. ES Mittler & Sohn . Berlin 1924. p. 185.