Eugen Meindl

Major General Eugen Meindl (1942)

Eugen Albert Max Meindl (born July 16, 1892 in Donaueschingen , † January 24, 1951 in Munich ) was a German parachute troop general during World War II .

Life

General Eugen Meindl at the awarding of medals / medals to paratroopers on June 21, 1944

Meindl occurred on 27 July 1912 as a cadet in the second sub-Alsatian Field Artillery Regiment. 67 of the Prussian army in Hagenau and became on 17 February 1914 Lieutenant . During the First World War he was first platoon leader and later battery leader and adjutant at Artillery Command 52. For his work he was awarded both classes of the Iron Cross , the Knight's Cross II. Class of the Albrecht Order and the Order of the Zähringer Lion with Swords, the Austrian Military Merit Cross III. Class awarded with the war decoration and the Iron Crescent . He ended the war as first lieutenant (since April 18, 1917); then he was accepted into the Reichswehr .

This was followed by assignments in various artillery regiments and his promotion to captain on August 1, 1924. With effect from September 15, 1933, he was assigned to the Jüterbog artillery school . He was promoted to major on April 1, 1934 and was subsequently commander of the 1st Division of Artillery Regiment 5 in Donaueschingen . In the meantime promoted to lieutenant colonel on August 2, 1936 , on November 10, 1938, he became commander of the 112 Mountain Artillery Regiment in Graz , which was subordinate to the 3rd Mountain Division .

Second World War

With this association Meindl, after he had been promoted to colonel on April 1, 1939 , first took part in the attack on Poland at the outbreak of World War II and was then used with the "Group Meindl" in the occupation of Norway in Narvik . On October 31, 1940, he resigned from the army and was accepted into the Air Force on November 1, 1940 . On January 1, 1941, he was promoted to major general .

On May 16, 1941, Meindl took command of Kampfgruppe West for use in Crete. On May 20, 1941, he took part in the Merkur operation and, despite a serious wound, played a key role in the capture of the strategically important Maleme airfield . For this he received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and was named in the Wehrmacht report. After a lengthy stay in the hospital , he became the commander of the Meindl Air Force Division on February 26, 1942 , which was later renamed the 21st Air Force Field Division . With her he was deployed on the Eastern Front in the fighting for Staraya Russa , Demjansk and Cholm and was awarded the German Cross in Gold on July 27, 1942 . With effect from October 1, 1942, he was appointed Commanding General of the XIII. Air Corps appointed. On February 1, 1943, he was promoted to lieutenant general . On August 1, 1943, at the same time he was transferred to the Air Force High Command , he was appointed Inspector of the Air Force Inspection 18 "Lw.-Field Units". From February 5, 1943, he took over as commanding general of the II. Parachute Corps and with this association was directly involved in the fighting after the Allied invasion of France. On April 1, 1944, he was promoted to General of the Parachute Force. For his leadership in the Falaise pocket , he received the Oak Leaves for the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (564th award). With the remnants of his large association, he fought on the western front in the Netherlands and in Germany near Wesel until the end of the war .

Meindl was a US prisoner of war from May 25, 1945 , from which he was released on September 29, 1947.

literature

Franz Thomas, Günter Wegmann: The knight's cross bearers of the German Wehrmacht 1939–1945. Part II: Paratroopers. Biblio-Verlag, Osnabrück 1986, ISBN 3-7648-1461-6 .

Web links

Commons : Eugen Meindl - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ Reichswehr Ministry (Ed.): Ranking list of the German Reichsheeres. ES Mittler & Sohn , Berlin 1930, p. 140.
↑ ^a ^b ^c Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearers 1939–1945. The holders of the Iron Cross of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and armed forces allied with Germany according to the documents of the Federal Archives. 2nd edition, Scherzers Militaer-Verlag, Ranis / Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2 , p. 159.

personal data
SURNAME	Meindl, Eugene
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Meindl, Eugen Albert Max (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German general of the parachute force in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH	July 16, 1892
PLACE OF BIRTH	Donaueschingen
DATE OF DEATH	January 24, 1951
Place of death	Munich

[1] Reichswehr Ministry (Ed.): Ranking list of the German Reichsheeres. ES Mittler & Sohn , Berlin 1930, p. 140.

[Scherzer-2] Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearers 1939–1945. The holders of the Iron Cross of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and armed forces allied with Germany according to the documents of the Federal Archives. 2nd edition, Scherzers Militaer-Verlag, Ranis / Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2 , p. 159.