Günther von Maltzahn

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von Maltzahn July 1943 in Italy

Günther Freiherr von Maltzahn (born October 20, 1910 in Wodarg , Pomerania ; † June 24, 1953 in Düsseldorf ) was a German fighter pilot in World War II , most recently with the rank of colonel , and from 1940 to 1943 squad commodore of Jagdgeschwader 53 .

Life

Von Maltzahn , descendant of an ancient noble family from Mecklenburg and Western Pomerania , began his military career in 1931 with the 6th (Prussian) cavalry regiment of the Reichswehr . In 1935 he was transferred to the Air Force , where he completed pilot training.

When the Second World War broke out, he was captain and group commander of Group II of Jagdgeschwader 53, which was stationed in Wiesbaden-Erbenheim. After the campaign in the west , he became a squadron commodore of Jagdgeschwader 53 on October 9, 1940. He held this position until October 4, 1943. Shortly after, on October 24, 1940, he was promoted to major . After his 13th victory in the air, he was awarded the Knight's Cross on December 30, 1940 . On July 24, 1941, after 42 victories in the air, he received the Knight's Cross Oak Leaves.

From December 1941 he was deployed with his squadron in the Mediterranean. On October 5, 1943, he was appointed Colonel Fighter Pilot Northern Italy. Colonel Eduard Neumann replaced him in December 1944.

Von Maltzahn switched to the staff of the General der Fighter Pilot. He survived the war, in which he scored a total of 68 aerial victories, all but one against Western Allied opponents.

After the war he worked in the " Amt Blank " to rebuild the air force in what would later become the Bundeswehr and was designated as inspector of the air force. A life-size oil painting of him hung (or still hangs) in the command staff of the Air Force (FüL) in the Federal Ministry of Defense on the Hardthöhe in Bonn. On June 24, 1953, he died in Düsseldorf after a long illness ( lymphogranulomatosis ), the first symptoms of which appeared during the war.

Günther-von-Maltzahn-Straße in Fürstenfeldbruck is named after him.

literature

  • Jerry Scutts: BF 109 Aces of North Africa and the Mediterranean , Osprey Publishing, ISBN 1-85532-448-2 .

Web links

  • Christine Froechtenigt Harper: A Life for Germany: Günther Freiherr von Maltzahn, the German Air Force, and the Reinvention of the German Military Ethos. doi: 10.5281 / zenodo.1560670 In: Zenodo, October 16, 2018, accessed on December 21, 2018 (English).  

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jochen Prien, Gerhard Stemmer, Peter Rodeike and Winfried Bock: The fighter pilot associations of the German Air Force 1934 to 1945. Part 11 Volume II: Operation in the Mediterranean region 1.1. until December 31, 1943. P. 297 Online
  2. ↑ http://www.strassenkatalog.de/osm/guenther-von-maltzahn-strasse,17976783w.html
personal data
SURNAME Maltzahn, Günther von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Maltzahn, Günther Freiherr von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German fighter pilot, most recently colonel
DATE OF BIRTH October 20, 1910
PLACE OF BIRTH Wodarg , Pomerania
DATE OF DEATH June 24, 1953
Place of death Dusseldorf