Hans-Detlef Herhudt from Rohden

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Hans-Detlef Herhudt von Rohden (born September 23, 1899 in Liegnitz , † December 14, 1951 in Wiesbaden ) was a German major general in the Air Force in World War II .

Life

Herhudt von Rohden served in the artillery of the imperial army during the First World War . After the war he stayed with the newly created Reichswehr and was promoted to first lieutenant on November 1, 1925 . He spoke fluent Russian and from November 1, 1929 participated in the secret pilot training in the Soviet Lipetsk . After he achieved the rank of Rittmeister on August 1, 1933 , he switched to the German Air Sports Association , a cover organization of the future air force, on April 1, 1934 .

On May 1, Herhudt von Rohden took over duties in the general staff of the now officially established Air Force, where he was promoted to major on September 1, 1935 . On March 1, 1937, he took over the post of group commander of Group II of Jagdgeschwader 334 with the simultaneous exercise of air base commander of Mannheim-Sandhofen air base . He then went to the Wehrmacht Academy on October 7, 1937 , where he was promoted to lieutenant colonel on February 1, 1938 .

On April 1, 1938, Herhudt moved from Rohden to III. Gruppe des Kampfgeschwader 152 (later Kampfgeschwader 1 ) and took over the task of group commander until November 1st. He then moved to the 2nd Group of Training Squadron 1 in the same function . He stayed there until April 1, 1939 and then took over several staff positions, before serving briefly in Group II of Kampfgeschwader 26 on August 26, 1939 .

When the attack on Poland began , Herhudt von Rohden switched back to Lehrgeschwader 1 and took part in the fighting as part of Air Fleet 1 . On October 1, 1939, he took on the role of course leader and tactics teacher at Air War School 2 in Berlin-Gatow. In June / July 1940 he acted as a substitute for the failed squadron commodore of Kampfgeschwader 4 . On July 30, he was promoted to Colonel and on February 20, 1941, he became Chief of Staff of the IV Air Corps. With this air corps he took part in the first months of the German-Soviet War in the south of the Eastern Front.

On October 1, 1941, Herhudt von Rohden took over the same function at IX. Air Corps of Air Fleet 3 in Western Europe. About a year later he moved back to the Eastern Front and became Chief of the General Staff of Air Fleet 4 , where he stayed until February 23, 1943. He then moved to Luftflotte 1 on the Eastern Front , where he was also Chief of Staff. There he received the German Cross in Gold on April 20, 1943 . On August 24, 1943, he moved as chief of the 8th Department (war science department) of the General Staff of the Air Force, where he was promoted to major general on October 1, 1943. He was captured by the US on May 1, 1945, from which he was released in 1947.

Herhudt von Rohden was commissioned by the organizer of the Berlin Airlift , General William H. Tunner , who is based at the Schwarzen Bock in Wiesbaden , to recruit and deploy German aircraft mechanics ; Rohden, who spoke fluent English, quickly organized the necessary personnel, so that ultimately - as an exception to the existing fraternization and employment ban - more Germans than Americans worked as mechanics.

With Herhudt von Rohden, Tunner also discussed the causes of the failure of the most famous German airlift in the Second World War to besieged Stalingrad . This failure had confirmed the Russians in their assessment that the American airlift would also fail soon, but in winter at the latest.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ "fully conversant ... with the English language"; Tunner, Over the hump , Chapter The Berlin Airlift, p. 183 f.
  2. ↑ "almost overnight"; ibid
  3. ↑ The modest target delivery of 300 to daily ("that modest number") was not achieved, only 90 to. The reasons for this were "too many planes ... hastily summoned ... not winterized"; ibid, p. 184.
  4. ↑ Ibid., P. 184.
personal data
SURNAME Rohden, Hans-Detlef Herhudt from
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German major general in the Luftwaffe in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH September 23, 1899
PLACE OF BIRTH Liegnitz
DATE OF DEATH December 14, 1951
Place of death Wiesbaden