Hans-Jürgen von Witzendorff

Hans-Jürgen von Witzendorff (born December 10, 1893 in Gnesen ; † May 15, 1961 in Delmenhorst ) was a German officer , most recently Lieutenant General in the Air Force in World War II .

Life

Promotions

• November 19, 1912 Ensign
• August 18, 1913 Lieutenant
• October 5, 1916 First Lieutenant
• April 4, 1921 Character as a captain
• August 1, 1933 captain
• January 1, 1935 Major
• October 1, 1937 Lieutenant Colonel
• 1st August 1939 Colonel
• January 30, 1943 Major General
• January 30, 1945 Lieutenant General

Early years

Witzendorff occurred on 18 March 1912 as a cadet in the field artillery regiment "of Peucker" (1st Silesian) no. 6 of the Prussian army , where he remained until the end of July 1914 and in the meantime after his promotion to lieutenant as platoon leader was used.

First World War

During the First World War , Witzendorff was initially an orderly officer and later a platoon and battery driver. In June 1915 he moved to the staff of the 11th Infantry Division as orderly . He was then from October 8, 1916 to October 2, 1917 in the General Staff of the General Command z. b. V. 55 used as first lieutenant. Then Witzendorff was again from October 8, 1917 to May 2, 1918 battery leader in the field artillery regiment No. 277 and in his main regiment. In the last months of the war he acted from May 3, 1918 as 2nd and later 1st adjutant in the General Command z. b. V. 55.

In the course of demobilization after the end of the war, Witzendorff resigned from active military service on March 31, 1920.

Interwar period

On July 1, 1926, Witzendorff was employed as an L-officer and captain in the Reichswehr . In this rank he served at the staff of the 2nd Cavalry Division until the end of July 1933 . On August 1, 1933, he was officially reactivated for the army and was then a consultant in the Reichswehr Ministry until the end of April 1934 , where he was deployed in the N-Flak department. In May 1934 Witzendorff was deployed to the staff of the 1st Division of the 3rd Artillery Regiment . In this function he suffered severe leg injuries in a work accident on June 2, 1934, which resulted in a leg amputation. After his recovery (conditionally fit for the front), he became squadron chief of driving department 12 on October 1, 1934 . On April 1, 1935, Witzendorff transferred to the Luftwaffe, where he was battery chief in Flak Regiment 12 until the end of September 1936 . From October 1936 until the end of January 1938 he was in command of the 1st Division of Flak Regiment 20 , or after its renaming, Flak Regiment 7 . In order to use his wealth of experience as an anti-aircraft and battery officer, Witzendorff acted from February 1938 to November 14, 1938 as the commander of the training staff at the anti-aircraft gun school in Rerik / Wustow .

Second World War

On November 15, 1938 he was given command of Flak Regiment 26 , which was known as Flak Group Bremen . At the end of January 1941 he handed over command to Lieutenant Colonel Hans Frielinghaus and became the commander of the 8th Flak Brigade . As early as June 25, 1941, however, he was appointed higher commander of the anti-aircraft replacement regiments, whose fate he directed until April 10, 1943. In this function, Witzendorff was appointed major general on January 30, 1943 . He was then commander of the Flak Replacement Division and Flak Training Division until the end of January 1945 . On January 30, 1945 Witzendorff was promoted to lieutenant general and again acted as commander of the anti-aircraft replacement division . After the division of the German Reich into a north and south combat area in April 1945, he took over as combat commander the Flak School and Replacement Division South with a command post in Munich . On April 18, 1945, he and his division staff were taken prisoner by the US at Rosenheim , from which he was released on May 23, 1947.

literature

• Dermot Bradley (ed.), Karl Friedrich Hildebrandt: Die Generale der Luftwaffe 1935–1945 , Volume 1: Abernetty - v. Gyldenfeldt, Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1990, ISBN 3-7648-2207-4 , p. 536f.