Hans-Joachim Buddecke

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hans-Joachim Buddecke (1916)

Hans-Joachim Buddecke (born August 22, 1890 in Berlin , † March 10, 1918 in Lille ) was a German officer and fighter pilot in the First World War .

Life

Adolf August Hans-Joachim Buddecke, born as the son of the Hessian lieutenant Albert Buddecke during his training at the war academy in Berlin, joined the cadet corps in the spring of 1904 and on June 1, 1910 came as a lieutenant in the Life Guard Infantry Regiment (1 . Grand Ducal Hessian) No. 115 . However, Buddecke resigned in 1913, was released from the reserve and emigrated to the USA, where he trained as a pilot.

After the outbreak of the First World War, Buddecke came under false papers as “Mr. Morize Adolph ”on the Greek steamer“ Athene ” back to Germany via Palermo to volunteer with the air force . He reached the front as early as September 1914.

In 1915, Buddecke achieved his first aerial victory with a Fokker monoplane at Field Aviation Department 23 . With machine gun fire he killed the opposing pilot and watched as his observer dared to climb over to his dying comrade, grabbed the control stick and landed the plane happily. As a successful fighter pilot, he was awarded both classes of the Iron Cross in 1915 , the Knight's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern with Swords and the Knight's Cross of the Saxon Military St. Heinrichs Order awarded.

Visiting card as chief of the aviators Gallipoli

At the end of 1915 Buddecke was transferred to the German military mission (Feldfliegerabteilung 6) in Turkey to fight as a fighter pilot at the Battle of Gallipoli , successfully repelling Allied air raids on Turkish targets and winning several aerial victories. The commander in chief of the Turkish army, Enver Pascha , personally awarded him the Golden Liakat Medal . On April 14, 1916 he received the Prussian order Pour le Mérite .

In September 1916 the Western Front returned, he took over from the previous Kampfeinsitzerkommando seater command formed Vaux (KEK Vaux) Hunting Season 4 in Vaux-en-Vermandois in Roupy to the successful fighter pilot Walter Höhndorf, Kurt Wintgens , Ernst von Althaus , Wilhelm Frankl , Otto Bernert and his friend Rudolf Berthold belonged. However, the latter soon left the season to take over the Jasta 14. Here, too, Buddecke achieved several aerial victories, but in January 1917 he returned to Turkey to Field Aviation Department 5 to once again secure the airspace over the Dardanelles , this time as chief of the aviators in Gallipoli. With the Turkish soldiers he earned the honorary name "El Schahin" ("hunting falcon").

Buddecke did not return to the western front until the spring of 1918 to take over command of Jagdstaffel 30 before the start of the spring offensive. When Rudolf Berthold was seriously wounded on March 8, 1918, Buddecke also took over his squadron.

On March 10, 1918 Buddecke, who had meanwhile achieved 13 recognized aerial victories, rose with seven pilots of the Jasta 18 to intercept a British squadron of 18 aircraft near Lille . His airmen succeeded in pushing the squadron away, but Buddecke was fatally hit by a machine gun missile over Harnes just behind the German lines.

dig

Guard of honor at the coffin of Buddecke

When laying out his coffin, it is noticeable that his medal pillow was the only Turkish decoration to show the Iron Crescent , although Buddecke received a total of six Turkish awards. He was the only German aviator to receive the Imtiaz and Liakat medals in gold and silver.

Buddecke is buried in the Invalidenfriedhof in Berlin. His grave is adorned with a tombstone designed by the Jena artist Christoph Natter . The slender stele, influenced by Expressionism , ends in a stylized hunting bird, which can be understood as an allusion to the honorary name “El Shahin”.

gallery

Fonts

  • "El Schahin" The hunting falcon. From my aviation life. Publishing house August Scherl, Berlin 1918.

literature

  • Karl-Friedrich Hildebrand, Christian Zweng: The knights of the order Pour le Mérite of the First World War. Volume 1: AG. Biblio Publishing House. Osnabrück 1999. ISBN 3-7648-2505-7 . Pp. 217-218.
  • Hanns Möller: History of the knights of the order pour le mérite in the world war. Volume I: A-L. Bernard & Graefe publishing house. Berlin 1935. pp. 167-169.

Web links

Commons : Hans-Joachim Buddecke  - Collection of images, videos and audio files