Hans-Joachim Herrmann (aviator)

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Hans-Joachim Herrmann, 1944

Hans-Joachim ( "Hajo") Herrmann (* 1. August 1913 in Kiel , † 5. November 2010 in Dusseldorf ) was a German combat and fighter pilot during World War II , most recently with the rank of colonel . He then worked as a lawyer who u. a. well-known old and neo-Nazis , Holocaust deniers and right-wing extremists defended.

Use in World War II

Herrmann joined the Hamburg police in May 1933 and switched to the newly formed Air Force on August 1, 1935 . He gained his first flying experience as a lieutenant in the Fliegergruppe Nordhausen before moving to the 9th Squadron of Kampfgeschwader 253 in the summer of 1936 . From August 1936 to April 1937 he was used as a bomber pilot in the Condor Legion in the Spanish Civil War. In June 1938 he was promoted to first lieutenant and in September 1939 he switched to the 7th squadron of Kampfgeschwader 4 . On June 20, 1940, he took over the leadership of this squadron as a squadron captain and led it during the Battle of Britain until October 1940, in which he a. a. participated in the attacks on the India Docks in the great Thames loop in east London . After a number of other missions, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on October 13, 1940 .

In October 1940, the entire 7th Squadron changed to Kampfgeschwader 30 . Herrmann remained her squadron captain and was promoted to captain on December 19, 1940. In 1941 he briefly took over the 1st Airport Operations Company of Kampfgeschwader 54 as company commander, before returning to his old squadron in April 1941. From May 23 to September 1, 1941 he exercised the function of First General Staff Officer (Ia) of the IX. Air Corps from. On September 1, 1941, he took over as group commander of the leadership of the III. Group of Kampfgeschwader 30. With this he was relocated to the Mediterranean and flew several air raids on the strategically important British naval base of Malta . During the bombing of allied Northern Sea convoys to the Soviet port of Murmansk , which took place from Norwegian airfields, he gained experience in fighting ships. In July 1942 he moved to the air force command staff, where he was appointed major on March 1, 1943.

Hermann recognized quite early that the German night hunt was losing combat power, and on June 27, 1943 suggested to the commanding general of the night hunters, Josef Kammhuber , that day hunters operate directly over the attack area using a specially developed procedure - "Wilde Sau" - which this initially refused. It was only when the British Royal Air Force launched Operation Gomorrah (devastating air raids on Hamburg with a firestorm ) on July 25, 1943 that it was decided to test the new procedure. The Jagdgeschwader 300 "Wilde Sau" was set up. Hermann rose to the rank of squadron commodore and division commander and finally held the rank of colonel. The defense against Allied night bomber attacks became more efficient; for this Hermann received on August 2, 1943 the oak leaves for the Knight's Cross . Herrmann was considered a confidante of Hermann Göring , who due to his organizational skills - often bypassing the air force hierarchy - entrusted him with special tasks regarding the defense of the Reich against the Allied bombings.

His achievements in the defense of the Reich were recognized on January 23, 1944 with the award of the swords to the Knight's Cross. Herrmann was the initiator of the Sonderkommando Elbe (also known as the Rammjäger ), a unit that was supposed to crash enemy bombers by ramming them. In April 1945 the first pilots of this association came to war.

During the war he made 370 enemy flights, and was shot down four times.

Activities after 1945

In May 1945, Herrmann came in captivity in the Soviet Union , he from the October 12, 1955 in the Federal Republic of Germany returned . He then took up law studies and settled in Düsseldorf as a lawyer in 1965 . Herrmann, who himself represented National Socialist theses until the end of his life, soon became a well-known defender of old and neo-Nazis , Holocaust deniers and right-wing extremists . Among his clients were General a. D. Otto Ernst Remer , the British author David Irving as well as the self-proclaimed "gas chamber expert" and because of his results as a Holocaust denier condemned Fred A. Leuchter . Herrmann also published books on World War II and was a speaker for DVU and NPD . As a bearer of the Knight's Cross, he belonged to the order community of knight cross bearers.

Private

Since 1959 Herrmann was married to the singer and university professor Ingeborg Reichelt . The marriage has two children. Hajo Herrmann's burial at sea took place in front of his place of birth.

Awards

  • Iron Cross (1939) 2nd and 1st class
  • Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with oak leaves and swords
    • Knight's Cross on October 13, 1940
    • Oak leaves on August 2, 1943 (269th award)
    • Swords on January 23, 1944 (43rd award)
  • German cross in gold on June 5, 1942
  • Front flight clasp in gold
  • Cross of Spain in bronze with swords

See also

Journalistic activity

  • Moving life - Combat and fighter pilots 1935-1945 , Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1984, ISBN 3-613-01008-9
  • When the hunt was over - My flight into Soviet captivity , Universitas, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-8004-1167-9
  • "Supersoldiers" - The Wehrmacht in the judgment of foreign experts , FZ-Verlag , 2006, ISBN 3-924309-77-9 (as editor)
  • Memories of a German Air Force Officer , polar film , 2006, self-spoken audio book on 2 CDs
  • Little Odyssey - The air raid on the port of Piraeus , 2007, audio book on 2 CDs, Herrmann speaks the introduction

Web links

Commons : Hajo Herrmann  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Obituaries Hans-Joachim Herrmann in: The Daily Telegraph of November 24, 2010
  2. ^ A b c Henry L. deZeng IV, Douglas G. Stankey: Air Force Officer Career Summaries, Section G – K. (PDF) (No longer available online.) 2016, pp. 293–294 , archived from the original on December 22, 2016 ; accessed on February 4, 2017 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ww2.dk
  3. ↑ Married in the church of Nienstedten ( Memento from July 27, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ The family's obituary in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, November 2010
  5. ↑ a b Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearer 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. 385.
personal data
SURNAME Herrmann, Hans-Joachim
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Herrmann, Hajo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German fighter and fighter pilot, lawyer
DATE OF BIRTH August 1, 1913
PLACE OF BIRTH Kiel
DATE OF DEATH 5th November 2010
Place of death Dusseldorf