Hans-Joachim Rath

Hans-Joachim Rath (born December 11, 1894 in Berlin ; † May 10, 1968 in Bad Neuenahr ) was a German major general in the Air Force during World War II .

Life

Rath joined the imperial army on March 22, 1914 as an officer candidate and served in the infantry . After the beginning of the First World War he switched to the air force , where he also experienced the end of the war as a lieutenant .

After that he stayed for the time being in the newly founded Reichswehr , but then resigned as first lieutenant on December 31, 1920 . From 1924 he took over tasks in the Reich Ministry of Economics before moving to the Reich Ministry of Aviation on March 1, 1933 .

On May 1, 1933, he took over the leadership of the Air Defense Department , where he was promoted to captain on January 1, 1934 . He then moved on June 1, 1935 as a squadron captain to the Fliegergruppe Giebelstadt, where he was promoted to major on September 1, 1935 . On May 1, 1936, he moved to Air District Command III as adjutant and after being promoted to Lieutenant Colonel on October 1, 1937 , he became Second General Staff Officer (Ib) of Air District Command I. On April 1, 1939, he took over the post of IIa in Air Fleet 1 took part with this in the attack on Poland in the north of the Eastern Front. From 15 November 1939, he took over as group commander of the I. group of combat squadron 4 . He led this group, which was equipped with the twin-engine Heinkel He 111 bomber , in the campaign in the west that began on May 10, 1940 . As early as May 23, 1940, he temporarily took over the leadership of Kampfgeschwaders 4 and was promoted to colonel on June 1, 1940 . On July 23, 1940 he was squadron commodore and led the squadron in the Battle of Britain and at the beginning of the German-Soviet War . During this time the squadron took part in the air raids on Moscow . On December 23, 1941 he received the German Cross in Gold and on May 9, 1942, the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross . On June 1, 1942, he gave up the command of the squadron and became commander of the Great Fighting School 4 in Thorn. After that, from October 1, 1942, he was assigned to the front as a pilot, assignments to the staff of the X. Fliegerkorps and the Air Force Command Southeast. On October 15, 1943, he took over as commander of the 2nd Aviation Training Division and, from November 1st, the 1st Aviation School Division. He stayed at this post until the end of the war and was promoted to major general on December 1, 1943. He was taken prisoner of war on May 8, 1945, from which he was released in June 1947.

Web links

• Henry L. deZeng IV, Douglas G. Stankey: Air Force Officer Career Summaries, Section L – R. (PDF) 2016, pp. 606–607 , accessed on April 21, 2017 (English).