Hans Korte (officer)

Hans Korte (born December 16, 1899 in Dannenberg (Elbe) ; † April 8, 1990 in Utting am Ammersee ) was a German major general in the Air Force during World War II .

Life

Korte joined the imperial army on March 1, 1918, in the final phase of the First World War . After the war he was accepted into the Reichswehr and served in the cavalry . After he was appointed lieutenant on December 1, he was promoted to first lieutenant on February 1, 1928 . From 1929 he took part in secret flight observer courses in the Soviet Union . From October 1, 1933 to June 30, 1935 he received general staff training at the Army War Academy in Berlin . During this time he was promoted to captain and officially switched to the newly established Air Force.

There he took on the task of a first general staff officer in Luftkreiskommando III in Dresden . On July 1, 1936, he moved to the General Staff of the Air Force, where he was promoted to major a little later . On March 31, 1938, he took over as group commander of the I. Group of Kampfgeschwader 255 (renamed as Kampfgeschwader 51 on May 1, 1939 ). At the beginning of the Second World War this was on bases in southern Germany and did not take part in the fighting in Poland . On December 18, 1939, he gave up the leadership of the group and on December 21 took over the leadership of a department in the Reich Ministry of Aviation . On May 23, 1940 he took over with the III. Gruppe des Kampfgeschwaders 55 again set up a bomber group. This began with the twin-engine Heinkel He 111 P just at the western campaign in part. After being promoted to lieutenant colonel on June 24, 1940, he took over the position of squadron commodore of Kampfgeschwader 55 on August 15, 1940. With Korte at the helm, the squadron took part in the Battle of Britain . On February 1, 1941, he moved as Chief of the General Staff to Luftgaukommando I in Königsberg , where he was promoted to colonel on March 1 . On July 20, 1941 he took over the post of the commanding general and commander of the Luftgau Command Southeast before he took over the General Staff of this command. On February 11, 1942 he became the commander of the 2nd Air Division and then the 17th Air Force Field Division . At the end of the year he took over the 13th Air Force Field Division as commander, combined with his promotion to Major General on July 1, 1943. On November 2, 1943, he changed to the staff of Air Fleet 1 before he was deputy 1 Paratrooper Division took over as commander. From February 22, 1944, he returned to the 2nd Fliegerdivision and led it until September 6, 1944. He then took over the post of Commanding General of the German Air Force in Greece , where he received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on September 30, 1944 . After temporarily no longer in command from October 3, 1944, he was appointed Commanding General of the Air Force Interception Staff West in the final phase of the war . On May 9, 1945 he was taken prisoner by the British and remained there until October 31, 1947.

Web links

• Henry L. deZeng IV, Douglas G. Stankey: Air Force Officer Career Summaries, Section G – K. (PDF) 2016, pp. 708–709 , accessed on April 22, 2017 (English).