Heinrich Bongartz

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Heinrich Bongartz

Heinrich Peter Bongartz (born January 31, 1892 in Walsum - Aldenrade , † January 23, 1946 in Rheinberg ) was a German officer and fighter pilot who achieved 33 confirmed aerial victories in the First World War .

Youth and education

He was the eldest son of the farmer Peter Michael Bongartz and his wife Catharina, née Elmendorf.

After attending the secondary school in Hamborn and the teachers 'seminar in Elten on the Lower Rhine, he passed the teachers' examination in 1912. Then Bongartz worked as a school teacher at the Hohenzollern School in Hamborn until 1914. Shortly before the war, he worked as a one-year volunteer with the infantry regiment "Freiherr von Sparr" (3rd Westphalian) No. 16 in Mülheim an der Ruhr .

First World War

From August 1914, Bongartz took part as a volunteer in the Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 13 as an infantryman in the fighting for Verdun . In March 1916 he was promoted to lieutenant in the reserve . In July 1916 he switched to the air force , where he was trained as a reconnaissance aircraft in the field aviation department FA 5 in Hanover and then as a pilot in Hamburg - Fuhlsbüttel . In October 1916 he took part in the battle squadron KG 5 as a bomb pilot in the summer battle . After deployments in Schutzstaffel 9 in early 1917, he was transferred to the newly formed Jasta 36 squadron.

On April 6, 1917, Bongartz achieved his first aerial victory near Vitry . More kills followed in quick succession, the 20th victory in November 1917. After recovering from a serious injury, he took over the leadership of Jagdstaffel 36. After the 27th aerial victory, Bongartz received the order Pour le Mérite from the hands of Kaiser Wilhelm II on December 23, 1917. Bongartz had already been with both classes of the Iron Cross as well as the Knight's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern with swords.

The council of his home parish Walsum held a ceremony on January 17, 1918 on the occasion of the award of the medal and established the "Leutnant Bongartz Foundation".

Bongartz achieved his 33rd and last victory in the air on March 27, 1918. A month later he was seriously injured in an aerial battle for the 6th time, where he lost his left eye, which meant the end of his career as a fighter pilot .

Interwar period

After the restoration, Bongartz was appointed head of the aircraft inspection facility in Berlin - Adlershof . During the unrest of the November Revolution of 1918, he was seriously injured in the leg while fighting against Spartakists . From 1919 a civilian activity followed as head of the airport of the Deutsche Luft-Reederei (a forerunner of Lufthansa ) in Gelsenkirchen . In January 1921, Bongartz crashed on a sightseeing flight and survived seriously injured.

After the closure of the Gelsenkirchen airport due to the provisions of the Versailles Treaty , he worked as sales director of a north German mineral oil refinery and later as an advisor to the newly founded air force . On February 1, 1936, Bongartz was promoted to Captain of the Reserve in Essen .

Second World War

During the Second World War , Bongartz , promoted to lieutenant colonel on August 27, 1939, was stationed in Pleskau on the Eastern Front from 1941 to 1942 . In 1943 he was transferred to Grove as a night fighter commandant , then in Denmark and in 1944 a night fighter command in Finland .

The reserve colonel survived the war . He died of a heart attack on January 23, 1946 in Rheinberg on the Lower Rhine and was buried on January 29, 1946 in the cemetery in Walsum-Aldenrade.

See also

literature

  • Karl-Friedrich Hildebrand, Christian Zweng: The knights of the order Pour le Mérite of the First World War. Volume 1: A-G. Biblio Publishing House. Osnabrück 1999. ISBN 3-7648-2505-7 . Pp. 153-155.
  • Aviator of World War. Issue 2, Berlin 1941. p. 56.
  • Report on the administration and the status of community affairs in the community and mayor's office of Walsum for the period from April 1, 1911 to March 31, 1923. Walsum 1923

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Walsum city panorama. dated January 22, 1992.
  2. ↑ Aviators of the World War. Book 2, p. 56. Berlin 1941.
  3. ^ Report on the administration and the status of community affairs in the community and mayor's office of Walsum for the period from April 1, 1911 to March 31, 1923. Walsum 1923.
  4. ↑ Fashion & Trends on flieger-album.de
  5. ↑ Biographies about Junkers ( Memento from February 6, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ Walsum city panorama. dated January 22, 1992
personal data
SURNAME Bongartz, Heinrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bongartz, Heinrich Peter (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German officer and fighter pilot in the First World War
DATE OF BIRTH January 31, 1892
PLACE OF BIRTH Walsum - Aldenrade
DATE OF DEATH January 23, 1946
Place of death Rheinberg