Hellmuth Bieneck

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Hellmuth Bieneck (born November 7, 1887 in Krotoschin , Province of Posen , † March 8, 1972 in Cologne ) was a German officer , most recently General of the Air Force Aviators in World War II .

Life

Early years and World War I

Bieneck joined the 4th Silesian Infantry Regiment No. 157 on March 27, 1907 , where he served as a flag junior until the end of September 1912 and later as a company officer . During this period took place on 18 November 1907 was promoted to ensign and on 18 August 1908, to lieutenant . He then held the position of company officer from October 1912 to May 1913 in the 9th West Prussian Infantry Regiment No. 176 . Then Bieneck switched to the air force on June 1, 1913 . There he completed his training as a pilot in Leipzig by the end of September 1913 . In this capacity, Bieneck then flew from October 1913 to August 1, 1914 in the Aviator Battalion No. 1 in Döberitz .

After the beginning of the First World War , in August 1914 Bieneck initially acted as a pilot in the fortress aviation department in Poznan . He was then used as a pilot in Feldflieger -teilung 36 , where he was promoted to first lieutenant on November 18, 1914 . Then Bieneck flew as a squadron leader in Kampfgeschwader 4 and Kampfgeschwader 7 , both of which were subordinate to the Supreme Army Command (OHL). Here he was appointed captain on April 18, 1916 . During the last months of the war, and beyond until December 1918, Bieneck then acted as leader of Flieger -teilung 301 in Palestine . During the war, in addition to the Iron Cross II and I Class, he was also awarded the Knight's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern with Swords, the Austrian Military Merit Cross III. Class awarded with the war decoration and the Iron Crescent .

Interwar years

After his return to Germany and takeover in the Reichswehr , Bieneck initially served at Brieg Air Base from 1919 to September 1920 . He was then from October 1920 to June 1925 chief of the 10th Company in the 16th Infantry Regiment . He then moved to the position of an aviator adviser on the staff of the 6th Division , where he was promoted to major on April 1, 1929 . On April 30, 1929, Bieneck resigned from military service , and on the following day, May 1, 1929, now as a civilian, he was appointed head of the secret flight training of the Reichswehr at the Aviation School in Lipetsk , near Moscow . Bieneck initially held this function until October 1, 1929. He then acted from October 2, 1929 to April 30, 1930 as head of the secret flight training in the Reichswehr Ministry (RWM) in Berlin and then from May to October 3, 1930 again in Lipetsk. After his return to Berlin, Bieneck acted again from October 4, 1930 to April 4, 1932 as head of the secret flight training at RWM. On July 5, 1932 he was appointed head of Group V of the German Aviation School in Braunschweig , where he became a lieutenant colonel on October 1, 1933 . D. and was appointed Flieger-Vice-Commodore on March 1, 1934 .

On April 1, 1934, Bieneck resigned from his previous position and joined the Luftwaffe , where he initially worked as a training manager for the inspection of flying schools in the Reich Aviation Ministry until the end of March 1935 . On April 1, 1935, he rose to the position of Chief of Staff of the Command of the Aviation Schools and Aircraft Weapons Schools , with simultaneous promotion to Colonel . An activity that Bieneck held until the end of September 1936. From October 1936 to June 1938, Bieneck , promoted to major general on January 1, 1938 , served as senior aviator commander 5 . On July 1, 1938, this position was renamed to the staff of the 4th Aviation Division , of which Bieneck remained in command until the end of January 1939. At the height of the Sudeten crisis , in the event of a war between Germany and Czechoslovakia , the division, together with the 3rd Flieger Division, was supposed to cover the western airspace against possible counter-reactions by the western allies. On February 1, 1939, Bieneck gave command to General der Flieger Alfred Keller and was appointed commander of the Higher Air Force School in Berlin-Gatow . Bieneck managed this until August 24, 1939.

Second World War

In the course of the general mobilization , on August 25, 1939, Bieneck was appointed commander of the air force in Army Group C , which was entrusted with security tasks during the attack on Poland on the western border with France . On October 25, 1939, Bieneck was detached from this Army Group and appointed Commander of the Air Force in Army Group B , from which he, however, left at the end of the year. Promoted to lieutenant general on January 1, 1940 , Bieneck acted as commander of the higher air force schools until February 16, 1941. On February 17, 1941 he was appointed Commanding General and Commander in Luftgau II Posen , in whose position he was promoted to General of the Airmen on July 1, 1941 . On January 15, 1943, the Luftgau was dissolved and Bieneck was transferred to the Führerreserve by the end of July 1943 . There he was posted from March 10 to April 6, 1943 at the Bordighera Air Force Recreation Home . On July 26, 1943, he was also awarded the German Silver Cross here. On August 1, 1943, Bieneck was assigned to the service area of ​​the Luftgau Command I in Königsberg , where he was appointed Commanding General and Commander of this Luftgau Command on August 16, 1943. On August 9, 1944, Bieneck resigned from this position and rejoined the Führerreserve. On December 31, 1944 he was released from military service . A prisoner of war did not follow after the end of the war.

post war period

After the war, Bieneck wrote the publication History of Luftgau Command II Posen in World War II .

literature

  • Karl Friedrich Hildebrand: The Generals of the German Air Force 1935–1945, Part II, Volume 1: Abernetty – v.Gyldenfeldt , Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1990, ISBN 3-7648-1701-1 , pp. 81–82

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hans Ehlert , Armin Wagner: Comrade General! - The military elite of the GDR in biographical sketches , Links Verlag (2003), ISBN 978-3861533122 , p. 183, footnote 12, short biography available at google.books
  2. ↑ Ranking list of the German Reichsheeres , Ed .: Reichswehrministerium , Mittler & Sohn , Berlin 1924, p. 148.
  3. ↑ Marian Zgorniak: Europa am Abgrund , Lit-Verlag 2002, ISBN 978-3825860622 , p. 161, view available at google.books
  4. ^ Wiegand Schmidt-Richberg, Karl Heinz Völker: The General Staffs in Germany 1871-1945 , Volume 3, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt 1962, p. 284, view available at google.books
  5. ↑ Horst Boog : The German Reich on the Defensive , compilation Das Deutsche Reich and the Second World War , Volume 7. Ed. Military History Research Office , Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt 2001, ISBN 978-3421055071 , p. 194, outline under google.books
  6. ↑ Horst Boog: The attack on the Soviet Union , Volume 4, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt 1983, ISBN 978-3421060983 , p. 1119, outline under google.books
personal data
SURNAME Bieneck, Hellmuth
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German officer, most recently General der Flieger in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH November 7, 1887
PLACE OF BIRTH Krotoschin
DATE OF DEATH March 8, 1972
Place of death Cologne