Hermann Greiner (officer)

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Georg-Hermann Greiner (born January 2, 1920 in Heidenheim ; † September 26, 2014 in Wangen im Allgäu ) was an officer in the German Air Force during World War II . As a captain , he was awarded the Oak Leaves for the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross for his achievements in night hunting .

Life

Career in the Third Reich

Greiner joined the Air Force on October 1, 1938 as an officer candidate . After four months of basic training, he began as a cadet with his flight training in the Air War College Berlin-Gatow , where he earned his pilot's license on 30 October 1939th He attended the pilot school C in Alt-Lönnewitz , where he was trained in flying multi-engine aircraft types. Further training stations were the reconnaissance school near Großenhain , the blind flight school in Neuburg an der Donau , the destroyer school 2 near Memmingen , the fighter pilot school 2 in Schleissheim and the night hunting school in Stuttgart-Echterdingen . On October 1, 1941, after completing his pilot training as a lieutenant, he was assigned to Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 in Stade near Hamburg , to which he belonged until the end of the war, with a few intermediate stops.

On April 20, 1944 he was promoted to first lieutenant and on November 1, 1944 appointed commander of the IV group in his squadron. In this position he was awarded the 840th Oak Leaves for the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on April 17, 1945 as captain. Greiner injured his leg during a night mission in March 1945. He did not fly any more missions until the end of the war on May 8, 1945.

During the war, Greiner flew a total of 204 missions in which he shot down 51 enemy aircraft, 47 of them during the night.

In December ? Greiner was awarded the Cup of Honor for special achievement in aerial warfare . On March 29, 1944, Greiner was awarded the German Cross in Gold, the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on July 27, 1944.

Life after the war

After being taken prisoner in a camp in Schleswig-Holstein , Greiner was released and returned to his mother near Stuttgart . Greiner, who wanted to continue flying, decided to go to Switzerland with his friend Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer . They wanted to get in touch with South American consulates in order to start a new life as pilots there. While trying to cross the border illegally on September 23, 1946, Greiner and Schnaufer were arrested and interned by. They were released six months later. Greiner studied in Bonn Jura and married in 1949. After his initial job as a sales representative of a textile factory, he joined in August 1957 as a captain in the Air Force at. In 1974 he retired from the Air Force with the rank of lieutenant colonel .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 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. 347.
  2. ^ Luftwaffe.cz about the life of Hermann Greiner. (English)
  3. ↑ Oliver Clutton-Brock, Ray Crompton: The long road. Grub Street London 2013. ISBN 978-1-909166-20-2 . P. 40.
personal data
SURNAME Greiner, Hermann
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Greiner, Georg-Hermann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German lieutenant colonel, night fighter in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH January 2, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH Heidenheim
DATE OF DEATH September 26, 2014
Place of death Wangen in the Allgäu