Hermann Hogeback

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Hermann Hogeback (born August 25, 1914 in Oberstein ; † February 15, 2004 in Dötlingen ) was a German Air Force officer and fighter pilot in the Air Force during World War II . As the bearer of the swords for the oak leaves of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, Hogeback ranks alongside Werner Baumbach , Joachim Helbig and Dietrich Peltz as one of the four most distinguished fighter pilots in the Air Force.

biography

Early years and military training

As the son of a tax inspector , Hogeback spent his youth in Idar-Oberstein . From the age of 21 he lived in Münster . After graduating from high school , Hogeback became a soldier and joined the Wehrmacht on July 1, 1934 . There he was used in the army of the 9th Company of Infantry Regiment 15 in Kassel . In July 1935 he switched to the Air Force . There Hogeback completed his training as a pilot . Then he was assigned to the III. Group of the training squadron 1 .

Legion Condor

In 1938 Hogeback took part in the Spanish Civil War as part of the Condor Legion as a fighter pilot in combat group K / 88 . Here Hogeback was hit by flak on his first mission on September 13, 1938 and had to make an emergency landing with his He 111 between the fronts. Only that night could the seriously wounded Hogeback and his crew be rescued by Moroccan units. After two months in hospital, he returned to the Condor Legion. After his return to Germany, Hogepack had already completed over 100 enemy flights. For his service with the Condor Legion he received the Spanish Cross in Gold with Swords.

Second World War

With the beginning of the Second World War , Hogeback took part in the Association of Lehrgeschwader 1 in the III. Group at the raid on Poland . The squadron was subordinate to the Luftwaffe-Lehr-Division under the command of Luftflotte 1 . In September 1939 the III. Group to Hogeback subordinated to Luftflotte 2 . In the western campaign from May 1940, the group flew around Hogeback further missions. In the ensuing Battle of Britain , Hogeback flew 28 attacks on the British capital, London . At the beginning of 1941, the group around Hogeback was still flying against England. This was followed by operations in the Balkan campaign over Yugoslavia . After the squadron was moved to the Mediterranean area , Hogeback mainly flew attacks against ship and ground targets. Among other things also missions at Tobruk and in the tank battle at Sollum . Off Sicily, Hogeback sank a freighter with 10,000 GRT with his Ju 88 . After 163 enemy flights, Hogeback was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross as first lieutenant and squadron captain in LG 1 on September 8, 1941 .

In mid-November 1941, his squadron was relocated to the Eastern Front. Here the III. Group of LG 1 deployments over the Crimea and in 1942 in the battle for Sevastopol there . In July 1942, Hogeback was appointed commander of the III. Group of LG 1 appointed. In September 1942, Hogeback's group was pulled out of the front line in the east and relocated to northern France. Here, on September 24, 1942, Hogeback was awarded the German Cross in Gold as a captain . In November 1942 his group was in Creil in the III. Group of Kampfgeschwader 6 renamed. In January 1943 the III. Group still in the reconstruction phase in Creil. Attacks on the British mainland then followed. Here Hogeback received, in the rank of captain and after 416 enemy flights, on February 20, 1943 for the services of his III. Group in LG 1 was the 191st Wehrmacht soldier to be awarded the Knight's Cross. In March 1943, Hogeback was promoted to major . On August 12, 1943, Hogeback, meanwhile in the rank of lieutenant colonel , was appointed commodore of KG 6 . Here he was Walter Storp's successor . Hogeback's squadron was in Italy as early as July 1943 to repel the Allied invasion there . In October 1943, his squadron was split up. While the III. Group was stationed in Greece , the rest of the squadron returned to France. In the winter of 1943/44 the squadron flew missions as part of the Steinbock company .

Ju 188 of the 2nd season of KG 6 after the Allied invasion of Normandy in France ( propaganda recording ).

From autumn 1943 the squadron around Hogeback was partially converted to new types of aircraft. By June 1944, the first group had been converted to the Ju 188 . At the time of the Allied landing in Normandy , the II. Group was still in the conversion phase, as was the III. Group that received some Fw 190 and Bf 109 fighters . This was followed by operations against the Allied bridgehead, with the squadron almost completely wiped out. In September 1944, KG 6 was withdrawn from France and relocated to Central Germany , where it was converted by November 1944. The new name of Hogeback's squadron was Kampfgeschwader (J) 6 from November 13, 1944 . The squadron was subordinated to the IX. Air Corps in Prague . The squadron with its three groups was divided into the airfields Prague-Gbell (staff and I group), Prague-Kletschany (II group) and Prague-Rusin (III group). From January 1945 the III. Group retrained to Me 262 . On January 26, 1945, Hogeback was awarded the Oak Leaves Swords as Lieutenant Colonel and Commodore of KG 6 (125th award). In April 1945 Hogeback flew the last missions of the squadron, the complete conversion of which it no longer seems to have come. On April 9, 1945, the squadron was moved from Prague to Graz , where the personnel for the formation of the 10th Paratrooper Division and the 11th Paratrooper Division should be used. At the end of the war, Hogeback became a prisoner of war in the United States , from which he was released in September 1945.

The Hogeback crew, with the observer Wilhelm Dipberger , the radio operator Wilhelm Lehnert and the gunner Günther Gläsner , was the only Luftwaffe fighter crew that consisted exclusively of knight's cross bearers at the end of the war.

Post war life

Hogenback studied law after the war; he later worked as a car dealer in Münster.

literature

• Georg Brütting : The book of German flight history, Drei Brunnen Verlag Stuttgart 1979, Volume 3.
• Georg Brütting: That was the German fighter aces 1939–1945. Motorbuch-Verlag Stuttgart, 4th edition 1981, ISBN 3-87943-345-3 (hereinafter referred to as Brütting II).
• Erwin Lenfeld and Franz Thomas: The oak leaves 1940-1945. Weilburg-Verlag 1983, 2nd edition, ISBN 3-900100-07-1 .
• Ralf Schumann: The knight's cross bearers of the training squadron 1. VDM Nickel, Zweibrücken, 2007, 1st edition, pp. 92-100. ISBN 978-3-86619-013-9 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Thomas / Lenfeld p. 213.
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Brütting II p. 101.
3. ^ Georg Brütting: The book of German flight history , Drei Brunnen Verlag Stuttgart 1979, Volume 3, p. 534.
4. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} Brütting p. 534.
5. ↑ Laureau p. 201. Outline google.books
6. ^ ^{A b c} Georg Tessin : Associations and troops of the German Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS in World War II 1939–1945. Volume 14, Flying Bandages. Biblio-Verlag 1998, ISBN 3-7648-1111-0 , p. 325.
7. ↑ Brütting II p. 102.
8. ↑ ^{a b c d} Brütting p. 535.
9. ↑ ^{a b c d} Veit Scherzer : The owners of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939 from the Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and armed forces allied with Germany according to the documents of the Federal Archives. Scherzers Militaer-Verlag, Ranis / Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2 ; P. 400.
10. ↑ Brütting II p. 104.
11. ↑ ^{a b} Brütting II p. 105.
12. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Ticino p. 373.
13. ↑ Brütting II p. 109.
14. ↑ Walther-Peer Fellgiebel: The bearers of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939-1945: The holder of the highest distinction of the Second World War . Podzun-Pallas, 2004, ISBN 3-7909-0284-5 .
15. ↑ This week. In: Der Spiegel. 39/1969.