Horst Benno Adolf von Minckwitz

Horst Benno Adolf von Minckwitz (born February 20, 1877 in Görlitz , † February 25, 1956 in Oberottenhain ) was a Saxon officer , military aviator in World War I and was instrumental in building the air force in the Kingdom of Saxony . During World War II he rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel .

biography

family

The son of Benno Wilhelm von Minckwitz (1829–1913) and his wife Elisabeth, née Wolff von Schutter (1844–1916), came from the noble family of Minckwitz and was the couple's third child. The family included five sisters and two brothers who also became officers.

Life

Minckwitz spent his childhood on an estate in Galicia . In the spring of 1889 he joined the cadet corps in Dresden. From May 1897 he served in the Schützen (Füs.) Regiment "Prince Georg" (Royal Saxon) No. 108 . After attending the war school in Neisse , Minckwitz was promoted to second lieutenant in 1898 . Then Minckwitz served until 1907 in the ammunition factory in Dresden and in the rifle examination commission in Spandau . In 1906 he was promoted to lieutenant and in 1912 to captain . From autumn 1912 he worked as a company chief within his regular regiment.

In April 1913 Minckwitz was transferred to the Prussian Air Force . There he was appointed commander of the flying school in Lindenthal in June of the same year . In October 1913 he became chief of the 3rd Company of the Royal Prussian Aviation Battalion at the Döberitz airfield , later Grossenhain. As this he led the construction of the local aviation station. After the outbreak of World War I, Minckwitz was deployed as an observer and department leader in Feldflieger-Dienst 24 on the Western Front. As a staff officer of the aviators he advised the High Command of the 3rd Army under Colonel General Max von Hausen and General of the Cavalry Karl von Eine . At the end of 1914, Minckwitz was removed from the front line and set up the new Flieger-Ersatz -teilung 6 in Großenhain. The most famous student pilot was Manfred von Richthofen . From August 1915, Minckwitz headed the construction committee for air stations in Berlin, which was responsible for the construction of 30 new airfields. In 1916 he became the head of the department for aircraft structures inspecting the air force. In 1917, Minckwitz was promoted to major and returned to Grossenhain in the same position. There he converted the Aviation Replacement Department 6 from a Prussian to a Saxon aviation department. In September 1918 he became the commander of the aviators in home area No. 5.

In November 1919, Minckwitz resigned from military service at his own request. After his retirement he bought a nursery in Großraschütz . With the outbreak of the Second World War, the now 62-year-old Minckwitz was reactivated for military service and supervised agricultural goods. In 1941 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and in September 1943 he resigned from military service. After the end of the war, Minckwitz was expropriated.

In 1956 he died in Oberottenhain.

Aftermath

At the airfield Großenhain today reminds Major von Minckwitz Avenue to its role in managing the Saxon aviation.

Web links

• Hannes Täger: Minckwitz, Horst Benno Adolf von . In: Institute for Saxon History and Folklore (Ed.): Saxon Biography .