Job Odebrecht

Job Odebrecht 1945

Job Wilhelm Odebrecht (born February 25, 1892 in Koblenz-Ehrenbreitstein , † November 20, 1982 in Bad Homburg in front of the height ) was a German officer , most recently a general of the flak cartillery in World War II .

Life

Odebrecht was educated from 1902 in the Köslin cadet institute in Pomerania and joined the Imperial Navy on April 1, 1909 as a midshipman . He received his basic training on the great cruiser SMS Hertha and then came to the Naval School Mürwik , where he became an ensign at sea on April 12, 1910 . He then completed a one-month infantry training course at the I. See Battalion, a torpedo course at SMS Württemberg and an artillery course at the artillery school. He performed briefly on board the liner SMS Elsass and was then transferred to the liner SMS Schlesien as platoon and division officer. As a lieutenant at sea (since September 19, 1912) Odebrecht served as a company officer in the 1st Sea Artillery Battalion, then was with the staff of the 1st Sea Division for almost a month. On April 29, 1913, he left for German East Africa , where he served as an adjutant and officer on watch on the survey ship SMS Möve .

When the First World War broke out , Odebrecht was transferred to the Schutztruppe for German East Africa as a company officer on August 4, 1914 . On November 1, 1915, he was appointed commander of the mail ship Hedwig von Wissmann , which had been converted into a gunboat and with whom he patrolled Lake Tanganyika . There he fell into Belgian captivity on February 8, 1916 , after his ship was set on fire by the British ships HMS Mimi , HMS Toutou and HMS Fifi .

On July 4, 1919, he was transferred to Switzerland , where he was interned until September 22, 1919 . During this time he was promoted to lieutenant at sea on July 30, 1919 . After his return to Germany, Odebrecht was made available to the naval station of the Baltic Sea and was on leave. On 29 January 1920 he was with the character as a lieutenant commander dismissed from active service.

After his internment, he joined a volunteer corps and served there until August 19, 1920. On August 23, 1920, he joined the police as a first lieutenant and was initially deployed in Marienwerder . In the same year he became a captain and married Gerda von Alt-Stutterheim . From 1921 he was the leader of the Marienburg Police and from 1925 he was with the Berlin Police . From June 1, 1929, he was an instructor at the Sensburg Police School , where he was promoted to major on August 11, 1929 . In the spring of 1933 he became an adjutant at the State Police Inspection East in Königsberg .

On July 4, 1935, he moved to the Air Force as a major . He commanded various departments of anti-aircraft regiments and was promoted until he reached the rank of major general on June 1, 1939 . From October 1939 he commanded Air Defense Command 5 and from October 1940 Air Defense Command 6. In 1941 he became Lieutenant General , and from September 1942 he commanded the Air Force Division Meindl . In October of the same year he received the German Cross in Gold. A little later he was commanding general of the III. Air Force Field Corps, then General of the Flak Artillery and later, because his staff was renamed, Commanding General of the II Flak Corps . With the surrender of the Wehrmacht , Odebrecht fell into Allied captivity on May 8, 1945, from which he was released on April 1, 1946.

Awards

• Iron Cross (1914) 2nd and 1st class
• Colonial badge
• Clasp for the Iron Cross, 2nd and 1st class
• German cross in gold on October 20, 1942
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on February 5, 1944

literature

• Karl-Friedrich Hildebrand: The Generals of the German Air Force 1935-1945 Volume 3: OZ (Odebrecht to Zoch). Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1992, ISBN 3-7648-2208-2 .