Karl Allmenröder (fighter pilot)
Karl Allmenröder (born May 3, 1896 in Wald , † June 27, 1917 near Zillebeke in West Flanders ) was a German fighter pilot of the First World War .
Life
The son of a pastor was a medical student in Marburg and since 1914 a member of the Corps Teutonia Marburg . When the First World War broke out, Allmenröder joined the East Frisian Field Artillery Regiment No. 62 of the Prussian Army as a flag junior . Together with his brother, he was transferred to the air force in March 1916 and received training at the Halberstadt Aviation School .
Under Manfred von Richthofen's command , Lieutenant Allmenröder served from November 1916 in the Jasta 11 squadron, known on the Allied side as the “Flying Circus” . On February 16, 1917, he achieved his first aerial victory and by May 20, he had already recorded twenty kills. On June 25, he succeeded his thirtieth kill when he shot down the Sopwith Triplane of the Canadian Royal Air Force pilot Gerald Nash ; Nash, considered a flying ace, survived and was taken prisoner by Germany .
When Richthofen took over command of the new Fighter Squadron 1, composed of Fighter Squadrons 4, 6, 10 and 11, in June 1917, he temporarily handed over command of Jasta 11 to Allmenröder. In the same month he was killed in a dogfight with Raymond Collishaw near Zillebeke in West Flanders.
For his military achievements, Allmenröder was awarded, among other things, both classes of the Iron Cross , the Knight's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern with Swords and the highest Prussian honor for bravery, the Order Pour le Mérite .
His grave is in his hometown of Wald, today Solingen-Wald, in the Wiedenkamper Straße cemetery. His brother Wilhelm (1894–1969), who himself was a fighter pilot until he was seriously wounded in May 1917, married his fiancée Helene Kortenbach (1900–2000) in Marquartstein .
His name and his reputation as a "war hero" was used for propaganda purposes by the National Socialists . For this reason, streets named after Allmenröder were renamed again after the Second World War. The Marburger SC-Kameradschaft in the National Socialist German Student Union bore his name.
literature
- Karl Friedrich Hildebrand, Christian Zweng, The Knights of the Order Pour le Mérite: 1740–1918. Verlag Biblio, 1998, ISBN 978-3-7648-2473-0 , pp. 9-10.
- Arthur G. Whitehouse: Flieger-Ase 1914-1918. ("Heroes of the sunlit sky"). Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1970, pp. 360–362.
- Allmenröder, Karl . In: Rudolf Vierhaus (Ed.): German Biographical Encyclopedia (DBE) . 2., revised. and extended edition. tape 1 : Aachen – Braniss . De Gruyter / KG Saur, Berlin / Boston / Munich 2005, ISBN 3-11-094657-2 , p. 118 ( google.de ).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kösener Corpslisten 1930, 104 , 1065
- ^ Pour le Mérite: Karl Allmenröder, Leutnant, Jasta 11 ( Memento from July 25, 2016 in the Internet Archive ).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Allmenröder, Karl |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German fighter pilot of the First World War |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 3, 1896 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Forest |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 27, 1917 |
| Place of death | West Flanders |