Oskar von Boenigk

Oskar von Boenigk (born August 25, 1893 in Siegersdorf , † January 30, 1946 in the special camp Ketschendorf near Fürstenwalde ) was a German officer in the air force and scored 26 confirmed kills in the First World War . During World War II , he served as a major general in the Air Force .

Life

Oskar was born as the son of the royal councilor and domain tenant Kuno Freiherr von Boenigk. He attended grammar school in Bunzlau from the age of nine to eleven; before that he was educated and taught at home by private teachers. After the Wahlstatt cadet institute and the Lichterfelde main cadet institute , he joined the grenadier regiment "King Friedrich III." (2nd Silesian) No. 11 as a lieutenant on March 22, 1912 .

With his regiment, Boenigk was deployed as a platoon leader on the Western Front when the First World War broke out and was seriously wounded in the chest and lungs near Rossignol-Tintigny on August 22nd. In October 1914 he returned to the regiment, became a company commander and later an orderly officer . In March 1915 he witnessed the winter battle in Champagne . After further wounds he returned in December 1915 as leader of the 5th Company and took part in the fighting at the Lorettohöhe and the autumn battle near Arras .

From December 1915 Boenigk received an aircraft observer training in Cologne-Bickendorf. On 1 March 1916 his commanding followed for pilots replacement department in Poznan and then joined the battle Season 32 (in a combat squadron), which was used in the fighting in the Vosges, later he flew with during the bombing flights to Dunkirk and was at the Somme battle and involved in the 1917 Easter Battle of the Aisne as an observer. He completed his seven-week pilot training course in Braunschweig in 1917 . After graduation, he received the military pilot's badge and was transferred to Jagdstaffel 4 of the Richthofen squadron in Flanders in June 1917. He achieved his first aerial victory on July 20, 1917 northwest of Terbrielen over an English Sopwith Camel. In October 1917 he was given the command of a squadron that fought in the Reims-Verdun section. In June 1918 he became the commander of Jagdgeschwader II. With this squadron, in September 1918 he almost completely destroyed the American aviators at St. Mihiel-Bogen. In the period from September 12 to 18, 1918, the squadron under his command shot down 81 enemy aircraft and lost only two. A day later, he and his squadron fired at five Bréguets, which had the order to destroy the German squadron; three fell on fire, two had to land.

The order Pour le Mérite was awarded to him after 26 kills on October 26, 1918, after he had already received both classes of the Iron Cross .

After the end of the war, Boenigk acted as leader of the volunteer aviator division 418 at the Eastern Border Guard . Since the Versailles Peace Treaty provided for a ban on an air force, Boenigk was transferred to the settlement office of his regular regiment on September 30, 1919 and released from active service on March 31, 1920 while being promoted to captain .

On July 1, 1934 he was reactivated to the Luftwaffe with the rank of major . From this point on, he was initially the commander of the German Aviation School in Cottbus. This was followed by assignments as an officer at the Schleißheim fighter pilot school and on November 1, 1935, he was assigned to the Perleberg pilot school. From 1 March 1936, he served there as a commander of the flying school and was also airbase -Kommandant. In these roles, he was promoted on October 1, 1936 Lieutenant Colonel and on 1 January 1939, Colonel .

After the beginning of the Second World War, Boenigk initially remained at his post and was appointed commander of the Sprottau Aviation School on November 1, 1939 . At the end of the year he was employed as airport area commander 1 in Breslau and as such was promoted to major general on February 1, 1941. Boenigk was released from active service on November 30, 1942, but was still made available. From December 1, 1942 to May 31, 1943, he worked for Luftgau Command VIII and II, respectively, before his mobilization provision was lifted and he was finally passed.

After the end of the war, Boenigk was arrested by the Soviet occupation authorities on November 13, 1945 and taken to the special camp (internment camp) in Ketschendorf near Fürstenwalde, where he died.

literature

• Jürgen Brinkmann: The knights of the order Pour le merite 1914-1918. Th.Schäfer Druckerei GmbH Hanover, Bückeburg 1982.
• Walter Zuerl: Pour le merite-Flieger. Luftfahrtverlag Axel Zuerl, 1987. ISBN 9783934596153
• Karl-Friedrich Hildebrand, Christian Zweng: The knights of the order Pour le Mérite of the First World War. Volume 1: A-G. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1999, ISBN 3-7648-2505-7 , pp. 144-145

See also

• List of German fighter pilots in the First World War

Web links

• Entry on flieger-album.de