Paul-Werner Hozzel

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Paul-Werner Hozzel (born October 16, 1910 in Hamburg ; † January 7, 1997 in Karlsruhe ) was a Stuka pilot in the German Air Force in World War II and holder of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves.

Early career

Paul-Werner Hozzel joined the Artillery Regiment 2 in 1931 and switched to the Air Force in 1935 after completing his aeronautical training. On September 1, 1938 he took command of the 2nd squadron of Jagdgeschwader 20 and was promoted to captain shortly afterwards .

Second World War

In 1939 he first took part in the attack on Poland with his squadron , but was then transferred as a group commander to Group I of Stuka Wing 1. In addition to the attack on Poland, the group took part very successfully in the campaign in the west and the fighting in Norway , and on May 8, 1940, Hozzel was representative of the successes of his group, including the sinking of many warships and 60,000 GRT merchant ship tonnage in the North Sea and the attacks the fortresses in Akerhus and Oscarsborg , awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. He was thus the first ever Stuka pilot. Further successes in ship combat followed, on May 3, 1941, the destroyers Bison (French) and HMS Afridi were sunk, on January 10, 1941 the British battleship Warspite and the British aircraft carrier Illustrious were attacked, the latter being out of action for months due to six heavy hits was set.

On October 16, 1941, Hozzel took command of Stuka Squadron 2 Immelmann and was promoted to lieutenant colonel here. With great success he led the squadron in the battle of Stalingrad , the squadron flew 12,000 sorties here, then he commanded the combat unit Hozzel from parts of the Stuka squadrons 1, 2 and 77 in the battles around Dnepropetrovsk . On April 14, 1943, he was awarded the Knight's Cross Oak Leaves for his service with Stuka Squadron 2.

At the end of the war, Hozzel took on administrative tasks in the staff, from December 25, 1944 as Chief of Staff of Air Fleet 1 . At the end of the war he was taken prisoner by the Soviets , from which he did not return until January 16, 1956.

armed forces

In the same year Hozzel joined the German Armed Forces and ended his active career on September 30, 1969 as Brigadier General . In the air force of the German Armed Forces he was, among other things, chief of the staff of the command of the Allied Forces Baltic Sea accesses in Karup .

Awards

literature

  • Holger Nauroth: Stukageschwader 2nd Immelmann. Verlag KW Schütz, Preußisch Oldendorf 1988, ISBN 3-87725-123-4 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearers 1939-1945. The holders of the Iron Cross of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and armed forces allied with Germany according to the documents of the Federal Archives. 2nd Edition. Scherzers Militaer-Verlag, Ranis / Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2 , p. 406.
personal data
SURNAME Hozzel, Paul-Werner
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German pilot and knight's cross carrier in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH October 16, 1910
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamburg
DATE OF DEATH January 7, 1997
Place of death Karlsruhe