Paul Weitkus

Paul Weitkus (born October 17, 1898 in Miswalde , Mohrungen district , † November 9, 1974 in Arnsberg ) was a German major general in the Air Force in World War II .

Life

Weitkus joined the Imperial Army on November 17, 1916 as a reserve officer candidate and served in the infantry during the First World War .

After the war he was released on March 31, 1920 as a lieutenant in the reserve . He then joined the Hülsen Freikorps before joining the police on June 1, 1921 as a sergeant major.

He stayed with the police until August 1, 1935, when he became a captain in the newly established Air Force. There he took over as head of the Air Force Sports School in Berlin-Spandau . In this post he was promoted to major on April 1, 1936 , and then transferred to the Reich Ministry of Aviation from October 1, 1937 , where he took over the duties of an officer for special purposes. On March 1, 1938, he took over as group commander of II. Group of Kampfgeschwader 257 and one year later the II. Group of Kampfgeschwader 252 (later renamed III. Group of Kampfgeschwader 2 ). The management of the air base command of the Liegnitz air base was connected with this. After he was promoted to lieutenant colonel on June 1, 1939 , he led the 6th squadron of Kampfgeschwaders 26 as squadron captain between September 13, 1939 and October 8, 1939 . On December 15, 1940, he took over the leadership of Kampfgeschwader 53 as a squadron commodore for almost two years . He led this squadron, which was equipped with the twin-engine Heinkel He 111 bomber , in the Battle of Britain and in the German-Soviet War until October 31, 1942. His squadron took part in the air raids on Moscow during this time . On September 18, 1941, he received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and on February 1, 1942, he was promoted to colonel . After this assignment he became commander of combat observer pre-school 1. On January 15, 1943, in the last phase of the Stalingrad pocket, he took over responsibility for air supply as commander of the He 111 units for supply in the east . In March 1943 he took over as commander of the Romanian First Air Corps, which operated in the south of the Soviet Union. Then, on June 14, 1944, he moved to the Balkans as a pilot in Albania . But just two months later he took over the post of air liaison officer for Army Group E in the Balkans. Here he was promoted to major general on January 30, 1945. On March 10, 1943, he received the transfer as commander of the Luftflottrouppen Luftflotte 4 , before he was commander of the 18th Air Division on April 26, 1945. At this post he was taken prisoner of war on May 8, 1945, which ended for him in 1947.

Web links

• Henry L. deZeng IV, Douglas G. Stankey: Air Force Officer Career Summaries, Section S – Z. (PDF) 2016, pp. 619–620 , accessed on April 14, 2017 (English).